Welcome to QEGS Sixth Form. It is our belief that our Sixth Form brings many advantages to young people in the transition stage between school and university.

There are opportunities for leadership experience and sporting excellence in our many activities that go beyond the narrowly academic. Added to that there are numerous occasions on which you can perform in music or drama groups, all of which help to nurture the confident, rounded and mutually supportive human beings for which the school is renowned.

We are fortunate at Queen Elizabeth’s to have academic departments which are fizzing with enthusiasm. As it should be, you may say, but it is far from being the case at every school and college. Here we are able to give our students individual attention in small classes so that our teaching can to a large extent be tailored to the needs of individuals, enabling them to fulfil their potential and helping them to get the very best grade of which they are capable. This is, of course, supported by up-to-date, specialist careers advice.

Your teachers (some of them A level examiners themselves) have always been committed to academic rigour, so they are well placed to provide the sort of teaching and individual attention that is necessary for the most able candidates to acquire the top grade.  Reassuring too, is that, given the structures and experience already in place, this will not be at the expense of those candidates for whom the top grade is unlikely to be achieved. It is worth noting that already many universities, despite initial reluctance, now include A* grades in their offers.

We understand and share the belief that academic performance must come first and that results must be the best possible for each student. This only happens when pastoral care is of a high standard and students are able to approach staff, in the sure knowledge that time and expertise will be available to them. This, plus very close monitoring of standards by Tutors and the Head of Sixth Form, is the cornerstone of advanced study at Queen Elizabeth’s. Hence the excellent A level results achieved, taking over 90% of our students straight to university each year.

Life in the natural, co-educational world of our Sixth Form is – notwithstanding the hard work we expect – a wonderful experience; you need only ask those who are currently engaged on A level study, whether they are students who have come through our own system, or whether they have come from other high schools whether they are used to a single-sex or co-educational setting.

Recognising that the Sixth Form is preparation for university and life beyond, young men and women are encouraged to work well with each other in class and in directed learning and private study periods, so that they have the opportunity to grow intellectually in a balanced environment that represents the world they are likely to inhabit after A level. Dress regulations are adjusted in recognition of the greater maturity associated with Sixth Form study but high standards of smartness and appearance continue to be required.

Please note that, in common with other schools, while we strive to offer all the courses advertised in this prospectus, in the event of a set being extremely small, we cannot guarantee that course will run. We will of course inform you if we foresee this problem once you have made your choices.