Overview
Oakwood Park Grammar School: an ‘Outstanding’ Sixth Form OFSTED 2019
A message from the Director of Sixth Form
At OPGS we strive to match the needs of our students to the rapidly changing economic and higher education environments. The number and variety of offers from Russell Group and other elite universities continues to grow. Our apprenticeship programme supports students to produce the many tailored applications that are required for this path. Every year we follow with excitement the careers of our students from years gone by. The fact that so many are keen to return to support current students with interview practice and application support, is testament to the warm and lasting relationships our staff develop with our 6th Form students.
Whether students are new to OPGS or are moving into a new phase of their life at our school, the trajectory for their lives is set by the two years they spend with us. We get to know our students well and make sure that they leave with the foundation for a dynamic and rewarding future. I look forward to working with you.
Ms A Hern
Director of Sixth Form
As student leaders of the school, Sixth Formers act as mentors and role models to pupils in lower years. As young adults, they are aiming high. OFSTED rated OPGS Sixth Form as ‘Outstanding’ in our 2019 inspection. They noticed that our ‘students are very well-prepared for the next steps in their lives and education; and that they are ‘inspired by ‘teachers who are passionate about their subjects’. As a result, OPGS Sixth Formers will go on to take up places in top universities and blue-chip companies.
The curriculum is varied and offers opportunities for challenge beyond the classroom. We seek to develop our students’ particular talents and interests through options like the Extended Project Qualification which allows them to write novels, sculpt, record music or experiment in the labs. Future medics attend exclusive workshops at The Royal Brompton and Canterbury hospitals. Business leaders of the future are involved in work experience in city firms and are regular beneficiaries of mentors from banking and investment. Future lawyers and politicians find a place in our nationally successful public speaking and debating teams, current holders of both the Queens’ College Cambridge and the Winston Churchill shields. Aspiring engineers benefit from our connection with firms such as Kier, annual sponsors of our Future Cities project. Many of these connections come from ex-students who return to OPGS to speak at our annual Careers Networking event. They return because they have been well cared for by our Sixth Form Team.
OFSTED found that ‘Students have high praise for the ongoing support they receive from their teachers, for their emotional well-being.’ Our Sixth Formers are a pleasure to spend time with and, as a result, staff offer regular residential trips such as to Cern, Washington and Zaragoza. In recent years OPGS Sixth Formers have volunteered in Ghana, Peru, Chile and India.
Students who have been with us since Year 7 are joined by students from other schools in the Sixth Form. During their time in OPGS Sixth Form they support the school, make new friends and leave knowing they have fully developed their abilities and talents.
To view course and curriculum information please click here.
