Newham Collegiate Sixth Form Centre

Newham Collegiate Sixth Form Centre (also known as The NCS) opened in September 2014. It is located in a fully restored Grade II* listed building on the Town Hall campus in East Ham. As part of the building renovation it contains nine new labs for studying the Sciences (Biology, Chemistry and Physics) for which it holds a specialist teaching status alongside Maths.

The NCS is currently not a registered sixth form college and is operating under the aegis of Newham Adult Learning Services (NALS). This part of the provision is currently subject to conversion to an academy. A 2016 Ofsted report of NALS judged Newham Collegiate to be Outstanding as their 16 - 19 service.^[1]

The founding Principal, Mouhssin Ismail, was the former Director of Sixth Form at Seven Kings High School.^[2] Many key teachers – including Deputy Principal Anita Lomax – also joined from Seven Kings.^[3]

Partnerships

Working with Newham Council, the NCS is the academic A Level centre of a group of partner secondary schools in the borough. These schools are Cumberland, Kingsford, Lister, Little Ilford, Plashet, Rokeby, Royal Docks, Sarah Bonnell and Stratford School Academy.^[4]

On 12 November 2014 UCL announced a strategic partnership with Newham Collegiate Sixth Form Centre. The partnership aligns with the aims of UCL 2034, reflecting UCL’s commitment to being a publicly engaged institution with an interest in the education of London students.^[5]

Curriculum

The centre offers the following A Level courses: Biology, Chemistry, Economics, English Literature, Further Maths, Geography, Government and Politics, History, Maths, Physics, Psychology and Religious Studies.^[6]

Super Curriculum

In addition, the NCS offers its own "Super Curriculum." This is timetabled once a week and students select from a range of topics including a biology project studying Planeria, Classical Civilisation and complex maths.

The Super Curriculum encompasses other elements including master classes, soft skills workshops and a lecture programme.

Guest speakers / Lecture Programme

The NCS has arranged for numerous leaders to visit their school and lecture students on their careers and issues related to their studies. A number of these lectures have been made freely available to view on iTunes and the school’s YouTube channel.

Guest speakers have included Natalie Bennett, Owen Jones, Sir Win Bischoff, Dr Mark Dallas, Dr Aziz Aboobaker, Annabel Port, Stephen Timms MP, Dr Kenneth Tong, Dr George McGavin, Jason Dittmer, Simon Singh, Dr Catherine Sebastian and Sir Robin Wales.^[7]

NALS Ofsted Report 2016

As the 16-19 provider of NASL, Newham Collegiate was rated Outstanding^[8] as part of an inspection in March 2016. Comments from the inspectors included:

“Teachers provide outstanding teaching, learning and assessment. This ensures that all learners make very good, and often exceptional, progress with their work and in gaining their qualifications. “^[9]

“Teachers provide excellent impartial advice and guidance to the learners. Teachers are very adept at relating learning to learners’ aspirations and they encourage learners to be ambitious in their future career plans. Almost all learners have clear, aspirational and carefully considered career plans. Managers and teachers support learners exceptionally well to realise their ambitions. Teachers and guest speakers provide highly effective guidance, support and challenge to help learners complete well-written personal statements and university applications."^[10]

References

Coordinates: 51°31′58″N 0°03′23″E / 51.5329°N 0.0563°E / 51.5329; 0.0563