Sixth Form Team

The Sixth Form at Bede’s is led by a team who have built up considerable experience of working with senior students, understanding that the support and interventions that are needed by young adults is different to that required by younger pupils. 

To that end, most of the team are located alongside the Sixth Form Centre, enabling them to provide informal support day-to-day, alongside the more structured support given within scheduled one-to-one sessions.

The team is comprised of Jason Henham, our Head of Sixth Form (Academic), Charlotte Sutton, Head of Sixth Form (Engagement), David Cheshire, Deputy Head of Sixth Form, Paul Gibbs, Director of Higher Education, Deborah Franks, Head of Careers and Employability and Mary Leggett, Head of Partnerships and Social Responsibility. 

The nature of the support provided to students varies by individual and depends on the stage they are at in their Sixth Form journey.

In most cases, pupils will begin working with the team during their Fifth Form; Sixth Form staff consult with all current and prospective students on their long-term career and university goals and the implications for their programme of study in the Sixth Form.

During the first crucial weeks of term in the Lower Sixth, the team will support students as they embark on their chosen programme of study, ensuring that pupils feel confident and comfortable with their academic choices and will provide support to any students with queries about their courses or who are finding the transition from GCSE to Sixth Form challenging. 

The Bede’s Sixth Form team are also acutely aware that pupils need to think about the impressions that they will make on higher education admissions tutors or future employers and therefore encourage pupils to consider how to make themselves stand out against the competition. The team, working alongside personal tutors, therefore also offer more holistic advice about what students can do to set themselves apart and how they can best provide evidence of leadership, service, work experience and above all experiences that pupils have organised themselves. 

A core part of the role of all staff in the team is to work alongside students’ personal tutors to provide UCAS and Careers advice and support for applications and interviews, and then finally following the summer exams, they are on hand if any advice is needed regarding final destinations, working tirelessly to ensure that as many pupils as possible reach their first choice university.