Wyke Sixth Form College

Wyke offers a true ‘sixth form’ experience with high quality specialist teaching, a university style campus, a culture that fosters independence, encouraging students to be themselves.

Our College has approximately 2200, 16–19 full-time students and is the largest A-Level provider in the region. Our growth from approximately 1300 in 2011 to our current number reflects our academic success, the quality of experience that students enjoy at Wyke and our outstanding facilities.

Our intake of students is evenly split between Hull and East Riding/North Lincolnshire.  Our students travel from a very wide geographical area and our transport provision is extensive.

Primarily as a Level 3 provider, our curriculum consists of ­­­­­­­­33 A-Level and 10 BTEC courses (Certificate, Sub Diploma and Extended Diplomas). As the largest A Level provider in Hull and East Riding, the statistics are straightforward; students do very well at Wyke Sixth Form College, with our results justifying the position in the top 10% of all Sixth Form providers nationally.

In 2020, our pass rate percentage at A Level was 99.6%. This includes 491 of the top A* and A grades and 991 A*- B grades. Our BTEC pass rate was 100%, with 83% of our BTEC students achieving Distinction* or Triple Distinction*, the equivalent of 1 or 3 A* grades. 

The majority of our students take three A-Levels and a small but significant minority of students take a Level 3 BTEC in a small range of subjects. The remaining students take a mixed programme of A-Levels and BTEC Certificate courses, and 5% are on a Level 2 programme of study.

Our students have progressed to exceptional destinations with 14 students advancing to Oxbridge and 26 taking up places on Medicine, Dentistry or Veterinary courses over the past 3 years.

There is an emphasis on extracurricular provision at Wyke and many students engage in activities such as sport; music; dance; drama; Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme; the Student Executive; expeditions; visits and subject-led societies such as poetry; law; economics; debating; music; medical society; student newspaper. Students are supported in taking part in external competitions and have achieved notable national success including winning the AoC Colleges’ ECFA National Football Cup final in 2017. Visits abroad are commonplace and in an average year, students and staff travel to South Africa; Thailand; New York; Washington; Iceland; Florence; Berlin; France and Tanzania. Residential visits within the United Kingdom are a regular occurrence, many of which are subject-based with the focus on examination success.

Our estate was completely redeveloped in 2010 with further additions since in order to accommodate the growth in student numbers. Further redevelopment is planned and the accommodation is reviewed on an annual basis.

Colleagues at Wyke are important to each other, so whether it is a PGCE student on a placement, induction meetings with a new member of staff or helping someone with plans for their retirement, staff and managers will always have time for you. The College ethos is one of mutual respect, no matter what our race, gender, age, disability, sexual orientation, religion or belief. We also seek to safeguard the students in our care, so all our staff undergo thorough pre-employment checks, including DBS and references. 

Our teaching staff are very highly qualified in their areas of expertise; many work with exam boards, and there are many opportunities for all staff to enhance their professional development. Apart from term-time working, the College accommodates many other forms of flexible working, the most common being part-time work. Final salary pension schemes are available to teaching staff through Teachers' Pensions, and to support staff by way of the Local Government Pension Scheme. Staff can choose to pay into a health scheme, and through a salary sacrifice scheme (resulting in tax benefits) can access a Cycle to Work scheme.

We work in a learning community and our professional learning is a key to continued success. All staff are encouraged to take development opportunities and the College supports all colleagues seeking to enhance their knowledge, understanding and experience. There are thorough development programmes for both teaching and support staff, tailored to their needs, and time is set aside in the College calendar to ensure people have time to engage in these programmes. This College-wide culture of learning extends further to our membership of NorVIc (Northern Sixth Form Colleges), an active agent for widening access to professional development. We are proud to be a member of the Venn Group, a federation of five sixth form colleges serving North and East Yorkshire, Hull and Northern Lincolnshire, working in collaboration to ensure that every young person we educate is able to achieve their potential. To find out more, please see: www.venngroup.org.uk.

The College is situated on the western edge of the city of Hull (the UK 2017 City of Culture), adjacent to the large satellite village of Cottingham. The University of Hull is on Cottingham Road, nearby, and the Yorkshire Wolds spread northeast from the edge of the village to the coast at Flamborough and southwest to the Humber at Ferriby. The city centre of Kingston-Upon-Hull has undergone major regeneration and provides the major services centre for the whole of East Yorkshire. At 50 miles from its nearest urban neighbour (Leeds), the city has the advantage of self-sufficiently and the possible disadvantage of a tendency to be too little known to visitors from outside the region.

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