Bexhill College

Bexhill College is an independent Sixth Form College which has been providing high quality post – 16 education in the East of the County of East Sussex for 42 years. It is the number one post 16 destination in the Rother and Hastings area. The College traditionally has four partner 11 – 16 schools of Bexhill Academy, St Richards Catholic College, Claverham Community College and Robertsbridge Community College. However, a high proportion of the students come from the surrounding areas. Students travel to study at the College from as far out as Rye and the Kent borders. There is also strong recruitment from Hastings and St Leonards and Eastbourne areas.

The College offers a broad range of courses to meet the needs of the local community. The core focus of the College work is with the 16-19 age group offering a broad range of academic and vocational courses across foundation, intermediate and advanced level. The College attracts approximately 2056 full time, 16-19 year old students of which approximately 90% are studying advanced programmes and the remaining 10% at intermediate/foundation level.

The College has a reputation for consistently good results.  The College offers 37 different A level subjects. The ‘A’ level pass rate has been above the national average for the past 27 years. The Colleges results are outstanding and reflect the hard work of the students and staff. Prior to the CAGs process in 2020, the 2019 pass rate was 99.4%, with 51% A-B grades and 81% A-C Grades. The value added grade was 3 or excellent. The CAG process in 2020 resulted in a similar performance. Vocational results are equally as strong. The College delivers sixteen advanced vocational courses which achieved a 100% pass rate in 2019 and last summer, both with a value added of 4.

The College moved to new purpose built accommodation in August 2004.  Facilities include a sports hall, all weather pitch, film studio, dance studio, laboratories as well as general classrooms.  In November 2013 we opened an extension building which included a theatre, drama studio, hair salon, catering kitchen, music facilities and general classrooms. We opened an extension to our sports centre in September 2015 which includes state of the art gym facilities as well as upgrading our All Weather Pitch to a 3G facility in October 2016. We opened a new STEM building which ncorporates engineering in January 2021. We are co-located with the post-16 section of Glyne Gap Special School which offers new opportunities for an enriched educational environment.

In recent years, the college has developed a broad adult education offer which provides a range of academic and recreational courses. These courses mainly take place in the evening when approximately 500 adults attended evening class courses.

The major businesses locally are retail, distribution, insurance, leisure and tourism and banking. Other major employment areas are with the public services in education, health and social services. The care sector is a major employer in the area with limited large manufacturing organisation based locally. Many travel to work outside the area.

COLLEGE VISION AND FOCUS

The College’s vision is:

‘Outstanding College, Outstanding Opportunities’

All staff work tirelessly to achieve that vision. The vision is supported by our mission and strategic objectives. These are attached. In addition, the College has set itself six core values which we are committed to working within. These are:

Excellence:   Pursuing excellence in everything we do

Can do attitude:   Looking for solutions in every challenge

Courage:  Taking the right decisions in each situation

Respect: Always acting with integrity and treating others with dignity

Team working:  Achieving success thorough working with others

Achievement driven:  Having the energy and enthusiasm to achieve outstanding results

A major thrust of work has been raising achievement rates and value added to ensure we consistently exceed the national benchmarks. This has involved staff in developing pedagogy to incorporate active learning and stretch and challenge for all students within lessons. Staff also provide extensive one to one support for students outside of the classroom. Staff continually develop their courses to ensure the curriculum meets students’ needs. Professional Development is central to the Colleges strive to be outstanding and all staff are expected to attend training to familiarise themselves with new delivery, assessment regimes and keep up to date their subject areas.

Covid-19 has led to a significant development of digital skills for all staff and the College has been proud of its capacity to provide high quality online live lessons from the first lockdown and throughout this academic year as we have managed the situation. The priority for staff has been to minimise disruption to students learning and they have achieved that with great success which is reflective of the staff commitment to our students which embodies the College values.

The College places a strong emphasis on pastoral support and tutorial provision. The majority of staff are personal tutors and have a responsibility for the retention and achievement of approximately 24 young people. Tutors provide guidance and support throughout the students’ time with us including advice on progression.

The student experience is central to all we do. A teacher interested in working at Bexhill College needs to be committed to achieving this vision and implementing these values. Staff at the College are well qualified, passionate about working with young people and able to provide an outstanding experience for all students through their work.

I hope that you feel you can contribute to making this outstanding College even better. We look forward to receiving an application from you.

Further information about the College and its curriculum can be found at www.bexhillcollege.ac.uk

Karen Hucker

PRINCIPAL