BSix Sixth Form College

History

Merger and rebranding

In March 2024, a formal consultation was launched proposing the merger of Brooke House Sixth Form College (BSix) with New City College. The consultation concluded in May, and a statutory notice confirmed the dissolution of BSix Corporation effective 1 August 2024. The merger completed via a Type B asset transfer, with BSix rebranded as the Hackney Sixth Form campus of New City College.

BSix Brooke House Sixth Form College was opened on the Brooke House school site in September 2002, on a site that was previously part of Hackney College. It was set up by the then Secretary of State for Education, David Blunkett, and formed part of an unrealised plan to build eleven new sixth form colleges in London. BSix is unusual in the sixth form college sector because it offers courses at all levels and across a wide range of subjects, including vocational courses, like hair and beauty, business and art as well as a significant number of A-Levels.

After an initial surge of enthusiasm, the educational context changed rapidly. Hackney's local education authority, the Learning Trust, introduced a programme to create five City Academies in the borough, all with sixth forms. As a consequence, many other 11-16 schools applied to open their own sixth forms.

The growth in student recruitment was not as rapid as the Learning and Skills Council (LSC), the funding body, had anticipated. Although by 2019 it had seen improvements to A and AS level results.

In August 2024, BSix merged into New City College and became the Hackney Sixth Form campus.

Students

In 2014, around 88% of its pupils came from disadvantaged areas.

References

References

1. Gelder, Sam. (2017-10-27). "Clapton's cash-strapped BSix college scraps 'unwise' expansion after government says it runs too many courses". [[Hackney Gazette]].
2. [[Jules Pipe. (2015-03-31). "Hackney's education story". LondonCouncils.gov.uk.
3. Muir, Rick. (2012-08-26). "Hackney's education success story". [[New Statesman]].
4. (16 August 2019). "A-level results 2019: Clapton's BSix Sixth Form College shows bigs steps taken to improve".
5. (2014-08-14). "A-levels: students at BSix sixth form college collect their results – video". [[The Guardian]].
6. (25 March 2024). "A strong and secure future for post-16 education in Hackney". Brook House & New City College consultation document.
7. Anthony, Alvis. (2025-06-10). "New City College Hackney Sixth Form Campus". New City College.
8. Anthony, Alvis. (21 May 2025). "New City College Hackney Sixth Form (16–19 provision)". Hackney Education.