The Bedford Academy Sixth Form is a vibrant, exciting place to be, a centre of academic excellence. This means we have to set high expectations for all our students.

Once your timetable has been agreed, you are expected to attend all sessions allocated, whether they are at the Academy or based in the community. Excellent punctuality and attendance remain central to your success.

All our lessons are arranged in two hour blocks with breaks and lunch staggered. This is ideal for sixth form study, providing plenty of time for sustained discussion, written, practical and group work. Any independent study time will be carefully planned and completed within the Academy. Our longer school day enables you to benefit from more contact time with our outstanding teachers, usually six hours per week per subject. This additional time enables you to understand your subjects in more depth and explore areas of interest or challenge with your teacher.

The Academy will open at 7.30am and remains open for all students until 5.35pm. You are welcome to start early but must be on site for the start of the first lesson each day. You will be expected to make use of our extended day for independent study or to become involved in enrichment activities. Our hours are more like business hours than normal school hours, but our staff will help you towards structured and effective use of your time, meaning there should be little homework.

There will be a professional, mature and business-like working atmosphere in the Sixth Form. Therefore, we expect our students to be dressed in clothes appropriate for working in an office environment. Specifically:

Men: smart trousers, shirt and tie, smart shoes, smart round or V-neck jumper (if desired), jacket or suit (optional), smart coat.

Women: Trousers or skirt (no shorter than knee length), shirt or smart top, smart shoes, smart jumper or top (if desired), jacket or suit (optional), smart coat.

“The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically. Intelligence plus character – that is the goal of true education”.
Martin Luther King Jr.

Broadening Horizons

Bedford Academy Sixth Form can make a real difference to you by providing the right opportunities and continual support.

We recognise leadership as a skill needed to succeed in our modern global community and we seek to develop this potential in all our students. Sixth Form students are part of our vertical tutoring system and have daily contact with younger members of the Academy. This provides obvious opportunities for mentoring and peer education. In addition, we provide a wide range of further opportunities through our ‘leaders for tomorrow’ programme, part of our unique core curriculum.

Commerce and communication encompass skills which are essential for you to meet future challenges. Therefore our students will gain work experience either via a continuous placement or through a block placement of in the summer term of year 12.

All our students are encouraged to develop healthy lifestyles and everyone has two hours a week given over to a wide choice of sport and exercise. Our PHSE programme through the Sixth Form addresses issues pertinent to future and Sixth Form life including financial awareness, study skills, health, careers and university applications.

You will be encouraged to join in and possibly lead the Academy enrichment programme that runs for two hours each day. Additional enrichment activities, targeted specifically for the Sixth Form, will run at various points throughout the year such as trips, visits, discussion days and social events.

You will discover the value of good organisation and working together, along with a willingness to take on new ideas and make things happen. We believe the skills you learn and the friends you make at Sixth Form will be the building blocks you need for a successful future

“I’m a great believer in luck and I find the harder I work, the more I have of it”.
Thomas Jefferson