“Not a done deal” – Okehampton College sixth form funding crisis sparks concern

A rallying call has been made to find ways to keep Okehampton College’s sixth form open as it faces a funding crisis due to a drop in student numbers.

Closing post-16 education from 2027 is one option for the college, which has suffered a falling Year 12 intake over the last couple of years and only has 12 students signed up for September from a cohort of 200.

Numbers have dropped in part because of the reinstatement of the rail service between Okehampton and Exeter, making it easier for students to attend the city college, which offers a broader range of A-levels.

But parents, students and councillors who attended a drop-in session at the college this week spoke passionately about the pastoral care and quality of teaching at the sixth form, which one former pupil called the jewel in the crown of the school.

Rachel Shaw, CEO of the Dartmoor Multi Academy Trust (DMAT), which runs the college, reassured people that it was not a “done deal” and they would “fight tooth and nail to find solutions” to keep it going.

A decision on the sixth form’s future will be made by trustees after the public consultation ends next month.

Ms Shaw said she took on the job last year because she is “passionate about trying to keep education in rural areas.”

“The absolutely last thing we want to do is to close the sixth form, so if we can rally people and get more students, then we will fight tooth and nail to find solutions to the situation we currently find ourselves in,” she said.

She said she was pleased with the attendance at the drop-in sessions, which showed people are concerned about the potential closure.

“We want people to be passionate about it. When people are bothered, we can get traction. Tonight, parents made suggestions to me, so we will explore those and see what other levers we can try and pull to make this happen.

“I totally understand why parents would be suspicious and think it is a done deal. I hope after meeting myself and the principal tonight, they can see that no one in education wants to close anything, and we are desperately trying to find a way to make it viable. But we are where we are with the numbers and the funding that comes alongside that to run a provision.”

Currently, the school has 48 students in Year 12 and 42 in Year 13, with average class sizes around seven pupils.

DMAT said it is becoming increasingly difficult to offer either the broad or specialist curriculum available at other schools or colleges.

If the sixth form does close, current students will complete their studies, but post-16 provision would be closed to new students from 2027.

Other options include continuing with a Level 2-only offer, which includes GCSEs or vocational equivalents like BTECs, often a stepping stone for students who haven’t achieved the required grades for Level 3 (A-level) study, or a reduced, very limited Level 2 and 3 offer.

Mother of four boys, Hannah Ramsey, said she is devastated by the closure plans.

“It’s going to be a terrible thing for the community. I can’t imagine how my elder children would have fared if they had been forced to go to Exeter College, as the environment would not have suited them.

“They were well looked after and nurtured, and they achieved at Okehampton College. If they had had to go to Exeter, where it is a much busier and noisier environment and staff didn’t necessarily know who they were, I don’t think they would have thrived in the same way.”

Having trained as a teacher, she said she knew that schools and colleges which provide A-level education attract a higher calibre of teaching staff, so teaching quality could potentially be affected at the lower levels if the sixth form were to close.

She and other parents said the school has struggled since Covid with leadership, having had several changes in principal and heads of sixth form. It currently has an Ofsted rating of “requires improvement,” whereas a decade ago it was rated “outstanding.”

They said this had an impact on students staying on for sixth form.

A-level student Kathryn Ilott said the biggest issue was trying to shift the view younger pupils had of Okehampton College to one that was more positive.

She said the school needs to work harder at engaging with lower years and help them see the sixth form differently from lower school.

“Sixth form is a very different place in any school, as all students actually want to be there and to learn,” she said.

Former pupil and farmer Richard Smallwood said the sixth form was “transformative” in his life, and both his children had attended and had good experiences.

“The pastoral care is just incredible. Post-16 education here is the jewel in the crown of the school. I would suggest that in my children’s time and mine, most kids would look up and aspire to being part of the post-16.

“Exeter College is great and has a huge wide offer, but I believe Okehampton offers something very special in its pastoral care and brings out the best in some of the children who are not quite ready to go forward.

“My son is so grateful for the extracurricular maths work he had that benefited him every step of the way through university.

“We need to look at the college’s offer and rethink and reinvest. The facilities are here, the teaching staff are here, and they are supremely dedicated.”

County councillor for Okehampton Rural, James Grainger (Reform UK), said some people at the meeting felt the college is not selling itself to students “meanwhile the colleges next to it are looking new, shiny and flash and offering the world, and young people were being drawn to that.”

“I think there is an element of short-termism in this. We have an increasing population, and maybe in 15 years’ time we are going to be kicking ourselves, thinking we could really do with it.

“If you take it away, you get rid of the opportunity for lots of people in the future because once this is gone it will be very difficult to get back.”

District councillor Caroline Mott (Con, Bridestowe) said pupils who live outside Okehampton and go to Exeter or Tavistock College could face 12-hour days.

Okehampton College principal Gareth Smith, who has been in post for nine months, said he believed the college’s relationships with students should be enough to sell the sixth form and that he intended to give the college strong leadership.

“I have been quite clear with staff and parents that I want to stay here. The school needs a leader who will stick around so the students know they have someone who loves and cares for them.”