LAST month students in Sutton’s Plantsbrook School Sixth Form celebrated what are expected to be the best A Level results in its history.
With pupils getting an average grade of B, these results followed a multi-million-pound rebuild at the Upper Holland Road school, with an impressive new building, high-tech facilities and a bright, open learning environment.
But while these new surroundings no doubt played a big part in the A level success, Plantsbrook’s teachers believe the way pupils are encouraged to take responsibility for their own personal development has played a bigger part.
This ‘lessons in life’ approach encourages sixth formers to step out of their comfort zones – by raising money for charity, reaching out to the community and acting as mentors to younger pupils.
Head of Plantsbrook School Sixth Form Lisa Proctor explained: “We encourage a level of independence and responsibility around the students’ own studies. Last year the pupils knew where they wanted to be, they set their sights on it and they made sure that they got there. We were over the moon with the A level results. The students excelled themselves.
“But it’s not just about academic achievement. It’s about equipping them for the real world, and giving them the life skills they need to walk out of this door and feel confident.
“If you help pupils develop those skills, their studies benefit too. The two things go hand in hand.”
Charity and community work is a key part of this approach. Plantsbrook’s sixth formers have raised £5700 for good causes in the last year, with pupils volunteering to take part in all kinds of activities.
“It’s not just about academic achievement. It’s about equipping them for the real world, and giving them the life skills they need to walk out of this door and feel confident,”
– Head of Sixth Form Lisa Proctor
The school also has a ‘student leaders’ programme which encourages pupils to take an active role in how Plantsbrook is run, and help organise events.
Isabel Pearse, 18, has now left Plantsbrook and is about to begin reading French and Italian at St John’s College, Oxford.
“At Christmas me and my friends, from the student leaders, visited Beech Hill Grange nursing home,” she said.
“We got a collection from all the Sixth Form and bought chocolates, then we bought Christmas cards, which individual sixth formers wrote and signed, so each of the home’s residents could open a card from a young person.
“I think they really appreciated us just being there and chatting to them.”
Sara Ahmed, 18, who is visually impaired, is a ‘repeating student’, meaning she is now in her third year of Sixth Form at Plantsbrook.
Having got to know the lay-out of the old school intimately, Sara was at first daunted at the prospect of the massive new building.
But she was encouraged to take each day at a time. She is now flourishing, and has taken a leading role in improving the school’s recycling.
“It was weird at first, thinking ‘this is Plantsbrook now’ because it all looked so different,” she said. “I thought ‘oh my gosh I’m not going to remember where anything is,
“But the teachers really helped me in terms of my mindset, not just academia. I was encouraged not to worry about the future but work towards the ‘now’ – which is why I managed to do it.”
Seventeen-year-old Isobel Brown, another student leader, was involved in collecting supplies for the Foodbank based at the United Reformed Church in Sutton, and the school’s annual Poppy Appeal.
“We went around to different forms collecting cans and tins and things that we could use for FoodBanks,” she said. “I also went into assemblies and talked to the younger pupils about the appeal, which was scary at first – but it’s something you learn to do.”
Rhys Miles, 17, who is hoping to attend Oxford, plays clarinet and saxophone and conducts the school orchestra each morning.
A member of Birmingham Schools Symphony Orchestra, Rhys says the experience has helped him communicate his ideas better.
“The orchestra is made up of younger children from Year 7 through to Year 13,” he said. “I lead them, conduct them and try to get the best out of the student you can.
“It’s a big responsibility but very rewarding.”
He believes Plantsbrook’s approach benefits the whole school, not just the sixth formers who are encouraged to broaden their horizons.
“It’s good because the younger children have got someone to look up to and someone to aspire to,” he said. “They think ‘if I can see them doing it, why can’t I do that too?”
Lauren Ross and Grace Sparrow, who are both aged 17, have reached the top of the tree – they have just been appointed the school’s ‘Senior Student Leaders’ after being interviewed by headteacher Tracy Campbell.
They both played an important role in Plantsbrook’s FoodBank appeal, hosting assemblies and collecting tins, which resulted in three carloads of food being donated by pupils.
“I think you get sheltered a lot by teachers and your parents in the lower years, so it’s a big step going into sixth form,” Lauren said.
“So delivering assemblies to 200 children, or going to speak to people outside of school really helps with your confidence.”
Grace added: “It also helps you for university, because we’ve had to organise things with other people in other years who we don’t know as well, which is what it will be like at university.”
Arjun Phull, 16, is now a sixth former. He benefited from the school’s mentoring scheme, when his friend Havan Howrami, 18, supported him with his English work. Havan was a lower sixth former at the time.
Arjun said: “Last year, when I was doing my GCSEs, I was struggling in my English a bit so Harvan, who was a sixth former, helped me. He gave me revision resources and came into my lessons as well.
Harvan added: “It was good to do it with Arjun. Because I knew him personally I was able to just go in and help him. We were linked on social media too, so I could even help him when he was at home – he could just ask me.
It was nice to see grades improve and to have played a part in it. I would never have thought about doing mentoring, but sixth form makes you think outside the box, move out of your comfort zone.”
Dozens of students in Plantsbrook School Sixth Form are ‘buddied’ with GCSE students in the same way.
Jamie Tubb, 18, is a centre back in the sixth form football team and has also mentored younger children.
“The whole of the sixth form formed one football team which was really good fun, and brought us together. We made it to the cup final – unfortunately we lost, but it was a real experience. We’ll try to win it this year!
“It made us close-knit as a group. We had each others’ backs and had a real team ethic.”
Seventeen-year-olds Aaliyah Bent and Caitlin Plant volunteered to spend months helping young Year 7 pupils who were struggling with their reading.
“We got to know them really well and we saw them around school and it was good for them to get to know someone in the sixth form,” Aaliyah said. “Every week you could tell they were getting a bit more confident.”
Caitlin said: “It’s very rewarding. You feel like you’ve helped them and you could see they were more able by the end of it. It gave us a sense of responsibility. You wanted to be there for them.”
Miss Proctor believes that while the new facilities used by Plantsbrook School Sixth Form have galvanised the efforts of staff and pupils alike, the school’s approach to sixth form life has been instrumental in its A level success.
“Our sixth formers are much more independent, and much more responsible for their own learning.
“That’s why I’m so proud of what they have achieved – they have truly excelled.”
For more news about Plantsbrook School, click here.