BraintreeSixth Form is a school Sixth Form centre for educating 16- to 19-year-olds in Braintree, Essex, England. It is located approximately 15 miles east of Stansted Airport in north Essex. Up until 1981 post 16 education in Braintree took place in Sixth Forms located in each of the town's schools. In 1981 Essex County Council closed the separate Sixth Forms at the Schools in Braintree and moved post 16 education to a new purpose built FE college, , later becoming part of the Colchester Institute. The opening of in 2009 marks a return to school based Sixth Form education in Braintree.
Development and opening
In 2006 Notley High School was awarded High Performing Specialist Status because of its examination results. Schools with High Performing Status are allowed to take on a new specialism and so the school chose to specialise in vocational learning. This allowed the school to exercise the legal presumption in favour of opening a Sixth Form. The Secondary schools in Braintree are strongly committed to collaborating and working together to benefit the children of Braintree and so a decision was taken by the governors of Notley High School that the new Sixth Form should not be a Sixth Form for just Notley students, it should instead be for the benefit of the whole of Braintree. A decision was therefore taken to name the new Sixth Form as "Braintree Sixth Form." The LSC gave approval for the opening of the Sixth Form in December 2006 and Essex County Council formally approved the plan on 16 January 2007. The LSC then committed approximately £6 million to fund the costs of building and developing the new Sixth Form building, subject to formal planning consent which was given on 26 October 2007. The new Sixth Form building was constructed on land adjacent to Notley High School. The building project took place between March 2008 and August 2009 and the completed building was handed over in August 2009. The Sixth Form formally opened with its student body on Wednesday 2 September 2009. The formal opening of the Sixth Form took place on Wednesday 7 October 2009 with Dorothy Gardner, the first headteacher of Notley High School and Angela Comfort, the first chair of Governors of Notley High School, carrying out the unveiling of the commemorative plaque. The four schools collaborating for the benefit of Braintree Sixth Form are: , Tabor Academy, and . The schools provide the staff to the Sixth Form and support the ethos and culture of high expectations which permeates the Sixth Form.
The curriculum
The Sixth Form curriculum includes A levels and the IB Diploma. The subjects available each year are listed on the Sixth Form website In addition to academic programmes the Sixth Form offers enrichment opportunities which include the Duke of Edinburgh's Award and a range of voluntary options.
The building and facilities
The Sixth Form building contains two purpose built science labs, two large ICT rooms, fifteen general purpose classrooms, a Sixth Form library, cafe and a large theatre which is shared with the Braintree Arts Theatre
Admissions and applications
The Sixth Form is very significantly oversubscribed. There were approximately 300 applications for the 150 places available in September 2009.
