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Published: 1st September, 2025

Improving Your Sixth Form: 7 Top Tips for Raising Aspiration in Your Sixth Form

Foreword – from John Philip, Alps Senior Education Consultant

I originally wrote the first edition of 99 Ways to Improve Your Sixth Form in the early 2000s while still teaching at Little Heath School. That decade brought two Ofsted Outstanding judgments, a second SSAT specialism, and a journey that connected me with Alps and PiXL, both of which played significant roles in the development of our sixth form. 

The success of that sixth form and the insights gained from working with schools across the UK and beyond led to what’s now a well-travelled piece of work – continually updated to remain relevant. What strikes me most after 20 years of policy shifts and social change is how enduring the fundamentals of a great sixth form really are.

DOWNLOAD THE FULL VERSION OF “99 WAYS TO IMPROVE YOUR SIXTH FORM – ENGLAND” HERE

7 Top Tips for Raising Aspiration in Your Sixth Form

Tip 1: Set Expectations from the First Day of Term 

Set out your expectations to the students in the first-day assembly. Setting these standards and ensuring they are consistently applied across the curriculum in the first two months defines much of what will happen in the next two years.  

Tip 2: Set Aspirational Target Grades 

Set aspirational ‘target’ grades based on students’ average GCSE grades at the start of Year 12.  

  • Ensure students and teachers are aware of these target grades from their first day of lessons. 
  • Using Alps Connect enables schools to set Level 3 minimum expected grades (MEGs) at the 75th percentile nationally as soon as they know their students’ average GCSE scores. 
  • Consider allowing students to regard these as minimum expectations and allow them to negotiate raised personal challenge targets during their courses.  
  • Where student targets higher than the 75th percentile are agreed, teachers ought to be reassured that they will not be measured against these extra-aspirational grades. 

Tip 3: Ensure Students Understand Their Own Personal Targets 

Explain your target-setting system in your first-day assembly so that students understand and own their personal targets. 

  • Use the assembly to demonstrate how students can aspire to out-perform these targets. 
  • Use Year 13 students who have met or exceeded their targets in Year 12 to explain to the new intake how they achieved their goals – the students will listen very attentively to their peers. 

Tip 4: Encourage Students to Think Ahead to the Future 

Encourage students to think from the beginning of Year 12 about what they can do to maximise their career choices, including their chances of getting on a university course or an apprenticeship of their choice. 

  • Don’t leave accessing UCAS and Unifrog to the Summer Term of Y12. Get students thinking about potential Post-18 pathways and the grades they may require as early as possible. 
  • Ensure that career advice and advice about universities and apprenticeships is accurate and up to date.  
  • Your careers advice should enable all students to make progress and move on to a higher level of qualification, employment, or further training when they are ready to do so.

Tip 5: Encourage Parental Involvement 

Encourage parental involvement and let them know how they can support their daughter or son to succeed in your sixth form. 

  • Engage students’ parents as they start Year 12.  
  • A Year 12 Welcome Evening early in October is a great idea.  
  • Set out high expectations.  
  • Set an aspirational tone.  
  • Provide guidance for students and parents about managing part-time work. 
  • Have subject helpdesks for parents to meet subject teachers and tutors. 

Similarly, the Elephant Group, formed in 2018 by my friend Matt Jones OBE, who I had the privilege to work with as his KS4 & Post-16 PiXL Associate at ARK Globe Academy, is excellent. The Elephant Group is committed to increasing the number of academically gifted non-selective state school students within the UK’s ‘top third’ of universities. 

Tip 6: Develop Relationships with Local Universities 

Develop links with local universities to encourage student aspirations. Arrange visits to subject departments, set up opportunities for students to meet current undergraduates and set up email links. 

Make sure that all students are adequately prepared for university applications and interviews. Unifrog at https://www.unifrog.org/ is excellent. 

Tip 7: Set up a Widening Participation Programme through UCAS 

Consider setting up visits to Oxbridge / Russell Group Universities for gifted and talented students in KS4.  

Oxford’s colleges are developing their regional outreach. While continuing to offer support to schools and colleges within their linked local authority areas (see https://www.ox.ac.uk/oxfordforUK), they will also be prioritising helping local communities currently under-represented in higher education. 

Every part of the UK is linked with a Cambridge College through the Area Links Scheme so that all UK schools and colleges have a dedicated contact for advice and guidance. See https://www.undergraduate.study.cam.ac.uk/area-links 

Bring in the Head of Student Recruitment from your nearest university or use your own alumni students to give workshops or assemblies to raise aspirations with Year 11 students.  

This can form an effective part of a sixth form induction programme that you then revisit regularly. 

Raising Aspiration for Sixth Forms in Wales 

Students from Wales are under-represented at Oxford. To help change this Oxford University launched Oxford Cymru, an extensive community outreach programme, offering bespoke and local support to students of mixed ages, their families and teachers.  

Three Oxford colleges, Jesus College, New College and St Catherine’s College, have joined forces to lead on delivering this exciting new programme.  

Oxford Cymru’s aims are ambitious and split into two key areas: 

  1. Outreach work  
  2. Applications 
  • The Sutton Trust summer schools are 5-day, subject-specific residentials in Cambridge. They aim to give students the full Cambridge student experience whilst also providing them with information and advice to support them during their application process.

DOWNLOAD THE FULL VERSION OF “99 WAYS TO IMPROVE YOUR SIXTH FORM – WALES” HERE

Closing Thoughts from Alps Education 

At Alps, we know that raising aspirations is one of the most powerful levers in transforming sixth form outcomes. John Philip’s seven strategies highlight how clarity, consistency, and ambition – through high expectations, strong parental engagement, and meaningful university links – can help students see what’s possible and take ownership of their future. 

That’s why our KS5 tools – like Alps Connect and Alps Summit – are designed to give school and college leaders the data clarity they need to turn aspiration into action. From value-added analysis to monitoring tools and performance benchmarks, Alps provides a shared language that supports better conversations, sharper interventions, and more ambitious outcomes for every learner. 

If you’re ready to enhance your Post-16 provision with smart, supportive analytics, we’re here to help you make it happen. Book a demo with our friendly team today and see how Alps can support your sixth form’s success.

About the author: John Philip

John started working with Alps in 2008, while he was working at Little Heath Comprehensive School. At Little Heath, John used Alps to achieve top 2% performance in value-added progress. Whilst at Little Heath, John worked with schools regionally and nationally through the SSAT Raising Achievement Partnership Programme. Since leaving Little Heath in 2010, John additionally worked as an associate for many secondary schools through PiXL. 

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John Philip - Senior Educational Consultant
"What strikes me most after 20 years of policy shifts and social change is how enduring the fundamentals of a great sixth form really are."
- John Philip, Alps Senior Education Consultant

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