Sixth Form

WELCOME TO THE

SIXTH FORM

My name is Gary Walker and I am Head of Sixth Form. I am responsible for a year group during their time in the Sixth Form and work alongside our Sixth Form deputies, Mary Brereton, Sophie Hull and Teresa Gott as well as our Assistant Head – Higher Education and Careers, Dr Greg Hacksley. I coordinate and manage the pastoral care and academic monitoring for the students in our care.

The School’s Sixth Form provides a stimulating environment for purposeful academic study. Located in Aquis Court, it offers spacious, light, accommodation and excellent study facilities for Sixth Formers, including a large private study area, wifi and The Loop, the newly-refurbished Sixth Form café, serving a variety of snacks, sandwiches and hot and cold drinks.

We work on the assumption that our students have made an active choice to continue with their studies, and are following courses for which they have opted freely and for which they have a genuine motivation. We see A Level study as the prelude to higher education, and a stage in the process not only of learning, but of learning how to learn. Expectations of self-discipline, self-motivation and self-organisation are correspondingly high, but not unrealistically so.

We recognise that a sixteen year old GCSE student does not turn overnight into an embryonic undergraduate, but we wish our students to view the Sixth Form as the first two years of a five-year period, that culminates in the gaining of a degree.

Dr Greg Hacksley

Assistant Head – Higher Education and Careers

I joined St Albans School in 2013 as Assistant Head: Co-Head of Sixth Form. Over the past six years, I have had academic and pastoral oversight for the young men and women in my charge throughout their time in the Sixth Form. In September 2018, I was appointed to the role of Assistant Head: Higher Education and Careers and I now manage and co-ordinate the extensive  support students receive as they prepare for life after school.

Prior to school teaching, I taught English Literature at Rhodes University, South Africa, where I completed my PhD.  I am also a governor at a primary School in Hertford.

Girls in the Sixth Form

St Albans School Sixth Form welcomes girls, who comprise a significant and highly successful cohort of our students.

Girls have the opportunity to take part in the full range of extra-curricular activities, many of which may be new to them, such as the CCF, mountaineering and a wide variety of sports. They enjoy the challenge and sense of achievement which these present. The unique environment and friendly atmosphere at St Albans School encourages girls to gain in confidence in a co-educational environment and makes an ideal transition from school to university. Mrs Gott, one of the Deputy Heads of Sixth Form, has particular responsibility for the welfare of all new entrants into the Sixth Form throughout their two years with us.