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News16th December 2024

Ark Sixth Form students twice as likely to attend university

Ark is committed to ensuring that students graduating from our sixth forms can pursue the university or career of their choice. This year, 83 percent of our graduates progressed to university, compared to 37 percent nationally. Of those progressing,70 percent secured a place at top-third university, 31 percentage points higher than the national average of 38 percent.

Importantly, students from disadvantaged backgrounds were nearly three times as likely to progress to university (85% vs. 29%) and around six times more likely to progress to top-third destinations than disadvantaged students nationally (60% vs. 10%).

Students enrolled in the Professional Pathways programme – which offers bespoke wraparound curriculum to complement the core BTEC qualification – were nine  times more likely to attend top-third universities compared to  BTEC students nationally.

Ten students secured places at Oxford or Cambridge and 33 students landed high-quality apprenticeships at organisations such as Bloomberg, KPMG, PwC, Accenture, Network Rail and the NHS.

Not only have our students gone on to great destinations, but our bursary programme is also supporting 58 students with their tuition and university costs. Marshall Wace, Urbanest, the Reuben Foundation and the London Neighbourhood Scholarship Trust have awarded bursaries totaling £970,000. Seventy-six percent of the awardees are the first generation in their family to attend university.

Sarah Taunton, Head of Destinations at Ark, said, “We want to express our gratitude to all of the partners, donors and school leaders who have been instrumental in our students’ success. Partnerships are essential in providing our students with the resources and opportunities to pursue their dream destinations.”