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- 2nd Oct 2026
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Why you shouldn’t miss RGS’s Sixth Form Open Evening this month
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Thinking about life after GCSEs? Royal Grammar School Newcastle’s Sixth Form combines the energy, choice, and independence of a large Sixth Form with the individual support and sense of community students need to thrive.
With more than 350 students, it is one of the largest co-educational Sixth Forms in the independent sector, bringing together RGS students and those joining from schools across the region.
Its Open Evening on Thursday 15th October is a chance for students and families to experience that combination for themselves and start imagining what their own Sixth Form journey could look like.
RGS SIXTH FORM OPEN EVENING
Thursday 15th October
Running from 17:00 to 18:30, this is a flexible, drop-in event, so you can arrive and leave whenever suits your evening. There’s a short overview talk, the chance to meet senior staff and the Admissions team, and time to speak directly with subject specialists about A Level choices.
For prospective students, it’s a chance to ask the questions that really matter: what lessons are like, how much independence you’ll have, what there is to get involved in and what it’s like joining RGS at 16. The Futures team will be on hand to talk through university pathways and career development, and current students will share what Sixth Form life is actually like day to day.
An information area covers admissions timelines, subject combinations, co-curricular opportunities, pastoral support and bursaries, with light refreshments served throughout. The evening is designed around conversations rather than tours, giving students and families plenty of opportunity to ask questions and explore their options. Those looking to tour the school can do so at the more in-depth Open Morning in November.
THE RGS SIXTH FORM DIFFERENCE
Students join RGS’s Sixth Form from a wide range of schools each year, alongside its own Year 11 cohort, and settle quickly into one inclusive community.
A broad choice of subjects sits at the centre of the experience, giving students room to pursue existing strengths or take a genuine punt on something new. Alongside a wide range of A-Levels, including the traditional STEM options and new subjects such as Business Studies and Photography, students can also choose vocational pathways such as BTEC Sport and Science, creating a Sixth Form experience that is broad, flexible and responsive to different interests, ambitions and ways of learning.
Academic outcomes are consistently strong, with students progressing to a wide range of universities and higher education destinations. Recent students have gone on to study at institutions including Oxford and Cambridge, as well as universities across the UK, USA and Europe, pursuing an exciting breadth of courses. Others have secured competitive degree apprenticeships, combining higher-level study with valuable professional experience.
The aim is not to prescribe a particular destination, but to help every student identify the pathway that is right for them and give them the knowledge, confidence and support to pursue it.
LIFE BEYOND THE TIMETABLE
Sixth Formers get full access to RGS’s co-curricular programme, spanning sport, music, drama, and academic societies, alongside a varied enrichment scheme. Cookery, set design, Mandarin, flash animation and British Sign Language have all featured on recent timetables. Many students also take up voluntary service, giving their time to support other schools or local businesses, which builds real-world experience alongside a sense of contribution.
There’s a dedicated Common Room too, with a relaxed social space and coffee bar downstairs and quieter study areas upstairs. This all adds up to a Sixth Form experience that gives students greater independence, while keeping them firmly part of the wider life of the school.
PASTORAL SUPPORT THAT GOES THE DISTANCE
Sixth Form brings exciting opportunities, but also important decisions. At RGS, students have a strong network around them, including their tutor, Head and Assistant Head of Year, Sixth Form team and specialist advisers. From settling into Sixth Form life to navigating subject choices, university applications, and decisions about what comes next, support is there when students need it. That individual guidance matters in a Sixth Form of this size: students benefit from the opportunities of a large community without getting lost within it
“Education isn’t just about grades,” Miss Enevoldson, Head of RGS Sixth Form, explains. “It’s about preparing young people to enter the world as confident, capable, and kind individuals. That’s what we aim to do at RGS Sixth Form.”
Rachael Ellis
Head of Content
After gaining a first in her BA Media and Journalism degree at Northumbria University, Rachael worked at Newcastle’s leading regional newspaper with her stories being picked up in national and global newspapers. She spent two very successful years giving a voice to those communities across the North East who otherwise…
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