Woodhouse is a popular and oversubscribed sixth form college in Barnet. Our students are aged 16–18 years and come from over 180 different schools across North London.
Based in North Finchley and drawing students from over 180 surrounding schools, Woodhouse College is one of the leading places to study A levels in London. Our consistently high performance in exam results backs this up. The government recognizes us as one of a small number of colleges with both Beacon Status and Ofsted Outstanding status. Our A*–B pass rates consistently place us in the top five sixth-form colleges nationally.
Our students are able and hard-working. They have done well at GCSE and aim to do likewise at A level. Almost all go on to university. The college acts as a bridge from school to university, giving students a chance to grow in confidence and to develop independent learning skills. All our students study A levels. We offer a wide range of subjects, and students can study them in almost any combination.
Our combination of expert teaching staff and an ambitious, supportive approach has proved very successful in achieving excellent academic results. We believe that sixth form college should be a stepping stone between school and university, a place where you can start to become an independent learner, and where you are supported to become the person you want to be.
We provide a happy, trusting, and caring environment where you can challenge yourself and explore a whole range of opportunities. Woodhouse is as much about personal growth as it is about exam success.
People ask if we are a specialist school, and we are. Our specialism is A level. That’s all we do. No little ones doing Key stage 3. Our teachers don’t rush from a difficult year 9 class for a bit of a breather with the year 13s. And we are not an FE college – no adults, no part-time students, or vocational courses. Just A levels, just enthusiastic students keen to do well and to progress to university.
The fact that we specialize in A levels means that we have a big range of subjects – and perhaps the key thing is that they can be studied in almost any combination. When I was at school I was desperate to take maths and history at A level, my two favorite subjects. And I couldn’t. Because they were in the same block: I could only take maths or history. Last year, with around 650 new AS students, not one student had a clash, not one couldn’t do the combination they wanted.
And the fact that we specialize in A levels means we have excellent study facilities – take a look today at our breath-taking library and two learning zones, and our labs and other accommodation, and our 3G pitch. And it also means that our staff are specialists too, experts in their subjects and A level pedagogy and assessment. And you might be surprised at our class sizes too, the average across the college is just over 20 with no class over 24.
And it means that we specialize in advice and guidance in the university application process, that all our staff is involved, and that there is plenty of support and expertise – because 95% of our students go on to university, see us as a bridge to university - so we see it as part of the core of who we are.
Our students are proud to be part of the College, and when they leave they are upset and tell us how much the college has meant to them. And they continue to be part of our community even after they have left, on Twitter, Facebook, and our alumni organization, many coming back to give talks and to mentor students.
We are quite a large college, most of our new students say. But actually, overall we are only the size of a medium comprehensive school. Although we have a lot of buildings and spread out over a large site, we are smaller than many of the schools you go to. Smaller than Ashmole, East Barnet, Mill Hill County, Fortismere, APS, Highgate Wood, for example. And we have smaller class sizes than many sixth forms, especially in popular subjects. But, of course, the year groups are big – because everyone is in Year 12 or year 13.
