As many of our Old Scholars and Sidcotian network know, work has been well underway over the past few terms to renovate our Sixth Form Centre, which was initially opened by Chairman of the Development Committee, George W Ford-Smith in May 1965. 

This was a much needed project (despite the affection held for the upper-floor studies!), particularly to allow Lower and Upper Sixth students to work and collaborate together, preparing them for life after School. In line with our Quaker values of Sustainability, improvements were made to the existing building, with an emphasis on environmental considerations, including solar panels to generate all of the Centre's electricity, and clever air handling units that were installed to heat and provide fresh air efficiently.

The result of this project is staggering: students, parents and Sidcotians alike have given fantastic feedback on their first impressions, and we have already seen its impact in terms of retention and recruitment into Lower Sixth.

This project has also been an extraordinary one in terms of the scale of the support that we have so generously been given by our Sidcotian community. We were lucky enough to receive a £600,000 grant from the Sidcot Building Trust Fund (SBTF) towards the project, and members of the Trust including Wiz Marks and John Highfield joined President Sarah Fulcher at the Easter Reunion to say a few words and ''cut the ribbon" to open the new Centre.

We would also like to give our sincere thanks to the Sidcot Education Trust, the George Cadbury Trust, the Sir James Reckitt Trust, the Quartet Foundation and many more individuals who supported our Sixth Form Campaign and enabled the transformation to happen. We thank parents Emma and Julian Sage and their company Complete CNC Solutions for providing the signage throughout the building, and the daughters of Old Scholar Renė Isaac for donating two beautiful bespoke oak tables to enable the 'Harkness' teaching method to be used in the Centre. This proven pedagogical technique holds equality at its core, in line with our Quaker values, and enables all voices (student and teacher) around the table to be given equal weighting.

We also thank OS Roger Croker for enabling new Sixth Form 'Living Adventurously' Scholarships as part of this campaign project, and the Sidcot School PTA for its support. All donors not wishing to remain anonymous have been listed in a plaque within the new Centre. Without your support, we could not have completed this project, so thank you.

Should you wish to view the new Sixth Form on a private tour, please contact Rachele and Sarah on alumni@sidcot.org.uk and we would be delighted to host you!

PHOTOS CREDIT: Our thanks to OS Dave Harries for the photos taken at Easter included in the gallery below.