About Our Colleges

Drawing in students from across Wakefield, Leeds, Barnsley and Selby, New College Pontefract enrols over 2700 students from a region with an average child poverty rate of 25%, but with neighbourhoods where this reaches up to 31%, 37% and 39%. Only 7 of the 20 secondary schools from which the college recruits have an above average Progress 8 score, and HE progression is below the national average.  

New College Pontefract has continued to grow and succeed since its 2014 “outstanding” Ofsted report. Since then, it has remained in the top five sixth form colleges included in the DfE league tables for achievement, and in 2020 won both the coveted TES Sixth Form College of the Year award and TES Best Overall FE Provider of the Year award, becoming the first sixth form college in the country to do so.  In the 2021 results, 68.5% of students achieved A*-B at A-Level and 90.8% achieved a Distinction or above in Applied General courses.

Based in the suburb of Auckley, New College Doncaster welcomed their first cohort in September 2017, and now has over 1300 students. Doncaster has a range of challenges as a region: one third of children live in poverty; more people of working age claim benefits than in the rest of England; participation in post-16 education is below the national average, and only 4 out of 18 schools have an above average Progress 8 score.  

Yet despite this, New College Doncaster has quickly built a reputation for being the strongest provider of 16-19 education in the Doncaster area. In 2019, it topped the DfE’s table for student progress at A-Level in any Doncaster school or college, whilst achievement rates for that year placed the college fourth in the DfE’s data for all sixth form colleges across the country. In the 2021 results, all students passed their Level 3 courses, with 61% of students achieving A* – B at A-Level and 98% achieving a Distinction or Distinction* in Applied General courses. 

Situated in the heart of the city centre, New College Bradford is working with 1300 students in one of the most educational demanding contexts in the country. Only 42% of schools in the region are graded “good” or “outstanding” by Ofsted, compared to a national average of 76%. Bradford is the fifth most deprived local authority in England, and 29% of children live below the poverty line.  

Within that context, New College Bradford has already established itself as one of the leading post-16 providers in the region, reporting a 100% pass rate across all Level 3 courses. In the 2021 results, 58% of students achieved A* – B at A-Level and 89% achieved a Distinction or Distinction* in Applied General courses.