ONE term on and Alton College says its new and innovative approach to timetabling, which launched in September, has been a great success.

The college has moved away from the traditional model to one with fewer longer lessons that provides up to 50 hours more teaching time each year, more time for extra-curricular activities such as the Alton College Experience programme, and a 10am start and 4pm finish for students.

The New College Day has been the biggest change for the college for nearly 40 years. Like most other schools and sixth-form colleges in the UK, it has offered a traditional timetable since it opened to its first cohort in 1978.

Alton College was one of the first purpose-built sixth forms in the country and one of the first to be graded ‘outstanding’ by Ofsted in three consecutive inspections.

East Hampshire MP Damian Hinds, the newly-appointed Secretary of State for Education, describes it as “a jewel in East Hampshire’s crown”.

This year was another exceptional year of above-national average results for the college, with 99.2 per cent of students passing their A-Levels (with more than threequarters being awarded A*-C grades) while everyone who took the Extended Project Qualification achieved A*-C with 100% pass rate and of the vocational students who achieved, more than 79 per cent did so with the highest grades.

The college boasts a 16-acre modern university-style campus and 29 per cent of the college’s A-Level students achieve a first-class honours degree compared with the national average of 22 per cent for sixth-form colleges and school sixth forms.

Sara Russell, principal at Alton College, said: “We took the decision to adapt our current traditional model based on academic research and feedback over time from students and members of the college community. The main benefit is that the new day provides students with increased teaching time, around one-and-a-half hours a week which is more than most other colleges and school sixth forms offer.

“We launched in September and our students are already waxing lyrical over it.

“We knew older teenagers learned better later in the morning and when academic research from various universities, including the University of Oxford, showed this, we felt it was time for change.

“We have restructured the timetable to give fewer gaps between lessons. This means students now start at 10am and finish at 4pm each day (although the college is open from 8.30am-5pm).

“We provide two longer lessons per day and the students find they have so much more time to really investigate a topic. It certainly doesn’t mean students sit passively being taught for hours, it is active learning, and there are breaks. Another benefit of the new day is that there is now more free time for enrichments and opportunities for work experience.”

She added: “We also began a new enrichment programme in September called the Alton College Experience (ACE) specially designed to provide students with the opportunity to enhance their skills and personal qualities to give them an edge when applying for university or employment. Our New College Day and flexible timetable allows all students to work on the ACE skills alongside their A-Level, BTEC/Cambridge Technical and GCSE courses.”

Sara continued: “The programme is divided into three segments – Academic: to give students the chance to develop their academic performance; Community: an opportunity to enhance CVs and UCAS applications; and Enrichment and Employability: a chance to strengthen and improve skills through a wide range of activities from sport and music to entrepreneurial courses and business focused workshops. ACE gives students the chance to meet new people, widen their interests and develop skills outside the classroom.”

The move to the new college day is grounded in academic research. Studies have shown students learn significantly better later in the day and that an early start time is not optimum for teenagers.

Colin Epsie, professor of sleep medicine at the Nuffield department of clinical neurosciences at the University of Oxford, said: “We know that something funny happens when you’re a teenager, in that you seem to be out of sync with the world.

“Your parents think it’s because you’re lazy and opinionated and everything would be okay if you could get to sleep earlier. But science is telling us that teenagers need to sleep more in the mornings.”

Jon Myers, the college’s vice-principal, said: “We have discussed our new timetable model with a number of academics both at home and internationally and all have commented that our planned model will help students to learn. Dr Paul Kelley, of the Open University (and formerly research associate at the Nuffield department of clinical neurosciences), says teenage years are critical for both education and health.

“During late adolescence, major physical changes mean teenagers need more sleep. In addition, biological changes occur, making them naturally wake up and go to sleep later in the day. So later starting times protect student sleep and student health. The 10am start improves learning, partly because students will be in better health, and partly because teenagers and university students learn better later in the day.”

In another study, which monitored a school adopting a 10am start for two years, researchers found that in the second year of implementing the later start time, student absence due to illness had reduced by 50 per cent.

Individual student support has also been developed in light of the timetable change and tutor sessions now take place at the end of the morning lesson, with the teacher who has just taught the lesson. This is a 15-minute session with a small group of students focusing on academic progress and progression.

There is also a large group ‘forum’ session for students each week where specialist staff will cover a range of issues from college notices to UCAS and apprenticeships and resilience to cyber safety.

Current students confirm they are enjoying the benefits of the New College Day.

In a recent survey, more than 96 per cent agreed they like the longer blocked lessons and would recommend the timetable to prospective students while 97 per cent said they are in favour of the 10am start.

Student Zak Angell, previously of Eggar’s School in Holybourne, said the New School Day was a contributing factor in his decision to attend Alton College.

“The later start is great, it means we are up and concentrating at the start of the lessons rather than rushing to get there on time. Getting up at 5am to make it to Winchester seemed silly when I can get up for Alton College at 8am and fit in some studying before lessons start,” he said.

Lucy Bayliss, previously of Amery Hill School, added: “The longer lessons work well and there’s so much more energy in class than at school as everyone is taking subjects they want to study. We can fully focus on subjects and we cover a lot of content. There is time for several different activities and breaks fall at appropriate times in the lesson rather than at set times.”

Nicola Kingsley, director of learning, was of similar opinion.

“Traditional one-hour lessons waste so much time. Forever recapping and refreshing what happened last lesson or students investigating something one lesson and presenting their findings the next by which time, focus is often diminished.

“The two or three-hour lesson in contrast means starting and finishing a topic in a session without having to break off in the middle, which means even better learning for students.”