What do you know about Islington Collegiate Sixth Form - ICS

I’m in year 11 and I am thinking about ICS in north London as I have heard some good things. It’s still quite new which I like as I feel there is a buzz for it to succeed and everyone seems really passionate. I wanted to know what people think. Is it worth it? I have applied but waiting to see.

Hi i go to ics, if u have any questions feel free to private message

Lol don’t worry too much about the interview, I thought i bombed mine but still got in - i guess they care more about ur passion for ur subject than actually getting questions right.
In terms of main strengths, there are loads of strengths but the main ones that come to mind are the small class sizes (largest class in my year has around 12 people, i think the intake for ur year will be larger so take that with a grain of salt). there are also so many supercurricular things on offer, we have basically at least one thing on every week and our teachers tell us about any other opportunities. we’re also a small school so everyone knows each other and it’s very friendly here, i found it so easy to make friends which isn’t the usual for me. the career guidance is also great, teachers regularly check up on what you want to do and advise you on how to get there.
idk what changes there will be, but im sure there will be many - they genuinely take student feedback on board and try to change things for us

maths/fm and psychology are particularly good but all the subjects are taught at a good standard to be honest, but you have to push yourself especially if you’re doing chemistry since we tend to fall behind schedule quite easily. i got offers from laet and woodhouse but i chose ics mainly for the small class sizes and i don’t regret my decision

Yea the psychology teacher was the one interviewing me.
How full on is it? Is it manageable?
They keep taking about ncs. Does that matter much to ICS

That sounds ideal. I’ve only heard good things about it. Do the internals mix with externals well. I hear everyone forgets who is internal or external.

Hi there,
I'm a current Year 13 student at ICS. It's so nice to hear that your considering the sixth form.
In terms of workload there is definitely a large amount of work set, but that is to be expected of any academic sixth form where students are being stretched further. I would say what sets ICS apart is the degree of support that we have provided but then also the quality of work set. After lessons are finished teachers set something called 'consolidation' but then also 'pre learning'. Consolidation is work which goes over what we have covered in class to ensure you have perfected it. Pre learning is the topic that we will be learning next lesson. This work is made easily accessible by the surface devices (Like an Ipad/Tablet) that each student will get from the start of their studies. This structure allows for very fluid and continous learning where nothing is left untouched. Moving onto the academic support. Students are provided with academic tutors for free in subjects which they need more support into or are aiming for a top grade. For example right now I study Bio, Chem, Maths and have free private 1 to 1 tutors that teach me each subject each week for 1hr. Onto mental health services we have links to a CAMS nurse who can deal with anything physical. But then also mental health staff members who you can see for weekly checks ups about anything.
I would say overall its very manageable. If you have a passion for learning and enjoy your subject there should be no reason why anyone could not excel in ICS. The reasons our teachers keep talking about NCS (Our partner school) is because we are modelled against them. They are a very well established school constantly ranking in the top state sixth forms in the UK. The only difference between ICS and NCS is the class size where in my year there are 30 people in NCS there is around 200-300. We follow their exact plan from the slides we cover in class to the exams we sit.
I hope this helps! Any other questions please feel free to ask!!

How would you describe the average day at ICS?
The interviewer told me to go to the taster day to see. How representative is this day of the day to day. Sorry for all the questions

They were talking about societies and debate. Where does all Of that stuff fit in

Also what does the school do to support those who want to study abroad. What’s that programme like

Really good to know. Do you know when offers are coming out at all.

Does anyone know what the average sorts of GCSE grades are of those who got into Islington collegiate?