About us
Hills Road is a friendly, caring and supportive College community committed to offering the best opportunities possible for its students.
About us
Hills Education Trust
Consultation for Hills Education Trust
Hills Road Sixth Form College is looking to create a Multi Academy Trust (MAT) within which it would initially be a sole 16-to-19 Academy.
The new MAT will be known as Hills Education Trust – a trust created for the purpose of delivering high quality progression pathways at 16 and 18 – for the young people of Cambridgeshire and the surrounding area. The intended start date will be 1st September 2025.
Consultation timeline and your response
| Date | 1 April 2025 |
|---|---|
| Action | Public consultation opens |
| Date | 12 May 2025 |
|---|---|
| Action | Public consultation closes |
| Date | 6 June 2025 |
|---|---|
| Action | Consultation outcome and response published |
| Date | 1 September 2025 |
|---|---|
| Action | Proposed date for the conversion of Hills Road Sixth Form College to a 16-19 Academy within the Hills Education Trust. |
About Hills Road Sixth Form College
Hills Road Sixth Form College has almost 3,000 16-19 students, studying a programme from a selection of 36 A level subjects as well as the Future Ready Programme, consisting of the Extended Project Qualification, Year 12 Enrichment and Tutorials. The College is oversubscribed every year, having developed a national reputation for excellence. The college has topped government performance league tables in almost every year since their inception over 30 years ago. It has achieved Outstanding status in every Ofsted category and framework so far.
To remain a potential 16-19 progression route for all students equally, the College is seeking to retain its independence as a separate Multi Academy Trust (MAT). This would allow us to maintain our commitment to welcoming students from every Trust and background to provide an academic 16-19 option for students from all local schools.
Our vision
With increased numbers of young people set to move through the 16-19 phase of education in the next five years – even before accounting for the government’s plan for growth for Cambridge – Hills Education Trust would be well placed to be part of the solution for providing increased 16-19 places in the future.
To do so, our vision is to create an academy trust that will operate Hills Road Sixth Form College and potentially any new provision opportunities or partnerships in the region as they arise.
Our consultation is open for responses. You have until 12 May 2025 to submit your response!
Have your sayWho benefits
In creating Hills Education Trust, we will be joining our partner schools in the academies sector. We are excited at the opportunities this will present to further develop our partnership with local education sectors for the wider benefit of young people across multiple phases of education.
Current and future students and parents
With ambitious growth and infrastructure projections for Cambridge as part of the economic investment in the Oxford / Cambridge arc, there will be many more 16-year-olds in the future. Hills Education Trust would like to be part of the solution to meet that growth need. By creating a Multi Academy Trust focusing on academic progression pathways to 18, we would be well placed to respond to future need.
Hills Road staff
By positioning ourselves to grow as an academy trust as opportunities arise to operate 16-19 new provision, staff will benefit from a greater number of career progression opportunities.
Our wider community
Hills Road Sixth Form College will increase its financial resilience as an organisation, given the ability it will afford us to reclaim VAT worth almost £250,000 a year, and we should be better placed to continue to deliver an outstanding educational experience for the area’s future potential workforce.
Your feedback is important to us. Please complete our consultation questionnaire by 12 May 2025.
Have your sayAdditional information
From the local Area Review and dialogue since, we know that local schools, their students and parents are keen that we remain independent from any one school or academy trust. Were we to join an existing academy trust that contained one or more 11-16 schools locally, there is the prospect that this might suggest (even if only in perception) a preferential status to the students from this Trust’s schools. By maintaining our independence from any one 11-16 school, or group of schools, we can ensure that all Cambridgeshire students applying for post-16 progression receive equal consideration.
In September 2024, a new Trust was created between Long Road Sixth Form College and The Sixth Form College, Colchester. Hills Road did not match the requirements for inclusion in that Trust at its creation. The chosen name of Hills Education Trust is to signal that we are focused on retaining our educational experience and ethos as Hills Road, very much remaining who we are and retaining what we do best.
