ABSTRACT
The earliest comprehensive schools were the all-through 11–18 type, and might have been seen as the forerunners of a national system of schools all of which had sixth forms. However, subsequent schemes and current plans feature this kind of school less often, and among the more common alternatives is the sixth form centre. A number of local authorities have introduced sixth form centres with short-course comprehensive feeder schools, including Cambridgeshire, Cardiff, Croydon, Lancashire, Northampton-shire, Norwich, Somerset and Warwickshire. Central School sixth form centre was another of the twelve institutions of post-sixteen education which were the subject of original investigation. There is both a persistence of old friendship patterns and a making of new ones, and there is a successful integration into the social life of the school and an acceptance of the responsibilities of the sixth form.
