'Spectacular' 50% rise in applications for college

MORE STUDENTS WANT TO STUDY IN STOCKTON

- By GARETH LIGHTFOOT

COLLEGES and schools in Stockton have had a rise in applications, in one case a “spectacular” 50% increase.

Stockton Council's people select committee heard the promising news, having been told weeks earlier that almost 2,000 students were deciding to leave Stockton to continue their education after GCSEs.

Figures from 2024 to 2025 said over 40% of school leavers in the town were leaving the borough but new stats show applications are up in Stockton.

The Education Training Collective has seen its Stockton Riverside College, Bede Sixth Form College and NETA Training boost their applications by 25%, with 6% more school leavers staying in the borough.

On Monday, February 2, Vanessa Housley, the council's head of education and inclusion, told the committee, which is carrying out a review of post-16 provision, that there was “a really positive picture in Stockton”.

She said: “Stockton Riverside College, the applications are up 20% this year. Stockton Sixth Form College, a spectacular 50% increase in applications there. There's probably about 50 more students applying to Egglescliffe (School and Sixth Form College) at this point in the academic year.”

She said about 695 students in Bede and Stockton Riverside College had come from outside of the borough to study there.