Suitable for:
Head Teachers/Principals and SLT: Strategic overview of policy and funding horizon for 2026/7.
Head of Sixth: Confidence that your curriculum, structure, recruitment and retention are funding compliant.
Bursar/Finance/Business Manager: Confidence that, operationally, your centre is earning and claiming accurate and optimum funding.
Data/Exams Officer: Confidence that your October return and funding related data in the Census is accurate and DfE compliant.
(Traditionally a management and data colleague will attend)
Who are the Sixth Form Funding & Funding Data Masterclasses for?
Masterclass Part 1: Understanding Sixth Form Funding & Its Flexibilities
- How the funding will work and has changed for 2026-27. Including the new learning hours requirements, new funding rates and programme weighting reform.
- How your curriculum, intake, retention, learner age and re-takes impact funding.
- Sixth-form/sixth form class sizes and issues of viability.
- Premiums in the funding: Disadvantage, ALS, the Retention Factor, Large Programme funding top-up.
- Penalties in the funding: post-Census recruits, maths and English Condition of Funding, the Retention Rate.
- Embracing the super flexible funding options for both qualification and non-qualification activity.
- Funding for technical routes; programme weighting and premium funded courses.
Masterclass Part 2: Legitimately Optimise Your Sixth Form Funding Entitlement
• Complementary access to our new Sixth Form Funding Review Tool
• How the sixth form data you present to the DfE acts as your invoice.
• Where and how up to 50% of sixth forms under-claim or lose funding annually.
• Planning and recording qualification and non-qualification activity.
• Accurately recording in-year changes and maximising retention.
• The best ways to check your data for funding purposes.
Cost, dates and timings
- Cost: £199 + VAT for one delegate. 10% discount for two bookings from the same institution. 20% discount for two + bookings from the same institution. (Includes complementary access to the Sixth Form Funding Review Tool)
- 2026 dates: Friday July 10 & Friday September 25 only
- Times: 9.30 -12.15 for full masterclass – online via Microsoft teams
What have previous attendees said?
“Guys – just a short note to say thank you for the training session. My post event follow-up has unearthed £67,886 of data errors we have now cracked!”
“Basically, we didn’t know what we were doing – and we must of lost thousands because of it. This course massively brought that home and changed the whole way we ran our sixth form.”
“By some distance, the best funding training I have ever been on.”
‘Superb session all round.’
‘An invaluable day, best CPD on this topic by some distance’
‘Very, well organised, great resources, great speakers – extremely thorough. Thank you very much for inviting me’
‘Fantastic, kept me fully engaged even though it had a focus on data.’
‘Really concise and clear breakdown of difficult subject. Wish I had taken this course last year.’
‘Very, very knowledgeable speaker with lots of research to back up their arguments. The ability to field wide ranges of questions with ease was very impressive and much appreciated’
‘I will be contacting you for further ideas/help/advice. A thoroughly useful INSET – fabulous – thanks’
‘Thank you for saving me weeks wading thorough all the confusing DfE guidance.’
Do you provide in-school support?
We can provide a school INSET based on the masterclass programme, tailored to your school’s own data and designed to address any specific issues affecting your sixth form funding. We also support business case appeals where funding errors exceed £100,000. Contact helpdesk@oxfordanalytics.org for a quote.
Sixth Form Funding Masterclasses - 2026 Schedule
Friday, July 10 (9.30-12.15) Online via Microsoft Teams
Friday, September 25 (9.30-12.15). Online via Microsoft Teams
More about our funding support
Our mission is to help busy sixth-form and school leadership teams maximise sixth form funding by securing the right allocations first time—fully aligned with the Sixth Form funding model rules and guidance.
We specialise in post-16 funding and funding data accuracy, helping schools identify opportunities to broaden post-16 study programmes while ensuring the data used to calculate funding is complete, compliant and correct. Since 2007, we’ve supported hundreds of schools and sixth forms with sixth form funding consultancy—helping leaders understand the funding methodology, secure the correct level of funding, and retain it year after year.
We help schools protect budgets and avoid preventable losses by pinpointing the funding data errors that have the biggest impact—often saving thousands of pounds through targeted checks and practical improvements.
Our sixth form funding support is delivered through:
- A Funding & Funding Data Masterclass programme for school and sixth-form leadership teams
- A Sixth Form Funding Analysis Tool to review allocations, validate post-16 data and highlight funding risks