Dear Person Concerned,

It has recently come to a major group of alumni's hearing that Yas will no longer be involved in the college. Or, so to speak, she's leaving.

I am writing this on behalf of alumni and aim to address key issues that are concerned with the college's current direction as pointed out by the current students.

This brings up another concern: the fact that some major changes are being implemented within the college.
We alumni agree that if this college has a culture, it's the culture of its excellence. Not many colleges in the world would be able to say that the large majority of its students go on to study at global top 10 universities such as LSE, Imperial and Oxbridge whilst also ensuring that everyone at the bottom ends up atleast at a Russel Group university.

As someone who spent over a month of going through applications with Yas during UCAS season, I can tell you that even with the tremendous amount of effort that lasts over a month, from 6 pm to 3 am everyday, it simply isn't enough to ensure everyone went to the best university or at the medical school of their choice. BUT instead to increasing our effort to ensure this, current students have informed us that the college is taking the opposite direction on this and with Yas leaving things are only going to get worse.

We would like to know where will that put as as a college? One that cannot promise to provide better UCAS support than Brighton College? One that doesn't doesn't push it's students to their limits, or simply one that can't be bothered to do so?

This isn't the CSFC we remember and is certainly not descriptive of the Best Sixth Form College in the UK. It will, as a matter of fact, destroy the reputation the college has built over the years and this will be reflected in the recruitment process. If word of our downward trajectory spreads, it will only mean that the top students from around the world will no longer compete to earn a place at CSFC: this is simply because it will no longer be the best college.

Not to mention that we are known worldwide for our drive and academic rigour, the college's current direction with newly implemented rules is changing and quite frankly destroying the tradition of excellence the college stands for. Since when did we start to become so normalised?

One might argue that academics is just one end of the spectrum. However, the matter of fact is, academic excellence defines us as a college. We rank top in the UK for a reason and this has been the reason behind Yas's lifetime effort to take the college where it is.
We frankly see no reason why this should stop now that the college has been enjoying success at the top of the league tables.

In other words, we cannot stress how important it is that Yas stays on as the Executive Director and reimplements her methods of achieving academic and personal excellence.

When a student walks into this college from the very first day, he/she understands that the college will push them in ways they have never thought possible - allowing them to reach their full academic potential. Taking this away is simply not feasible for the college's growth. But more importantly, it makes the college no different from any other "normal" college - this is simply unjustified given the alumni's success.

Having discussed with alumni associates from around the world, we all agree to the fact that this trajectory will only spiral the college downwards. Being a home away from home to us, we cannot let CSFC see that day. And seeing the "Mother" of this home leave is something her children cannot look at positively.

We alumni sincerely hope that the college sees this as a very major concern and would like to see this issue being resolved immediately, making CSFC what it has always been and giving the college back it's identity.

"A home away from home and a symbol of excellence".

Regards,

Apichet Sarnath

Written on behalf of The CSFC Alumni & Current Students