Up until 1981 post 16 education in Braintree took place in Sixth Forms located in each of the town's schools.

This allowed the school to exercise the legal presumption in favour of opening a Sixth Form.

[5] The formal opening of the Sixth Form took place on Wednesday 7 October 2009 with Dorothy Gardner, the first headteacher of Notley High School and Angela Comfort, the first chair of Governors of Notley High School, carrying out the unveiling of the commemorative plaque.

In addition to academic programmes the Sixth Form offers enrichment opportunities which include the Duke of Edinburgh's Award (D of E) and a range of voluntary options.

The Sixth Form building contains two purpose built science labs, two large ICT rooms, fifteen general purpose classrooms, a Sixth Form library, cafe and a large theatre which is shared with the Braintree Arts Theatre.