Settle a private v state argument for me?

Don't forget that the privately-educated only comprise about 8% of all secondary-aged students. Most students full-stop are from state schools, but it's easy to forget this if you spend too much time on MN . Please don't go looking for positive discrimination that doesn't exist.

I imagine it's also self-selecting. If the sixth form is very well-regarded in the area there is little incentive for the local state schools to set up their own sixth forms and they are likely to remain 11-16 - if you're a headteacher in south Cambridge there's not much point setting up a sixth form to compete with Hills Road, for example. Independent schools are more likely to have sixth forms and as long as the families can afford it (and aren't trying to game the system) they are less likely to move their children.

Greenhead takes loads of pupils from QEGS and WGHS, and also Silcoates because it is by far a better 6th form. Parents can then save the money they would have spent on school fees. Quite a few pupils travel there from schools in South Yorkshire as well.

Widening participation will look at where the child was aged 16 and were for secondary - this will fool no one

Your friend is wrong. Gaming the system doesn't work. Posters saying that it does have probably missed the point that the successful applicant would have got in anyway regardless of where they were educated.

What I would say to the friend though is, a state sixth form will be a very different beast to a private school one, and not all students cope well with a transition from a high structured and learning-managed environment to one where students are expected to do a lot of independent study themselves.

I agree.

Many a private school student has had the wheels fall off when moving to a state sixth form for this very reason. Some will cope, of course, but many more will not.

And this is especially true of students who were privately educated all the way through to A levels and then find the lack of hands on approach at university a big culture shock.

Other than school results most of the "application form" is a free format personal statement. Private school children are likely to have had more opportunities relating to things to put in it, and more help in creating it. On paper private school children generally "look better". Disabled children, children with SEN, children who are young carers and other children who have specific challenges will look worse. Some of this is currently balanced out by the school statement, but if you are anonymising schooling ....

It goes on. Children at DC’s independent school leave for the local sixth form (naice area) so they can have a taste of ‘walking to school and being independent’

It works.

Here’s a thought - why don’t they just make schooling anonymous on the application form? Discrimination is much harder this way.
ideally ethnicity and gender too - although this is harder to do at interview stage

Oxford tutors get data on not just school type pre AND post 16, but also about achievement levels at those schools and % eligible for free school meals. She’s fooling no one.

Hopefully they will realise that your DC are getting the advantage of a private school education a bet for a few short years and also they are not dealing with poverty.

Oxford now has funded foundation years for some subjects as part of their access programmes. They have min requirements of BBB but other contextual factors are also considered.

I am fairly sure I am correct in saying that all Oxbridge offers are min AAA, never less.
No the context doesn’t change the offer.

But Givemyheadpiece says :
'this 6th form in question is one of the best in the UK. Private or State. On 'outcomes' that is - either 'high value' uni admission or employment. Mostly Uni though. It's non-selective and incredibly diverse, yet still does very well.'

Sounds like they'd be mad NOT to make use of it. And as someone suggested upthread, they may need to save fees and save face.

They must be mad!

Unis 100% look at where they did GCSEs. Especially Oxbridge. 6th form switching is frowned upon. Won't rule you out if you are a good student but certainly you won't get any state-educated levelling of the playing field. And you'd better get 3-4 A*s too, having had a privileged start.

Tbh I think it's a bit of a myth that private school students are being disadvantaged in the university entrance system. They are still over represented at Oxbridge and Russell grps just not as ridiculously dominant

There's loads of this going on where I live. I think pps are spot on when they say it gives universities an easy way to increase percentage of state educated pupils without trying too hard.

Fwiw, I work in an area much sought after by Oxbridge types and we do all our recruitment completely blind to where people have been to university. There is definitely a confidence to them but I wouldn't say that they do better over all - intellect is what really makes the difference, not polish and there are plenty of v bright kids from other universities.

How to make an entrance on Day 1 of the first year!

I know it's a typo...
but I do love the idea of 'a great segway into Uni'

I am not sure why my reply made you feel I think they are charity cases stealing places? Couldnt be further from my thoughts. Must just be the way i worded it.

I apologise if i have misunderstood but i thought contextual offers were made when certain criteria were met such as being a looked after child, or going to a really low performing school, and that the offer could be a grade lower than the 'normal" entry requirements. I dont think just plonking your child in a normal state school is the kind of thing that leads to lowering the offer grades.

Are you saying all offers are contextual its just some contexts mean AAA is certain subjects is neeed and in other contexts AAB is needed with less strict requirements on the subjects.

And as i said i have no idea if someone is more likely to get an offer at from a state or private school but most offers are going to be to based on meeting the advertised entry requirements, so meeting the advertised entry requirements still seems like a goodplan to me.

Oxbridge have rigid targets for WP but, as things stand, the main stated targets of 'x% from state schools' is a very blunt instrument indeed. It can even be a way of avoiding taking students from underprivileged backgrounds because what you find is that these 'state school entrants' tend to be from grammars, academies and excellent comps with wealthy catchment areas. Yes I
Oxbridge monitor ACORN and POLAR data too, but these real signifiers of disadvantage don't seem to make the WP headlines in quite the same way. It all just gets fudged within the yearly claims of '75% of students from state schools in 2022, an increase of 2% on 2021!' or some such.

Fgs. There’s no such thing as a contextual versus a ‘normal’ offer. Oxbridge uses contextual data to assess the extent of student’s’ achievement in getting the grades they have, and to help understand potential.

kids from ‘ordinary’ backgrounds get into top universities based on talent and effort. They are not charity cases stealing places from more ‘deserving’ backgrounds.