State school 6th forms oversubscribed

Nice try!

State 6th forms being oversubscribed is just not an issue because of falling numbers Any Google will show you stories of 6th forms closing because of lack of pupils. Courses are also being cut.

Finally 6th form open days are always jam packed.

@TheaBrandt1 The popular schools will remain full. The less popular will see spaces. Precious few here! Birth rate won’t affect the best secondaries because they just take out of catchment, ie take dc from other school catchments. It’s way too simplistic to think a fall in birth rate will make all schools have vacancies.

It used to be that 18% of pupils were in a private 6th form. So the opposite of what your friends do and there’s quite a few who would pay for 2 years but not 12. There are private schools that don’t have 6th forms but where there is a 6th form, historically most have stayed on unless no money left, they don’t qualify for the 6th form or there’s a grammar available that’s more academic. It will be interesting to see if the % in private 6th forms declines sharply.

Oh boo hoo hoo. Guess this is what happens when you apply the crowd pleaser envy tax.

Only 7% are at private schools anyway so it’s a drop in the ocean. Most of my friends with kids at private move them in the 6th form anyway and we’re always going to.

The birth rates decreasing though so don’t think school overcrowding is an issue is it?

All images are reviewed now

My image of an admissions statement is under review???

@RedSkyDelights Yes. They can select. This is a grammar admission criteria - see the GCSE results section. Plus schools often select on a points system for GCSEs.

Yes we will move DD at end Yr 11 to state 6th form. VAT is a huge tipping point and whilst we can scrimp through the next 3 years, we can't do additional 2 years plus Uni.

That’s looking at is as a snapshot of cost rather than across the years. When my dd started her private school in year 9, it was 13.5k. She’s now year 12. Including the vat hike the cost 18k (ok a bit less as we didn’t pay vat on term 1). That’s a heck of a jump and there comes a point, where you question if it’s worth it.

I did try to get dd to go to state 6th form. But it became apparent she was too unwell for that. She is where she needs to be. But I never imagined it would go up 4.5k in those short years. Next year it will be over 19k. That does put it in a different league tbh.

And the private schools around here only offer a tiny range of a levels compared to the big sixth form colleges, again children who do well in their GCSEs at private tend to nearly all move to one of the academic focussed sixth form colleges already, so it's highly unlikely to make a difference

The Oxbridge effect is a myth as any contextualisation is based on where the applicant took their GCSEs.

I'm surprised that all of these houses next door to nice schools and sixth forms are suddenly up for sale. Most people buy a house and live in it. There won't suddenly be a churn of properties as the supply won't have changed, even if one or two more families are fretting about school fees.

You can apply to as many 6th forms and colleges as you like in your local area. Most will have far more applying than who actually accept places, in exactly the same way as you apply to 5 universities on UCAS and only end up going to one.

You really are being conned by the feeding frenzy and pearl clutching OP as it's a complete non issue. I suggest you stop reading the Telegraph as there are more than enough 6 form places to go around.

I love the assumption privately educated children will have better grades. Round here noone sensible with a bright child sends their child to private as the state schools are the better option academically (and it's not a grammar school area)

The school my kids go to prioritise existing pupils who make the required grades. They do have to apply by a set deadline so can't just turn up on 1st day of term and expect a place.

Pupils in schools in se academy trust come next then others. They state that nobody will be picked based on results as long as minimum grades are met

How many private schools do you have near you? There's barely any in our area. But also none of the secondaries have a 6th form either so kids have always had to go elsewhere. Not something on my radar really.

It's absolutely not true here
(2008/09 was a peak birth rate year, btw)
Local 6th forms are reducing subject offer and reducing entry requirements
Apparently, due to low application numbers
We have a few private schools around here, and there has not been an influx from them to state options

SE here and there is no shortage of sixth form places. The maths and english conditions of funding are a bigger issue. In summary they make it too expensive for a school sixth form to take on students who need tk resit english and maths.

This stuff as ever is a win win for the government. The criticism is regularly that we should go back to a system where only very bright kids can go to uni, the rest of them should join the labour force. This sorts that rather neatly.

State sixth firms near me (Cambridge) have always selected on results.

Few give priority to students continuing.

Nearly everyone either changes school or goes to one of the big sixth form colleges.

Im in sw london and the schools near me prioritise internal students as long as you get the equivilant of a C in english, maths and your chosen subjects.

There's a big (well regarded) 6th form college nearby which i think is better in terms of it being a halfway transition to uni. Dh attended and felt it had given him the more "grown up" study skills vs those who had been at school.

A lot of students move anyway as big colleges have better choice of subjects

How weird that it's so area-specific, we're also in the SE and looking across three council boundaries. While all have minimum GCSE tariffs for being able to do an A level in that subject, existing students get priority in all the schools.

Quite a few leave to go to sixth form colleges and some of the single sex schools go co ed for sixth form, and so the intake from outside is often over the PAN. But outside the supersectives, there's pretty strong consistency across schools that their own kids are prioritised if they meet entry requirements.

One of the frustrating things about education in England is the total mishmash of admissions arrangements.

Just to say, I thought from what I’d read that it was the school that you sat GCSEs at which counted in terms of widening participation not sixth form. I think universities are a bit more clued up to that sort of game.

Lots move at sixth form anyway, if the school is state it may get them a contextual lower offer - Bristol has a huge list of schools this applies to. Plus certain work experience and insight schemes are state only.
Uni costs are looming. If child will only get min loan £4750 in England then parents may be paying £8000/9000 a year in accommodation per child. I can see why parents think state will be a good option facing huge uni outlay. Driving lessons etc aren’t cheap - £70 a lesson, lots of mc parents fund them . 16-18 year olds are expensive - adult clothes, food etc.

I live near 5 secondary schools in the SE not one of them has current students first. Ds moved from 1 to another for 6th form as he preferred their options. Many of his friends did similar.

To Op to me its pretty normal that only the higher achievers gets into certain schools.

Local 6th form here isn't even having an intake in September 2025 as there was so low demand this year!