Can you move sixth form at the end of year 12

No, they cannot. This was confirmed by my own 6th form yesterday.

They can invite him to leave, and they can refuse to enter him for a course they don't believe he'll pass.

He could restart sixth form at a different school or college. The funding is for 3 years up to age 19.

How is your research into other options going? It's hard in school hols but I suspect some staff are in between results and new term starting.

@NerdyBird that sounds really unfair especially when she has already gone through more than most.

Several of our friends have found the flexibility we were sold at college didn't appear in reality. Hard to tell if it is a common problem or just our local colleges.

My DS is about to start Year 12 again at a different school. We're in London.
His school didn't kick him out, exactly, but because he hadn't done well enough in the first year exams they told him he couldn't continue with one of his subjects. He wasn't enjoying it anyway. He'd really joined just because most of his friends were staying on, so by default, I guess.
If his new school had provided the same subjects he absolutely could have joined in year 13, but they didn't. So he's starting again, quite happily.
It is possible.

We found it impossible to move or start again. Dsd’s college (described as 6th form college but not part of a school) would not let her re-do y12, even if she chose totally different courses. They offered her to drop the course she was failing most and take up a one-year course alongside the remaining subjects, but there was only 2-3 options none of which she wanted to do. They also took so long to give us the information that we couldn’t even try to apply to other colleges as it was right at the end of term.
Now she’s just doing 2 subjects for y13. We had extenuating circumstances but they wouldn’t give any consideration to that.

It can be done but is not usually a good thing.

You need both places (school / VI form / college) to be doing the same subjects with the same exam board.

I wouldn't rule out BTEC, I've seen students go from low grade AS levels (going back a bit) who then thrive on BTEC.

I'm slightly confused about this "A levels will be more beneficial to him in the long run." A Levels are to get you in to uni, they are fairly useless for anything else.

BTEC can get you into uni and is a qualification you can use to move into work.

Another thing with BTEC is that you are assessed throughout the year, you can't coast and then cram at the end of the year.

BTECs also have lots of deadlines, so an ADHD person who needs deadlines to work will get loads of deadlines throughout the course that maybe are more manageable than the one massive exam deadline at the end.

I also don’t see why the Btec advice is daft. You say @Springhare76 that he is not very keen on his A level subjects (I infer he would have chosen other ones f he had got better GCSEs in those subjects) so it’s hardly surprising he isn't making any effort.

But if he could restart and find a Btec he would be engaged by and enthusiastic about (not impossible, and likely to require lower GCSE grades so maybe close to his initial choices of subject?) then yes, he might well work harder and do better.

Also it may be that he struggles with exams, so a coursework based qual might well be a better idea. What subjects did he want to take? What is there on offer at your local college? It’s not too late to sign up for a fresh year 12 in Sept.

I don't think it's daft advice to consider BTECs. A 100% exam course is much riskier for a student who struggles to revise than one that's mainly coursework. You're also right that an end of y12 mock grade E can be turned into a C. But that doesn't make BTecs daft.

The resits are a good opportunity to prove he can do it. Improving his grades there would make him more appealing to other colleges too, should he decide he wants to move, and just as important would be proving to himself that he's got it in him. If he doesn't improve with the resit, then I think he does need to take that seriously.

It's an odd one. On one hand the EHCP fundamentally changes quite a lot, but on the other if his main complaint is he doesn't like the other students - while having his best friend there - I think getting his head down for a year might be better than seeing that as a problem that needs fixing. But it's quite possible he'd be happier, and get on better, somewhere else and possibly doing different subjects.

I still think you should be talking to the SENCo. Are these grades evidence that he actually doesn't have all the study support he needs?

It will depend. A college that needs bums on seats may allow a transfer into year 13 but most would prefer restarting year 12. A decent school 6th form unlikely as they fill their places with new year 12 students. Year ‘14’ funding is less than year 12&13 so will put places off.

It's very unlikely that he will be able to move schools and sit Y13 there, doing the same subjects he is doing at his current school.

Firstly they may not have the timetabled lessons to allow him to do this (or space in the class) but more importantly it is unlikely that you will find a school that is doing exactly the same exam boards/units in each subject.

I have taught A level History for 30 years and teach AQA. There are a choice of 11 different topics for the first paper and a choice of 19 different topics for paper 2. We taught 1C (Tudors) and 20 (Weimar and Nazi Germany) - but the chances of moving half way through each unit to another school in the area that are not only doing this exam board - rather than OCR or Edexcel perhaps but doing the EXACT same topics is small.

The same problem will apply in other subjects, although perhaps not to such an extent. But I could not take a Y13 student unless they had done the exact thing my current students had done - in addition I started the NEA (coursework) in May, so my students will have written a first draft of that by the time they arrive in Y13.

He could begin Y12 again somewhere, but ultimately it appears he doesn't have the self motivation to succeed. I agree with others that he'd be better either buckling down massively to next year to drag something back - or going to college to do something else entirely. Either that, or looking for an apprenticeship.

Op are you aware the as he has an EHCP he's actually entitled to further education until he's 25 not 19 as is normal.

He either needs to try and resist his A-levels with different subjects from year 12 or look at a vocational course at a college. I'll just point out this won't limit his options (I did a BTEC and thena degree, most universities will take students with BTEC's) It maybe the type needed for A-levels isn't ideal for him.

Take a step back here. Breathe. It’s not the school is it? It’s your son. He needs to take responsibility and realise that being excluded several times in the sixth form is not usual, but his EHCP is saving him. If you move to another sixth form, the problems will resurface.
i would suggest a college and not A levels.
Start over again.

Essentially, not allowing a pupil in a school sixth form to progress from one year to another during a phase of education (in this case, where the pupils have been admitted into year 12, for Key Stage 5, with the end point being the sitting of their A level exams) amounts to a permanent exclusion.

Permanent exclusions are only allowed as a behaviour management tool. They cannot be used to 'punish' poor academic achievement. (and no, not allowing year 11 pupils to join the sixth form, the school's post-compulsory school age offer, at the same school on the grounds that they have failed to meet the published admission criteria isn't the same thing).

The relevant Government guidance doesn't apply to all settings, though

This guide does not apply to independent schools (other than the academies listed above), city technology colleges, city colleges for the technology of the arts, further education colleges, sixth form colleges,16-19 academies or 16-19 free schools, all of which have separate suspension and permanent exclusion procedures.

Suspensionsandpermanentexclusionsguidance.pdf

Yes, it used to happen a lot, but the publicity around the St.Olave's case (legal challenge by the parents of some of the pupils affected) was a real wake up call for schools. Around us, there was a quiet but swift rewording of sixth form policies. DD was moving on to sixth form that year; a friend of hers in the year above had just been told that she would not be allowed back to enter year 13 (and to be fair, this was at the local grammar school most likely not to enforce the AS level requirement rule, so I don't know how bad her results were) and had actually secured an alternative place, when St Olave's hit the news and I suggested that DD should prompt her friend to mention it to her former school. Her place was reinstated on the spot...

However strongly suggesting a restart elsewhere may be the best thing for the student rather than eg DEE in y13.

I would see what is available with a 6th form college and BTECs.

He's likely to get far more support and probably come out with higher UCAS points that his current results would suggest.

BTECs are different, not lesser, and are generally a much better fit for bright SEN kids than A levels. And teach better life skills along the way as it's not all exam dependent. I have friends whose DC applied with a L3 Extended BTEC and had 5 RG offers for degrees asking for AAA at A level.

Having the EHCP might make things a bit trickier, but worth phoning round to see what is out there.

DD's state school used to "manage out" students who didn't achieve DDD by the end of year 12.

The students were told at the beginning of year 12 that this would happen.

and the school requires D,D,D for him to continue into Year 13.

Is this a private school? Because the answer to that statement, if its a state school, is, not legally, they don't.