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Original poster

How many years for Sixth Form?

33 replies

QuintShhhhhh · 26/04/2015 23:12

Sorry for my ignorance, but I honestly dont know how many years it lasts! 2 years or 3?

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AtomicDog · 28/04/2015 21:16

Sixth forms get funding for Y14, but it is much reduced now, hence them not being keen on keeping people three years (as they tend not to be able to pay teaching staff less for teaching Y14s!).

All the best people are born in February! Wink

Original poster
QuintShhhhhh · 28/04/2015 12:22

AtomicDog -I am a February child, I turned 19 in my last year of 6th form, so I was 19 when I started Uni. Although, in my day, primary was 6 years, secondary was 3 years and sixth form 3 years, so I only did 12 years! But I started school at 7.

Actually, I think school age has dropped till 6 now.

My niece, also February born, was 19 when she started Uni, but turned 20 this year, and will sit her first year uni exams this spring.

They also follow the calendar year when they determine when a child starts school, to complicates things a little! A child born in December will start school a year earlier than a child born in January.

All children born in 2002 would start school autumn 2008. (from my sons peer group in Norway, Jasper and Erik were born in November 2001, so they started in 2007, my son was born April 2002, but Henry was born January 2002, and they started school in 2008. While we lived there a few years)

OP posts:
titchy · 28/04/2015 10:07

Unexpected - yes her school or college will get three years of funding for her. In terms of whether universities will accept four A Levels done over three years - plenty will yes, although the most competitive courses / institutions probably won't.

Unexpected · 28/04/2015 09:34

So can somebody clarify what happens with funding if 6th formers repeat a year? DN mucked up her AS levels last year so has dropped two subjects, is continuing with the remaining two to A2 level and has taken up two new ones which, I believe, she will sit at AS this year and then do the remaining A2s in those subjects next year. Will the school be funded for her extra year? I ask because DBIL, who is divorced from her mother without particularly good communication, is struggling to understand what is going on. It seems she can take three years but can she combine these A2s from different years to go to university?

AtomicDog · 27/04/2015 23:29

Surely Norwegians go to university at 18 though? Just as we do...

GentlyBenevolent · 27/04/2015 22:39

Bunbaker - no, not at all. Or at least, none of the kids I know seem to find it particularly pressured. Re funding - our LA is one of the most underfunded in the country, sadly. But you can't really compare a comp with a grammar school, your comp sounds excellent.

Original poster
QuintShhhhhh · 27/04/2015 21:49

Not commenting on that! Grin
However, school start at 4, so British parents get an extra year of free child care! (2 actually considering that Norwegian kids start school the year they turn 7!)

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Bunbaker · 27/04/2015 21:45

And we Brits aren't any cleverer than the rest of the world.

Original poster
QuintShhhhhh · 27/04/2015 21:44

No, I am not from here (but I have lived here so long it isnt really an excuse any more, other than not having had interest in the secondary system until last year, and not experienced it myself, OR had friends with kids in secondary) I somehow thought it was 3 years senior school and 3 years sixth form. I did not realize it was 7 years, where I am from it is only 6, so 13 years of compulsory school in total.

Does reception not count as formal schooling?
In Norway primary is year 1 to 7, here it is reception till Y6 - so 7 years of school. With UK secondary being 7 years, that is 14 years of school!

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Bunbaker · 27/04/2015 21:32

Are you not from the UK originally?

Maisyplate · 27/04/2015 19:05

Did you put your child into a private school without working out how many years of fees you needed to pay? Shock

lechie · 27/04/2015 18:11

Typically two years.

I teach at a sixth form college, and we allow for a third year (some even do a fourth!). At my daughter's school, (state funded) they also allow for a third year. The most common reason is not getting the correct GCSEs the first time round and needing to redo a level 2 programme before progressing on to level 3.

titchy · 27/04/2015 18:03

Agree how pointless for the kids. No child needs that many GCSEs or A levels. The cynic in me says they do it that way so their year 10s don't leave once they've finished GCSEs, and for their A level points score.

Bunbaker · 27/04/2015 17:51

Wow! The pressure in that school sounds horrendous. DD goes to an above average comprehensive. Last year their 5 GCSEs inc English and maths was 70% and they managed to get 4 students into Oxbridge.

This is in a school within an LA that is seriously underfunded.

GentlyBenevolent · 27/04/2015 11:34

To clarify - there's no Y14. The 6th form runs from Y11-Y13. They do 12 (I think - DD1 did 12 but it might have changed now) GCSEs in Y10. KS3 is complete in Y8.

GentlyBenevolent · 27/04/2015 11:32

Bunbaker - it's a superselective GS. Became an academy a few years ago. Gets pretty decent results. The kids do lots of extra stuff in the 3 year 6th form but there's no 'repeating' a year. Most of them do 4A2s plus the EPQ plus CS AS and GS AS and A2.

eatyourveg · 27/04/2015 08:32

Special schools with a 6th form that is

eatyourveg · 27/04/2015 08:27

All special schools have a Y14 and plenty around here will let you redo either Y12 or 13 (not both) if there is a compelling reason. I know one girl who is redoing Y14 in a super selective massively oversubscribed grammar so its not an automatic no. Each school will make their own decision based on the specific factors involved.

Bunbaker · 27/04/2015 06:27

Is it an academy or LA school Gently?

I don't think most of the students at DD's school are mentally ready or mature enough to take 10/11 GCSEs in year 10. They are all doing 2/3 this year in year 10, but the school wants the students to maximise their grade potential and won't enter any of them for early exams if they can get a better grade by waiting a year. (They all do two GCSEs in year 10 by doing two years' worth of work in one year for those subjects BTW).

It is also oversubscribed so there is no capacity for anyone to redo a year of 6th form. And, all the LA schools are struggling to balance their books so there are no funds for a year 14. (I am on the finance committee of one of them so I know this for a fact)

baycrestmum · 27/04/2015 04:16

What about Harris type?

yolofish · 27/04/2015 02:07

academy status at our school (although through choice, not the Harris type).

DC get into Y14 if they still need to retake things, or if the wrong choice at start of Y12 means they had to change A level options - plus, they have to be good kids.

SoonToBeSix · 27/04/2015 00:22

My dd school allows repeats of year 12 or 13. It probably depends on your LA. My dd school is only partly state funded though.

GentlyBenevolent · 27/04/2015 00:20

Bunbaker our school still does a 3 year 6th form. The kids take their GCSEs in Y10.

Original poster
QuintShhhhhh · 26/04/2015 23:22

4 times 13 years. Ouch.

Ds2 is in a lovely small RC primary, ds1 was in the state system till 11+. It was easy when they both were in the same school. Now my head explodes.

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LadySybilLikesSloeGin · 26/04/2015 23:22

Really? Shock Oh, no!!

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