Is it a good London comp - only 70% of pupils got into 6th form?

@Sirine1708 I have no concerns about pastoral care at greenshaw. Oldest had some friendship issues in y7 tutor was really supportive.

Youngest has some additional needs and they have been absolutely great in breakouts, mentor etc.

I have heard mixed stuff about glenthorne - I believe it can be really strict around some stuff.

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/permanent-exclusions-and-suspensions-in-england-spring-term-2021-to-2022

I think you can only get the school breakdown if you are a school but you can contact your LA for this info too. Also, just because some schools have good behaviour on the way home, doesn't mean it's the same inside school. It's becoming increasingly common for those super strict schools that get lots of hate on here, to have the best staffing levels. Those kids let it all out outside of school, but inside their behaviour is often impeccable.

Yes. Just Google suspension statistics. Private schools aren't included in this obviously. Suspensions are at an all time high, permanent exclusions lower than pre pandemic. Bear in mind this is off the back of all time low attendance rates so the numbers are really bad. These stats are from the end of last school year, it'll be far worse this year. Behaviour and attendance has gone to the pits. Schools aren't even suspending for small things, think proper fights, drugs, alcohol etc.

Also, for kids who struggle with the rigid rules of school, don't tend to improve in sixth form. A Levels in college are brilliant for them as there's far more freedom than you get in sixth form. Schools know this. I'm not saying all schools have this at the heart of their policies, but a lot do. Results are a reflection of their teaching and if they admit kids who just aren't suitable for them, no amount of teaching will make results good. This makes people think the sixth form is rubbish when actually it's that kids who are entirely unsuitable for it have been admitted.

To be honest there's a good reason they do this. There's still a lot of snobbery around not doing A Levels and parents massively underestimate how tough they are and schools have to pick up the pieces. Sixth form and A Levels really isn't suitable for most kids. If you look at the statistics, it's quite depressing how few kids who got a 7 in GCSE, go on to getting even a B at A level. Lots of vocational courses lead to uni. Russell groups even accept BTECs.

Not in London but reasons dc from my dc school don't go onto 6 form in school (even though it gets the best results locally and is consistently in top 10-15% for England) are

1. Dc fancy a change,
2. Dc want to go to the college because there's a wider variety of courses not just alevels,
3. They didn't get English and or maths gcse,
4. They want to do an alevel not taught at 6th form,
5. They want the independence associated more with going to college,
6. They didn't get at least a 7 in their chosen subjects,
7. The school can now pick the best of the best because of the high consistent results, they therefore take more from other schools than in previous years.

Your method is flawed because you are presuming that all the students wanted to stay on. There could be lots of reasons why this isn’t the case: good other options locally eg college which provide other options for education, poor area they might have many wanting apprenticeship instead, rich area might go to private sixth form, the capacity of the sixth form is smaller than the secondary part of the school, they insist on uniform etc etc!

I'd say that's good. Schools have a legal requirement to introduce pupils to vocational courses too. Not everyone is suited to sixth form and I'm quite glad the stats are swaying in the direction of alternatives. When I was at school if you passed the assumption was A Levels in the sixth form. You weren't even invited to the assemblies about colleges.

i live and work in the area and there is a fair amount of movement - between schools and off to college (of which there are a few in the area).

It seems as if Sutton is the area you can afford then I think the schools will be fine for you

<20 in the class is pretty unusual for state primaries. It's almost guaranteed his class sizes at secondary will be bigger.

At this stage, I wouldn't worry too much about post 16 destinations- a lot can change in 5 years.

Are you happy with what the school can offer him in Y7 (pastoral care, range of subjects, extra curricular, and so on)?

@Sirine1708 greenshaw has a very large y7 intake - 315 ish. Not sure what size sixth form is but imagine it's a fair bit smaller.

I know some pupils transferred to grammars and then actually came back to greenshaw in the first term.

Again, this is really normal. It's very unusual for a school, even one with a good sixth form, to have a Y12 comparable in size to Y7.

As others have said, there at lots of other options available at 16 than staying on in your school to do A-levels. A proportion of students will want to do something more vocational- that could be anything from an apprenticeship, to going to a specific performing arts school, to a more vocational course at a local college. Some may also be involved in high performance sport academies etc. There may also be students who want to pursue different academic qualifications, like IB.

In London, there are probably more opportunities for young people compared to the traditional routes of school vs college- there will likely be some companies offering really exciting apprenticeships, there are lots of opportunities for music/acting/dance etc, there are probably more opportunities relating to sports, and so on.

Even in a high performing school, A-levels will not be for everyone- and not everyone will want to stay on and do them in a school environment. Some students will want to do more niche A-levels e.g. something like Environmental Science, which the average state school sixth form can't offer, as it won't be financially viable.

To be honest, I think 70% is a pretty high percentage of students going into sixth forms, and 167 is a good sized Y12 which suggests the sixth form is viable and will offer a wide range of subjects. I think this is really positive data, which you're perhaps taking negatively?

Is that the size of the 6th form or just those doing A levels at Glenthorne?

I wouldn’t worry about A-levels, there are lots of options post 16. Look at years 7 to 11 instead and GCSE results, what opportunities are on offer, what are the results like. Even if the school has a sixth form, there’s quite a bit of movement as some pupils change school for example because their school doesn’t do the options they want, some go into work, some go for vocational options, some simply fancy a change. Because every school sixth form is different and offer a range of options, it’s very difficult to compare them. However your DC will have to do GCSEs in that school, so it’s more important to get that experience right, they can always move for sixth form.