Are more of you planning to move your DC from private to state for 6th form now?

Wow, that's amazing information! Thank you so much Takes a load off my mind.

DC love their school but know that this coming year is the last one. Anecdotally many of their classmates are also heading for state sixth form after GCSEs.

Meanwhile, we have decided to stop their music peri lessons to make up the VAT difference. Feel sad for their excellent instrument teachers, but it's the biggest non-essential chunk of money and we are justifying it by thinking that DC need to concentrate on GCSEs anyway.

25 !! Not yet taught a class of 35 after KS3 (where it's now scarily common).

@TinyCarpetRake no, Sept of year 12. You can hold as many 6th form places as you like, and just decide on the first day where to go. No penalty for dropping out.

6th forms have limits due to teachers, but classes can hold 30, although usually about 35 these days. But can fit extra students in if have seats in the right subjects. It's more funding !

Thanks @mumsneedwine, glad to hear that it's worth applying to all the sixth form options. Do they really have no limit on admission numbers?

(Also guessing you mean Sept of Year 11)

@TinyCarpetRake v v unlikely schools will be full to good students. There are no limits on size of classes. They will be able to be picky though.
Apply to everywhere you like. You don't have to decide until Sept of year 12.

Bumping thread with actual practical questions.

DC will be going into Year 11 so will be staying at their independent school until GCSEs are over. It was always the plan that DC would go to state sixth form, the VAT thing is just the final icing on the cake.

Where we live, there are 5/6 sixth form options - most are within secondary schools, a couple are sixth form colleges. I understand that each will have separate admissions and that an offer (if made) will be on the basis of GCSE results. I also gather that in the event of oversubscription, secondary schools will prioritise pupils already there.

My questions are: Given that we expect state sixth forms to be extremely popular going forward, should we assume that the secondary school sixth forms will not have places for DC coming from other schools? And therefore we should specifically focus on applying to the sixth form colleges? Finally, is it possible that DC could end up with no sixth form place at all because e.g. too many applicants?

‘High School’ is another euphemism.

Exactly this. They have euphemistic names like “academy” or “community school” but never “comprehensive” as they aren’t. They are secondary moderns.

Essentially those schools become secondary moderns.

Ok..got it

Hypothetical DC!!! For some very odd reason @Collexifon alluded to them

Today 14:21
** you obviously have an extremely bright dc who will no doubt go on and do good things with a well paid job. Hopefully they won't want private education for their own kids, I suppose at least they'll be able to buy a house in a super selective grammar area.

So what do you have as the remaining 75 perc?

There aren’t any comprehensives in grammar school counties. The top 25% are missing = not comprehensive.

There are many comprehensives - better or worse. My son is going to faith school in Sept

Oh and FWIW my DS went to an Ofsted “outstanding” super selective grammar and my DD went to the local grammar, which is currently “requires improvement”.

Funnily enough, the local grammar is far far superior to the “outstanding” super selective, in terms of teaching, ethos, support, culture, you name it.

Careful in putting any store in Ofsted!

It changed to GL about 10 years ago, my DS was the first year. The only noticeable change was comprehension and spatial reasoning.

The whole grammar school system is divisive and unethical and I for one will be very glad when the whole lot have gone. Funny how many like grammars but don’t like secondary moderns, which 75% end up in.

Two examples of where NVR questions are part of the 11+ are the grammars in Trafford and Barnet.

It changed in exams in a sense that CEM was withdrawn and there are now GL tests. Also, new OFSTED rules were introduced. Many Grammars were downgraded, some shut down with scandal and so on...

Personally, I am not against grammar school but only if the giv really give them the same amount per pupil as for comprehensive and to keep the Grammar status the school has to have "oustanding "in teaching and pastoral care.

But there was a talk above about his children and decision re private....-?

Not so much has changed in 10 years here. My eldest is at uni and it’s pretty much the same to get into grammar round here. Test not really changed, state vs private coaching not changed.

Evidence is evidence. I think you may need to work on your own comprehension skills. Nowhere did I say my DS has DC! He has only recently left school!

You are right. Hence I was wondering how her son got in with hardly any preparations but then she mentioned that her son is an adult now ans has children so, we are talking about completely different times and different school requirements

Picking on one sentence out of context is bad form. Still, if you like an easy win, go ahead. 🙄

As you well know if you bother to read the whole post, it’s about what is taught at state in lessons vs what is taught at private. And goes to the discussion about spoon feeding private school kids.

Giving yourself as an example is a rather subjective proof. Especially that your DS is now adult and as I gather from the conversation he has his own kids now. The competition was different then and exam requirements different.

I mean, it's 100% true, so spending another 2 hours a day on tutoring or books takes them up to an average day for a private school pupil.