Any experience of Kings Maths School vs LAE for 6th form?

And this one …..

www.wcgs-sutton.co.uk/page/?title=How+to+Apply+to+our+Sixth+Form&pid=101

Have you looked at applying anywhere else? Some schools are still accepting applications as there is a trend at the grammars near us to not offer places until exam results are known.

https://www.dartfordgrammargirls.org.uk/Sixth-Form/Sixth-Form-Admissions/

https://www.csgrammar.com/sixth-form/how-to-apply-2025-entry

No one has said you aren’t “allowed” to do anything, OP. But as multiple people have pointed out, while venting is obviously fine (and completely understandable, especially, given the whole predicted grades thing - I would be furious about that too!), you really haven’t let him down, and he isn’t in some kind of especially bad situation, here. Please try not to let this mindset become set even in your own private thinking. It simply isn’t true. This is perhaps a disadvantage of being in London where you have (in theory) access to these high performing sixth forms… It creates the sense that if he doesn’t go to one, he is under achieving for sixth form, you have let him down, etc. Whereas in fact he is just like a lot of other very, very intelligent children doing A levels across the country. He is in a top end maths programme that is already introducing him to very advanced problems!

Just try to step back a bit and let him develop intellectually as he needs to, and will, with time. If he has the potential to be a top mathematician at university then it doesn’t matter that much which school he does his A levels at.

This is exactly why sixth forms should not use predicted grades to make decisions about who does and doesn't get a conditional offer. All schools do grade predictions differently, so they are subjective, not objective. As mentioned up-thread, if LAE were a 11-18 school, their policy would be a breach of the admissions code. That precedent was set by this decision for Twyford school: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/twyford-church-of-england-high-school-15-july-2022

Unfortunately, LAE's policy can't be referred to the adjudicator. Instead, someone would need to lodge a formal complaint to the school. Then, if/when the school's complaint procedure is exhausted, next step would be the DfE. Their funding agreement with the DfE says the admissions policy needs to be objective, and it demonstrably isn't.

There are currently only eight maths schools in England with plans for a maximum of 11 by 2026 which will eventually cater for about 1200 students a year. There's even a first UK 11-18 maths school planning to open in 2026 in North London with a generous bursary programme.

It will remain very challenging to get into one of these schools. However, the umbrella organisation which the current maths schools sit under receives millions of pounds a year in donations to run outreach and super curricular programmes from early secondary school age.

No consolation for your son, but hopefully an increasing number of bright and talented kids will have access to maths learning opportunities like these in the coming years.

OP, respectfully, the idea of private school is a distraction. Some can afford it - most can't. It's not an option - for most of us on this thread I'm sure) - and that's it. It strikes me you've done a lot to support your DC. You helped him apply for various state sixth forms. You enquired at private schools to rule them out. You posted on MN to gather some more ideas.
The one additional thing you could consider doing now is to investigate how to correct the wrong predicted grades you've discovered and see if this makes a difference to your DC's offer status. If it were me, I would do this.

I know. I live round the corner and know people whose children went there.

Yes bursaries to private schools are means tested. Some of DCs friends really were not well off at all and made real sacrifices for their children to go there. But then so did we, even though our DC did not get a bursary.

Some will struggle, either because they were over tutored, or because they hit a ceiling. A level maths is different from GSCE and Kings Maths School will go at a stonking pace.

@sixthformmaths the impact of tutoring in London schools is interesting., If anything I think the problem is worse in state and grammar schools in more affluent areas. You often see the advice on MN to send your DC to a state school and then supplement with tutoring. Another factor is the US and Russian concept of class placement. Ivy league Universities factor in your class placement and your grade point average so it becomes very important that a child is top of their game and top of the class in every subject through secondary school, and if they start falling back the tutors come in.

Maths is a particular problem. The impact in the classroom can be sitting alongside a kid who struggles to understand concepts and asks lots of questions, but then submits perfect homework and gets good exam scores. At both GCSE and A level tutoring and reinforcing classroom teaching can get you a long way. STEP is much harder to tutor for, though it helps to have some guidance in how to approach questions. The other impact is that untutored kids start to believe they are not very good at maths when they really do have potential because they only come half way up the class. One teacher suggested to me that they knew who was picking things up quickly and who struggled but that the kids themselves usually had a very different idea of who was the brightest. Both mine did far better at University, and indeed it was a common experience for their untutored friends. Thinking about it later they never had an issue understanding concepts, but were not putting is as much effort as those whose teaching was supplemented by external support so did not shine at school.

It seems totally illogical that your son's school used predicted grades from year 7 in a reference.

Surely schools would not take any notice of predictions from over three years ago?

I don't know about the reference per se, but my son was asked to bring a physical copy of his most recent school report to the interview with Kings. He took two, one had predicted grades from the end of year 10 and one was a progress report from November in year 11.

That is just not true.

Teacher discount is different from bursary. The latter will be means tested and the very brilliant student could get 100%.

IME teachers did not send their children to Westminster because they thought it was the wrong school. It is not a fun place if you are bumping along the bottom. But then I suspect that Kings Maths School would not be much fun if you are having to work three times as hard as anyone else just to keep up, and that teachers there may make the same decision for their children.

@Needmoresleep Very interesting insight. Thanks. And I'm hoping the student from Korea sent to the crammer managed to sneak out on a couple of nights and go to some parties! Poor guy!

I wouldn't dismiss The Student Room out of hand. There are quite a few past and present students at the maths schools who have given their own unique insights including the pros and cons.

Yes. Plenty of exceptionally strong mathematicians, and some very good teaching. Equally its share of high powered and amitous parents, and boarders coming from cultures where tutoring is prevalent.

That’s fantastic, @JusteanBiscuits! Definitely standing him in good stead for university. COMPOS sounds absolutely brilliant for him.

@Needmoresleep In your example you mean Westminster private school not Harris Westminster, am I right?

Oddly I would echo that Kings Maths School is probably equal to anything in the private sector for the type of student who wants to be with others who love maths, and who want their classes to move at a fast pace.

That said, Westminster, just over the river will probably teach just as well and will certainly offer a broader education in terms of extra-curricular etc. They will probably be better at US admissions and will offer good bursaries to the truly exceptional. However, and from experience, there is a lot of tutoring going on and a risk that a bright mathematician may think they are just average. I know that DS hesitated before selecting an outside option from the maths department during his first year at LSE, only to be in total shock when he came top of the year. He never came anywhere close at Westminster. Equally a really bright Korean boarder friend started struggling at Cambridge. It turned out that the boy had spent the whole of his Christmas and Easter holidays living at a tutorial college receiving tuition.

I assume this is less of a problem at Kings. I hope so.