Are school sixth forms that rank applicants by GCSE grades in breach of the admissions code?

Exactly. The admissions criteria, and the oversubscription criteria, have to be the same for external and internal applicants, but if all eligible internal candidates have processed (automatically for meeting minimum pass rate, if outlined as the case in the policy), they aren't included in oversubscription. The chances that the sixth form places are smaller than the number of suitably qualified y11 pupils looking to continue is low. They're unlikely to be full before all current pupils have a place. If some were included in the oversubscription, they'd have to be ranked in and amongst the externals.

That’s not correct. Should there be more external candidates who meet the threshold academic entry requirements than there are places, the Code requires clear, fair and objective oversubscription criteria to decide who should be offered the places. As part of these criteria the admission authority is free to adopt a “sliding scale” to rank applicants so giving a higher priority to those with better GCSE results, remembering that all “looked after and previously looked after children” meeting the academic threshold must be offered a place before other applicants.
https://wslaw.co.uk/insight/sixth-form-admissions-getting-it-right/

I think this may be the crux of it.

I thought you were very familiar with the code and felt like arrogantly telling others they had misunderstood, while apparently asking if you could be wrong.

Read what it says.

If there were more applicants than places for internal applicant then the same oversubscription criteria would apply. DD’s selective school (184 PAN in years 7-11) have a sixth form with 220 places per year - up to 184 spaces are for reserved for internal applicants who meet the entry criteria so the reality is that they never have to apply oversubscription criteria to internal applicants.

there’s the loophole for you OP, there’s no breach.

What a nightmare. For students and for schools as well.
Tho it's odd that there is such a dissonance between the PAN for the rest of the school and that for sixth form. Is the sixth form a new addition? Or was it historically not that popular I wonder? Like I say IME (not London!) there is pretty much parity between numbers, or at least numbers that will want to stay (obvs a good % of students go elsewhere post-16 as A levels are not for them).

Yes it does.

Not a grammar - comprehensive.

The oversubscription criteria are all academic looking at the policy. I can't see how you could have anything else (the school doesn't admit based on distance for Y7-11).

Not that unusual in London.

A lot comes down to space - how do you suddenly build a new 6th form on a small footprint.

The PAN is now 450 in Y7-10. Current Y11 is 435 after an increase from about 350.

The current Y11s have been very aware of if they are likely to make the cut off and applied elsewhere for lower tariff offers.

There are a LOT of private schools in the area and huge numbers of their pupils are now applying to the top comps since the VAT addition, so it's even more competitive this year than normal. Some schools closed their 6th form admissions dates early due to over subscription.

@havubooked In your situation if there were more internal people meeting minimum criteria than spaces in 6th form, how would the school choose?

Or can that never occur in which case it could just as well be best results?

So how does a school choose?

If you have a situation where the ask is 6 x 7-9 grades for internal.

Then you only have 40 places for external and 500 apply and get 6 x 7-9.

A school can't suddenly magic up 500 places when their PAN is 200 for 6th form.

It's not the general criteria. It's the oversubscription details.

Is this scenario fairly unusual tho @OhCrumbsWhereNow ?

That's a very very big year 11 equating to a school of more than 2000 pupils excluding sixth form. Then it narrows a lot to a more average size sixth form. I wonder why that is?

For comparison, my DCs went to a school with about 200-220 in a year and. a sixth form of about 150. AFAIK those figures are standard across our city, allowing places for all who want to carry on (and qualify) and then space for those at a school with no sixth form (there are two or three locally) or who want a change (maybe to study a specific subject).

So how would you allocate if there are for example 40 places available and 500 candidates for those?

No, I haven't misunderstood. They do all have to meet the same minimum, in that the internal pupils won't stay on without the standard results.

Designated grammar schools, or school sixth forms, are allowed to add academic criteria, and selection by ability, to their own oversubscription rules.

Do look at the individual grammar school admissions criteria for sixth form as they are often more complicated than you might think. (The internal candidates getting priority is in my opinion far better than just trying to cream off all the high flyers from nearby schools, and shows commitment to the child who already has a relationship with that school community—just like schools don’t throw out children whose families move out of catchment!). In lots of grammars there are also priorities for pupil premium and other disadvantaged children who will get in before others in catchment. Then siblings criteria etc. In the country where I work many grammar schools have changed sixth form admissions criteria in the past few years and few if any now just go for the highest scoring.