N London 6th form offers

@CurrentHun I think as ever on MN the picture is a bit distorted. A lot of the schools on this thread are the ones that want the highest grades.

There are plenty of schools that offer 5s and 6s for people to go to 6th form - Candi and La Swap are 2 6th form colleges that do - and other schools thst go so the way through that will allow pupils to stay on with lower grades, though I think if you're getting 4s, you would struggle with A levels.

The LAEs & Woodhoues are purely selective 6th forms so can pick any choose. That said, I believe LAET has lower offers for children living in close to the school.

Thanks this is reassuring to hear

Sorry to be naive to this but treating 6th forms like universities for entrance is a bit shit for social cohesion for still quite young kids isn’t it? I mean, what does this mean for the kids who don’t get the stellar GCSE grades? they’re only 16!
Friendship groups broken up and travelling across town to wherever will take them? what a harsh life lesson. Please tell me that these schools will reserve some places with more average grades for the kids who did their GCSEs in the secondaries of these sixth forms. (Where there is a secondary attached). And not just wash their hands of them?

LAET offers are out. DD got a place but it's not one of her top choices as is too similar to her current surroundings. She only wants to leave for a better commute/nicer part of town.

Good luck to all those waiting.

I think that's why they have a waiting list when offers have initially been made. And Woodhouse enrolment of those who have offers and have met the conditions is online.

It wasn't that chaotic in 2023, when DS1 took his GCSEs. That was a larger year too. He was dithering on a choice between 2 of his 5 offers until very late, Woodhouse and APS (in person enrolment). One of his friends was on a waiting list for a Music Technology option, combined with 3 A levels, and he was offered a place once all offer holders had enrolled or let the school know they were going elsewhere. It may be that this has actually tightened a bit as financial pressures on schools are greater, and they can't afford the risk of having too many unfilled places available (staffing ratios etc).

I don’t understand this either. This sounds awful and I can imagine lots of kids would not be able to cope with the uncertainty and stress at all. Running about with pieces of paper and queueing up only to potentially miss out on your top choice because you didn’t run there quick enough?

We're not religious and my kids didn't go to church schools, but DS1 chose Religious Studies GCSE claiming to have heard that it was an easy option. I don't think that was true at all, especially for kids who don't grow up with regular religious worship. Slightly surprisingly, he got nearly maximum marks in the paper on Islam, which may have pulled his grade up to 7!

Thanks both. Yes, I am not sure he would want to do Maths A-level without an 8 at least so one to think over. Weird as he used to be amazing at Maths (used to consistently get 8/9s/full marks on tests during year 10) but seems to have dropped off a bit and now his humanities subjects (English, History etc) are way stronger. He even mentioned doing English Lit A-level the other day. So definitely one to think about. Not sure what to do about Woodhouse. He is actually not that keen on going anywhere super academic so may not be suited to him anyway. But good to have it as an option.

@Summertimemadness2026 she's predicted 8 in Maths, definitely wasn't a 9, may have been borderline 7. But they probably get very few German applicants - there were 3 in Y13 and 7 in y 12- so that might have worked in her favour!

She got an offer from Marylebone too but different subjects, Maths, Economics and English I think. No religion here but she's at a grammar school which anecdotally they seem to like.

@Summertimemadness2026

My DS1 got an offer for Woodhouse in 2023, to study Maths, Further Maths, Physics and Philosophy.

I think giving mock results rather than predictions is a bit harsh, but I also think some subjects are more predictable than others. Did your DS get a 7 for Maths mocks?

While minimum for his application year was 7 for Maths and 8 for Further Maths, I suspect applicants to study Maths A level are more likely than in other subjects, especially essay subjects, to apply with predictions (and/or mock results) of a 9 or 8. My theory is based on DS1's experience.

While I'm sure students can improve mocks grades for Maths at GCSE, DS1 was already getting 9s at mocks and predictions for Maths and Triple Science, whereas in writing subjects I think he got 4-6 in mocks, including Religious Studies (his closest GCSE subject to Philosophy). He got his 4 9s predicted, and improved on mocks in everything else - 2 8s, 2 7s, 1 6, so 8 average across 9 subjects, 8.25 in 8 best. He already knew at application stage that Maths was the subject he wanted to study at university, though he also looked at Engineering. And he did very well, but even starting with 9 in Maths, A level was quite a leap, and a lot of hard work, for him.

Can I please check what her mock results were? Quite ambitious to predict 9s!

My way of comparison, DS's for a few marks off a 9 in English Lang and Lit and French but still only given a 8 by the school to Woodhouse!

Woodhouse confirmed that he meets the average point score but his mock grade for maths is too low. They said they will accept a revised grade if school emails them or he can change courses.

Just to add that my DS’s predicted grades are 999988887 and that was enough for a Woodhouse offer - but as mentioned, the conditional offer is average 7.5 to do 4 A-levels there.

Thank you! Please may I ask what her predicted grade in Maths is?

A friend's DS also got rejected from CSG and Marylebone despite very good predictions. Like you say, I think distance and also religion in the case of Marylebone, plays a part.

@Summertimemadness2026 Dd's offer for Woodhouse says an average of 7.5 for 4 A levels or 6 for 3 A levels out of your 8 best GCSE results.

She's applied for Maths, Economics, German & Psychology.

No offer from CSG here unsurprisingly, we're quite far, but they've said she can apply for waiting list places on 28 August which clashes with Reading!

Maths, physics, chemistry

Do you mind me asking what subjects he is studying?

It says waiting list in the email and nothing about changing subjects - but DC wouldn't want to change subjects anyway

Also, I think DS has been a bit shafted with his "predicted" grades. His school have said they don't give predicted grades to sixth forms, only mock results. DS did well overall but got lower in 2 of the subjects he wants to do for A-level as he made a few silly mistakes and the entire group found the paper hard. His mock results are obviously lower than his actual results will be so seems very unfair. Do other schools do this? He's at an independent school.

That's correct, assuming he doesn't attend one of the two nominated feeder / partner schools. It's on their website.

When you say waiting list, do you mean Reserve List? I know quite a few kids who went to Woodhouse with 7s and 8s.

Also, they suggested to me that DS could switch his subject choices - did you see that too?

So if you meet the required grades, you don't necessarily get a place as they will give places to applicants with the best grades? So if DS has 7s and 8s, he will lose out to an applicant with 8s and 9s, assuming both within maximum travel time?

Actually to add, they have two "feeder" schools. If you are in those priority schools you need to meet the minimum grades required.

They take they highest grade predictions as per their admissions policy, as long as you are within their maximum advised travel distance. My DC didn't get a place either, though had kind of ruled it out anyway in favour of current school. DCs current predicted grade average from best 8 GCSEs is 7.75 and they have been put on the waiting list for Woodhouse.