Six form admission

[Tee12]

Hi, I need a bit of advice regarding a GCSE student with pass grades e.g 3 and 4. Is there any school accepting children with these grades for six forms?

Some 6th Forms will accept them for retakes (or colleges will as standard).
They can do one year for retakes and if they then get the needed grades for a two year course (A-levels, T-Levels, Btec etc) they can do that.
Teens are entitled to 3 years of 6th Form/College up to age 19.

Unlikely to be accepted for a level 3 courses (A level, btec, t levels etc) but some will offer resit of English and Maths gcse(or Functional Skills) alongside level 1/2 courses. Try a further education college as they tend to offer a broader range than sixth forms. Are there any Additional Needs affecting study?

Do they want to do A levels with those grades? Did something happen to mean their GCSEs aren't really a good indicator of their ability? If they got 3s and 4s and that is a good indicator of their ability I think they would struggle to get a decent grade at A level. You could look at colleges for alternatives which are just as valuable as A levels but perhaps more suitable.

I say this as someone's whose DS got a 3 and the rest 4s and 5s and I wouldn't have advised him to do A levels if that was the route he was thinking of.

3s & 4s you need to be looking at colleges offering BTECs/T-levels.
Might be best to start on a 1 year Level 2 BTEC resitting English/maths if needed, then progressing on to the 2 year level 3 BTEC/T-Level.

loads of chat about such things on the Secondary Education board and also Further Education board.

Normally you can’t do a levels with anything below a pass ( A 4) some sixth forms will just deny admissions as they won’t be at the level 3 which a levels are. Some sixth forms will offer a year of resists, the local sixth form here you resit maths and / or English alongside a finance certificate and a btec, to get you more qualifications before moving on.

The two 6th forms DD applied had not only a 4 in English and Maths as standard for general entry, none of the courses involving essays or science would accept anything below a 5 or even a 6 in English or Maths plus a 5 or 6 in the subject as GCSE level.

A-Level courses are significantly harder than GCSEs and lots involve coursework as well.

DD's friend has two 3s but not in any subject relating to her A-Level choices so she was ok to apply.

Probably best looking at college courses.

Here's a photo I took of the required grades at the sixth form dd is going to.

Thank you so much. It's giving me a bit of hope. Mine got 4s in her area of subject for six form but in English is 3 so she's happy to retake in November but school is refusing to offer her place. Is there anything I can do further. Also I'm not sure which centres are offering retake,do you have any ideas about it? Many thanks

Any further education college will offer retakes of Eng Lang & Maths.
unless there are massive extenuating circumstances, you shouldn't attempt A levels with GCSE grades 3/4. You are setting up for failure.

A 4 is just a pass at GCSE. A level is a big step up. Why would someone just scraping a pass at GCSE do well at the A level? Most doing A level will have at least a 6 in the most relevant subjects.

See https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/secondary/4881724-exam-data-nerdery?reply=128737087

The school should be giving you information of alternative educational places (local colleges/other schools). That's incredibly poor if they haven't.

You posted yesterday didn't you? She's only got 3 GCSEs at grade 4+. She absolutely isn't ready for A levels. You are setting her up to fail which she will. Everyone on your other thread said she needs to do a level 2 course, BTEC maybe plus a couple of resits. Then look to try level 3 next year.

My kids non-selective insist on 5 in maths and English, plus a total of 40 across 8 subjects for 6th form

To be frank, I don't think a 4 in her chosen subject is a good start. I would definitely look at other areas plus the re-sat.

A grade 4 at GCSE level, although a pass, is too low to study the subject at A Level
The jump between Year 11 and Year 12 will be too much - and on top of that she has to do a retake
Stop thinking about sixth form and A Levels - she needs to look at Btecs along with retaking English
She will still be able to go to Uni with good Btec results