Is it possible to change 6th forms two terms in??

[Howdya]

Dd says a friend of hers, currently at a different school, is planning to transfer to dds school halfway through the 6th form. The friend says she wants dd to look after her when she starts and introduce her to everyone etc. Dd is a bit concerned she'll expect her to sit next to her etc when dd has her own school friends and is well into her A levels. The friend has lied about stuff like this in the past. Can changing sixth forms work a term and a half in? Also she does 2 a levels and a btec and says she is planning to change to an A level in the btec subject.

I'm only interested because the friend has form for telling dd things that aren't true. I can't believe you would move 6th forms 6 months in - can you??

I’m sure you can move sixth forms -lots of children will have no choice -house move, parental separation, death etc. Some start A levels again completely, so might spend three years at that stage of education.

Not usually. I’ve worked in two different sixth form colleges and there was a lot of movement in the first two/three weeks; swapping subjects and yes, some students left and went somewhere else. Can’t see it being allowed at this stage, unless the syllabus/curriculum is exactly the same. Won’t be able to transfer from BTec to A level either, unless she starts from the beginning in September.

Why is she planning to switch? If it's from one local sixth form to another just because they fancy it, this far in that's pretty ridiculous.

Switching at the end of Y12 and restarting Y12 would be far more common.

You could only do this if you were planning to carry on with the same subjects and there was a lot of crossover in exactly what had been already taught (so if you were studying English Lit for example, you'd have to have studied the same set texts already which would probably be unlikely; whereas if you'd just studied module 1 of Physics that would be more likely to be the same).

I don't think any school would let a student start a new A Level part way through the 2nd term.

That aside, unless the friend is doing the same subjects as DD (again, rather unlikely) then they aren't going to be in the same classes anyway? And unless your DD's school insists they stay at school even in study periods, they may not even be in school at the same time. DS could go weeks without seeing his best friend at school as their timetables were so opposite.

Definitely not planning an extra year. The two A levels that she does do are the same exam board apparently. I can't believe the school would let her start business A.level after missing the first 6 months!

That would only work if all the exam boards were the same and the content had been delivered in exactly the same order. So massively unlikely.
Starting y12 again is an option but I can’t see a mid year switch being feasible.

One subject is the same so they could possibly sit together then but dd has a really nice group of friends in this subject who she works with and she's a bit worried she'll be expected to move and sit with friend as apparently the parents have told the school her and dd are friends 🙄

Your DD needs to stand her ground. If this happens.
Is there someone she could talk to about this? Trusted teacher or another staff member. It would be a less passive approach.

I suspect it’s not going to happen.

Both are private schools, but the friends school is quite poor academically and very disorganised (which her parents must have realised beforehand surely!)

Yes we've had a chat about it and she will talk to her tutor. School are really good at this kind of thing and I know if they realise dd isn't happy about it they will handle it well.

I think DD needs to be clear if this person is a friend or not. If they are just someone she knows slightly, then fair enough. If they are actually friends, then not wanting to introduce her to others and make her feel welcome (no one is saying she has to give up all her other friends) is rather distinctly unfriendly, and perhaps she should disabuse the girl of the level of friendship they have before she starts at the school.

They're 16/17, not 6/7; I don't think it's necessary for her to have a buddy to settle her in. I'm sure your daughter can be friendly enough to introduce her to people, and hopefully they're past the stage of "best friends".

I would expect that any transition at this stage of the year might come with "if you don't do well enough in the summer term exams, you'll need to repeat year 12". She's not going to want to apply to university with rubbish predicted grades. If it's private sector, parents would need to accept that they might be in for an extra year's fees.

How high performing is your school?
If it means they get her fees and don’t have to worry about the impact on their results, it’s quite likely they’ll accept her.
If she has form for lying though, sounds like bullshit.

I would think it's very unlikely that they would want the money at the expense of her grades. They are fairly high performing.

Then it all sounds like bullshit. Tell your daughter to ignore it.

I think minimise it, it's quite unlikely all to come to pass whether her friend believes it or not. Don't go too far down the "what if" path, it'll just give the worry legs.

I wouldn't worry about the parents telling the 6th form they are friends. At this stage they encourage independence so they won't be asking her to buddy up.