Winchester College attrition

[BucklandBeacon]

Can anyone shed light on the numbers and circumstances of boys being 'asked' to leave Winchester at 16? I've seen and heard oblique references to this- and to other schools taking former Winchester boys for sixth form- but it's a hard issue to pin down. DS has offers from more than one school and we are trying to make sense of the choices ahead....

Bumping as I'm interested in the answer to this too.

I doubt its very many,what grades do the boys need to go on to sixth form?
My sons school its 6 at grade 7 or above,a boy joined this year from Winchester,not because he didn't get the grades needed to stay on but because he wanted a more rounded education,so just because someone doesnt go on to the sixth form it doesnt mean they were asked to leave.

Boarding school isn’t as popular any more, and WC is often the second choice for boys who can’t get into specific day schools. My guess is once GCSE results are out many boys with excellent results will move onto the schools they couldn’t get into before.

Thanks. We've narrowed our choice down to WC and our favourite of his day school offers and are struggling to decide. DS doesn't mind whether he boards or not so it is more about which school will be the better fit for him.

@Notmynom My DS recently went for interview at WC and he loved it and really enjoyed chatting to the housemaster about his interests. We are one of the ones @GrumyHoonMain mentions that see it - weirdly - as back up if he doesn't get into our preferred day schools, mainly because it would be a struggle financially. It's interesting there are pupils leaving WC in pursuit of a more rounded education. I thought you would get that there. Which area of London are your preferred day schools? It's so hard deciding isn't it. One reason we were looking at boarding was because we didn't really like the idea of DS commuting

So my DS has recently started at WC. Amazing, well rounded education and brilliant sports opportunities (new sports scholarships programme introduced 2 years ago) music and arts also fab. Early days but cannot recommend highly enough.

My understanding from current 6th formers is that some boys leave after GCSEs to go to the local 6th form college Peter symonds in order to get into oxbridge. As oxbridge are seriously discounting against private school kids.

Ps you cannot get a more well rounded education than at WC or another top boarding school. So many more hours in the day for the boys!

Had a good chat with this lad as he came to our house for a short leave,he was very open that in his first term at his new school hed been to more talks/lectures /societies than he had in his three years at WC,likewise he said the range of theatre activities was far better at his new school and the sport (,he mainly plays) was at a higher level..

@nolanscrack I'm fascinated to know what his new school was? sounds like a good one. Is it a London day school?
@Lotty32 thanks for your insights. kind of crazy the way people are trying to get 'state' credits to help their Oxbridge application. Surely Oxbridge look out for this kind of thing?
And I agree there is much more time in day whether it's for extracurricular or just hanging out with mates at boarding school.

Boarding,four letter word,begins with E...

I have no idea why anyone would think leaving WC and going to a sixth form college would increase chances of going to Oxbridge..Why would it,?

Thanks @lotty32, glad to hear your DS is enjoying it. Having more time to do all the opportunities school offers is one of the big draws for our DS too. He's signed himself up for so many extra-curricular activities at his prep that he often isn't home until 6.30 so once he's been fed and done his homework he doesn't get much free time at home anyway.

Because private school kids are seriously disadvantaged v state schools kids!

No,thats really not the case,a child at WC or any other major private school is not disadvantaged,oxbridge numbers from Eton have held up.
Please explain in what ways a child will gain from leaving WC and going to a sixth form college

Sorry that is it the case private schools v state schools kids - the offers are down massively this year

Nope,Eton has virtually identical figures this year..

Moving state for sixth form won't help though as the 3 years before application count which have to include where you took your GCSEs. It's worth giving UCAS a call but last time I checked (last year) you're classes as privately educated if that's where you took your GCSEs.

@Lotty32 - you can't game the system by moving to a state school for 6th Form. On the UCAS form you are required to state where your GCSEs are taken. The results are then considered in the context of the results achieved in that school.

I don't think it's accurate to suggest private school offers for Oxbridge are massively down this year. Some schools (as is the case with some grammars) have had a dip but not massive and Eton's numbers (as others have said and their HM has publicly stated) are unchanged. What may have happened (and this is based on DS1's experience and his friends) is that some schools have had varying 'success' compared to previous years in different subjects. So more STEM offers and fewer humanities.

Re the skipping to a leafy sixth form college to get into Oxbridge...

It may give you a slight advantage if the uni is trying to up its state school figures, but admission tutors are not daft. They can see that you have tried to cynically game the system.
Also not all state schools are seen as equal. A pupil who gets 3 As at a failing comp will (and should) be regarded more favourably than someone who has the same grades but had been to a school in the Home Counties where you need minimum of a £500k house to get into the catchment.

A big reason people leave WC (and other private senior schools locally) to go to Peter Symons is because PS is an excellent sixth form and gets v good results and it's State so people don't have to pay for it. Simple as that, saves a fortune.

I lived locally for a long time.

If as Lotty claims pupils are leaving WC to go to PS "in order to get into Oxbridge" then it doesnt seem to be working,from the most recent available statistics( ie 2019 Oxbridge offers) of the 62 offers only one was a previous pupil at WC.

UCAS makes you declare all schools attended from the age of 11, so those jumping across will not find that their privilege mysteriously no longer counts. This said, Admissions tutors know that a student who was strong at GCSE, and who has continued to excel when they have chosen to go into the more independent environment of a state sixth form college will be a genuinely strong student, and not one who does well with lots of handholding, but not necessarily as well outside. A SFC is better predation for university.

I can see that Schrödinger's privately educated children are with us: those kids who are simultaneously in independent schools because the small classes and extra money give them an advantage - while at the same time being victims of discrimination and disadvantaged - because state-educated students with the same or better A-level grades are getting more Oxbridge places than before.

Nope. The talent is being rewarded on a fairer basis than mummy and daddy's wallet.

From my son's year about 5% didn't get in to sixth form, current upper sixth. They needed 6 A/A*s or equivalent ( a mix of numbers and letters still as grades that year).

I know one boy went to PS but given many are not local boys that isn't an option for most. My DS did seem to think it was an unusually high number who had to leave that year. Some leave through choice, some don't but I also agree that there is a perception that switching to state increases Oxbridge chances whether it is true or not.

So isn't it possible that boys who are invited to leave- and their families- are face-saving by claiming this as their choice, in search of something more rounded or 'real'? I'm struggling to see why having opted for a Winchester education, with all that entails, they would then voluntarily sack it at 16. Winchester isn't everyone's cup of tea but those who make it are generally pretty committed to it, No?

Not everyone wants to have the rigidity of boarding life post -16: Saturday school, limited social life and even more restricted social circle, pretty limited choice of A-level subjects; very little privacy... what seems great at 13 can be stifling by 16, and it's not for everyone.

@BucklandBeacon Peter Symonds=no school fees!