When to go to sixth form open days?

[lljkk]

DS-yr10 does not want to go to University but the career options he most wants require some UCAS points. Our local 6th form (not over-subbed, I expect they keep enrolling right into September) is advertising an open Day in 6 weeks. I imagine they must have open days in autumn or winter, too.

Is there any reason DS should attend this July Open Day, or fine to wait until the July after he has finished GCSEs and grown up a some more ?

In contrast, yr8-DD is ambitious high achiever & picky about what she wants from 6th form (but still very unlikely any of her 6thF choices are over-subbed). When should someone like her start attending Open Days?

Thanks In Advance.

We did sixth form open days in the autumn term of y11, that's when all the schools and colleges we investigated had theirs.

What kind of open day is it? My ds did a 'taster day' at sixth form at the end of Y10 and it was very useful to him to motivate him in his studies as he could see that the time when he could study the things he actively wanted to study was close but he needed to work hard to have that option or he would be stuck doing retakes for another year.

Even non over-subscribed sixth forms will specify minimum grades needed for particular courses so it is worth knowing in advance what they are to make realistic choices or to motivate them to try harder as required - the earlier that happens the easier it is.

Good question. My eldest is coming to the end of Y10 and he should probably start thinking about this in the next few months. He would like to do History A-level but has no other ideas yet beyond an interest in Social Sciences.

The entry reqs around here are BBCCC & A in GCSE to do math, so I think we've covered that. From the banners I think it's a general "Come visit us we're great!" kind of open day.

Oh nuts, this page talks about sixth forms versus FE college. I thought sixth form was the exact same thing as a FE college. How do I know which is which, do I need to know? Our local institution calls itself a college, does that mean it's not the same as a "sixth form" ? Argh.

oh wait, so a FE college is only yrs 12+, whereas a 6th form is a separate department within a school that also offers lower yrs (before yr 12)? Is that how it works?

Not applicable to our area then, phew. (I hope)

There are three post year 11 options (plus apprenticeships).

Staying on at school for years 12 and 13. This is sixth form.

There are sixth form colleges. These are only for years 12 and 13 - they are not schools so there will not be any younger children. They are only for 16-19 year olds.

Further Education colleges. For all ages from 16+. Day time classes will be mainly 16-19 year olds but there will be some older folk there (20+ year olds pay their own fees as an aside). May offer a much wider range of subjects and qualifications. Results may not be as good as school sixth form or sixth form college.

I'd take your year 10 in June. Might provide a bit of focus and something to work towards. You can apply to several places by the way and decide once GCSE results are out.

thanks, some of those options are quite unusual here, hence my confusion.

DS won't want to go until he's forced to make a decision. DD will we chomping at the bit to go, long before she ever needs to even think about it (argh).

It's good to go early. ask questions but don't hog the tutors fir ages if they are busy with students for the current year.

It can help a student find out their options and focus their studies early by going. We did with one but not with the other.