6th Form or college and why did you choose one over the other ?

[Hollywilloughbyfan1]

Evening all.

Did you choose 6th form or college and why did you choose one option over the other ?

6th forms and colleges locally. No real hierarchy. All good.
DD has chosen college on basis of courses offered, vibe and majority of her friends choosing same place. Results are consistently better than all the 6th forms (including her previous selective grammar) in the area. She's really pleased with her choice.

@TeenPlusCat School does A levels and btecs. I am probably wrong with 90% of the total cohort but of those doing a levels most stay on or move to another sixth form school. The local college does not even do a levels for 16-19 year olds.

DC1 - the head had changed at her school, and the music and drama departments were decimated within a year. She moved to a school where these are more of a priority. (She also would not have been allowed to continue with Art, based on her GCSE, but the Art teacher at the new school based her decision to take her on her portfolio, and she got an A* for A level.)

DC2 - had been at the same school since the age of 4, and wanted a change. The 6th form didn’t end up being a great match socially for her, but she got to study Geology which is not widely offered, and loved it.

DC 3 - stayed at the school he was already at. He was settled and had a lovely group of friends, and knew and liked the teachers of the subjects he had chosen.

Chose sixth form as it was closer to home (15mins walk) offered A level subjects that were wanted/ needed, friends stayed on at sixth form too and didn't like change.

College would have been 2 bus journeys (45mins-1hr), did the same A level subjects as sixth form.

Couldn't see any benefits going to college that staying on at school didn't.

Grammar school county here. DC both stayed at school sixth form with all their friends. The lack of independence is frustrating, but the only colleges round here are really vocational only and don’t offer a proper selection of A levels.

That makes more sense if they offer BTECs too.

It appears to be a weird division about 6th forms and colleges which I don't get: a colleague from Manchester told me that colleges are seen as better and more prestigious then 6th forms while where I am in London it's is the other way round. My DD decided to leave her secondary school with 6th form and go to another local 6th form as the subject blocks worked and the selected 6th form had better A-level results.