Private to state for A levels

[halloween67]

Hi,

I wondered if anyone has experience of going from a private school to state school for A levels please?

My daughter has been at the private school all her life but the teaching is not the best in a subject she needs to do for a level. The careers teacher has left with no official replacement and there has been no guidance for the current 6th formers regarding ucas etc.

I just wondered if anyone has successfully left private for state for 6th form.

Thanks

I think some parents have been moving their children to State schools for 6th form in the hope of having better chances of getting a Uni place (especially Oxbridge), but Unis can still see that students were privately educated, so it doesn't seem to help.

Lots of people in Cambridge do this, as there is a really good state sixth form. I think most are happy with their choice.

I did (years ago) it can work fine but in my second year I had some family trouble and lost focus. That would have been spotted in my independent school, but wasn’t in a state FE college.

Take her to visit a few, see where she feels comfortable, and accept that you might have to help provide structure.

It's relatively standard round my way as we have some good large state 6th form colleges that offer every A level combination under the sun.

What are your concerns?

Lots of children round here miss out on places to our 'outstanding' local sixth form as it is filled with private school pupils. The only thing the head cares about is those top grades.

My niece did this, she been at an all girls private school since 4 and did her A levels at a state sixth form college. She enjoyed the experience and was so ready for a change. I do think her grades were a tiny bit lower than she may have got at her private school.

I think it’s quite common as those who want to learn will stay on and those who struggled will leave for jobs etc so it’s a different environment

Dd did.

She was in private school from 4 to 16, very happily and successfully.

Her school didn't do the a level combination she wanted so she went to a nearby state school's sixth form. A very different vibe at the school - informal, good results but much more diverse in terms of catchment (in all senses including ability and financial) and very approachable.

She had a fabulous time there. She made really good friends, many she made in the first week or two and who she remains in touch with now she's in the final year of university. She also stayed with friends with some of the girls she was friends with at her previous schools. I guess social media makes that much easier than in the past.

Dd would likely have got higher grades had she stayed in her old school - much more pushy, more academic and certainly would have benefited from being there during her covid end to year 13, including in her marks. However, she loved her sixth form times and benefited from going there in lots of other ways too including socially.

She would have gone to the same university to do the same course regardless.

We remain very happy the decision.

My dc are at or have been through an outstanding state sixth form and every year we have about 20 join from private schools. They fit in and do very well by all accounts (I help out with yr 13 interview training).

DD decided to switch from a private all girls school where she’d been from yr 7 - yr 11 to a selective 6th form.
She admitted afterwards that 3 weeks in she felt she’d made a huge mistake but didn’t want to tell us as we had not been keen on the move. The biggest shock for her was the switch from all girls to a boys school with a very small intake of girls in sixth form.
She stuck with it and got the grades she needed for the course she wanted. She now works in a very male dominated environment and her sixth form experience has probably helped her.

Many many years ago I chose to do this and moved from a private girls school to the big state sixth form. Tbh it was not for a better standard of education (although it was as good). I liked it better, but I am pretty loud and self confident (yes, completely not everyone's cup if tea!) and there were about ten of us who moved over. There were much better extra curriculars and more and better sports. Social life was also much much better :)

It’s common near here as the private schools are single sex and the sixth forms are mixed. The state schools have wider choice of subjects too and good class sizes - it’s not much fun trying to do an a level with only 2-3 in a class at a private school and I know this is why some I know left

Loads leave private education in the next city to go to one of the best 6th form colleges in the country. Parents feel that there is no need to pay for better teaching, better pastoral care and a wider range of subjects.

Thanks everyone for your experience, I really appreciate it. We recently went to a sixth firm open evening at a local state school and we're blown away with how knowledgeable they were regarding what my daughter wants to do at uni. Even though not as academic as her current school, it still has excellent results. Also in her current school some of the a level classes are only two students.

The extracurricular, the well-being etc are better at the state school.
Her current school has many safeguarding concerns, the only wellbeing is a chaplain who gives out harmful advice at times. The headteacher is untouchable, what she says goes. It's a small bubble and I think my daughter would benefit from getting out of it.

Thanks again for your help

Our friends DS switched to state for A level and got a contextual offer for his university. We were shocked as we thought they looked at GCSE’s too.

Friend of mine sent her DDs to private school from age 4 but by 16 they wanted a bigger circle of friends than a year of 30 girls (!) so they went to a local state school. They could walk there too which was a bonus. Both did well at A level and went on to good unis (Nottingham and Leeds) and have done v well. The younger is a peer of my Dd and I know she got A-star AA at A level (2019 so not TAGs) so pretty good going.

We considered it, but the (very good) state school still didn't offer what she needed and was very oversubscribed. Your private seems shockingly bad not to have any ucas guidance so moving for that and better A level choice is reasonable.
One thing that also went against the state school was lack of space - there was no separate study space or common room for sixth formers. As my daughter spends half her day in study periods having a quiet dedicated area has proved vital.