School sixth form vs Sixth form college

[Lotustiger]

Anyone out there with the benefit of hindsight?

No sixth form at current school. Still undecided re a school sixth form and a sixth form college (for start in September!). Both rated outstanding.

School sixth form much closer, but established friendship groups and quite strict. Suspect they would get better results out of child here. Can't accommodate first choice A level combination.

Sixth form college huge, can do preferred A levels, far away, everyone starts at once. Still gets good results and child is self motivated.

Interested if anyone made a similar choice and whether you had any pearls of wisdom to share?

My ds is staying on at his school sixth form now cos he got the grades to be able to, and that's what all his friends are doing (I wasn't totally sure/a bit anxious about his grades). But we were just talking about it in the car and I remember being really frustrated at my school sixth form with all the rules and being told that I had to be there even when I had a free period.

But I was a bit of a swot at school, and worked really hard and was self motivated and getting the grades. I kind of think that my ds would not be like this and needs a bit of structure and a push.

So I reckon a lot of it should come down to the personality of your teen.

How different are the A-level choices being offered at school? Will they still keep the same degree options open?

I wouldn't overestimate the impact of a long commute. I teach in a school with a large sixth form, but there still are some subjects we can't viably offer. Students who want to do these often end up commuting a long way to college. In theory, I believe it's billed as a hour on the bus, but traffic + walking to the bus stop ect means for some students it's 90 minutes door to door. Some of them return to us because they find that exhausting! Obviously if it's more like 30 minutes, that's totally different!

If she doesn't need the structure of school, I would say there are probably some advantages to college, though:

• All geared up for that age group, so they will have extra curricular aimed at 16-18.
• They will often have at least a few students applying to oxbridge/medicine/etc each year, so can have more expertise in these areas (it depends on the school/type of school, but my previous school probably only had one med school candidate every few years, so they didn't always get the best advice and support). My current school has at least 2-3 every year, and I've learned a lot about medicine applications already!
• It can be a good transitional step for students between school and uni. Not all students need this, but we are pretty rural, and going from a small village to a big uni in a city can be a huge jump for some of our students and they do struggle.
• Pastoral support will solely be focused on sixth form students- in schools, sometimes, students post 16 can miss out because students in lower years are needier, or causing more obvious problems.

In most areas, I will say that schools will take students back if they try college and don't like it within the first half term, whereas colleges won't (usually) accept late entries. It may be worth trying college for a week or two, and if they decide they really don't like it, then switching back to school.

Oh, one other point is about how sixth formers are prioritised, and I think this will depend on each school. At a college, obviously they'll be the priority because they are the only students, so efforts are made to cover lessons if staff are ill, and things like that.

At my previous school, during covid especially, Y12 were one of the first years to be asked to study at home if it was needed, and teachers were taken away from Y12 if needed to cover other subjects. Sixth form lessons were also sometimes disrupted because of behaviour incidents in other classes, and used as a place to "park" disruptive students from other year groups. Some of whom would then go on to disrupt the next lesson.

The sixth form wasn't a priority for the MAT, so it wasn't a priority for the head- whereas keeping other year groups open/on track was.

This doesn't happen at my current school, which does really value the sixth form, but it is still the case that sixth form lessons aren't covered unless long term absence, and the students are expected to self study. It's very difficult to arrange subject specialist cover if a teacher is long term sick- so often it just doesn't happen.

Also, I know that the nearest college has way more kit for certain practicals than we do- because that's the sort of thing they can choose to invest their budget in, even if they are more cash strapped overall.

I think it totally depends on the student's personality.

My brother and I both went to the 6th form college for our area (2 years apart) as our school didn't have one.

My brother, who was popular, extroverted, sociable and sporty loved 6th form. He thrived there.

I on the other hand, hated it. I found it hard to organise the work. We were given a folder and paper but I hated having all subjects on paper in the folder so after a few weeks tried to change to exercise books but felt I should rewrite all the notes already done and got horribly behind. I found it hard to go from knowing everybody in all my classes to knowing hardly anybody. One friend had gone to a different college and the others seemed to find new friendship groups easily which I then felt on the periphery of. I did get a boyfriend in the first year so was with him and his mates mainly from then on but I still wasn't happy at the actual college. I found it too big, too loud, just too much.

At school I had been a prefect, I helped out in the library and computer rooms, I knew all the teachers and in my last year I prided myself on knowing every student in the school. I was quite academic but not very good at organising myself so I did well with being kept on track by the school. Once all that support was gone I went to pot. I did pass my A Levels but I'm sure I could have got better grades if I'd been able to stay at school.

When it came to uni I chose the smallest one I could find as I'd hated the big 6th form so much.

I suspect my shy 6 year old will be similar to me so I will be suggesting she goes to a school 6th form when we get to that stage.

Came on to say just this. My sons went an independent school from 4 to 16 and then state 6th form although could both have stayed at their 6 form. One of my motives was it was a great stepping stone to Uni. Both were self motivated and responsible and liked being treated like adults.

However there is a flip side as a couple of their friends went down the 6 form college route, messed around in the first year, got really bad mocks and ended up back at the school 6 form having to start their A levels from scratch. Talking to one of them he admitted college didn't work for him because you need a lot of personal responsibility which he just didn't have. He admitted he needed to be spoon fed and have someone on his back.

Sorry was going to add that you really need to leave it up to the child. Both my boys were happy to go to college and enjoyed it but it really depends on the child. I also would be slightly concerned regarding the established friendship groups at school 6 form and the fact they can't accommodate her preferred A level choices.

DD didn't have a choice as the only provision we have here for A levels are school 6th forms.

It's obviously your kid's decision, but choose carefully. My other kids went to college. DD has been really unhappy at school sixth form, she very much feels they are treated as children. Detentions for wearing the wearing the wrong shoes or wearing a coat inside etc. There is no uniform, but a dress code that is smarter and pettier than any office I've ever worked in. This was also a substantial financial outlay and we have so much anxiety about it. My other kids just threw on jeans, a hoodie and trainers.
The kids seem less mature.
The teachers at school sixth form seem to be less available and often dealing with lower school behavioural problems, clubs and other issues. Sixth formers are constantly pulled up as they are supposed to set an example to lower school.
My other kids were able to access the library and computers until late at night at college. They were also allowed flexibility around working and travel commitments. I still have to phone in sick for DD and give permission for various things, as DD pointed out - what if she had mecical appointments that she dudnt want me to know about etc. My college kids were expected to deal with their own sickness.

There was also flexibility with A level choices at college. School had less choices on offer and they were organised into blocks.

A huge thank you to you all for taking the time to comment. I do agree that it ultimately needs to be their choice, but have found your comments valuable. I think they will end up at college, as they A level choice issue is a problem (the school teaches the A levels but they are not in the right option blocks to be timetabled) - it's just a shame it is a distance away (and thank you for the point on hidden costs) Thanks again