Options for sixth form colleges, all over 1.5 hours each way

[parrotonmyshoulder]

DD has just started year 11. School does not have a sixth form.
There are two sixth form colleges in our county, and one in the neighbouring county. 1.5 hours (direct bus but less likely to get in as not same county), 2 hours but entails leaving 6.15 am, or 2+ hours and impossible.
Several schools have sixth forms, most don’t offer her a level preferences. The nearest one does - she left this school in Year 8 for SEND, mental health and bullying reasons. Needless to say, she doesn’t want to consider it again! All other schools are at least an hour away, don’t have much of a range of A levels, and she is very wary of them due to her experiences.
Not quite sure why I’m posting. Solidarity? I appreciate this sounds unusual. It is the reality in our rural area of England.

Gosh that sounds hard. Compromising on A Level choices is sometimes necessary, especially if you can't get to a college, but I understand her wariness. She might still find her niche in a different school, especially if she's doing unusual subjects ans therefore has small classes.

I'm guessing boarding is out of the question with her MH history. Could you stretch to online school or other online provider? The saving on bus fares would offset it somewhat...

Talk to colleges about the timetables too. One near us teaches "full time" in only 3 days a week, for everyone. Another can arrange timetable into fewer days for those who need it.

Would you consider moving? Realistically living somewhere rural is always going to mean way fewer choices available in all sorts of things.

Maybe we did it the wrong way round but decided on the sixth form for dd and then chose the subjects. We are rural as well and that’s the compromise we had to take.

state boarding school?

What A level is causing the selection issue? Some colleges timetable in a way that you don't have to attend 5 days a week.

We can’t consider moving, but thank you for suggestions. I wasn’t aware of state boarding. I don’t think she’d go for it, but I will have a look at options. The compromise on subjects might be the key, but on the other hand it is going to be very hard for her to compromise on subjects AND come round to the idea of a new ‘school’ when school has been so hard for her. The idea of sixth form college, where everyone is new and the expectations and atmosphere are so different, has been really appealing to her and has helped her through some tricky times, even in her current and successful school.

How many days would she need to do it? We had similar with DD2, but fortunately she only needed to be in about 15 hours a week with it being a sixth form college, the rest was self study from home, and she didn't always have to be in for 9am. It's do-able if it's like that, if she wants to do it.

Interesting that some sixth form colleges are lower contact. We are in a similar predicament in that our likely first choice college is 1hour + away. However on its website it makes a big deal about attendance, so not sure how flexible it is.

@jennylamb1 might be worth checking - DD's only insisted that they were there for timetabled lessons and termed that as 100% attendance.

Thank you, I will ask. He would have to take two trains and then walk for 15 minutes (1 hour + realistically). The other option is a 35 minute bus that goes past our door.

I was thinking this. I attended one (decades ago now) and we had to be in the full day, even if you had no lessons. On Mondays my first lesson was 11:30 but I got in trouble for not being in for registration (yes, really!) at 9.

I’ve also worked in 2 sixth form colleges, last one nearly 15 years ago. While neither were as strict as the one I went to as a student, there wasn’t any combination of subjects that meant full days off.

I remember having Wednesday afternoon off for PE.

Sports.

All the colleges round here have similar contact hours, but they are arranged differently. 3 days per week means longer days and few free periods in college. Attendance-wise you need to be in for your taught lessons and one tutor period per week.

I wouldn't take being big on attendance as necessarily meaning lower contact hours or expecting them to be in for non-taught periods. Generally more contact time as very much a positive. Presenteeism in free periods, not so much.

Interesting to hear different views, thanks. Due to previous experiences, and just how she is, she has strong views on what she is looking for. We are very disadvantaged by geography (in this respect!) so she is going to have to really hone down what matters. At the moment it’s the availability of one particular A-level (film studies) and ‘no stupid rules’ (apparently non-stupid rules are fine…)

How motivated is your DD? If she's a hard worker then she could look at the nearest schools with 6th forms and then study the subject they don't offer by herself.

My son did this for physics A level. He messed up one of his GCSE papers and only got a B so the sixth form refused to let him study Physics A level. He taught himself and got an A. It was hard but he was very determined. The only tricky bit was the practical exam but the school let him take that as an independent entry.

How motivated is your DD? If she's a hard worker then she could look at the nearest schools with 6th forms and then study the subject they don't offer by herself.

My son did this for physics A level. He messed up one of his GCSE papers and only got a B so the sixth form refused to let him study Physics A level. He taught himself and got an A. It was hard but he was very determined. The only tricky bit was the practical exam but the school let him take that as an independent entry.

She's had mental health problems. Wouldn't that make it worse?

The distances are a problem, particularly in bad weather. It sounds as if a Sixth Form College would be right for her. Apart from Film, what are her other choices?

I've just seen that the "problematic" A level is Film Studies. Presumably her other 2 choices are on offer at the nearby 6th form? in which case, she can do Fim.Studies independently.

@EmmaGrundyForPM , you have to enrol on a full time course at a 6th form college to get the funding, you can't do 2 A levels only,
OP, I would go for the 6th form college and hope the timetable is kind to her.

At Sixth Form you can hold onto offers for more than one place. Which I would suggest you do for now. As soon as much can change in a year.

Thanks. Nearby 6th form is not an option (attended in Y7 and can’t entertain the idea that it would be different in 6th form - too traumatic).
As PPs have said, it would need to be 3 A levels at any of the provisions. The idea that it might not be a 9am start each day makes the awkward, but socially and academically preferable, college a more viable option.
The MH problems are a barrier, certainly.

Yes, but starting 3 and then dropping down to 2 is a well trodden path, especially for neuro diverse young people with a history of mental health difficulties. 2 A Levels are enough for some uni courses and if she needs more, she can have another run at it after. She just has to start 3.

The point you made about everyone being new has not worked out so well for my DD as she'd hoped. It's been very different to uni where most people "need" new friends. They've tended to come in groups from school and stuck to them in free periods. I would be a bit careful of pushing a brand new start and chance to make new friends - I did this and in hindsight it ramped up the pressure. She's enough as she is, even if she just goes to lessons and comes home. It's still more freedom, no uniform, getting to give up less preferred subjects etc.

Does it need to be a sixth form? FE colleges often do a levels.