Is there any point appealing a private school sixth form refusal?

[Nivvers2001]

DS is currently in year 11 at a fairly academic school and is predicted 7,8s and 9s. He should meet the academic requirements for sixth form entry, however, the head of sixth form told us in February that they will not be offering him a place due to his behaviour. The school is very strict and DS has racked up a number of behaviour points over lateness, uniform, having his phone on him and in one case missing detentions. I am not that worried about DS staying there as he has other sixth form offers and not convinced it's worth 10k a term to stay put, however, DS has lots of friends at school and is happy there so would at least like the option of staying. My question is whether there is any point in appealing the decision given that independent sixth forms can decide who and who they don't admit so it may be pointless even trying. Thoughts?

Even state schools don’t have to automatically offer places in 6th form you know.

Yes but they don’t know what his behaviour is like yet and I’d imagine his current school will give him a glowing reference to make him someone else’s problem…

Never start a fight without asking yourself “what if I win?” Why in the world would you want your son to go to a school that doesn’t want him? That has to be forced to take him?

That doesn’t sound like a school that will help him achieve his very best in the most important 2 years of his school life.

It sounds sodding miserable.

Also - even if they were up for keeping him it doesn’t sound like the right school for him. He’d be better off somewhere that is less rigid.

Loads of kids move school for sixth form. It is very common indeed. My dd is moving as her school doesn’t have a sixth form. She is starting to get excited about it now as she will still be able,to,stay in touch with all her old friends whilst also making new ones.

And £60k is a hell of a lot of money. Especially for your son to be miserable.

Totally agree. We went from up to 4 detentions a week for minor things like uniform, lateness, forgetting homework, getting up and talking to his friends to 2 in a term.

He was never naughty so to speak but he was a total pain in the neck and he was wasting teachers time with low level disruption

He was always a nice kid, polite, friendly and getting decent grades but the difference was, I was on his back and he knew it wasn’t ok

A low dose of meds has been literally LIFECHANGING. He’s likely to come out with straight 8’s and 9’s, one had no contact with school for months and he is much happier and calmer. Seriously, don’t underestimate that lots of minor things add up to a child who is just a pain and distracts the other kids

You’ve done your son a massive favour by not making excuses for his behaviour.

With the pressure of VAT, private schools aren’t going to be throwing out fairly bright students for just having their phone out every now and then.
I suspect your ds is a pain in the neck!

Well, you may not like it, but they've done just that. It's a heavily oversubscribed school so they are not concerned about filling the place.

What is the point in replying to a thread where you don't accept the information given? Seriously, what is the point? Do you just pick and chose the bits you agree with and the bits you don't?

Well I think you're a pain in the neck for calling a 16 year old a pain in the neck and not accepting the facts as stated. Why are you posting here other than to be seriously unpleasant? Does it answer the question? No. Is it helpful? No. So get lost.

Excuses for his behaviour? He's not a serial killer, sounds like a pretty normal 16 year old kid to me and similar to my son. However, I would not medicate DS. I don't think he should be medicated to fit into a school system that is completely inflexible. My older son does have a diagnosis of ADHD and his state school have been amazing with him, very flexible, and his ADHD issues are far worse than my other DS.

Yes, that is what I am questioning, whether to even bother, as I wouldn't want him somewhere that doesn't want him plus it is ridiculously strict and inflexible.

He's not disruptive in lessons. Please stop making stuff up. He had a glowing report in March for all his subject teachers about how well he was doing. One or two teachers said he sometimes talks in lessons - has happened maybe 2-3 times since September last year.

Why don't you sort yourself out and stop being so nasty?

I am questioning why you are so unpleasant and judgemental.

This. The other parents will be looking for a good return on their longterm investment in their child’s education. They will want good AL grades and offers from good universities. They won’t want your low level disruption child with his missed work, lateness and forgotten homework taking up valuable teaching time that they have paid for.

Really? I didn't know that. Please enlighten me oh wise one?

Do YOU know that state schools (not college or grammar/selectives) have to follow national admission policies and criteria. They are allowed to set entry requirements and select on distances. They are not allowed to use information gathered in interviews. Not sure on whether they can use references.

Going to put this in caps because you keep missing it.

HE IS NOT LOW LEVEL OR HIGH LEVEL DISRUPTIVE. NOONE HAS COMPLAINED ABOUT HIM.

I do hope that you are NEVER late and if you are you give yourself a massive telling off. So many perfect people here.

Lots of people are late. It's not the end of the world. Doesn't mean you don't keep trying.

Attitude of the parent? How exactly? Because I am thinking of appealing a decision that seems unfair?

Do you judge yourself with the same scrutiny? If so you must see that you're a pretty nasty piece of work.

No point whatsoever. Why would they offer him a place?

Problematic and annoying behaviour? BASED ON WHAT??

Possibly because they have acted unfairly because they don't have solid grounds. Read above. Or just answer your own question as I'm sure you would like to.

I work in a school (not private) and absolutely genuinely would say the vast vast majority are on time and hand in their homework 100% of the time.

if your son isn’t he needs support with organisation. It’s not inevitable that this happens

I read your OP and was going to ask about ADHD or something like Dyslexia. Are the school aware of the suspected ADHD? Because if so, it does sound like disability discrimination. And I don't think he should be being sanctioned at all for things he can't control.