Boys joining mixed 6th form in "girls" school anyone?

[MrsFlittersnoop]

Hi everyone,
Would really appreciate some thoughts on this.

DS (yr 10) attends a v. oversubscribed all-boys comprehensive with a high-achieving 6th form.

Entry to 6th form (which accepts girls as well) is extremely competitive, and a lot of parents in our area switch kids out of fee-paying schools to join the 6th form here. (It's free. )

Basically, if DS doesn't get a clutch of straight A/A* grades at GCSE next year he is unlikely to be able to stay on at his current school.

DS has Aspergers (mild/borderline) and absolutely hates school. He is predicted to get A/B grades at GSCE however, - all solid academic subjects. His school is v.v sporty (not his thang at all) and, well , rather macho.

My old comprehensive school - (all-girls untol 16, but takes boys in 6th form) is the nearest alternative.

Does anyone have any experience of switching a teenage boy from an all-boys school to mixed 6th form in a girls school?

Sorry if this sounds rather odd - we are a weird borough which still has almost exclusively single-sex secondary schools.

There is a girls school local to hear which takes boys in 6th form. It is very well regarded and a lot of privately educated pupils join at 6th form. My friend's son is one of them. He really likes it (the social side) but I think the hardest thing for him is going from a very strict private school to a more relaxed 6th form and being left a bit more to his own devices iyswim.
They do get very good results though.

Hi,

No direct experience, I haven't done it with a child but I did do something similar when I moved to 6th form. Almost opposite scenario, I was a non-girly girl at a mixed comprehensive and didn't fit in there at all, was totally miserable. I transferred to an all boys school for a levels, only about 20 girls in the year, and it was a revelation. I really thrived on it and I'm sure I wouldn't have done as well if I've stayed where I was.

I'd say go for it. Good Luck

Your DS's school sounds like the one I attended in 6th form. I went from an all-girl's convent into a boy's school for 6th form and, like smerch, thrived. It was a bit of a shock to the system for the first term or so, but then I really settled in and it was the most influential school I attended. I would recommend, based on my experience.

Depends on the school, but I think it seems to work well for boys who choose that option, iyswim.

My dd's school take boys in the 6th form, not in vast numbers, but enough to make it feel very different from the main school. It's viewed as a very positive thing by the girls who have stayed on, as after 5 years in quite an enclosed environment they're really keen to have new people coming in.

My ds is absolutely refusing to consider it, sadly, though to be fair he's quite a boys' boy and wants to stay in an all-boys environment (he has two sisters, so I can kind of see his point). The sport is also a big draw for him at his current school, so kind of the opposite of your ds.

Really, if he hates school and likes the idea of the 6th form in the girls' school, then it sounds like it's probably the right decision for him.

Seriously - ask about the toilets!

When girls joined the sixth form of a, very highly regarded, school toilets became an issue. When my niece started with the first cohort to be admitted the toilets and changing facilities were a shambles. Partly because the SMT were all male.