Thinkng ahead about 6th form

[circular]

DD1 just started yr10.

As her current school has a sixth form, that would be the starting point. But she is increasingly moving away from the idea of staying on there. Mainly due to the Music department not being large / strong enough. Great music teachers, but < 10 in their GCSE group, and hardly any generally do A level music.

State school choices locally are limited. The local techincal college does not do Music A level. Whilst we would not rule out private, I think she may be at a disadvantage when it becomes to Uni applications, as offers may be higher, even though she had not attended private secondary school throughout.

She is looking at studying Music at Uni and wants to take Music along with 3 academic subjects (Geography, French & Maths are the latest) at A level- so not sure if a specialist music school/college woudld be appropriate. Being a late starter, she is behind the level required for any kind of music scholarship.

How far out of the area is it possible to go for state options? Does catchment ever come into it? No info on oir LA website.

Appreciate it is not until at least this time next year when the applications will go in, but would like to start considering options now. Possibly even go to some open evenings this year.

the funding is applicable to all post 16 providers. Historically schools received more funding per head than colleges, it is all being brought into line and therefore every provider be it within a school or college are receiving the same funding to the level that colleges have rather than taking up to school level.

The colleges/schools will make conditional offers based upon predicted grades and references. Some colleges will make allowances for early entry (i.e. gaining a C grade in year 10 instead of a preferred B grade but not all)

Cricketballs - Re the predicted grades, School recently sent a letter out saying we will get these soon and a bit about how they are based (think this may warrant a separate thread). Do you happen to know if these are reviewed and amended in yr11? Especially when several modules are taken in yr10. And a couple already in yr9?

Based on that letter, we have concerns that DD will get all B/C predictions apart from Maths & Music. Although we have been told at every parents evening that she is capable of A*/A in Geography, MFL and Science.

As all the private school want at least A in the 4 AS subjects, she could be in trouble.

I have replied on your other thread; sorry about the 'getting worked up' comment as I was unaware of the background .

They are reviewed and if there is constant evidence that higher grades are being worked to then targets can change (especially if you ask remind the school)

However, be mindful that the targets are generated from a long list of data which is supported from a very large number of students history etc. Unless you do have evidence that your dd will/can achieve A grades, be careful about how much pressure she will feel under to gain these if she is truly not capable

Realistically we don't know whether she will get As - it" too early to say. It may therefore be best for now to rule out the private 6th forms that want 6 A"s. She did bag an A for the first science module they took in yr9, against a B predidiction and a U in the mock, so it's anyone's guess.

We will do some more digging on the music scholarship requirements at 16 though.

Just a quick update here as recently had info evening for year.

Amongst other things, reinforced that these are the first year for whom education to 17 (yr12) is compulsory. Advised starting to look at sixth forms and other opportunities this year.

My daughter knows exactly what she wants to do (with that comes its own issues!) and we are looking at all colleges this month and in November on their open evenings and she will then be applying asap. Depending on the competition for places, she may well need a preference list and also to prepare work to support her application (she wasn't able to do her chosen subject at GCSE but it is her hobby!) I think it's better to face these things earlier rather than later, just in case spanners are thrown into the works.

In view of this, I wish we had looked in 2010, but we didn't.