Where to do Alevels: grammar or sixth form college

[aliena]

Dd has place at the local grammar but she will not be able to do her preferred fourth choice Alevel because of timetabling issues. Her alternative is to go to the local sixth form college where she can do all four of her choices. So she is in a quandry. I suspect that she will get her best grades doing the four options she really wants to do. But it is hard to turn down the grammar. Dont know what to advise her. Any thoughts?

My boys went to the grammar school and loved it. One has just got A*AA and is off to the uni of choice. He had to drop the fourth A level as there were issues with the exam board and it wasn't worth the risk of huge amount of work to variable marking and that was his favourite subject. So even if your daughter gets all four choices she may find that it doesn't work out. The expectations and teaching at a good grammar are hard to beat. I got straight As at a comprehensive but I was very self motiviated (horribly competitive I fear) and I found the pace of the lessons painfully slow. The social life was great though!

Horrible choice to have to make.

By A Level, it's not so much the school that gets exam grades, it's the pupil's work ethic.
Drill down to detail. Most schools publish A Level results subject-by-subject, grade-by-grade. See how the school/college do for her particular subjects. No point going just for the sake of that fourth-choice subject if nobody ever gets above a C grade in the other three subjects.

What about non-academic stuff - careers advice, work experience, volunteering, Duke of Edinburgh, sports, music, etc. Is there a clincher in there?
Also, do they have a list of leavers' destinations.

Is she joining the Grammar, rather than continuing there? If she is a newbie then she will never get a position of responsibility (Head Girl, sports captain, etc). At college they will all be newbies and all in the running for whatever gongs are going.

From a social point of view, a sixth form that is not associated with a school is a great stepping stone to university with a lot more freedom and self-determination than any school.

Newbies do get positions of responsibility in grammar schools. At our school in the recent past house captain and school captain roles have gone to newbies.

That's good to know ET78, it doesn't happen in many schools. I had a friend whose DD got awful stick because she was given the lead part in the play. The existing pupils didn't take kindly to a newbie being 'promoted over their heads'.

OP, another thing to look out for. Grammars live and die by their results. Some are unforgiving of a wobble at Y12; you do hear stories of pupils being kicked out for grades that would be acceptable elsewhere.

My heart would tell me to go with the sixth form college (imo, better preparation for uni/work/life).

My head would say stick at the grammar school, as her results are likely to be better.