Catholic 6th form Surrey for bright DS

[surreymum58]

Fellow Mumsnetters,

DS will be finishing up at St George's Weybridge next year, he is predicted 5 A's 6 B's in his GCSE exams.

DH and I only funded for his education up until the age of 16, we now want him to attend a strong catholic 6th form.

People at our parish have recommended Fisher's (?) a catholic school in Purley, Surrey but I have heard only bad things about its admission process which includes a 2 stage interview process, test and references.

London Oratory is too far for DS to travel and Grammars in Sutton are also too far.

Has anybody had any experience of getting into Fishers(sp?) and are there other alternatives as far as catholic 6th form?

5As wouldn't be good enough to get into the Sutton grammars I'm afraid. It should be ok for John Fisher depending on which AS level courses he wants to pursue. Most academically inclined 6th forms will want to interview and get references for external candidates. St George's 6th form application process is similar in fact.

I would advise an early application. John Fisher tends to be first choice for the Whitgift/Trinity boys who do not get the required GCSE grade in August to get onto their A level courses. In the event that they get oversubscribed then early baptism/regular church attendance will count more than extra grades. But due to the fact that their admission criteria are fairly rigorous, the school is one of the least over-subscribed int he area.

St Andrews in Leatherhead?

Don't restrict yourself to just Catholic 6th forms, there are many other good schools and colleges you could choose from. The one that is best for the subjects he want to do for A Level should be your priority, not the religious ethos IMO, not at 6th form level.

Thanks LM,

I've heard of whitgift so if there are boys from there going to Fisher then that's quite encouraging.

Friends at our church say there is a bias when Fisher is recruiting kids from private schools and from laeham (??) a local prep. The school is a bit of a mystery frankly, most parents at our parish are put off because of it's perceived selectivity.

Older parishioners say the schools used to recruit from far and wide but not sure what to believe.

As with any state school, admission criteria change over the years, and you are looking to enter at 6th form which is academically selective rather than at year 7, which is not. I wouldn't rely on rumours from a different era, but you need to visit the school if you are interested. You do also need to look at a wide range of 6th forms including possible some 6th form colleges.

What about St John the Baptist in Woking? If your son attends St George's, that must be logistically possible? My dc is doing GCSEs there and will be going into 6th form next Sept, you have unfortunately missed their 6th form open evening which was very impressive and which I enjoyed much more than St George's which was our other option! Their A level results are excellent, almost on a par with St George's, they have a pretty good range of subjects and it's only 150 in 6th form so they have a really good idea of who their students are and their capabilities. They did introduce their open evening by claiming to be the best 6th form in Surrey, that might be true, I tend to take these things with a pinch of salt but they're certainly good!

Thinking about it you might have missed the boat application-wise. Sixth form schools and colleges tend to have an autumn year 11 application deadline.

Good point Titchy. We had to apply for SJB by 15 November, I had assumed that was only an internal deadline but I just checked and the application deadline for external applicants was last Friday. Fishers is tomorrow so I don't think you can make that deadline either. Why have you left this so late?

Where are you situated?
Salesian in Chertsey has a strong 6th form.
Or the Hounslow Catholic schools have a consortium.

If Oratory is too far would I be right by saying Cardinal Vaughan is to far also?

Hello, could also be worth posting this on our Local Surrey site:

local.mumsnet.com/Talk/surrey/local-active

Local Editor

St Peters state school in Guildford is meant to be very good and the sixth form is newly built.