Why are comprehensive schools allowed to have selective Sixth Forms?

[Reincarnatedpig]

This is really bugging me. DD is in year 10 at a comprehensive school with a banded admission procedure (all applicants take a test and places are awarded equally to each of the four ability bands). However the Sixth Form is a different story. They are now asking for all grades at GCSE to be B or above with A's in the proposed A level subjects. DD is dyslexic, she has sat 3 GCSEs so far with B's in all 3. She would like to do English A level but only got a B overall in English Language which she sat in Nov, she cannot resit (she will sit Lit in year 11). She got A/A* in the coursework but only a C in the exam. She is bright and in the top stream.

I just cannot understand why a comp is allowed to do this. They only offer A levels anyway. Surely someone with a B is capable of getting a reasonable grade at English A level. She wants to do fine art at college so grades are not that important overall but she would have liked to have stayed at her current school with her friends and there are no good alternatives.

StarballBunny, Im not sure anyone has said they were required to have A grades in subjects they weren't going to continue, in order to do vocational courses. Isn't the OPs daughter required to have an A in English because she wants to do English alongside her art course?
The only time when schools ask for an A in a subject not being taken at A level, is when it is a new subject at A level. so for example, many schools offer Economics or Politics at A level but not before. They cannot ask for an A in GCSE Economics or Politics, so they choose a subject that has similar skills and require it in that instead as a way to judge suitability. In Politics, it would be usual to ask for an A in a humanity or English.

OP, I have been told more than once that an A at GCSE is equivalent to A D at A level. A levels are much much harder and not for the naturally academic child. Many A levels have less coursework and more focus on exam results so again if the child is good at coursework but not so good at exams then some traditional A level subjects may not be for them.

I don't think English is any easier than when I did it tbh. It seems to contain more assessed work and tests a wider range of skills. I was able to do my O levels without doing any work, just what I learned in class. Wouldn't be able to go that nowadays.

Similar for A level when I did it I'm afraid. I think the effort out young put in goes largely unrecognised with all the talk of dumbing down. They are worked much harder than when I was at school (I went to a grammar).

We'll take pretty much anyone into the 6th form, but the different courses have different entry requirements. We offer a wide range of level 2 and level 3 courses, academic and vocational. Good guidance at the point of entry to 6th form is so important. Otherwise students are set up for failure.

The thing is, if your dd has achieved a B at the start of Y10, then she clearly would have achieved A or A* at the end of Y11. The school have ballsed up by entering her too early. Knowing the school, I agree, for them it is about becoming the school every middle/upper class parent wants to send their child too - rather like the boys school down the road - and sod everyone else they should be educating. Their ethos stinks. I know your daughter wants to stay put but seriously there are some really nice schools on your side of town that would be chomping at the bit to take her.

I always thought that most comps had slightly lower entry requirements in the 6th form for internal vs external students. Is there any leeway given when they know the student well and can assess whether they would be capable of the subject at A level?

DD1 currently in yr12 and struggling with 2 of her 4 subjects, all of which she had A*/A in at GCSE. It's really made me think that there could possibly be some better way of assessing whether a student is capable - perhaps entrance tests in the subjects. DDs problem seems to be mainly with the independent learning, its such a huge step up.
At least one of her teachers at parents evening said that it is not always the lower grade students that are scoring the worst at the start - there are some B grade students in her French class scoring better than some A* students. Attitude and maturity is playing a big part too.

One thing to be aware of OP if your DD doesnt need high grades. Check the prospectus of any school she applies for to see what th minimum is to be allowed to continue - many want 3D or even 3C at AS to be allowed to continue I to yr13. Far better to make the move at start of yr12 than have to do yr12 twice.

tiggytape I probably worded that badly.
Doing rounds last year, minimum requirements were the same for all.
BUT where there was fierce competition for places, only the external students with the highest predictions would get an offer. Whereas an internal student with minimum requirement predictions would always have a conditional place. Of course, if the external student subsequently missed the predictions, they would still keep the place provided they hit minimum requirements.

munslife I've not come across any schools having that criteria for mocks. Very harsh.

If she wants to do English lit A level, then surely the grade for language does not matter, it's the lit result that will fulfil the admission criteria.