6th form

[Thefishewife]

By son is now in year 10 and I understand they apply based on mock exams my question is when should we start looking at 6th forms ECt

Open days for year 11s are already coming up around here.

Usually they go in year 11 but sometimes having a look in year 10 generally is a good thing. We have so many choices around here and the children have to move on because we have no sixth form so my son decided to look at a couple in year 10.

It was very useful in terms of getting a feel for the places but one dropped one of his subject choices for 2014 entry which had been available in 2013 and the other didn't give him much time as they were so very busy with year 11's - so you can run into those sort of issues if you look too early.

Thanks I was under the impression they took their mocks at the end of year. 10 then we applying for places based on that then doing the real deal exams in year 11

I would look round in Y10, but not actually apply until Y11. Partly because if you have a lot of schools to see, it can be a bit overwhelming doing them all in one go but also because, at least where I live, different schools may have their Open Days on the same evening.

In my dd's school they do mocks in December of Y11. However the teachers give predicted grades throughout Y10 and Y11 based on work done so far. These predicted grades are passed along to sixth forms.

Sixth forms my dd is interested in have their application deadlines in December or January of Y11. They make conditional offers based on predicted grades. When GCSE results come out in August, then offers can be confirmed (or not) and dc have to make their final choice.

Also, if your son/daughter is likely to be a borderline student, ask what their policy is on not making the offer. Are they ruthless? Do they give some benefit of doubt?

If they are ruthless and your dd/ds still really wants to go there then investigate a plan B.

Nothing worse than not making the offer on 25th August and having one week to get over the upset and choose the course and college you are going to follow for the next two years in the following one week!

We didn't because I wanted my son to aim high but when he just missed out we found 1) he had chosen a ruthless college and was so determined to go there he didn't want to go anywhere else and 2) he had to start looking at alternatives quickly. Luckily, it did work out because he knew what job he wants to do, so we were able to work from that backwards and find the most suitable BTEC but it was a stressful week!

Thanks everyone I was getting a bit stressed

We found it really useful to go to open evenings autumn y10 (and then again summer y10). Each time we go we find more questions to ask, and DD has much more idea what subjects she might like to do.

Just about to go yet again autumn y11 to understand new terminal exams, and the effect they have on how many subjects you have to do. Also still desperately trying to find a solid plan B if GCSEs aren't quite good enough (DD will be borderline).