Bath Mums - good state Sixth Form?

[MrsBright]

We will probably be moving to Bath once daughter has finished GCSEs next year.

I need to hear your advice/thoughts about the local Sixth Form/College provision - which would be suitable for a shy teen who enjoys Food Tech, Science and (on a good day) Maths, but isnt desperately 'academic' and who will probably get mostly C grade GCSEs.

Help!

Are you applying for September 2016?
The following schools within Bath itself have sixth forms: Ralph Allen (co-ed), Oldfield and Hayesfield (joint sixth form with Beechen Cliff). Hayesfield has Technology specialism so definitely offers Food Tech at A level.
In the BANES LEA and within easy travel distance would be Wellsway sixth form which has good reputation and for a more rural school Chew Valley school may be a good bet.
The closest specialist sixth form college would be St Brendans on the outskirts of Bristol but easily accessible by bus and possibly less academic than some of the others.
City of Bath college may also be a good back up option and has a good reputation (my OH did apprenticeship there in Engineering).
5 GCSEs at C or above should be enough for a place but for Science A levels they may require Bs in relevant Science subjects and Maths. Applied science A level has lower entry requirements, but am not sure how much longer this subject will continue to be available for due to A level reforms.
If I hear anything else / go to any of the Open Days will let you know as we will be applying for some of these for our dd for September 2016 entry.

Many thanks catslife, DD is currently Year 10 so we will move next July post-GCSE exams prior to her starting A levels.

I've heard good things about St Brendans but do they have a Catholics only admissions policy, and is it 'churchey'? We are firmly atheist.

Is there any girls only school with a sixth form? DD has found the girlie peer pressure surrounding science/maths a bit trying and would appreciate not having to defend her choices at every turn.

When are Open Days held - autumn term? And when would we have to make a definite application and/or decision by? HOw would they view 'moving to Bath' in terms of catchment areas etc? I havnt got a clue about this process when you are applying from outside the area.

All help much appreciated!

Might not be of interest if you are definite about Bath, but have you considered the market towns just outside? Bradford on Avon and Chippenham both have good secondary schools, and 15/20 min train journey into the centre.
A little further out, Frome is a nice area to live with access to good schools in Frome and at Writhlington and Midsomer Norton.
Obviously if you are set on city living then this won't appeal but I thought it was worth suggesting

Hayesfield is all girls 11 to 16 am not sure how joint the sixth form is whether it's all lessons mixed or just some subjects.
Oldfield is in the process of converting from all girls to co-ed lower down the school - Y10 is lowest all girl year group. Am not sure how this affects sixth form but has quite academic reputation.
Most of the pupils I know at St Brendans aren't Catholic but good question.

I personally wouldn't come to Frome College for sixth form, but Writhlington in Midsomer Norton is worth a look.

Hayesfield and Beechen Cliff are separate sixth forms which join for some smaller subjects, with those subjects she would probably end up doing food tech at hayesfield and the others at whichever school she was actually at (Hayesfield mainly girls with a handful of boys Beechen Cliff the opposite). I went to St Brendan's quite a long time ago, then they gave priority to Catholics (in those days none of the Catholic schools has sixth forms so it served them all) but once in theCatholic side of tthings was optional. It suited me well, much more freedom than school but still high quality teaching (which catered for a very wide range of abilities) it certainly allowed me to achieve my potential.

Thanks Yangsun - thats interesting. DD not keen on potential 6th form where we are now for this 'joint 6th' arrangement, so Hayesfield looks a better bet plus its mostly girls which would also suit her better.

Thanks for all the advice ladies - looks like we need to take a serious look at Hayesfield.

Oldfield 6th form will still be all girls for a few more years. It's an popular and oversubscribed school with a good reputation.

Hayesfield has very few boys in the 6th form - there were about 6 when we went to an open day 3 years ago. It offers a good range of subjects and there wont be any raised eyebrows about maths/science choices. I went to school there in the 70s and the science girls were treated as genius goddesses!

Having said that, Beechen Cliff has a lot of girls in the 6th form studying Maths and Science nowadays but the school will expect A grades at GCSE to study A levels in these subjects - entrance to the 6th form is competitive and quite a few kids apply to join from local independent schools. Lots of DS's classmates didn't get the grades to stay on in the 6th form (minimum of 6 GCSE passes at B or above).

City of Bath College sadly no longer offers A levels BTW but does offer a good range of BTECs and other vocational courses -I studied there for an FdA 4 years ago.