girls leaving independent schools after y11

[roseshippy]

noticed this with a couple of the less selective private girls schools, that half the y11 leaves before sixth form.

is it universal? is it because they want to go off and do vocational qualifications or whatever? or is there a different reason?

doesn't happen at the top schools? Or do they replace with new intake?

DD is looking to move to a 6th form college for next year from a very good London Indy. Mainly because she has listened to DS moaning about the amount of time he has to spend in school compared to the amount of actual lesson time he has. She is super organised and self-motivated so will do very well anywhere. Despite his complaints it wasn't an option for DS.

As it is mentioned above DS has particularly warned her against moving to KCS (his school) for 6th form, and I wouldn't want her to go either. But it could be a great choice for the right girl.

I understood that a factor is that you need a certain level of GCSE success in order to be permitted to enter 6th form at independent schools. I've certainly heard this a lot from friends with boys. One friend's boy had to leave Winchester because they demanded a set of very high grades which they decided he wouldn't get so took him out anyway. He came home to London and went to a private 6th form, allegedly full of ravers and druggies!! When I asked her who fills the gaps in 6th form she said "Asians"

Lots of kids move school at 6th form. It's a very good idea in my opinion.

Where I live (Winchester) it happens a lot, as the 6th form college is excellent and offers more options.

Also it saves money, and you can say on your Uni application that you're state school educated (hiding your privilege)

Yes - I'm sure that you do have to state where you sat GCSEs on your UCAS form so the university will be aware of your educational history. I'm also sure that very few students are given lower offers from state sector.

It's simply that universities may seek to bolster their stats for students accepted from the state sector over private. Pupils who have sat GCSEs in the private sector but moved to the state sector for A levels may then be favoured in the university selection process over their private school peers. For data collection purposes, the educational establishment they attended will be listed as state at that point and, I believe, no data relating to where GCSEs are sat is collated.

I am not stating categorically that this does happen, simply that this is a perception, amongst some parents, whose children move to the state sector at that point. There are, of course, many other reasons why students move for A levels as BubblesBuddy has succinctly summarised above.

A friend works in admissions for Cambridge and says when looking whether people are "state school educated" they do not just look at where the students are taking 6th Form studies but also where they took their GCSEs especially when they attend high performing state 6th forms such as Peter Symonds or Hills Road, Cambridge. Again anecdotal but less mythical I suppose we could say.

I think it's pretty much the law to go to Hills Road for 6th form if you live in Cambridgeshire, regardless of where you went 11-16. I do sometimes idly wonder how many colleges have benefited from a bump to their state school admissions figure thanks to HR.