Changing schools for sixth form.

[FiveHoursSleep]

Our eldest daughter wants to change schools for sixth form next year. Her school is a good one, and it gets good results, but she says she hates it. She says the teachers are annoying and the standard of teaching is bad, there have been some staff changes lately but I have no concerns about the standard of teaching.
She is predicted to do well in GCSEs ( 7s and 8s with the mention of a possible 9 or two, but no one is willing to commit to that yet) but is very anxious with her exams being only months away now.
She wants to do 'something medical' as a career and is looking and Biology and Chemistry ( +?) for 6th form. The school she is at has good science teachers and will have a brand new 6th form centre for her Y12.
DH and I don't really want her to move as we know the school but if she really wants to move, we feel she should have some choice in the matter. So we are going to look at 6th forms with her but won't let her move to one that gets worse results than her school.
The ones we have found are all twice the distance away than her present school, so 1 hour commute vs 30 minutes ( or less if I drive them to the station).
Some of her friends are staying, others are leaving to go to specialist schools- art, performing arts, media etc.
Can anyone give us some advice in what to look for in a sixth form? I'm just worried it's Y11 she hates, not the school, and she'll find herself isolated and miserable in a school where she knows no one.

My Dc changed schools for sixth, to one with a longer journey.

As others have said, go with an open mind and don't set yourself against the idea, or your Dd at this stage. Be positive, ask how they approach sixth form / number of subjects / EPQs / entry requirements/ extra curricular etc.

Apply for all those she likes and are good. You can hold several offers and decide after results.

Yes, we are going to look Par, the journey looks horrendous though. This is a 15 year old who begs not to take a 15 min bus journey. Hmmm
The work involved will start if she does move to another 6th form as she will want lifts to places and probably want to go to parties in places that are in the middle of nowhere.
Where she is now is at least manageable.
I also have younger children with SNs to think about, and having 4 kids at three different schools will be a challenge :(

FiveHoursSleep I think those are all points you should discuss with your DD.

Highlighting these issues will enable to her to see that it isn't just a case of going to a different school will suddenly make her feel much happier. Moving may/will present other issues and it will be their responsibility to overcome them (with a little help and support from you along the way).

Helping her to build independence now will benefit her later on if she decides to go to Uni.

I suspect, given her areas of interest, she may decide to stay once she has seen the other schools and gone through the various stats. etc. Science is a strength of the school and certainly there will be a good sized peer group for the science subjects - great for forming study groups etc.

Have any of her school friends told her that they are looking to move. Could this be making her think that she should move too?

Involve her in the decision process as she may be at a point where she is wanting to feel she is making decisions for herself. It may also make her feel more secure and reassured as she goes through her A Level course if she feels it is something she has chosen to do herself, not something she is being made to do.

If she stays at the school but feels it was her choice to stay she may well be much happier going forward.

I appreciate that this will be a hard time for you as you feel the school she is at is the right school for her. However, do bear in mind that your DD will have changed a lot since she started at the school. It is worth going through the selection process again to ensure that it is still the best fit for her.

The work involved will start if she does move to another 6th form as she will want lifts to places and probably want to go to parties in places that are in the middle of nowhere.

Oh, well I don't do that sort of thing! Never have, and so if/when I do, it's greatly appreciated. My ds has just started at a sixth form college 20 miles south of us - I did suggest he only made friends with people who lived north of the college rather than those forty miles away, lol, but I have no doubts about him sorting out his own transport wherever his friends happen to live.

Maybe talking about being a bit more independent this year needs to be part of the "which sixth form" discussion - she might grow up a bit and surprise you.

(I also had 4 kids at three different schools. No SNs to contend with though, and my kids are all very independent by nature and keen to just get on with stuff by themselves.)

You sound SO grudging and resentful about her.

I understand you have other responsibilities, but try not to piss on her chips. It's not her fault you live in an area that sounds isolated and lacking in public transport.

Maybe just get her to do the journey as part of her testing out of schools. And to think about the social implications. But not in the tone you post about her here.

My ds started a new school in year 12, he is now in year 13 and tbh it took the whole year to settle in. Friendship groups and sports teams were well established and he had to work hard to break in. Teaching styles were very different to his old school so that made the jump from gcses to a levels even bigger.

Overall it was the best sixth form for the combination of subjects he wanted to do so he stuck it out but readily admitted he would have been happier had he been able to stay in his comfort zone at the old school.
Look around lot of places and apply to as many as you want. You don't have to make a decision until after results day and she may well feel very different by then.

CamperVamp - You sound SO grudging and resentful about her.

I know the schools OP is referring to. I don't think the OP has a grudge. I think the issue is taking a gamble on another school being as good as the one her DC is in.

you live in an area that sounds isolated and lacking in public transport.

The area is neither isolated nor lacking in public transport. However, a number of schools in the area are spaced a fair distance apart. Links are good but traffic in the area builds up at school pick up and drop off times so journey times can be unpredicatable and, if the roads are particularly congested, can make a fairly easy journey take a bit of time.

My DD moved to a sixth form college. We lived a 60 second walk from her secondary - she could literally leave the house at 8.48am and make it before the gates shut at 8.50am and the college was an hours bus journey.

It wasn't easy - I used to dread the mornings, and we did have some wobbles when she regretted her decision. BUT we have now got through it and both her and I think that long term it was the right move. The college treated them as adults, they hadn't known them as children so there were no preconceptions about who they were. She also got to meet a much wider range of people due to the catchment area than were at her school and it gave her confidence knowing she could handle the change.

She also did very well at her a levels and says she didn't think she would have done as well if she had stayed at her secondary. So overall it was the right move for her although definitely not the easiest option.