Woodhouse Sixth Form College in Finchley

[peglady]

Anyone have any opinions on this sixth form college? I always assumed that DD Y11would stay into the 6th form of her current school but it seems she may have other plans! I know nothing about it. Is it well regarded / hard to get into? The results are a bit better than her current school but I am concerned that socialising may take preference to study and she could slip through the cracks educationally in such a large establishment. Her current school is single sex so I can see the appeal however!

I don't know a lot but I have a friend whose DD just left there. She moved from a small rural boarding school so it was a big change. She lived very near (like on the same road near) and had good GCSEs (3A*s, a few As and the rest mostly Bs) so I don't really know anything about how competitive it is. She did say people travelled from all over to get there.

One thing she found difficult was that she moved on her own and many people moved up with a group of friends from their school, so sort of stayed in these groups. She was quite shy so struggled to make many good friends from the college from what I can gather. Academically, it was very good - she exceeded the offer from her firm uni (she got AAB). She did English lit, English language and psychology and said her teachers were all excellent. I think they have a good range of choice and options so you can take most A level combinations.

Sorry that's not much info - hopefully someone will come by with more knowledge!

I live in the area so know a few who have gone.

If your DD is a self-starter with good results, she will do very well indeed and it's a great step towards the independence required for uni. If she needs a push to attend classes/hand in work and still needs to mature, she might do better where she is. (Disclaimer - presuming her current school is good!)

Thank you - it could be an option. Her current school is decent, but not aspirational I would say. Very few go to Russell Group unis. We will go to the open day but if anyone else has any comments in the mean time, I would welcome them.

Well Michael McIntyre went there! He has a whole chapter in his biography about it.

My dc has just finished there last year. Really happy with it, very good experience, dc came out with much better results than we could have hoped for based on non-stellar GCSE results.

Good teaching, some subjects are inspirational. Admin around UCAS applications vg indeed.

Happy for you to pm me for more details. :)

Absolutely superb. It might be large but it feels like a small school, excellent pastoral care and the head still teaches regular classes. The teachers are enthusiastic, give extra work and help if needed, some teachers even create websites with extra material available to all and sundry, and the head goes out of his way to nurture students and coach them in maths, even if they don't do maths as a subject but need help (say for for oxbridge exams). When something goes wrong, actions are swift to correct the issue. Can't fault them.

My son is there in L6th and loves it. He moved from his secondary school along with quite a few of his friends. That said, he's still made new friends in his different classes.

I agree with vv747* that the pastoral care is superb. My son had a bit of a wobble at one point when he realised how hard A levels are, and his tutor was brilliant.

I've been completely impressed with the communication we get. The teachers are lovely - my son enjoys all of his subjects. And there are many extra curricular activities.