What happens to the kids who now won’t get into 6th form college for Alevels due to the algorithm?

[L00ptheL00p]

Where do they go? They can’t go back to their old schools and Autumn way too early for retakes after all this trauma and a 9 month education gap.

What on earth are they supposed to do?

Do they have to try and find a place where they can take BTECS? Although if they don’t even meet the minimum grades for those I really don’t have a clue!

Most colleges collaborate locally with secondary schools anyway. Presumably they'll all just say "results were unreliable, send me your CAGs"?

Sixth forms are likely to be more lenient than in other years.

There are also other college courses other than A levels, even if it means going in at level 1 or 2 rather than 3.

Yes, sixth forms and colleges are likely to have a lot more leeway than universities.

Other courses not an option. Capable of and wants to do Alevels. Would rather get what was needed for Alevels but how?

Some colleges offer a reduced selection of GCSEs as a 1 year course.

Or there is the option of resitting next summer as an external candidate. That isn't for everyone though.

For those whose parents can afford it there are crammer colleges or online schools.

I imagine having experienced the madness themselves this week with A Level results, they will be much more forgiving than usual.

Colleges and sixth form will be forgiving. The good thing is a localised system means its much easier for the college to speak to the school and vice versa.

They all want bums on seats.

But if the appeal gives the pupils back a mock grade or a CAG, the pupils has been cheated of their place at their school's sixth form or their chosen sixth form. Cheated of the opportunity to study their chosen subjects.
The corrected appeal grade has to be available before the start of term.
With 2 million downgraded GCSEs predicted, this will be a huge huge problem.
If those in charge in government are of a similar age to me, they may well not realise the progression from GCSE to A'levels is not as seamless and automatic as it was in our day. It is like university places but without the benefit of clearing or the benefit of time. There is one week between results and the start of term.

Plus the irony that it is compulsory for 16-18 year olds to be in some form of education now.
But apprenticeships have been largely cancelled this year apparently.
School sixth forms have limited capacity and often give high conditional offers.
16 year olds can't take a gap year, they can't work full-time, they can't travel.
Why should they be directed to resit an exam they never sat in the first place and may very well be part-way through appealing and likely to succeed eventually in that appeal since most pupils with have a mock or CAG higher than the downgraded moderated standardised best-guess that they will open on Thursday.

By the way, those saying the sixth forms will be forgiving. My DC has 3 sixth form place offers - none of them have contacted us to say don't worry it will be OK. They will be wanting to cherry pick the best performers so that in 2 years' time they will have a good set of results.

I am dreading results day. It will be heartbreaking to see hard-working students receive marked down grades. I really hope 6th forms will pay attention to CAGs.

It’s like a driving hotspot where you know 25% of drivers may be speeding so you pick a random 25% to take the punishment for it regardless of whether they were the ones speeding. I don’t think these young people sitting any external exam which has been unfairly graded will ever forgive and forget this. Being fair is so important .

Basically, we all need to put pressure on the government to ensure that a pupil can get their CAG or mock as their final result before the start of term or else hundreds of thousands of pupils may be deprived of life chances.

I would have thought that those students who are planning to go to a sixth form attached to their school will be ok (hopefully), as the school will already have the grades assigned by their teachers.

It really is nothing short of wicked. Children shouldn’t be in the firing line of such dreadful policies oddments randomness. Some of the A Level stories are utterly heartbreaking.

But for those who are not, really hope the sixth forms are more lenient.

Lots of secondaries don’t have 6th forms.

It is FredaFrogspawn, students do not deserve the utter contempt with which they have been treated.

I am still hoping that the government will backtrack and just go with teacher assessments for the GCSEs.

I would love to think 6th Forms and colleges will be forgiving, but I agree with @neutralintelligence that they will want to cherry pick the best performers.

And some towns only have school sixth forms and no further education college! So they are tied to these high conditional offers unless they are willing and able to travel further afield.
But we all chose options that suited our DC in Jan/Feb based on realistic expectations at that time. It is totally unfair that so many pupils may not get to go down their chosen route in life simply because of this quota allocation guessing game of results and the fact that the government currently are not committed to resolve it before the start of term.

But they will know some of the ‘best performers’ won’t be the best performers. They truest picture of how capable students are will he conversations with their Yr 11 teachers. We need to have that dialogue between schools and 6th forms.

I agree that if you were planning to attend your own schools’ 6th form, you have a better chance of continuing on your chosen path (If it was a realistic one) whatever happens.

Plus the irony that it is compulsory for 16-18 year olds to be in some form of education now

It might be compulsory but there have always been cracks in the system especially if you don’t achieve the relevant grade in an exam.

The joined up thinking has been missing for years.

Maybe now someone could actually look at all the rulings and see they have no cover for every 16-18 year old.

Everyone must remain in education now until they are 18 unless they have an apprenticeship or they do 20 hours a week work with PT training.

So I think although it's predicted the algorithm will be more of a shot show for GCSEs it'll have lesser impact.

Students may have to do 3 years instead of 2 but they cannot he refused an education.

Uni students I don't know? We have high unemployment atm and so many units are at capacity anyway even if students now get their ucas grades awarded. Makes me so sad for them.

I guess they could reapply. Not ideal and you'll have next years students also applying but I also guess that only works if you get the correct grades allocated at appeal?

I have great fondness and respect for the school my DC has been at for the past 5 years, and would love him to stay there. But they are pragmatic and ambitious and may feel they can't get attached to several hundred kids in the way that we feel attached to the school.
Trying not to get too cynical, but the past few days have been shocking in terms of the government's and ofqual's view of individual pupils and it is quite brutalising and disillusioning of the education sector in general.