Which North London College or 6th Form? (how long is that piece of string?)

[RedGiant1]

DD currently in yr 11, studying for GCSEs. Working at grade levels 7-9. Considering between A'Levels; History, Spanish, Psychology, RS with a view to taking perhaps Law at uni.
My questions, her queries (a) N London Southgate, Finchley, Barnet Borough areas. Are there any colleges, 6th Forms that are better than others for studying those A'Levels?
(b) Which places genuinely provide good support and help when needed for students that could take a while to adjust to the demandsof A'Level studies?
(c) How strict are the student's dress codes, is Dame Alice Owen's policy over the top?
She is 'torn' between, Dame Alice Owen, Wren Academy, Ashmole Academy, London College of Excellence?, Woodhouse College, St Michael's 6th Form etc, etc.

Woodhouse and St Michael's have good reputations locally.
think the latter is v difficult to get into though.
doubtful about LCE. but no real knowledge.

Woodhouse, St Michael's and Owens are all absolutely excellent choices for academic A-levels and would all get her top grades but I'm not familiar with the others.
The difference really is in the atmosphere and the way they treat the students I would say (slight disclaimer I went to school at one, sixth form at one and my siblings went to the other).
Woodhouse is open campus and they try to make it feel like university. They encourage students to take extra curricular activities and promote a lot of independence. They had a great library. Students come from a very diverse range of north London backgrounds.
St Michael's (the school) is the opposite in terms of student background as it's single sex and selective both for academics and religion, so girls are all the same type. They linked up with Finchley Catholic boys for sixth form to try to address that but definitely the pool of students would be narrower there (it's much smaller than woodhouse which may be a good or bad thing depending on personality of course). The religion aspect is still there and it's more school less campus - there's more opportunity to work with younger students as a role model, leadership, school productions, sports, that type of thing.
Owens is also school but it's not a Catholic school - st Michael's was a convent school as late as the 80s or 90s. Owens is much further out in Potters Bar and lots of students seem to drive there. It's got amazing facilities.

Thank you for your detailed response. :-0

Thank you for your reply.

I also suggest the Totteridge Academy. Their 6th form has just opened. It's a brilliant school with excellent teaching staff.
The head teacher has really turned the school around in the last 5 years.

St Michael's is mixed in the 6th form.. The days of sharing lessons with Finchley Catholic are gone as they have their own successful 6th form which is also mixed. There is no uniform so jeans and sweaters are the norm.

As a lot of girls come up from KS4 there are more girls than boys but some new kids join from all kinds of schools in the area. You don't need to be Catholic in 6th form.

In fairness this is information from my neighbours whose son goes to the 6th form at St M. I don't actually know this personally. Maybe @Hollywhiskey is right.

My Ds is currently in yr 13 at the Wren-it was amazing in their provision during lockdown. Much better than Woodhouse and East Barnet from what other friends have said. It has a v strong RE department . Woodhouse is good if your child is an independent learner however a few kids I know of have struggled with this and their parents feel they would have been better in a school environment. Dame Alice is v good-lots of kids travel from N.Finchley and Whetstone on the school bus and it has a fab reputation.

Yes, that was my friend's experience of Woodhouse. Her academic dd did very well there, but lots of her friends couldn't cope with the sudden independence and went fairly off the rails.

My friend's ds went to Compton for 'A' levels and the school environment, business dress and all, was much better for him