Christmas & 6th Form

[Trixiebell06]

Hi , our child is starting 6th form in Sept so A levels would it be mad to go away for Christmas this year with the year being important with exams

Going away for Christmas of Year 12 shouldn’t be too much of an issue - bear in mind that in sixth form there’s not really such as thing as an “easy week” so they’ll be in lessons and working right up until the last lesson of term - so you shouldn’t try to get away early. They might have mocks in January but part of sixth form is learning how to use your time and revise effectively.

Depends if they have exams in January or not.
All L6 exams usually go towards the schools grade predictions for UCAS, so they can be really important.
Even if exams aren't immediately after Christmas, there are likely to be some before Feb half term, so will need to be doing some school work.

Thankyou for your replies , we’ve never been away for Christmas & it’s something we’ve wanted to do . What with covid it just hasn’t happened .
I wouldn’t want to take my child away for Christmas if 6th form is full on .
I think we will need to give it some serious thought

I'd think Christmas of Year 12 is probably fine, unless there are exams in January (which I would think would be unlikely). It's a long term and they work hard for the whole of it, so Christmas needs to be a rest!

Of course not

It depends when exams are. Ours have always been before Christmas but lots of others do them straight after. Can't imagine it would be much fun going away for a once in a lifetime holiday if you're studying everyday.

Around here it would seriously affect exams which are around then.

This thread is an interesting snapshot into how different schools are!
DC's school did frequent small assessment but there are no formal exams until May of Year 12 (they fit them in before public exams start).
Surprised there are a few saying exams in January of Year 12.
Guess OP had better find someone who is actually at her school to check :)

This thread is an interesting snapshot into how different schools are!

They do seem to vary quite a lot don't they?

Ours has regular exams but do get the best results in the County so we can't complain too much

What Atomic said in the first reply.

6th form is fairly "full on" throughout.

To some extent, it also depends what you mean by "go away" - as in where you would go and if your dc is disciplined enough to do some work each day.

My daughter is entering upper sixth this fall and she said no holidays this year. But last year would have been fine - I don't know many kids who study that much around Xmas unless they have mocks straight after. She had mocks in April after Easter break.
Find out when they do mocks then decide.

Ours is same as redsky small assessments at the end of each topic so basically every 3 weeks ish for each subject to confirm understanding and then end of year 12 exams in May where they have study leave to give them time to study. Each component went toward determining their UCAS grade.

I would contact the sixth form to see if they usually have assessments before or after Christmas. I am convinced that Ds's were before Christmas because the school made it clear they wanted them to have an actual break.

My DD's sixth form (current year 13) had about four extra weeks off over the two years. Reading weeks and weeks were they were set assignments and the teachers were marking papers.

I am convinced that Ds's were before Christmas because the school made it clear they wanted them to have an actual break.

Same here. Y11 & Y10 are after Christmas and Y12 & Y13 are before.

Ask the 6th form if they have January exams in year 12.

I absolutely would and did go away at xmas in Y12 both when DS and then DD were in Sixth form. Xmas in Y13 if mocks are in Jan might be different but there does need to be a balance for families or you could find yourself doing nothing for years if say you had children 3 years apart and be in constant GCSE/A level cycles.

We will be. GCSE mocks were straight after Christmas this year so DC worked right through the hols, and then we've had our summer hols cancelled due to Covid, so we are going away for a fortnight this coming Christmas.

Find out when the yr12 exams are - ours are the first week back after Christmas.

Apparently the first yr 12 mocks are in Feb so the school have said it’s fine to go away as long as my child does some revision
your so right The teenage years we’d never go away