Do state sixth forms let students know if their application is unsuccessful?

[Shinyredbicycle]

To cut a long story short, my dd has applied to very few sixth forms due a poorly managed bullying situation leading me to move her school at the beginning of Y10 and her being terrified that she'll encounter some of the children involved in the majority of sixth forms in our area (London, so quite a lot).

Yes, she should have applied to more, but her anxiety was off the scale between October and February about the whole process and I was grateful that she ended up applying to any tbh.

She has her heart set on one particular sixth form which is selective inasmuch that it asks for a minimum of five 9-6 grades plus English and maths level 5. My dd's predicted grades met this comfortably.

She has a couple of friends who applied, one of who has received a conditional offer. Dd hasn't heard yet and although I'm encouraging her to wait and see, I'm feeling very, very anxious.

There won't be anything in her attendance/behaviour/reference that would put a school off, so can schools just decide to give some children conditional offers and some not?

And if she's not given an offer, will she at least hear?

TIA

With some ups and downs, she has done well in her new school, but the process of applying for sixth forms reignited all that trauma.

There isn't a document detailing the over-subscription criteria as you describe LarkDescending although the page is explicitly encouraging late applications.

I'll call the admissions person again next week. I'm not coping well with supporting my DD to manage her anxiety - I think months of supporting Dd have caught up with me.

If you pm me the name of the school, I'll have a look for you. I'm a school governor, so know what should be there, but a lot of schools seem to cut corners with their year 12 admissions policies, and many breach the guidance. I think that's because the policies are less likely to be challenged by local authorities and parents.

If the policy isn't clear, and published on the website, and if you don't get a place, you may have good grounds for appeal.

Thank you keepyrhead. I've pm-ed you.

i have two children who have recently been through sixth form and yes, round here, they were told if they’d got an offer. My work colleague’s son has applied to a local grammar but was told yesterday that despite having excellent predicted grades, they have had plenty with higher, so have already given out all of their offers. They’ve been told to go to the school on results day and see if anyone has not got the grades (assuming he has) and he might still be able to secure a place. The school says they ask for approx 8 x 6s but obviously this year, there must be lots of people with much higher predicted grades.

I have replied to your other thread.

Yes, of course schools tell students they have not been successful. They are dealing with children!

Timings wise will differ between schools. Some may do it now (ie no conditional offer but ask them to reapply on results day) . Some may do it after results day.

Email the school. Ask them.

And yes, as PP said - check your spam/email. Have you had anything from them yet? If yes, then at least you know they have the application and the correct email. If not - definitely chase it up (unless application was only very recent). We get 300 applications - and I email both parents and students with each step of the process....there are some bounced emails ("inbox full" or clear typos on the application form). I try to rectify as, generally, either student or parent email will be working. But this could be your issue.

You will have zero guarantees until results day. This is part of life....

As per my other reply - your DD needs to focus on her GCSE's now, that will give her the most open doors.
Take the focus off this one school. Get a plan B and plan C...just in case....so you are not dealing with results day upset and scrabbling around for alternatives in August, but don't make a big deal of it.

I've sent you the document. I think it's only fair to warn you that your chances of a place look slim. They have to prioritise their own year 11 students. There seems to be 210 of those (assuming it's the same as current year 7), and only 150 year 12 places, so they are likely to fill with their own students, especially as it's a popular and succesful school.

That said, there are several issues with the policy and it is definitely not compliant with the admissions code. Any parent can refer a policy to the schools adjudicator anonymously. If you want to do that I'll happily tell you what the very solid grounds for objection would be.

You could also appeal for a place on the grounds of a non-compliant policy (whether or not you have an adjuducator judgement to back it up) but that would only help you get a place if you could show the non-compliance has disadvantaged you.

I think it has. They have not published a PAN for a minimum number of external offers, and the final criteria is random allocation, so if it were me I would argue that even if just one external place was guaranteed I would have as much chance as anyone else if getting it.

So, if you have the strength to fight for a place, do, but either way you need a backup plan.

Thanks. Their brochures says that half the places are typically filled with internal students and half with external but I guess that's not an exact science year on year? The main school is mainly distance criteria and part selective, so not all students will meet the entry requirements required by the sixth form.

One of dd's friends has a conditional offer. Although she has lower predicted grades than dd, it's possible that there were places in the subjects that she wants to study.

And thank you for your advice about the schools adjudicator. I will think about it, although I don't know how much stomach I have for another battle with a school. I'd do it if it benefitted dd of course.

You could also ask the school to consider your application under criterion 5 - exceptional social need - but you would ideally need:

1. a letter from your daughter's previous school to evidence the circumstances of the bullying (you may have this already),
2. reasonable evidence that all the other schools will have members of the bullying gang there (more difficult, but fairly crucial, and something must have convinced your daughter of this).
3. A letter from a GP confirming anxiety might also help, but not as important as 1 and 2 because anxiety about school transfers is not generally considered to be exceptional - it's very common.

The clause also says you should submit the evidence at the time of application, but some schools are relaxed about this (ours is).

Or

a) they've used a fake email
b) they've used a school email that doesn't accept external emails
c) they've mistyped their email
d) they've mistyped the parental email address
e) they've not entered either email
f) they've forgotten what email they used
g) it's an email address containing text that falls foul of a profanity filter
h) they've not completed the information needed (eg, any of DOB, address, postcode, telephone numbers, contact emails)
i) they didn't hit submit at the end
j) autocomplete has completely screwed up the form filling

A fair amount of work attempting to engineer the application system so that all of the above are reduced/eliminated is done, but there's always some novel way in which people (not just teenagers) manage to circumvent the information requested on forms to their detriment.

But most sixth forms actually take applications all the way up to and including September, as this allows for plans changing, results being different to what was expected in the Autumn or just the teen deciding that they want something completely different, so it is never the end of the world. After all, the Admissions Code is very clear that they can't just say 'Nah, don't fancy you coming here, even though you meet the grade requirements'. And they need to be full as it's how they are funded, so it wouldn't be in the sixth form's interests to do otherwise.

Thanks. I did look at that criteria. I do have the letter from the head apologising for how they managed the situation, but no of course I can't prove that the children involved in bullying will be applying to particular schools.

And of course neither did/does dd know that. Her anxiety is completely irrational, but very, very real to her.

Thanks for your help. It will help to be able to explain to dd that she may not be offered a place simply because the subjects have been filled with higher priority applicants, I think.

And then work with her on a plan b.

Jeez, this has been going on since October and we're no further progressed with the situation than we were then.