A level offers

[hels71]

It's been many years since I did A levels, and when I did, the school have me an offer to study x,y and z( my 3 choices) dependant on gaining the correct grades.

DD has applied to study 3 a levels at her current school. Her offer however, is just for a place in the sixth form ( assuming pass GCSE) with no guarantee of subjects. Is this normal? She could get amazing grades, but no place to study her chosen subjects??

Won’t it depend on the staffing, the timetable and also on how many other students want to take those subjects and / or that combination. I would ask the school. They will probably be able to tell you the likelihood of her being able to take those subjects.

What are her subjects?

If they are eg maths physics and chemistry then presumably the a levels are likely to run.

If she's chosen Russian polish and mandarin then it might be subject to there being enough students to run the course.

My child has applied to several 6th form colleges, he has conditional offers for them all in the subjects he has asked for. I'm assuming it's different because colleges are bigger so will have more students so more subjects will go ahead.

She's applied for textiles, theatre studies and maths. She's worried about having no sixth form place...

Ok that's a really really odd combination - what is the thinking behind it?

She should apply to several sixth forms if she can. And possibly for slightly different subject combinations as timetabling could well be an issue.

That's an unusual combination.

Maths is a popular subject so will run. Textiles and theatre studies would be more marginal.

It kind of reads like she is really not sure what she wants to do - maths focused people tend to do maths further maths and physics/CS or science.

Theatre studies tends to go with drama and English - is she planning on doing acting or technical aspects?

My dd couldn't do a technology subject she wanted to do because she was the only one wanting to do it that year.

She wants to work in theatre. Mainly backstage. She wants to do maths because she loves maths!

No other sixth form in our area offers textiles at A level. Hence her panic... They were told that as long as people applied them courses would run. Several have applied for each choice however it seems most of the theatre/textiles people are actually planning on heading off to do BTechs

Yeh agree, it depends on the subject tbh.

Maths will obviously run but textiles might not. In ds1’s year his school didn’t even run the GCSE bc of low take-up.

it does depend - one of my dc’s years the school didn’t offer Spanish A level bc of low take up.

I agree that combo is v unusual. Why not Eng lit - would go with theatre. What would she do if textiles were not to run?

Edit - I see you say her plan post A level. Does she have much experience? It’s quite competitive.

Ds applied to a college and a school. He did not want to go to the college. On results day the school said they were oversubscribed for 1 of his a levels and we had a huge panic, it really ruined the day for him. Luckily some dropped out of the course so he got his place in the end but was stressful. It is difficult if they are set on what they want to and where they want to go.

It really is tricky when she's got her mind set in one thing! She knows theatre is very competitive, which was one reason she thought A levels rather than a BTech as they would be either drama OR textiles and thought A levels might keep options open. She does loads of stuff in our local theatre, from dancing to acting, back stage, costume making and ushering.

Wouldn’t maths be handy for pattern cutting?

Id suggest she looks beyond sixth form - is she planning a degree? Where. Uni or specialised drama college. I'd suggest in that A levels won't make her a stronger applicant. She doesn't have to commit to a specific sixth from now, so applying for a BTEC IN performing arts or something would be sensible. And being flexible about A level choices - eg switching Maths for DT, or English. Or even History.

I'm not in a position to give real advice, but it strikes me that if she loves maths and is good at it, a maths A level could be quite powerful down the track if she doesn't achieve the theatre career she's looking for (or even be an interesting adjunct to high level set design type applications?) - if at some point she is a "career changer" it would be a subject that would help her be taken seriously in non-theatre areas. So it would be a shame for her not to be able to take it. I would get her to look broadly at the kind of courses that she might be looking at next / routes in to the career destinations she's got in mind, and consider what other subject(s) might be useful to her if she can only do one out of textiles and theatre studies.

I hope she can get enough information soon to be able to comfortably park her A level plans and then get back to getting a great set of GCSEs. Good luck to her!

Things to explore:
Is there a college would offer the maths & theatre studies alongside a BTec in textiles? Plenty of universities will accept BTec alongside A-levels.
Is there an evening class locally in textiles, so she could explore that further alongside A-levels?
Look at possible post-A-level options and what their entry requirements are.

No - maths A-level is irrelevant to this.

Thanks. There are many things to think about! Seems to have been much easier back in my day!!

As ever, the best thing to do is to work backwards. Look at the job she wants and how people who currently do it got there and then try to plan a route, ideally with a plan B in place.
Unfortunately she does want to do an unusual combination of A levels and with the financial pressures schools are under these days some just cannot afford to run courses with very small numbers. It's also likely that most the other maths students are likely to be taking sciences and the other textile and theatre arts people are more likely to be taking another arts/practical type subject so it might not be possible to timetable the lessons to suit your DD. Understandably they do have to set the timetable to work for the majority of pupils.
It may of course still work out but I would look at other possible routes just in case - either different A levels or BTECs somewhere else. It's best not to put all your eggs in one basket and there is seldom only one way into most careers.

Ah, ok. I looked around the UAL website to see if maths would be handy for any art/theatre/costume subject. One of the preferred A-levels for their pattern cutting degrees is maths. Can’t see anything under costume/theatre though so irrelevant I guess!

If she is staying at her school rather than changing to a college, I imagine it will be an overall smaller sixth form with a more restricted choice of subjects. Ask the school how many times in the preceding years they have run the textiles and theatre studies courses? And what is the minimum number of people they need to run the courses? DS did theatre studies for A level, but changed to a large sixth form college where they ran three separate classes, such were the numbers and the demand. If he had stayed at his existing school, they needed a minimum of four students and they didn’t actually get that number at A-level so it didn’t run.

I’m not sure about textiles, but what I would also say is that, although the school may have a low minimum number to run the class, for a practical subject, where you need lots of performing, improvisation etc, it’s very restricting to have so few people.

DS1 studied music at AS level, it was the first time in a number of years that the school had run the course having got the minimum number of five people required. However, he really didn’t enjoy it with so few people in a performance subject, and to be honest, the teaching was not of great quality, as I’m not sure that either of the teachers had actually had the opportunity to teach to A level standard previously.

One of the key differences between applying to sixth form and Year 7 is that admissions aren’t coordinated which is both a challenge and an opportunity. Schools and colleges often over offer as not all pupils achieve the necessary grades and / or they decide they prefer another course, combination of A-Levels or another school or college. Have you checked all possible settings within daily travelling distance? Remember she could progress to a foundation course in textiles after A Levels and before university and would not have to pay fees if she is a home student and aged under 19 on 31 August in the year the course starts. This may give her the edge in applying for a competitive degree course.

Reading between the lines, it sounds like the school are worried about the viability of the course. If, in September, they don't have the numbers to make a class, then it's likely the subject won't run- hence not offering the specific subject.

Have you looked at sixth forms/colleges further afield? Sometimes, if students want a more unusual subject combination, they do need to commute a fair distance to get it.

Thanks. We've looked everywhere! Seems textiles and theatre studies just not offered as A levels around here. We've found a possible BTech course and she's thinking of trying to do maths A level out of school. ( If that's possible!)
Just very stressful!!!

What is the BTEC @hels71? Could she not take it alongside maths A level at the college or sixth form? Or is it of the level that means there is no space for an A level as well?

Maths A level outside school would be very challenging even with a lot of tuition. Especially if the BTEC is an extended L3 diploma.