Sixth form college in Central London

[Ribena1215]

Hello, I am trying to find a sixth form college in/around Westminster area for a Ukranian boy. He is sitting gcse this year, but his grades are not expected to be high due to insufficient knowledge of English language. Maybe someone could recommend a college in the area? I only found Westminster Harris, but it asks for a 7 predicted, and the expected gcses are all 5s. Maybe someone could recommend a colledge/school in the area, the mother is getting desperate. He cannot stay in his current school and needs to transfer to a sixth form.

If he's only likely to get 5s then would he be better with BTECs and a further education college? I can't think of any 6th forms that will take you with less than 6x G6 and often wanting 7s in the actual subjects. DD's school want 6 x G9-7 for 6th form.

What kind of thing is he wanting to do?

Thank you for your reply. He is interested in art and science. His mother is adamant that they only want A levels, someone told them they can’t get into a university with Btecs.

Level 3 BTECs will lead to university. The qualification in aimed at people to are about grade 5 at GCSE unlike A-levels which often require 6+ for the subjects chosen at A-level.
I can’t help on the college front but wanted to correct her on the BTEC front

A 6th form for September?
Pimlico Academy?
From Westminster look at Lambeth and Wandsworth as well

Which part of Westminster do you mean? Do you mean like Victoria/HoP or Westminster borough. If Victoria area I second Pimlico Academy.

If he can travel to somewhere like Kings X then Westminster Kingsway College has a branch there that does A levels. Or City of Westminster college has a campus in Paddington.

(We looked at Westminster Harris for DD for 6th form but she said she felt like she'd walked into a 'giant brain'. So it was a no from there!)

Thank you very much! Will check all the options above.

Pimlico want G6 in English and Maths, and a G7+ in Sciences, so not sure this will work either.

Westminster Kingsway College for Science A Levels want G5 in English, G6 in Maths and Science.

He should definitely look at BTEC L3 Extended rather than A levels if he has low grades. Far more likely to get into University that way than finding he can't get in anywhere to do the A levels or not being able to keep up when he gets there.

You'd have to check what kinds of courses he's potentially interested in at university and which university and check if they accept BTEC L3 Extended. If Art, then BTEC is perfect.

I know when I looked at degree courses for Music following a BTEC L3, it only really ruled out Oxbridge and a couple of others (which if he's only getting 5s at GCSE are unlikely targets).

Could he should take a break for a year to study English?

One of our local sixth form colleges (not London) offers a one-year GCSE course, which might be an alternative approach - a chance to improve the grades and his English.

DD did her A levels at LSBTC https://www.southbankcolleges.ac.uk/about-us/lsbtc

The're good for the more sciency A levels and do BTechs thhough DD did well enough in her A levels to get a Cambridge interview.