Moving to private for A levels

[dontdarepokethebear]

Has anyone had experience of this?

I would love to know how it went and if you'd recommend it.

Ideally we would have liked to have sent DD for all of secondary but financially wasn't possible.

She's stuck it out this far at a state school, and so unsure if she should she stay in the state sector or have the opportunity and experience of the private sector for A levels. Is it too late to have any real benefit/impact? Would the transition to private this late in the day be too much of a cultural change that would be difficult

DD is doing very well academically at her all girls comprehensive however socially, it's been a tough ride. Things have improved now that's she doing her GCSEs and the classes are heavily streamed. Her confidence has taken a huge knock as she struggled to find her tribe and the few friendships she had shifted dynamics.

She seems to be friendly with a lot of girls but has only one close friend. I'm so sad for her as I know she wishes for a great big group of friends. Moving to any school might make this even harder to achieve as friendships have already been established.

Why would we consider private? I don't think she would do any/much better academically but would benefit from the facilities and opportunities, possible friendships and hopefully, although I'm fully aware not guaranteed, more pleasant and positive school experience.

Grateful for any thoughts and experiences. Thank you.

You might find there's an excellent selective 6th form college she could go to instead of a private one

This is not true

They look at GCSE grades and will offer the place to the DC with higher GCSE grades if their A Levels are the same

Which of course is generally the private school DC because state school DC have larger more unruly classes etc for GCSEs

So it's a sneaky way to get the private DC into the top unis after all

This is a fact

@TizerorFizz I am not inaccurate in fact very much the opposite. The issue and conflict of prv vs state for Universities is all over this country among parents.
Yes Oxbridge are the primary focus in this discussion but not only these two unis, the key top universities. Maybe "standard" as you call them out of scope but then I know for a fact many children in top selective prv schools will want to go to Oxbridge.

@UpsideLeft - I said if the candidates were as close to identical as possible, and that would include gcse results. My point was that if all things are equal - apart from the fact that one of two candidates was at a state sixth form - then it would give that candidate an advantage if the university wants to fill a state school quota as well.

People seem to mix this up with contextual offers and feel compelled to point out that unis are ‘onto this’ - yes they are, but it’s also about quotas on a broader level. In the scenario above, they would pick the candidate who went to a state sixth form.

@Mother007 I know for a fact privately educated dc look at all sorts of universities including those abroad. They are now around 30% at Oxbridge m(or less?) but most parents really won’t mind. The best dc will get on well regardless.

Many companies won’t look at uni but will have tests and selection procedures open to all. We all know Oxbridge turns down many many talented DC with stellar A level predictions from state and private. It’s beginning to be far less important than it used to be because many talented dc are looking at other unis. At my DCs private schools, the talk was not Oxbridge. At a few schools it’s been a destination for a good few in the past but, quite frankly, those schools like Westminster, St Paul’s, Wycombe Abbey, Winchester and Eton etc will still have many hugely successful DC.

We don’t know if this DD is remotely interested in Oxbridge. I would bet most other unis won’t bother about 6th form attended too much and they really don’t want AAA for lots of degrees. However this will depend on uni and course chosen. Private schools are not full of parents expecting Oxbridge or crying because dc now might not go. One thing private school can give is confidence. Confidence to do well anywhere.

@TizerorFizz this is an excellent point made about confidence - this is what makes us to stick to the private sector and this factor is really had to argue with.

With regards to Oxbridge we not even looking at this as I am not happy with their increasingly left attitude, there are many excellent Russell group uni's in the UK although they are also inclined the state direction, unfortunately.
Also, re co's make selection test/procedures as opposed to uni name - very valid point.

What does she want to do? I’d expect her to be driving the conversation.

My son is at a state school with sixth form. He enjoys very small classes of less than 10 students. The local private school has bigger classes. Personally I think smaller classes aren’t always a benefit socially.

If a student achieves top grades while attending a state school with the issues common to state schools, I think they are probably more intelligent than someone who achieves the same grades with far more support. I feel it is entirely fair that the state schooler is more likely to be offered a place.

Being frank, if private school students can’t get in with everything private school affords them, chances are, they just aren’t good enough. They wouldn’t easily get in if they went to a state school – they probably wouldn’t be getting the same grades, because of the class size, disruption, everything else state schools are far worse for. The exceptional private schoolers will still get into the top universities, don’t worry. It’s just that the ones who aren’t actually anything special, just fortunate, might have to slum it at Exeter, or Bristol etc.

@Mother007 It’s not all doom and gloom for privately educated dc. They just need to be savvy with university and course choices. Oxbridge is one option only. The point for the OP to consider is DD being happy at school and having friends. This could mean DD does better than she might have done.

My DD moved successfully from a large state comprehensive on the semi-rural fringe of a northern city (no uniform, strong creative arts focus, socially and racially diverse) to a small boys' independent with a Christian ethos that takes girls in the sixth form, close to the city centre. In short, the two environments could not be more different. She thrived in both, socially and academically, and is now in the third year of an MFL undergrad at Oxbridge. Applying to Oxbridge was her choice, not driven by us, and supported by school based on GCSE grades and predicted A level grades.

The change from state to independent was not planned and came about when the state school careers' advisor suggested she apply for a music scholarship, based on all grade 9 to 7 GCSE predictions and grade 6 proficiency in two musical instruments. This too was driven by her. DD did make the move with another girl from the state comp but quickly and easily made new friends. The academic transition was much harder. She saw very quickly that the knowledge of her new peers in French and English was deeper and more secure than hers. (Music, her third A level subject, was different as she spent term-time Saturdays at a music academy with tuition in two instruments and theory.) In French in particular, she had to get her head around conjugation, sequence of tenses, conditional sentences, participles, gender and adjectival agreement with a rigour and structure she had not encountered at GCSE as the state school 'taught to the test', as so many do.

Here's a quick analysis of why the change worked for DD which I hope will help the OP with her family's decision. DD has always handled school transition well, from a busy workplace nursery; to a primary seen as tough in the affluent corner of our northern city (an absurd view, in my opinion); to a large, informal state secondary; to a small independent at which exemplary behaviour and flawless courtesy are expected at every moment if the school day; to the high-octane terms and eccentric rituals of an ancient university. She understands that she is privileged to have had an independent education at sixth form and to be at Oxbridge (she and I have had many conversations about relative privilege since she was about 12). She studies methodically and hard, and knows that application and ability both matter.

In the shoes of the OP, I would be thinking about the personality and character of the child (young person!) and asking the school what they have in place to integrate pupils who join in sixth form. A change of school at 16 is a very good way of paving the way to what comes next - higher education, apprenticeship, traineeship, gap year, volunteering abroad - with the security of home still in place.

@TizerorFizz "It’s not all doom and gloom for privately educated dc"

🤣 Did you say that with a completely straight face?

Yes! And I wrote it down too!

Thank you so much for your replies and wise words, including highlighting issues I hadn't yet considered such as university admission.

She is predicted 8s, (possibly 9s but her school only predicts highs of 8s) for all her GCSE subjects. She is hoping for RG unis. Oxbridge would be a dream. She has to work extremely hard for her grades, it definitely isn't effortless. She is very self driven but not great with pressure or stress which is why we never bothered to apply to grammar schools. We didn't think the competitive environment at the time would be great for her.

I spoke with DD and she was initially excited that independent private schools were a possibility for her. However, she knows herself that she might struggle with the transition to any school. She takes a while to settle and she isn't one to naturally and easily integrate herself into social groups. She not a confident person. Probably even less so now after her experience joining secondary. She was so excited to go to secondary school but being bullied and struggling to find a group of good friends in the first few years left her with no confidence in that front. Covid didn't help, but that was the same for everyone.

If I was to be brutal why she struggles with friendships I would say she's a big people pleaser to the detriment of her showing her true personality. Too desperate for people to like her. Maybe a bit nerdy and out of touch with the interests of her peers. Her passions can be more academic.

She has taken up many extracurricular opportunities at her comprehensive to get to know people and find friends including sport, music, drama, leadership and charity clubs but sometimes they have been even more isolating because of friendship cliques.

Despite all this she still so positive.

Outside of school she has three very close friends she had since she was a toddler. They all have shared interests and funnily enough, all attend private schools.

Our next plan is to visit a range of schools, ask a lot of questions (especially about integration of new students) and emphasise her previous experience isn't necessarily going to be her future experience. Also speak to her current school.

DD just wants the environment to do her best at A levels.