Does sixth form see a friendship shift?

[MamOfTwo]

Did your DC's friendships shift when they started sixth form (if staying on at same school)? DD planning on staying at her school and wondering if she may drift from current friends who have chosen completely different A-levels to her. She is a bit of an outsider in the group so have been trying to reassure her she might find a deeper connection with those doing same A-levels but don't know if that is the case.

DS definitely had a shift.

Absolutely and it should change too. Friends from when you're age 11 and friends you'd be keen to make at 16-18 are worlds apart. New friendships at that age are great prep for moving on to uni. I chose to move to a separate sixth form as had outgrown the pals from school, best decision for me.

It may depend on how many new people come into the sixth form, but it would be natural to form friendships with people who go to the same lessons as you. That said, my ds didn't change friends.

Absolutely. They're growing up and changing. Lots of people find people they really connect with at 6th form. On your DD's shoes I would hope to find a gang I was less on the outside of.
My DD is in her first year at 6th form and is more of an arts student (her close school friends are more stem) and they're still friends but she's making new friends too and it's shifting.

I think it depends partly on how much change there is in the student body as well as what subjects your doing. For one of my A levels, there were only 5 of us in the class and I'd never really spoken to 2 of them before the course started but was good friends with them by the time we finished. The whole dating thing mixed things up a bit too. If a friend is dating someone from a different group, you naturally spend more time with that group and can find yourself getting on well with people you either didn't know or who you realised had changed a lot from when you sat next to them in maths a few years before.

DD has huge shift. Big fall out with previous nasty best friend. Then found a group of 3 other girls who are all lovely. The 4 of them are thick as thieves and are a lovely group. It worked out well.

Our school has about 30% new people and dd used it as an excuse to move to a new friendlier group.

Did anyone’s dd move to a completely new school to broaden their friendships? Dd current school has v small sixth form and classes with very few new joiners.

@Stopsnowing I think that social reasons is an excellent reason to move schools.

Not at all here. Even the one who didn’t get the grades to stay on is still in the gang.

But for kids who were a bit less locked into a friendship group, definitely. Ask how much of the 6th form is new intake - it’s typically quite a lot so plenty of opportunities for her to reestablish herself with new friendship groups

One of DD's new friends has done this - she's found a big group of lovely new mates and made a fresh start.

Yes, there was a definite shift for DC1. Some of it was subject-related, and some to do with timetables more generally/who had free lessons at the same time but other friendships developed as interests, jobs and aspirations changed. The sixth form was twice the size of the year group from Y7-Y11 so the introduction of a whole load of other students changed the dynamic anyway.

Encouraging to hear, thank you all!

Both my DC have made additional friends with new sixth form starters, but both have equally retained the good friends they had lower down the school - this is so easy these days with social media.

My daughter changed schools in 6th form and it gave her an opportunity to change her friendship groups - she had hung around with a group who were nice enough girls ( dubious parents tho - before you judge me for being judgey - one father was a drug dealer another had done time for armed robbery!!) but had different values - DD wanted to study and go to uni and they put pressure on her to be out all the time and drive them places but not give her petrol money. There were also regular episodes of the old you pay for the uber home my phone is dead and i'll pay you tomorrow trick - which they never did.
The move allowed her some space to withdraw without cutting them completely and she's still great friends with a couple of the girls who moved schools with her and she hadn't previously been so close to .

Definitely a shift if they're in a larger 6th form as opposed to the very small classes in rural schools