Pendergast Sixth Form

[newmum1976]

Does anybody have experience of Prendergast School in Southeast London. Do external students ever get a place at Sixth Form? They give priority to all 3 Prendergast schools, so I was wondering if any places are ever left for anybody else.

Yes, lots of external students get places in the sixth form. Not everyone who was at the school in Y11 stays on; some go to one of the many other local sixth forms/colleges to do A-levels or IB, some go to Lewisham or Bromley college, ELAM, LSA, Brit School etc. to do different qualifications and others choose not to stay in education but get a job instead.

I'm not sure what proportion of sixth formers come from the other two Prendergasts but I know when my DC was there, they were joined by students from Sedgehill, Bonus Pastor, Kingsdale, Forest Hill and a whole load of other schools. They definitely aren't struggling for numbers though and do turn down students who don't meet the entry requirements.

Thanks for the info. We live 1.5 miles from school and my DD will make the entry requirements, so hopefully it will
be good news.

You can book for the open evening or contact the school https://www.prendergast-school.com/210/sixth-form-admissions worth asking directly how likely your daughter is to get a place. Good luck.

In my experience, the sixth form isn't great when it comes to communication, especially around things such as EPQ, UCAS or other post A-level choices. If your DD is hoping for somewhere that offers lots of enrichment opportunities, Prendergast might not be the right place - I know this is something others who've transferred from different schools have been disappointed by.

That’s useful. My DD is currently at a school with a huge amount of “enrichment opportunity” but she doesn’t get involved in any of it! However, she’ll need some feedback on her personal statement for Uni, so it’d be shame if that isn’t forthcoming.

Feedback on personal statements is something that did seem to happen without needing to be pushed although my DC had edits suggested which would have completely changed the meaning of various bits. DC rejected the suggestions and their application was submitted without any issues. There was nothing along the lines of a UCAS information session for parents and although the UCAS Discover event is usually over at the Excel Centre, it's not something the sixth form promotes. Likewise applications to summer schools - that's something students have to know about themselves in order to apply to them before the closing dates.

If your DD knows what she wants to do, is someone who knows what's out there and will research it all for herself and just need the school to sign off on it then the setting may well suit her. The school is good at authorising absence for open days, work experience etc. and at making arrangements for online interviews to take place in an office at school so it's not as though it isn't supportive, rather that information to parents can be lacking.