Enrolling at 6th form on Friday after results day due to being a late applicant

[eveningqueen456]

My son is currently in year 11 and has applied to stay on at sixth form at his current school and also applied to college. However we were informed at the beginning of term that 2 of the A levels he wanted to do will no longer be running due to low numbers so if he wants to stay at his current school in 6th form he needs to choose different subjects. I know he has the college as a back up but this is for a BTEC course rather than A levels which is what he really wants to do and he wasn't keen on the college on the open day.

So last week we frantically looked at other school sixth forms and have applied to a different school but as a late applicant as end of March was the cut off. He has now had an interview and been offered a place but he cannot enrol until the Friday as he is a late applicant. My worry is that if he can't enrol on the Thursday -will the courses that he wants be full up and he won't then get a place. He can't enrol at the college (his 2nd choice) on the Thursday as a back up because if he does then he can't enrol at the other school as well, therefore he could potentially lose both places.

Has anyone else been in this situation and got a place fine by enrolling on the day after results day? The school say they have so many people who don't take up their places that there will be a place available for him but I am just a bit dubious. He is autistic and so worried because he can't now stay at his current school and he really really wants this other school but all though he has a space provided he gets the GCSE results if it is full on the Thursday (which apparently is very very unlikely) he will have no where as he has given up his space at the college by not enrolling.

I'm not sure that anyone on here can tell you more than the school - and they've told you it's highly likely there will be spaces available, so I would try not to worry.

It's also highly unlikely that he will lose his college place if he leaves it until Friday.

And there is the third possibility that there will be an alternative setting that can offer what he wants.

So, whilst I know you have no definites, it doesn't sound like a bad place to be in.

If it helps, he would get a place on Friday if this was DC's school sixth form. And if they had a particular subject that he wanted to do that was likely to be full, they would have told him.

I think he can enroll at both.

So enroll at college on the Thursday, then if he can at the school on the Friday, and then deregister from the college.

This.

I'm a teacher in a college and a previous poster said I'd be very surprised if he missed out on a college place by waiting until the Friday. However, if it was my child I'd enrol at the college on the Thursday and then just let them know he wouldn't be taking up the place if he then gets the place at the Sixth Form.

There's no way for the Sixth Form to know he's registered with the college unless you tell them, not that I think it would matter anyway as long as he didn't actually try and attend both courses.

You can enrol at both, no one's going to stop you. It's not like applying for schools where it's all centralised. Kids change their minds and courses all the time. We always have kids on the register who don't turn up in September because they've gone elsewhere and not bothered to tell us.

He can enrol at both as all sixth forms & colleges run their own admissions so won't know where else you have applied to and been accepted. It's common practice for students to enrol at more than one.

Just remember to email or call and let the college know that he wont be attending when you get your preferred place, so that they can offer the place to someone else and not have to waste time chasing up a no show.

Enrol in both. Ds had a school sixth form place, he got the grades but when we went in on results day 1 subject was over subscribed. It was a bit stressful but in the end the school re jigged things so ds could do the subjects he wanted.

@eveningqueen456 this school may be breaking the admissions code by enrolling you later than on-time applicants. Certainly if they are over-subscribed then they should enroll applicants in the order set out in their admissions arrangements (e.g.by distance).

Interested in the opinion of @prh47bridge.

It's a bit a grey area, because sixth forms can meet their admissions code obligations by offering your child a place on another course if the course they want to do is full. Enrolling a day later than everyone else will make this scenario more likely.

I'm not so certain as everyone else that you can enroll for 2 places. You can apply for 2 places, and accept 2 conditional offers, but enrolling involves the transfer of your record from your previous school. At the very least it will cause some admin confusion, with your child's record potentially being sent to the wrong place. Hopefully you can mitigate this by withdrawing from the college place quickly if you do get the school enrollment.

@dreadinit At primary & secondary level they process late applicants after all the on time ones, so not sure why you think it might not be permitted at 6th form?

There is no "national offer day" for sixth form admissions, so the Code's definition of a late application doesn't strictly apply.

Most schools have an application deadline for external applications to sixth form, to help them to plan their curriculum, but unless their admissions arrangements explicitly say that late applications will be processed later than on-time applications, then they shouldn't be de-prioritised. If they don't set out a process, then they should really treat them like "in year admissions" and re-rank them whenever they get a new application.

Unfortunately, the admissions code doesn't cover sixth form admissions as comprehensively as admissions for other year groups.

At any of our local 6th forms they have spaces right up to September start date, and for most if not all subjects.

The rules about late applications applied before national offer day existed. In my view, they apply to sixth forms. OP was late applying to this school (not her fault, of course), so the school can process all on-time applicants prior before her son.

"so the school can process all on-time applicants prior before her son"

@prh47bridge surely they can only do this if it is stated in the admissions arrangements? The processing of late Reception or year 7 applications is defined in our local authority's coordinated admissions arrangements, not in the admissions code. Local schools and academies reference the council's coordinated admissions arrangements for reception or year 7, but obviously they can't do the same for year 12.

Ideally, they should state it but, in my view, it isn't absolutely necessary. I think it is implied by the fact there is a deadline for applications.

Well, @eveningqueen456 , if I was you I would check the admissions arrangements. If it doesn't say anything about how late applications will be handled, email them and challenge the late enrollment. You may find that they don't argue.

School records aren't required to be transferred to FE colleges and it's usually only by specific request. You would definitely be able to enrol at 2 colleges and it not be picked up straight away but I don't have any knowledge of Sixth Forms.

I was told by his current school that we can apply for lots of different places but you can only enrol at one place so if he enrolled at the college on the Thursday then he couldn't enrol at the sixth form on the Friday as his name would be allocated to the college but looking online this doesn't seem to be the case.

So am I right in thinking that he can enrol/register at college on the results day to confirm his place and then he is still able to register at the sixth form on the friday - his current school said that this wouldn't be allowed as his name would have been allocated to the college on the previous day.

He is really desperate for the school sixth form rather than the college but I am presuming that there will be some on time applicants who are asked to register on the Thursday that won't because they don't meet the entry requirements or have changed their mind and these places are then released for the late applicants.

Such a minefield. We have actually just applied to another college tonight as well - FE colleges and sixth form colleges don't seem to have closing dates it just seems to be the school sixth forms that do.

I’ve had students enrol at sixth form then come to college in the afternoon and enrol with us instead.

We know that students can change their minds and no one would keep a student enrolled if they didn’t want to be.

The only records we would see are EHCP. But you could not offer that info immediately.

It could be worth approaching the new sixth form and explaining that your ds is anxious about enrolling a day later. Ask if they could squeeze him in on the Thursday.

"FE colleges and sixth form colleges don't seem to have closing dates it just seems to be the school sixth forms that do."

The colleges probably aren't oversubscribed, so don't want to put off late applicants. The more oversubscribed a school or college is, the stricter they will be about closing dates.

nonsense. They people who applied on time have first dibs. And if the courses fill up with people who are holding offers, then the courses are full. Its like clearing. A late applicant can apply for spaces that are left. And yes, you can enrol to more than one school. Just withdraw the next week if you have changed your mind

They can definitely hold more than one firm offer. One of my dc had a firm offer from school B after GCSE results day and then turned that down in favour of school C when the offer for that came a few days later.

If you are wondering where school A was in all of this, school A was the school dc was leaving and had been very definitely leaving for months, hadn't been to the July transition day and forms had been filled in rejecting the sixth form place. They still rang up to admonish me on the first day of term for not sending my child in to school.

I would get your ds to talk to the other sixth form about how likely it is that the subjects will be full. I am guessing if the other school is dropping them then perhaps not the most popular subjects. Also talk to the college about the implications of enrollment. I very much doubt it has much effect. Both my dc who have been to sixth form have commented on how much flux there is in the first few weeks. People who they chat to in class one week are never seen again, people who had definitely left suddenly turn up again in week 2.

"Its like clearing"

No, it's not, because school sixth forms have to abide by the national schools admissions code (whereas colleges and universities don't).

It is like clearing in many ways. The school has probably issued as many offers as it can, and now won't issue any more until they know who has made the grades, and who hasn't. And also who has been given a place but chosen to go elsewhere won't be known until September - there will be movement for a couple of weeks

Yes, the lack of a coordinated admissions process for 16+ makes things very difficult for schools and other providers. But schools do still have to adhere to the code. If their admissions arrangements don't mention how late applicants will be processed, they will have to be treated the same as on-time applicants.

In this case, the application has been made May, so your clearing analogy is irrelevant. If she applied in late August, after the enrollment days, that would be different.

Colleges will over recruit as there will be leavers one the first 6 weeks. Occasionally additional courses / classes are offered of demand is there.