Are more of you planning to move your DC from private to state for 6th form now?

[WomensRightsRenegade]

Apologies but just wondering this? My son is going into year 10 at a school he loves, but we are realising that even with a generous bursary, the 20pc VAT will mean it’s impossible for him to stay for 6th form.

I know it’s a transition phase anyway, but he will be very upset to leave as historically not many kids at the school have left then.

Any advice would be appreciated, thank you.

Was this hilarious in your own mind as you were typing?

@Mouseykitty I was simply stating a fact. A number of friends have opted for private because their DC were not super academic or were socially a bit shy and they felt that they were being overlooked. No shame in that at all. I also know the drill with the London schools as my own DC went through that process.

You might wonder why Peter Symonds makes the 2024 Bristol list, given the number of students that have Oxbridge offers:

The number of Peter Symonds students who are offered places to study at Oxford or Cambridge is comparable to leading private and selective schools. The College regularly features as one of the country’s top five feeder institutes to Oxbridge.

https://psc.ac.uk/news-item/sfc/90

Or BHVICS:

53 students BHASVIC students have been made an offer to study at Oxford and Cambridge next year. 187 students in total made applications with 53 offers representing a success rate of nearly 1 in 3 (compared to 1 in 7 nationally). Offers were spread evenly between Oxford (27) and Cambridge (26) with students applying to 29 different courses as varied as Computer Science, Law, Architecture, and Anglo-Saxon, Norse, and Celtic.

www.bhasvic.ac.uk/news/oxbridge-offers

Maybe it’s on Progress 8 or Attainment 8 scores or something.

Surely eventually employers will cotton onto this when they see cvs. As a recruiter if I saw Peter Symonds or a top private school for GCSEs followed by low A level grades and a Bristol or Exeter uni degree, I’d definitely make a judgement.

Not sure Bristol and Exeter are doing themselves any favours by having a contextual offering that plays into the hands of the priveleged scamming the system, it’ll make their degrees worth less in the marketplace.

That's really disappointing, I thought this was a genuine offer for people from lower performing schools. That's how it plays out where I live, but clearly not in other areas.
Kids from my DC school could still get into Bristol with a contextual if they lived in a less desirable postcode. The school itself is in this postcode, but has a large and somewhat desirable catchment.
I don't really see what it in it for Bristol though. Is it to look like they are doing a decent thing? Or to draw people in from certain schools? I'm fairly sure they could fill their AAA courses without needing to offer a lower grade, so why do it?

If they haven't cottoned on by now they probably won't, as its been happening for years.

And I'm not sure it's parents scamming the system - more like Bristol itself (not sure why someone mentioned Exeter, they don't have a similar list AFAIK.)

Aren’t cvs very blind now anyway ? They are at Dh law firm anyway. Good to avoid the mortification I had at my City law firm interview when the partner said he went to school in my home city but didn’t recognise the name of my school. His school was the top local private mine was a comp. Utter cringe. Got the job tough.

I think we all know Law is different and stuck in the dark ages.

Exeter don’t have a list of schools but they do have an extremely generous contextual calculator on their website. I know quite a few from very priveleged backgrounds that qualify.

Perhaps in a city desperately short of acceptable student accommodation, AAA students who can live at home and won't need digs, is the appeal.

As an employer, I'm simply pleased to find candidates with decent grades in the relevant degree, who are interested in working full time and can write a good CV.

The senior school they attended wouldn't even register.

Because after several decades of supervising students applying to university, I am explaining to you that you have not read the full policy.

MORE THAN HALF OF THE SCHOOLS I HAVE TAUGHT AT ARE ON THAT LIST

If you go to one of those schools, you are eligible to be considered for a contextual offer from Bristol. But for GCSE, not A level. And not on its own.

I have supervised hundreds of students from that list apply to university, I know which students will get contextual offers from where.

Why are blind CVs “the dark ages”?

It sounds utterly fair.

Same

Incidentally, I also know what happens to students who lie on their form, as has been suggested upthread.

I have had to give statements to courts, as have other colleagues, either remotely or in person. Exclusion from UCAS and a fraud conviction.

As it happens, the students I personally have been questioned about were telling the truth, and my evidence proved their innocence, and yes, where that child studied for secondary school is something I have given evidence under oath about.

A colleague of mine was actually summoned for cross examination about that exact question once, and the child he was giving evidence about was also telling the truth on their form, and was found innocent of fraud and was allowed to continue with his course (he was already in the second year when the details on his original application were checked, because of other information that had come to light)

Then the council provides transport. No child is debarred from state school because of transport. There are children in the UK who can only go to school when the tide is out, there are children in the UK who can only go to school when the tide is in! the council provides transport.

Only true until 16. A'level students do not get help with travel regardless of the distance.

Blind CVs are out of favour in the US, as blind CVs favour white men very strongly there, as white males get the advantage all the way through education, in all types of school.

Many companies are dropping blind CVs if they have branches in USA

Well, it doesn't. When I enquired they said they'd have to look into it once my dc was registered at the school. I didn't want to send them there and wait a year for a bus to be sorted.

Funnily enough, I was standing in front of A level students two days ago who have council help with their travel

it is a bone of contention in our sixth form, as the council only provides transport for students who live and attend school in the same county, and we are on a border, and have students from two counties - half of which are eligible for council supported transport, half of which are not. And availability of council supported transport is a deciding factor for many when considering whether to stay for sixth form. Some of my best year 11s are going to a school further away from them for sixth form, but easier to reach as it is in their own county

I don't know where you are- but speak to the council about your situation. Your child is entitled to a state education until 18 or 19

well, speak to the school, they will have other students who have used council supported transport from there before, if this is your closest state school! They will be able to advise.

No UK child is barred from state education because of transport.

I think that the poster wasn't referring to blind CVs, but saying that in general that many law firms are still in the dark ages when it comes to recruitment.

You see it on the higher education threads where the same few posters state that law firms have a select list of universities that they hire graduates from - which is the complete opposite of CV blind.

What about the Sixth Form colleges on the list?
Would you also need to have attended one of their listed secondary schools?
Where they say You will be eligible for a contextual offer, do they just mean that you may be eligible rather than definitely?

Read the whole policy. On the list they say eligible, but on the policy, they say MAY be eligible. And in practice it is MAY be eligible. They will look at it, if you have been to one of those schools, but not automatically give you a contextual offer.

Interesting - do you not get many graduates apply with that?