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.

@combinationpadlock

Lucky you!

You seem to be ignoring the fact we had a place at PSC. We wanted to go to and had been accepted for our state 6th form.

I want my ds to be able to take the A'levels he is best at, and is passionate about because that is what he wants and how he will get the best grades. Completely normal.

He's not asking to do A'levels in Palaeontology or Swahili. His choices are completely routine.

Hampshire CC has failed us, informed us after school admissions were closed. Yes, I've looked at taxis and grouping with other parents but some wanted limited days a week, to travel at different times etc. It wasn't going to work. On our own, it would have cost more than school fees.

Run your own bus service and charge it to the council, if there is that many of you.

Hampshire CC categorically does not fund post 16 transport for students without an EHCP.

@SabrinaThwaite Thank you.

Hampshire CC categorically does not fund post 16 transport for students without an EHCP.

Young people don’t need an EHCP for post 16 transport in Hampshire. Those with a disability without an EHCP who require assistance to facilitate attendance at their setting can also be eligible.

Don't be so patronising! Do you really think the parents who want a bus to their village haven't thought about how to get one 🤔

I know you are struggling with seeing that your argument doesn't hold up, but just accept it.

If you are desperate for a subject that you can't do for A level, then pick it up at uni. That is what people do

Honestly, just step away now.

Sorry, yes you’re right.

Transport will normally only be offered where the student has an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) which names their chosen college or post-16 unit as the nearest/most appropriate or where the student has a disability which means they require transport assistance to be provided.

But the point is that it’s not readily available for every post 16 student, despite what some may think.

@SabrinaThwaite oh yes, I agree with that. I just didn’t want anyone who is actually eligible to think there’s no point requesting transport.

@BrumToTheRescue Absolutely.

I know my agruement "holds up" because I know many young people involved in similar situations in the same area, and I know the council has no choice.

The poster is claiming they have to go private, but clearly can go state, but have chosen not to

why would I "step away" and leave people who are reading with the impression that the poster claiming their child can't reach a state school is telling the truth, when they very clearly are not

The PP has said they can no longer access a state school by local authority or public transport that provides the required mix of A levels, not that they can’t access a state school.

Your argument of ‘just pick up the subject at uni’ doesn’t work for many subjects.

They can reach a state school by car. If you have two working parents that's impossible when school finishes at 3pm.

I don't know what else to tell you 😆

Further maths is widely available. Can you talk about where someone might live so as not to be able to do it at school ?

This is all getting a little off topic! I'm sure parents who use private school because they can only reach a state school by car, who have no public transport options and no other options for after-school care are in a teeny sub section of the minority of U.K. parents who pay for private schools!

In answer to the OP, of course it's going to be a change for your son moving schools but 6th form is a natural transition point, many students move then by choice and he should be fine.

I can't disagree with the policy of removing VAT exempt status, yes it must feel frustrating for parents who have no choice but that's a small minority of a small minority of parents across the U.K.

FM was just an example, but not all sixth forms in England offer FM at A level.

You can’t study FM in Scotland, you can take separate AHs in mathematics of mechanics and statistics.

Obviously it is true that not all schools in England offer F. Maths, but I am interested in knowing if there are students in England who do not have access to F. Maths A-level via state provision. For example, lots of students come to my school in the sixth form to access F. Maths. I find the idea that students have to go to private school to access F. Maths a bit surprising and would be interested in specific examples of this. For example, which towns don’t offer F. Maths?

Scotland obviously has a different education system, but again I would be a bit surprised if there were pupils in the Scots system who go private because of maths.

So there are no secondary school children in this area who use state schools, that have 2 working parents? That sounds highly unusual.

Or just maybe other parents manage to find different solutions to get their children to school?

I have found out - and am shocked by - the fact that rural pupils living a distance from any sixth form provision do not get free transport, except if they have EHCPs or (in some cases at least) if family income is very low.

I have to say it is not private school pupils trying to move to state who spring to mind as the most disadvantaged by this - but rural pupils from families who may not meet eligibility for family income based free transport but live in families that do not want to, or cannot, pay for transport to any sixth form. How can that be fair, when urban pupils may be able to walk or cycle free to several different providers? How does it drive social mobility if rural pupils are hugely disadvantaged in accessing A level or equivalent providers?

In the days when 16-18 education was optional, maybe it seemed ok (though when I was that age, free bus passes to providers in the same LA were the norm). But now young people have to be in education or training until 18? Is it pushing bright but not well off young people from rural areas and small towns with 11-16 schools into inappropriate apprenticeships just because then they gave enough money to pay for transport to college on the required days?

@cantkeepawayforever there is not an automatic right to transport for 16-19 pupils even with an EHCP or a disability requiring assistance to travel but no EHCP. And it is often not free.

So even worse than I thought? Genuinely discriminatory based on location?

For DC with additional needs, it isn’t even about being rural or semi rural. Many DC travel over an hour to the nearest setting that can meet their needs.

I know that up to 16, school transport is only to nearest school or if nearest school was applied to but you didn’t get it etc. But to say that everyone outside walking / cycling distance to nearest 16-18 provision must pay discriminates massively against those living rurally or in smaller towns without sixth forms.

(Sadly, nothing surprises me at all about SEN provision any more. But I am surprised by the blanket discrimination against those who live in areas with no walkable / cycleable sixth form provision )