6th forms admission - mock vs final grade

[Aj981]

Hello Everyone

My DD is doing her GCSE this year and is keen to change school for her A levels.
The school admission for now will be based on her mocks. What if she doesn't achieve the required grades in mock, but achives in the final?

On the other hand, am I right in assuming the admission will be refused if she doesnt get required grades in final, even if she gets them in the mocks?

What type of school is she applying to? If it’s a comprehensive then she’ll almost certainly be offered a place if her mocks are close to what they require and you live near the school. She will need to get the minimum requirement in the real things though. So probably 5 + in English and maths, and 6/7+ in a level subjects.

If it’s a grammar school, they may rank her mocks against all other pupils, and then only offer to the top students. So maybe top 1/3rd of entries.

You need to find out from the school, but generally it's operated like a UCAS application - they will make an offer based on predicted grades but only confirm the place once grades are finalised. There may be some leeway if you miss by a little bit, or there may not - just depends how popular the school is.

If you smash your GCSEs and do better than anticipated my experience shows that many schools will reconsider a good student who they'd previously turned away, so it's worth going back to them with excellent grades in hand, if you don't initially get offered a place. Usually this means making contact on the morning of results day (a bit like clearing).

It really depends on the school she's applying to, how oversubscribed they are, how popular her subject choices are etc.
Sometimes when a student doesn't get the required grade, there's a bit of flexibility. Or they might offer the place but on a different course (eg. If she doesn't get the required grade for maths A-level, they might ask if she'd be interested in a different A-level with a lower entry requirement).
If her mocks are lower than the entry requirements, they may not offer her a place. But if she does well in her actual GCSEs she can contact them on results day to see if they'll reconsider.

I know the large sixth form college that my kids attend is able to accommodate these kinds of changes and can offer different a-level course after results day.

My ds got all of the grades he needed for the a-levels he opted for on the initial application and they still spent a good amount of time with him on enrollment day double checking that he was still happy with those choices.

@Aj981 , read the admissions policy for the school carefully - all the info you need will be there.

If your school of interest does make firm offers based on the predicted/mock grades, rather the actual grades (e.g. Tiffin School does this), then it is a breach of the National Admissions Code because predicted/mock grades aren't standardised across feeder schools. Therefore you'd have strong grounds to appeal a rejected application if your child later got higher grades than other young people admitted to do the same courses.

You could point to the School Adjudicator's ruling on Twyford CE School's admissions policy for proof that it is a breach of the code:https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/twyford-church-of-england-high-school-15-july-2022

If it's a Sixth Form College (16+ only), rather a school sixth form, then they're not subject to the National Admissions Code.

Do also consider some selective sixth forms will not offer resit opportunities for Maths and English. As these are required for anyone who didn't get over a 4 it is particularly important for those schools that those two GCSEs are passed otherwise an offer may be withdrawn even if not planning to study at A level. Also note that some universities will expect minimum grades on these which might be higher than a 4. For other grades it depends on the school but all my dc the offers were conditional on getting the right grades.

Thank you everyone for your replies. I got the answer I was looking for, fantastic.

Have a good one, best regards

Going to say I disagree re it being certain you would get a place at the local comp. It very much depends on the comp.

Our comp is very oversubscribed in general. They are very strict about internal candidates getting the required grades to stay on, let alone new joiners.

Fair enough. The comprehensive schools near us recruit on distance, so if you live nearby you get in, but all minimum requirements for each subject must be met. We live in the South East though, so the selective grammar schools are much tougher to get into, as they rank each pupil on mocks then actual results.