Any experience of Kings Maths School vs LAE for 6th form?

[JusteanBiscuits]

My son has applied to KCLMS for 6th form and also to LAE Stratford.

He wants to study Maths at University, and truly loves the subject. His heart is set on KCLMS, but as that is entirely maths / physics, I wonder if going to LAE (his second choice) would be better for the all round experience? Meeting a wider variety of people, a much wider selection of extra curricular clubs etc. I worry the excitement at 16 of being immersed in maths might wear off, and being somewhere with a wider curriculum might be better?

Any experience would be appreciated. Thanks

Unfortunately that isn't something we can afford at the moment - it's £4000!

I spoke to the Head of Maths at the Imperial Maths school open evening. I was actually asking a slightly different question but she seemed to imply their age range was non-negotiable. As mentioned above, each school may have a slightly different admissions policy.

From what I can tell, several of the maths schools are not expanding their places quite as fast as anticipated. KCLMS recently won the Times Sixth Form College of The Year award and its last A level results were better than ever. I can only see competition to get in becoming even more intense next year.

He does COMPOS (https://compos.web.ox.ac.uk/) which he loves, and having been accepted in year 11 has a place for years 12 and 13. He has weekly webinars and mentoring as part of that.

That looks a really good programme.

A bit like getting into Oxbridge, the maths schools are not the be all and end all. I'm sure your son was disappointed not to get an offer but it seems he is on the right track to do very well at school and beyond.

Like I say, it's not just about the "doing well". It's about the enjoyment of it!! :D

If he said he was doing this in his KCLMS interview/application then it might have put him in the "doesn't need KCLMS as much as others" pile.

I’m sorry about your son’s disappointment @JusteanBiscuits and I know what he/you mean about missing out on the experience.

I suspect re-applying is not practical or possible, but only the school will know for sure.

Uni admissions is really where his head needs to go now. (This time next year (Y12) is when the whole process begins with open days etc - A levels go incredibly quickly.) If he takes three years to do maths-based A Levels without any compelling reason for the extra time taken (health etc), he’s probably ruling himself out of contention for Oxbridge, Warwick and Imperial (the best Uk maths unis) and possibly for the top of the next tier too. The whole point about A levels, from a competitive uni’s perspective, is that they’re quick and intense and everyone does them at the same rate and under the same time pressure.

Once he gets to university (assuming he will do maths!) he’ll be surrounded by mathmos to his heart’s content.

It sucks, but he’s clearly very talented and will get where he wants to be.

That is very wise advice, thank you.

He's talking about uni's. His main choices are heavily influenced by being good for his hobby too, which isn't a bad thing (Manchester would be excellent for both for example). I thought it was much too early to talk about such things, but I guess it isn't!

To show what I meant, this screenshot of the admissions policy explains how KCLMS score the interviews. The school will have more value-added impact on applicants who are not already participating in programmes like COMPOS. Your son has been fortunate to get a place on that.

Honestly, A levels go so quickly - his feet will barely touch the ground. And I think you said earlier he’s a pretty sociable kid - he might well have found Kings quite stifling, socially. It’s a very quiet, demure sort of place! My younger son couldn’t wait to get out of there.

agree also that KCLMS might well have seen how well supported your son is with extra-curricular maths activities, and if spaces are tight they could well have decided that another kid needs the place more than he does. It would be easy for them to scoop up all the most talented and well-supported Y11s and take credit for the resulting avalanche of A stars at A Level. One of the reasons I admire the school is that they do something more difficult than that. But it sounds like your son might have got the sticky end of that deal.

He worked hard to get onto COMPOS! :) It's a lot of work but he seems to be enjoying it which is great.

Thanks for all talking such sense to me :) :) It's very much appreciated.

I can't believe it's only a year until we start deciding on Universities. I might need hand holding through that too. No one in my family has been to university - not even my adult nieces and nephews, so I am completely out of my depth!

Then you need to start looking at Mumsnet's Higher Education forum. There are lots of knowledgeable people on there.

For those of us who did go to uni, our advice to our DCs can often be clouded by our own past experiences from 30 years ago. I've learned a lot from Mumsnet about how things work now, and it has definitely benefitted my DCs to have that insight.

Let me get through this part, then will move over there 😂 He is also still torn between maths for the love of it, or engineering for the employment prospects (and chance of degree apprenticeship!)

When he gets further into maths he’ll start to notice the differences between pure maths and applied maths. Both feature in maths degrees, but the latter is also the basis of physics and engineering (and computing). Most mathmos have a distinct preference for one or the other, and that will probably make the choice a bit clearer for him.

Hello everyone my son has gotten into KLMS i was just wondering if anyone knows anyone who attends who could tell us how they found it. Currently, some scholarships are open to him, but for some reason, he is set on kings, so could anyone tell me how they find it and what they would do?

He prefers applied - but he has it in his head engineering would be better career wise. We won't discuss the F1 Engineering degree he has discovered 😂

Ah, I think I know the one you mean! It’s supposed to be fabulous

Anyone heard from LAE yet? One friend of son got offered a place last week, then another one heard yesterday.

I can't help but be despondent that he hasn't heard anything.

My son heard today. But my daughter didn't. It's a weird offer in that it's just an offer which depends on results but they don't tell you what the results need to be so no idea how high they need to be at all. They are very very clear that this is not a firm offer ie. You submit your results to them on results day and then they will let you know if you got in or not. I expected a uni type offer of 'if you get 9s in chosen A levels and the rest are 8...' so that on results day we would know. But we won't know until several days later. So not sure how that works as most schools enroll sixth form on results day I think (trying to recall DS1 but it was 3 years ago).

Reading their entry requirements, I think everyone who gets an offer has to meet the same minimum standards:

• achieve at least eight GCSEs at grades 9-7 (A*-A)
• achieve a grade 7 or above in both GCSE Mathematics and English Language
• achieve at least a 9-7 grade in the GCSE subjects they wish to continue to study

Entry Requirements - London Academy of Excellence

My daughter fits that but she didn't get an offer. It's also probably based on subject choices (my son has chosen a couple of less popular subjects) and very high predicted grades (his are much higher than hers).

I think ultimately (for those external to Newham) they just take the highest grades after results day (probably all or mostly 9s).

It’s difficult to suggest what your son should do in the absence of any other information apart what he’s looking for in a school or which schools he has a scholarship for.

If you go to The Student Room website and do a search, you’ll find quite a lot of threads from current and past students about what Kings Maths School is like.

There are also threads about most of the other maths schools too like Imperial, Cambridge and Surrey.

The general student consensus is the school is a friendly place, has excellent super curricular activities and ultimately delivers amazing results.

However, it might not suit all children due to its small size/limited subjects choice/style of teaching and limited extra curricular activities etc compared to larger schools.

Still not heard from LAE. I have no idea what this means but we're presuming it means he wasn't successful! His friend who has got in lives a bit further away, is currently at private school, and his predicted grades not quite as good as my son, so we're at a bit of a loss. (Son's predicted are 9999999998 and a Distinction for extended maths). Oh, and they have applied for the same a-levels (Maths, Further maths and physics)

Now regretting only applying for two sixth forms. He has a place at his current school, and the sixth form is fine, but he wants more than fine. He wants to be pushed and extended and have the opportunities available at better schools :(