Appeal for 6th form-yes I’m getting ahead of myself.

[AnythingMuppetTM]

I’m after a bit of advice if my DC doesn’t get into the heavily oversubscribed school sixth form they’d like to go to.

I am preparing now because there isn’t much time once the GCSE results are in, I think it’s less than a week.

The 6th form is DC current school. The school has quite high academic expectations for the sixth form. If DC doesn’t reach these they won’t get a place-fair enough. But is it worth appealing even if the child does not meet the admission requirements?

The kids have been told by some teachers that the school will do everything they can to get their own pupils a place if they only missed the marks by a little bit and the children would be assets to the school. We know of children who went to the 6 form from the lower school in this way.

The school is the only local state school that offers a particular A level combination my DC would like to take. I can argue why having this combination would be good for DC and how DC has been an asset to the school.

The first stage of the appeal is to check if the school have applied their admissions policy correctly. I assume they will have done, so is this when the appeal stops, or do all appellants have the right to go to the second stage? At this second stage the outcome is based on who is more prejudiced if my child is admitted, the school or my child.

Thanks for any input

@AnythingMuppetTM Yes, it's worth appealing in these circumstances.

Do you have any evidence that the school has bent the rules for others? If so, it may help. In fact, once they see your case, they may just bend the rules for you too, so you withdraw your appeal.

If it does go to appeal, then showing evidence that they bent the rules won't mean you automatically win, because those students didn't get places at your expense, but it may weaken their case sufficiently to give you the edge when putting forward your own case for why your child needs the place.

The school can decide that they are willing to offer your child a place with their results even if they don't meet the listed requirements, you wouldn't necessarily have to appeal. It's fairly common.

I know the names of the children involved @reely. But obviously I’ve only got hearsay on the fact that they didn’t get the required grades, and no idea of they went through a formal appeal.

@POTC wow! What is the point of the admissions criteria then?

@AnythingMuppetTM I agree this is common, but it is a breach of the admissions code. The same minimum entry requirements should be in place for internal.and external applicants (clause 2.6) and places should be allocated in an open and fair way (Introduction, paragraph 12).

Yes @reely, that’s what I thought. Which is why I didn’t know if it was worth appealing. I am happy to follow the rules, but do the rules mean we can appeal even if they don’t meet the minimum admission criteria?

"But obviously I’ve only got hearsay on the fact that they didn’t get the required grades, and no idea of they went through a formal appeal"

@AnythingMuppetTM Formal appeals are rare for sixth form.
You could say you have heard this anecdotally, and then ask the school to confirm the number of internal students who got places despite not meeting the minimum grade criteria.

They aren't governed in the same way as school admissions though, you can apply and have a place waiting at multiple post 16 settings for a start.

I also didn't say anything about internal/external. No reason they wouldn't do the same for an external student whose proven record of work suggested that their exam result wasn't a true reflection of ability.

Yes, of course. All appeals, by definition, are for children who don't meet the admissions criteria.

Some people might question whether it is wise to do academic A levels if GCSE scores are low, but if this school has higher entry criteria than most others, then the only detriment will be the school's league table results.

If it's a state school, and the 6th form is part of the same legal entity, I don't think they are allowed to boot your child out. They can certainly have minimum grade requirements for some specific A-Levels your DD wants to take, so she could end up being put in specific classes she doesn't want, but actually forcing her out would be an illegal exclusion. They can decline to offer a place to a new pupil who doesn't get minimum GCSE grades but no state school is allowed to expel any pupil due to poor exam performance. It would be different if the 6th form is a separate college and a separate legal entity.

With respect @POTC , you are wrong. The national admissions code applies to state school sixth forms. The difference is that admissions are not coordinated by the Local Authority, and are administered by the school, so the rules are more likely to be bent and broken. But the rules do still apply, and should be "governed" by the schools' governors.

Not quite true. If she doesn't meet the minimum entry criteria then they don't have to enrol her into the sixth form. In practice, many comprehensive schools will have courses with low bars of entry to encourage as many to stay on as possible, but it sounds like the op's sixth form may be a bit more elitist.

Schools are not allowed to exclude a child due to poor academic performance.
OP's child isn't "applying for admission" - she already has a place at the school. (See image, once it is approved)

They're not being excluded, they just not allowed to progress to sixth form. Schools are allowed to set minimum academic entry criteria for their sixth forms by clause 2.6 of the admissions code.

If they do meet the criteria then yes, they have to be allowed to progress to year 12.

@reely I can understand what you mean about not taking a levels with low gcse scores. That isn’t the problem i am anticipating, if that’s the case there are other options. It is more that tschool requires
grade 8 in gcse rocket science when the child wants to take a levels in dance, drama and mud kitchen. Obviously not those exact A levels…

Very few are state school 6th forms at least where we are, academy trusts almost exclusively

Academies are state schools.

Sixth forms colleges are exempt from the Code, but all 11-18 state school sixth forms must follow it.

Where the student meets both

• the sixth form admissions criteria AND
• the admissions criteria for their chosen course

the school must offer a place to its own students

Where the student meets

• the sixth form admissions criteria
• BUT FAILS to meet the admissions criteria for their chosen course

the school must offer a course to its own students providing there is a/some reasonable courses to offer them.

If a student fails to meet

• the admissions criteria for the whole sixth form
• or for any course they wish to do

the school does not have to offer them a place.

For example:

1. the student wants to do very specific A-levels. The school do a number of A-levels including those and do other types of course. The students gets range of GCSE results, but very low grades in those subjects they want to do at A-level. The school would have to offer them a place - but it could be for A-levels in the subjects they did well in, or for a lower level course in there prefer subject, it wouldn't have to be A-level in their weak subjects.

2. If the school only offers A-levels and the student fails to get GCSEs high enough to qualify them for A level courses then they would not have to offer them a place.

Yep, I agree with this, but I'd add...

• If a student fails to meet the minimum academic criteria for the whole sixth form, so isn't offered a place, they can appeal.

• If a student meets the minimum academic criteria for the whole sixth form, but is refused a place on their chosen course, they can't appeal (because that's an internal matter at the discretion of the staff).

• If a student fails to meet the minimum academic criteria for the whole sixth form, so isn't offered a place, they can appeal.

This is the scenario I am thinking of, thank you. It doesn’t seem quite in the spirit of things, but if that’s the rules we will use them if necessary.

That is not true. There are always minimum grade requirements for A Level subjects.
If your child doesn’t meet these, they can absolutely be refused a place.

Also watch out for English and Maths GCSEs. A child who does not exceed grade 4 on these will need to be given opportunities to resit them in their post 16 education until they pass them/ leave the school. Some grammar schools will not offer resit classes for GCSEs and so will not enrol children into A level courses who need to resit. The school might have less wriggle room in that situation.