Y11 2025/26… come and join

[wonderstuff]

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Hmm that doesn’t sound much to be honest. Dd is carrying on at a school sixth form, so yes may well be different to college but they’ll be having 7-8 hours teaching a week. I’m not sure I’d be happy with 4.5.

We’re in the middle of choosing between staying on at school or going to the local sixth form college.

The school as per - lots of lessons, earlier start times, more hours; the college a few hours a week, self directed learning, more independence. The college is better prep for uni, for sure. But the school is a safer option as carrying on as normal. It’s a tricky decision!

Safer option: yep! DS is incredibly bright but also a lazy toad and I can just see him not bothering to study if left to his own devices. Uni might be a shock if I keep him in a school environment but at least he'll have the grades to get there.

I think quite a few of the sixth form colleges are 5 hours a week per subject. They have a lot of study periods for independent learning too.

Dd will probably stay at her school but they do 4 A levels and then do an AS in the one they're going to drop at the end of Y12. She needs to decide her options by the start of December but is really undecided between English and Chemistry at the moment!

Wow totally different subjects! Does she know what career path she wants to follow?

Dd has to choose four too to drop one by October half term. She’s chosen English lit, history and psychology for a law degree, plus biology as her short term fourth subject.

@36and3 those sound like a good combination.

Dd is a bit of an all rounder and not sure what she wants to do. She was talking about architecture but the last 3 months of intense art to get her course work finished has put her off doing it for A level. I think she can still do architecture without it though.

She's definitely doing Maths & German, and then thinks she'll do Economics and either English or Chem. Personally I think English makes more sense with her other subjects but we'll see.

DS2 has had to pick 4 with one to drop in October - chosen Economics , Business , Sociology and Psychology. Lots of reasons that that’s not a brilliant combination for onward journey- but more important that he’s interested enough to get his finger out and work . Plan B will be a BTEC

I think 5 hours per week of actual taught lessons is normal - DS1 yr12 seems to have all subjects once a day plus various study periods ( state grammar) and a few frees .

Why do you think it’s not a good combination? Because of doing similar pairs? That’s not necessarily a bad thing but potential for crossover maybe.

@36and3 … it varies but some schools locally don’t even let them do economics and business together .. also I know Maths is a better mix with Economics and Business and often required at degree level.. but he’s maths is shaky . My priority is to keep him in education , get him driving and hopefully a bit more mature before anymore big choices need to be made - he is too ‘young’ at this point . He’s our youngest - they are all very different but this one worries me the most

Ah dd is our oldest so this is all new territory!

It seems we are in the minority again over here. Last time I was on a Year 11 thread my oldest was going onto an apprenticeship post 16 and it seemed like the world and his wife were doing A levels. This year youngest is going to college to do a T level and again it's seems most of the talk is about A levels. Any fellow T level parents about?

We are heading to Manchester college on Saturday to look at T levels in media to see if my dad is interested. Other than that it’s Loreto or Xaverian. We are lucky to have such great options in this part of the country.

DS is looking at a T Level in Health with the view to Paramedic Science at Uni. We have a lot of College options here so have been to about 6 open days so far. He has a favorite so just one more to go to and then time to apply.

We’re Loreto or Xav too!
Not T Levels, but my dd is looking at doing a Level 3 BTEC in Early Child Dev alongside Art and (hopefully, if she gets the grade in Maths) Psychology A Levels. I’m all for it.

Ive not heard of T levels before. They’re not offered around here. Are they equivalent to alevels?

@Littletreefrog we are also looking at a BTEC at a college where I know t levels are available . My preference is to keep DS2 where he is though - I moved him at the end of yr8 so a bit reluctant to move him again . Like the idea of the BTEC which is coursework heavy and might suit DS2 better

We have no option to stay where they are. Only a small handful of schools have 6th form and ours inst one of them.

Where are you? I thought they were National but obviously not. It's a more technical qualification but does involve some exams. Also a 45 day work placement that is assessed and counts for 20% of the grade. You can earn UCAS points and equivalent to 3 A levels, the top T level grade is equivalent to 3 A levels at A*

Ah that sounds interesting. Thanks for the explanation. We’re in Surrey. Dd is staying at her Indy sixth form which only offers alevels. We did look at a (state) college which is hugely oversubscribed but that too is only alevels.

T levels have a mandatory work experience element so there needs to be an agreement with local employers (eg hospitals for the health one). This also limits the number of places available. But I'm surprised a large state sixth form isn't offering them at all.

If you are trying to decide between staying at school and sixth form, find out what their pass rates (and A / Astar / B grades are for the subjects you are interested in ), how this compares with national rates and also their added value.
All the local state schools have a worse added value score than our local state sixth form.

Please can I join? I’m getting very anxious and I’m trying really hard not to pass it on to ds…. But he just seems way too chill!

He’s targeted 5s & 6s across the board, but his end of term assessments put him in the 1s-3s grade range.

He did a 1yr gcse in history last yr and although he was targeted a 6, he came out with a 3.

I sat with him for weeks revising, yet he still failed 😞… I’m so worried that this is going to happen with all of them!

On top of all of this, he has no clue what to di at college… and is reluctant to decide just incase he doesn’t get the grades.

@Screenager T levels are a good option as often more relevant to those with a more practical bias.

Gosh I'm surprised they do history in a year @Screenager. The amount of content is so much to take in. it's very tricky when they don't know what to do.
Have you had a parent's evening this year? May be worth asking the teachers for guidance.

@Screenager I think history in a year sounds really tough - there is just so much content … DS1 had a 9 prediction but only just managed a 6 because of it .. defo concerned about DS2 and that subject ( amongst most of the others !) sorry you are worrying - I know how hard it is ( DS1 just started yr12 so only just done it and now all over again with DS2 ).. there is little we can do apart from listen , feed them well , encourage them to sleep well and get them where they need to be on time with the right kit

Thank you! I’m a geography teacher, and teach a bit of history. I understand how content heavy history is, but i still felt guilty because I feel like i have failed at helping him.

I didn’t bother going to the last parents evening. Which sounds awful, but I’ve asked them and spoken to them numerous times. And we get the same old stuff.

I think t levels would be best. I just hope he gets the grades. He has mocks in 2 weeks time.

thanks again