Pros and cons of school or college 6th form

[Stowickthevast]

Dd1 is at a selective mixed grammar school. She's not sure whether to stay or move for 6th form.
Pros of staying: she knows and likes it and has a good group of friends, the majority of whom will stay.
Pros of moving: getting a bit more independence e.g not having to check in for register on the days when you don't have lessons, having a wider variety of A level choices, maybe being in a slightly nicer part of town -; although similar commute to get current journey.

At the grammar school, they start off doing 4 A levels and do one as an AS at the end of year 12. She would probably do 3 if she moved, although could do 4. So far she's sure she is going to do Maths & German, and then considering either Economic, Politics, English or if she moved Drama as her 3rd/4th. Art is also a possibility.

Are there any other reasons for staying or going that I haven't mentioned? We're about to start looking round a couple of 6th forms .

I do think colleges treat 6th formers more a young adults, which is perhaps good for the transition to university. Some schools can be ridiculous with 6th form, uniform etc.

You say she is at a selective grammar, so I imagine she is quite academic. If she wants to go to an RG uni or similarly high ranking establishment, she is better off staying at the grammar as they will push her more to get those A/A* grades. Near me, six form colleges are only for kids who do no make the grades for school sixth forms and I imagine the teaching is pitched at a lower level.

I think this very much depends on the college. All the ones near us are not at all like this - they push the students just as much and have high expectations.

I think she should think hard about what A levels she wants to do. Certainly not compromise on subjects just to stay in a safe known environment.

I imagine this is dependent on area, in our area of Hampshire only the independent schools have 6th forms, and then only some so all students attend FE colleges of some sort. My daughter is in the upper 6th of one of the best colleges in the country and the teaching and aspirations are excellent, as is the choice both subjects and extra curricular. She has found that it's much more based around a university model with each student having an individual timetable with study periods (either in college or at home) built around this.

Very area dependent.

near me there is a college that only does a levels and has an enviable Oxbridge rate. Lots of kids leave private to go there. It’s known for total lack of pastoral care though.

there’s also colleges that do a levels and btecs etc where it’s mostly lower ability kids.

like schools, you need to look at the one in front of you.

Yes - there is less than 18 months to get the A Level courses done - ideally they need to finish them around January/February in y13 to allow time for revision. That means there is no time to waste with settling in.

Also think about the teachers for the subjects your DC is doing. How good are they? My DC1 wanted to do a degree in Chemistry and the main Chemistry teacher in their school was absolutely fantastic.

Also - class sizes. This might not be a factor for your DC as it's a grammar school. My DCs' school was a comp and had a very small 6th form. They both did science and maths. They were in classs of between 2 and 6 foe sciences and both 10 or 12 for maths. DC1 was offered a place at a grammar school where the classes were all 30.

If college was an option in our area for A levels, dc would have gone with that .
As it is, sixth form is just like an extension of school. Uniform policies, behaviour policies, registration, present on site 830am- 3pm even if they have study periods after lunch. It's all pretty much the same as when they were 11-16 and it doesn't really suit some 16-19 year olds.
Looking round the different sixth forms available is a good idea and will enable your dc to make an informed choice.

I like the Hants system too, as everyone makes an active choice as to where to go and what to study next.
However I do think that for less mature students or those needing more pastoral care they can get a bit lost.
Also for borderline students it can be harder to get good advice as to whether A levels are the right choice the teachers who know them don't teach A level, but the A level teachers don't know the prospective student.

I’m in a grammar school area and the A’ level results are far higher than college grades. Only the kids who don’t make the grades (higher to stay on at school) go to college.
sounds like your dd likes her school and has friends? She might not appreciate the strictness of as school (required to study during study periods) but I think this reflects in the grades.

Thanks for the replies. Her school does relax the rules somewhat in 6th form. There's no uniform or "business dress", and they have study periods where they can leave school, but do need to be in each morning. They've got a new head though who seems more academy style, he's already brought in stricter uniform rules for 11-16.

It is quite stem focused so from over 200 in each year in 6th form, 140 odd do Maths, and 80-90 do chemistry and biology. Only about 25 do English and only a handful do German. To me there are positives and negatives to this. She'll have more attention but the school is less focused in what she's interested in (apart from Maths). But class sizes are a good point to check.

She is academic so will definitely do A levels and should be considering RG unis.

We're in London so there are some 6th forms with amazing results. She's considering Woodhouse which is one of the top 10 in the country. Tbh the results are similar to her school. We've discounted the LAE's as they don't do German and Harris Westminster as she doesn't want to do Saturday school.

If you have been to a school that doesn’t have a sixth form, then you have no choice but to go to a sixth form college.

I think ultimately it needs to be her decision, after having looked at what is available and fits in with her subjects. My DD has just finished a levels at college but my DS has chosen to stay at his Grammar school. In our area we have a good range to choose from, DSs decision to stay at school was based on knowing the teachers, knowing that they would push him and the environment would offer more of an academic focus. DDs decision was based on subject choice, she spent a lot less time in college and socialised a lot less, but that suited her. I think they have to choose where suits them best, where they feel they will work best. Any attempt to influence it may backfire if they don't get the grades they want, it will likely be the parent's fault for making them go there. In our area they can change up until half term if it isn't working out, so its not the end of the world either way.