Can 6th form colleges be selective beyond their minimum requirements?

[Thingsthatgo]

There’s a sixth form college in a nearby town that gets really good results. We live outside of the catchment area, but quite a lot of local teens (from outside of catchment) get a place and travel there every day. I was chatting to a teacher from another college and he said that they do so well because they select the best students that live outside of catchment (ie they have to take local students that meet minimum standard, but beyond that they can be more selective). Is that allowed? And if not, could they do anyway stealthily?
Their results are much better than our local sixth form, with similar demographics.

Yes. Here's an example.https://www.woodhouse.ac.uk/study-with-us/admissions-policy

'Predicted grades – The College is more likely to offer a place where predicted grades are high.'

We live in a relatively deprived northern town with pockets of wealth in the outlying vllages, yet our local sixth-form gets very high grades (in comparison to the other options). Slowly over the last 8 years they've increased the entry requirements and also told students not to apply if you dont get above an 8 in chosen subject and 7 in maths and English. Totally unfair to some (I know of a child who got 7-9 in everything except English is dyslexic and got refused) but seems to be the accepted norm around here.

@Thingsthatgo What does their admissions policy say? Are they following it?

Sixth form colleges don't have to abide by the national Schools Admissions Code, but their admissions policies do need to be fair and reasonable, and they do need to follow their policy.

Even school sixth forms, who do need to abide by the Code, are allowed to rank applicants by their GCSE results (though not by their predicted GCSE results because predicted grades are subjective).

The main issue with college admissions is that their policies are more difficult to challenge. There is no Code for them to follow and no equivalent to the Schools Adjudicator. Policies have to be challenged via the DfE so the process seems to be less accessible to the general public.

Thanks, seems like they are within their rights to offer to students with higher grades. To be honest it could potentially work in DS’s favour if he wants to go there, but it does seem to perpetuate the problem of our local college being a bit shit.

Well yes. Its selection isn’t it. At 16, just not at 11. CofE secondaries do the same. Small catchment but spread out dc coming from far flung places.

@OhDear111sorry - I’m not sure I understand your analogy to C of E schools. In my example the sixth forms have different criteria for students within catchment and from outside catchment. Do C of E schools do the same?

Yes they can. I was rejected by a state 6th form college 20+ years ago although I met the minimum entry requirements and lived in catchment. They receive more applications than the number of places.

It seems to be the case where a course is in demand.
Our local 6th form college is so over subscribed they asked my daughter to do their own Maths exam to join the A level course despite her having a Level 9 at GCSE.
Her friend, who also had GCSE Level 9, did not pass the college test and was not allowed to join the course!
( Not a posh area either - a Northern city with high levels of deprivation)

@CurlyKoaliewow! That’s crazy.

@Thingsthatgo No, not the same but it’s a form of selection that’s not done by distance from school. Obviously 6th forms can introduce selection too and not choose by distance. That’s all I
meant really. We tend to think non grammar (comp) education isn’t selective but it can be and definitely for 6th forms. It’s often the case that external candidates do have to score more highly within that cohort and often beyond dc already in a school to be selected.