Sixth Form applications and enrolment days

[Tulipanes]

We have booked to see some Sixth Forms and are reading the information on the website which I am trying to make sense of. Can you please help me to clarify application process for Sixth Form.

You apply for as many as you want? choosing the subject that you wish to study: do you only choose 3
They may get a conditional offer
Enrolment day is on GCSE results.

The enrolment day is what I am confused about it. You get your results and choose one Sixth Form and go on enrolment day? Do you go to various enrolment days on results day? What if you don’t get the results required for the subjects you chosen? Do they give you other options? Or do you have to decide one you get your results where you want to go?

So all sixth forms will do this slightly differently. But, in general. Apply for the subjects/qualifications and number you want. The sixth form may give you some guidance as to their normal expectations.

You'll get a conditional offer (or rejection). You might be asked at this point to reconsider your subject choice/combination. (For example, there might be not enough students to offer a subject any more, or you have chosen a weird combination that may limit further options).

On GCSE results day, if you have your grades for your top choice, then happy days! Go and enrol.
If you don't have the grades you will probably want to take the approach of contacting your top choice to see if there is any wriggle room, or if they will offer you alternative choices. If they offer you something satisfactory, then happy days again!
If your top choice doesn't accept you or makes an offer you're not keen on, then enrol in your second choice (assuming you meet the grades for that). If they take time to consider, you might want to enrol in the second choice anyway, so you don't lose the spot.
Repeat as necessary. It's a good idea to have a fallback backstop option.

Hopefully you will get an offer somewhere that you are happy with. You should be aware that compromises may have to be made in terms of subject/qual choices. Even if you do get the required grades, as sixth forms may change their offering once they know their student base.

Different areas and schools/colleges work slightly differently. How it worked for us was apply via a coordinated online form to as many settings as you wanted. 3 subject choices plus a reserve. Top 2-4 preferences do a guidance meeting and then a conditional offer. Offer holders days after GCSE exams.

On GCSE results day, offer conditions met then enrol at top choice. Conditions not met then need to see if you will still get a place. Sometimes that means doing different subjects e.g. don't get the grades for Biology but can do Environmental science. You probably could in that case enrol at more than one on the day and see if you can do the subjects you want.

Each college or 6th form should have clear directions on how to apply under 'admissions' on their website. In our area there is a website set up where you fill out sections on predicted grades, extra circs, personal statement, etc and you can then apply to each setting using that as a portal.

As you say, you can apply for as many as you want, so if your child wants to go to somewhere with a higher expectation of grades that they aren't confident of meeting, they need a backup plan in place for where they will go if they don't make those grades, and apply there too.

No you don't go to more than one enrollment day, unless the first one you go to turns you away. Actual places will be first-come-first-served among people who had a conditional offer and then actually turn up on enrollment day. If you hold an offer for a school that requires a grade 7 for maths to do a particular A-Level and you get a 6, you can still go to the enrollment day and ask to be allowed to do that A-Level, especially if you have extenuating circumstances or evidence that you have been working at grade 7-8 standard and just had a blip on exam day - they may say yes, or they may divert you to taking a different A-Level, and you may choose to go and enroll at a different school that will accept the 6. The A-Level choices you make when applying aren't usually binding, they will be used by the school to make staffing decisions because if they can see from the applicant pool that psychology is getting more and more popular they have a chance to recruit a new psychology teacher before September. Once enrollment day arrives they know they have a maximum capacity of 54 people to enroll for Psychology and someone who turns up to enrollment day late and is the 55th person wanting to sign up for Psychology probably won't be able to.

Thank you.

We are in London. No central application, we have to apply for each Sixth form.

Does DD have to make the decision on results day and go an enrol? Does she just enrol for one? Or can she enrol for various ones?

Thanks. I see you anwswered my question above, So basically you have to decide on GCSE day depending on results.

The enrollment process is you telling the Local Authority which college to give the funding to for providing your education. You can't do it at more than one place.

At the moment DD is not sure what she wants to study and where she wants to go.

My child might be away on a camp on results day- is that not advisable if they also need to enroll on that day?
Sounds like a stressful day for them for it all to happen on one day!

Make sense. Thank you

Regarding applying. She should choose different subjects for each school, plan A,B,C depending on different results?

Not every college has enrollment day on results day. Some have it a few days later - especially ones that might be considered "tier two" places that are more likely to be a backup option for someone who really wanted to go elsewhere.
I would not be booking for any y11 to be away on enrollment day unless their first choice is to stay on at the sixth form of the same school where they took GCSEs and they are confident of getting the minimum GCSE grades for the A-Levels they want to do - under those circumstances the school can probably automatically enroll them (check). But that might not preclude being away on results day unless their first choice college has enrollment and results on the same day.

I have a relative who works in the library at a popular sixth form college and on enrollment day every available staff member is conscripted by the Admissions team. Apparently people start queuing outside a couple of hours before the advertised start time for enrollment if they are worried that they might not get a place on a popular course. It can get a bit crazy. But there's other subjects where they never get a full classful of enrollments so if your child's interests are a bit more niche there may be less to worry about.

Yes! Have several plans in place.

Not necessarily different subjects at each school - but definitely a plan for what to do if you get a clean sweep of all grade 9s, and what to do if you have a bad result for one or two key subjects. That might be the same subjects at a different place with less strict criteria.

However it's important right now for y11 DC to be mainly focusing on GCSEs and not distracting them or jeopardising their confidence with too many "what ifs"

I quietly applied on DC's behalf to a "backup option" sixth form selecting a mix of BTec and low-entry-grade A-Levels that were related to their main interests, without telling DC I had done so. It was never necessary to tell, and the place wasn't needed.

Great. This is good advice. She doesn’t want to go to all open days either just 2; my concern is that results are a bit on the low end at the moment; however she is more focused this year and working with a tutor for weaker subjects,

I will tell her to focus on GCSE and getting the best results she can so she has more options and will print the requirements for each Sixth form.

Actual places will be first-come-first-served among people who had a conditional offer and then actually turn up on enrollment day.

This wasn't our experience and depends on the school. We're also in London and DD applied for several as she really had no idea whether she wanted to stay at her existing school or leave. She also applied for different subjects as not all schools offered the exact ones she wanted.

At Dd's own school, internal students got their results and then enrolled while external students came a couple of hours later. Of the other ones that she had a place at, one specified a time for children from specific schools to come and enrol. This didn't affect places. Another said those who got the highest grades (over 8.25 average in 8 GCSEs) went first and the lower ones were a couple of hours later - so this potentially did affect places. 2 more were online registration. So really a whole mixed bag.

DD did end up leaving and changed 2 of her original subject choices that she put down, none of this was problematic.

One other thing to advise is that most sixth forms run taster days in the last week of June and first week of July. DD only went to one of these as she was away but actually with my youngest, I'll make sure they're around as think this is a more helpful way to get a real feel for the school than the open days.

Sorry long post!

In London, it is quite common for people to go to more than one enrollment queue. As soon as they gt their results, the kids go en masse to the sixth form they want that they know they have the grades for, including their own school's sixth form. Over-subscribed schools will have kids queuing round the block to get a place, and they might find that the sixth form is full, or the courses they wish to follow are full, and then they have to go to their next choice. There is some wiggle room after enrollment day, so most kids get what they want eventually. I don't know whether you are in north or south London, but we looked at Haberdashers, Kingsdale, Charter, FHS6 and Graveney. Both my DC chose to stay at Kingsdale, but they had friends who went to all these. CandI and SFX too.

Thanks. South London and looking at same Sixth Forms as you mentioned, except for Graveney. Kingsdale has quite high requirements, 6 GCSE at 7 I think? And not Btecs.

KFS only has 40 places for external and it's a points system but you need 6x G7 including English & Maths.

They have BTEC Music Technology iirc and two T Levels.

Quite possible to enroll in more than one place, especially if your preferred place enrolls after your second choice.

Enroll at B, then A, then tell B you have changed your mind.

Thanks; I didn’t see Btec music technology; anyway I think 7s will be a bit of a stretch

A couple of kids I know got turned away trying to do this this year. They were given 12 hours to decide it in one case and in the other were told they had to "un-enrol" in one before enrolling in the other. DD did manage to hold two places for a few days but one was her existing school so wasn't on the applica site.

Must be regional.
Unless it has changed recently in Hants we don't have any centralised application system so no one else knows who you have applied to / enrolled with.

In London, most of them use the applica system. I have seen advice on here about signing up to each school with a different email address to avoid the above but it sounds like a massive faff.

This is all so crazy! Queuing round the block etc..
I went to a school with a sixth form and don’t remember anything like this -we got our results and then went to the park to celebrate with some Bacardi breezers! Then turned up on the first day back in September.