Can anyone recommend a good sixth form college in SE London

[minder]

I can recommend The Charter College. My son has just passed his AS levels there and has signed up for another year -(Year 13)

I would say that he has enjoyed his time there during the past year (he has attended The Charter since Year 7 so probably helps) and the school have encouraged him all the way.

The College have given my son a mentor, who he meets with regularly, and probably talks about stuff I don't understand - like applying to university and grants etc.

During the past couple of months he has also completed the Duke of Edinburgh Gold Award which The Charter and other colleges were at.

The Charter College also found a work experience placement for my son at one of the top insurance companies. He worked there for 4 weeks during the 6 weeks holiday and was paid too! He met lots of different people and really enjoyed it.

[Queenie23]

My son is at Forest Hill. However I have to say I have been very impressed with the school, he has not experienced any sort of trouble and the boys I see walking around are all very well behaved. I think that maybe things are different now - you make reference to the previous head. However you were obviously let down badly by the authorities there and I hope that lessons have been learnt.

[Debi]

I have a son in Year 11 at Kingsdale and he wants to stay on in the 6th Form. There was a 6th form open evening last week where we met the teachers and saw the facilities. Very impressive indeed. Being one of the early cohorts is v exciting and, as with every other aspect of the school in our experience, I'm convinced they will get the balance right between academic study, increasing independance and appropriate pastoral care.

[lorna63]

Hi, one of my daughters went to st saviours and st olaves at the elephant and castle (6th form) and i have to say, it was not a good time, the 6th form college, is poorly thought out, they have no seperate classroom and my daughter was constantly moving around the building. The college lumps two years together and i found them to be collectively, unsupportive in the young people gaining qualifications, which was reflected in the poor A Level results. My daughter did herself aquire 2.

She has recently started at Orpington College to take 4 different A Levels, and straight away the difference is clear. Proper time tables, clear and concise descriptions of all the work and criteria to be covered during the year. A dedicated website with online tests, so the teachers can stay aware of the students learning. Its very easy to get to, train from peckham rye goes straight there in the morning or train to bromley south, train to orpington, then bus or 10 min walk down the hill. I am very impressed with the standard at Orpington, my other daughter is at Welbeck College in Loughbourgh, that is excellent, but not near and is a boarding college for those who want a career in the Army.

[sophiechristophy]

How about Langley Park in Beckenham? Not sure what the train links are like, but my husband used to work at Langley Park Girls which accepts boys in the 6th form, and it is really nice. S x

[Rach]

Hi

Don't go Christ the King.....I went there (when it first opened) and it was dreadful. They treated pupils as if still very much school children and I just thought the level of teaching was incredibly poor. I eventually changed and went to Orpington 6th form and it was such a huge difference - you just went to three hour lectures - no assembly, registration classes etc. You turned up were registered at your class and that was it. This led to a greater focus on the actual lecture and you really felt the focus was purely about getting great A level results as well as actually understanding what you were learning.

Good luck.