Sixth Form advice please....

[Cora]

Any at all!

Whereas with Primary and Secondary there's council information about the different sixth forms etc, it seems to be a much more random process when choosing sixth forms. With Co-vid, I imagine it will not be top of the agenda to support kids in choosing where to go next and that word of mouth will be really useful.

If you've been through the process, any pointers recommendations, strengths of certain departments very welcome.

We're looking for maths, physics, economics so any particular pointers for those would be great.

Also if someone can explain the difference in real terms of A-levels versus Baccalaureate...

Thanking you in advance

[Andrew Sear]

Kingsdale Foundation School is pleased to remind prospective parents and students that our virtual and limited on-site open sessions for Year 12 for September 2021 have now started.

Due to current restrictions, please note that on-site visits are strictly by appointment only and can be booked via the link below.

Details of our virtual and pre-bookable on-site Sixth Form open events, which start on Wednesday 30th September 2021 can be accessed here - [kingsdalefoundationschool.org.uk]

[tomskip]

My advice is stay at the same school for Sixth form unless there's a really pressing reason to change. If you don't you will have to make a new group of friends and get to know a new building, which isn't a whole lot of fun in socially distanced times when the amount of time you spend on school premises is hugely reduced anyway.

You're in 6th form for no more than 20 months. Is it worth the upheaval?

[Soylent Green]

I have been through this process twice, visiting a number of different sixth forms and both children decided to stay at Kingsdale. Son did very well academically and daughter is pleased to be back in her old school after lock-down. Unless your child feels a need to have a different setting (eg wants to reinvent themselves as a more studious version of self) or their school does not offer the A levels, or A'level combinations they wish to do, there is a lot to be said for staying with the same cohort and familiar teachers, routines and surroundings. Those students that I know who have changed school have commented on getting to know a new environment and making new friends has distracted them from getting stuck into the work in the first half-term. One piece of information I can share, is that this year Charter North introduced a catchment area for sixth form because it was over-subscribed. My daughter's friend who lives in Nunhead was declined a place on this basis. The only caveat is check schools' entry requirements; Kingsdale and Charter are pretty strict, Sydenham/Forest Hill's combined sixth form (which is lovely and was our back up school) is more generous in its admissions.

[Cora]

Thanks, really appreciate your thoughts....Are some sixth forms stronger at certain subjects in anyone's opinion or is is all pretty routine?

[Mrs TP]

One thing worth considering is if the new school does the same exam board if continuing a subject. One of mine changed schools for 6th form and took Spanish A Level, having done really well at and enjoyed GCSE.

We only realised after she started that the new school used a diff exam board to her previous school for Spanish.

This put her at a huge disadvantage, as she had studied different topic elements of language to her 6th form peers in the new school.

For her it wasn't a continuation of studies as it was for her peers. There was a lot of new learning from scratch and the teachers perceived her as 'behind' / 'not v good' from the start. It was good six months in before they started to hit on topics she excelled in but were new to the others.

It was a shaky unnerving start for her but overcome in the long haul.

Studying new things is fine but only if new to all and all starting from the same point.

[Cora]

Mmm...good point, thanks....

[Renata Hamvas]

Hi Cora. An option that may fit what you are looking for is King's Maths School. It is a specialist state sixth form College where students study Maths,Further Maths, Physics and either Economics or Computer Studies, I think it's hard to get into! There are the good local offerings of Charter, Kingsdale, Haberdashers Askes and if a 6th form College is preferred over a school,look at Christ the King 6th form college (A levels are taught on the Brockley site). I have quite limited knowledge on the Bacc, I know a couple of people who've done it, it seems to be the favoured route if you are thinking to apply to Universities abroad (US or mainland Europe) or if you aren't sure which route to take for A levels and therefore want to keep your options open.

[redjam]

Does anyone understand how the Kingsdale Sixth Form admission works? On their website it says places are allocated in this order:

1) kids in care

2) special needs

3) 'ranked by average point score for their best 5 qualifying subjects for the course they wish to study'

4) random lottery

1) and 2) make sense but I don't really understand what 3) means. How do you know what the 5 qualifying subjects are for each A-level? And by 'point scores' do they mean GCSE grades? Or predictions?

And surely 3) and 4) are incompatible, anyway - it's either done on attainment or it's done by lottery; they're two different things!

If anyone has been through this before and can enlighten me, I'd be grateful. My daughter is actually at Kingsdale now so you'd think I'd be better informed, but I can't make head or tail of these criteria...