Upton Park 6th form v Outstanding Hounslow State School

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munch
Posts: 173
Joined: Fri Mar 18, 2011 10:47 am

Upton Park 6th form v Outstanding Hounslow State School

Post by munch »

Hello all,
My cousin's son has offers from the above for 6th form and they are struggling to make a choice. He was at an independent school and has had great GCSE results.
Any parents out there who can provide useful insight beyond league tables?
Is an A level student from a grammar school seen as 'better' than from an outstanding state school when you are applying to unis?
Upton Park apparently only allow 3 A levels whereas the state school may allow 4 - should this be a consideration or should you really focus on getting 3 excellent results?
Not sure if I can mention the state school - it is very local to them but there is also a school bus service from them to Upton Park.
The state school interview is tomorrow so any advice much appreciated.
scary mum
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Joined: Mon Mar 15, 2010 3:45 pm

Re: Upton Park 6th form v Outstanding Hounslow State School

Post by scary mum »

State schools can't interview! Not officially, anyway. Some universities give lower offers to pupils from comprehensive schools than grammar schools, particularly if the comprehensive is in the bottom ?40%. Known as contextual offers, I think. The advantage of doing 4 is that there is a choice of which one to give up at the end of year 12, but that is disappearing to some extent with the changes to A levels.
scary mum
ToadMum
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Location: Essex

Re: Upton Park 6th form v Outstanding Hounslow State School

Post by ToadMum »

scary mum wrote:State schools can't interview! Not officially, anyway. Some universities give lower offers to pupils from comprehensive schools than grammar schools, particularly if the comprehensive is in the bottom ?40%. Known as contextual offers, I think. The advantage of doing 4 is that there is a choice of which one to give up at the end of year 12, but that is disappearing to some extent with the changes to A levels.
They can invite you in to discuss the suitability of your intended A levels and how likely they are to be able to accommodate your desired combination with regard to practicalities such as lab space (to be fair, the kind of chat the school will have been having with internal candidates), but no, this can't be turned into an interview. Round our way, schools which ask external applicants to come in for a discussion following an initial expression of interest do it back before Christmas, though, (i.e. before making provisional offers), not a couple of days before the beginning of year 12. At this stage (and enrolment for our sixth forms tends to be within 24 hours for results day, as well), the visit to the new sixth form would be to confirm that you were taking up your place and actually to enrol.
Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read.Groucho Marx
munch
Posts: 173
Joined: Fri Mar 18, 2011 10:47 am

Re: Upton Park 6th form v Outstanding Hounslow State School

Post by munch »

scary mum and Toadmum - thank you for our helpful comments.
maxtom
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Joined: Tue Jan 27, 2015 2:24 pm

Re: Upton Park 6th form v Outstanding Hounslow State School

Post by maxtom »

Scary Mum, I can't find online anything that says state schools can't interview for 6th form - just wondering where this info is from? I am interested as my older child is looking at 6th forms this year and I was under the impression that some of them do interview applicants. We had no idea this might not be allowed & assumed 6th forms were free to select any candidates they choose, so it would be really useful to know what rules govern their selection processes.
ToadMum
Posts: 11945
Joined: Wed Jan 18, 2012 12:41 pm
Location: Essex

Re: Upton Park 6th form v Outstanding Hounslow State School

Post by ToadMum »

maxtom wrote:Scary Mum, I can't find online anything that says state schools can't interview for 6th form - just wondering where this info is from? I am interested as my older child is looking at 6th forms this year and I was under the impression that some of them do interview applicants. We had no idea this might not be allowed & assumed 6th forms were free to select any candidates they choose, so it would be really useful to know what rules govern their selection processes.
Admissions Code 2014 - oversubscription criteria (page 11, (m)).

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/s ... 19_Dec.pdf
Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read.Groucho Marx
maxtom
Posts: 23
Joined: Tue Jan 27, 2015 2:24 pm

Re: Upton Park 6th form v Outstanding Hounslow State School

Post by maxtom »

Thanks Toad Mum - that's very interesting. I have heard of sixth forms interviewing, but I'm now wondering if students have used the term 'interview' when in fact it is a 'meeting to discuss options' that this document refers to.
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