HBS v Watford Girls

Discussion and advice on Sixth Form matters

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Middlesexmum
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Joined: Wed Jun 22, 2011 9:54 am

HBS v Watford Girls

Post by Middlesexmum »

My dd has just finished Year 11 at HBS and is due to transfer to Watford Girls for Sixth Form. The main reasons being - she wants to do RS A Level which HBS don't offer, and she doesn't want to do 4 A Levels which they are all expected to do at HBS.

She was happy to move until recently but is now having a wobble about leaving. She feels at home at HBS and is with like-minded girls. After the Watford induction, she said it was a very different feel.

If anyone has a dd in the Sixth Form at HBS, how common is it to drop down to 3 A Levels at the end of Year 12 and how do the school feel about it?
Daogroupie
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Location: Herts

Re: HBS v Watford Girls

Post by Daogroupie »

I have the utmost admiration for any student who moves to a different sixth form for A levels.

My dd1 did an extra year at another sixth form to do an A level not offered at her school.

The teaching was excellent but she did find it quite hard with all the established friendships and many things being quite different. She was two years older as well.

When she was in Y12 several of the new joiners returned to their original schools after a few weeks because they found it too different.

Neither of my dds would have moved for one A level subject, unless it was the one they wanted to carry on with at university.

Is RS really important to her?

What are the other two A levels she will be doing?

DG
KB
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Joined: Tue Mar 04, 2008 3:28 pm

Re: HBS v Watford Girls

Post by KB »

How many others would also be joining the school in year 12? If its only a few then it can be much harder, whereas when one of my DCs moved for 6th form it was compromised of about 40% newbies.

From the opposite perspective, how many enter her current school for 6th form? My other DCs had been at said school since year 7 and actually found the transition quite tricky with the dynamics changing.
Middlesexmum
Posts: 1008
Joined: Wed Jun 22, 2011 9:54 am

Re: HBS v Watford Girls

Post by Middlesexmum »

Thank you, I’m not sure about numbers but will find out.

Subjects - at Watford she’d do RS, Class Civ and either English or History. At HBS, she’d do Class Civ, Politics, English and History. But she really doesn’t want to do 4.
watford
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Joined: Wed Mar 16, 2011 1:37 pm

Re: HBS v Watford Girls

Post by watford »

Middlesexmum wrote:Thank you, I’m not sure about numbers but will find out.

Subjects - at Watford she’d do RS, Class Civ and either English or History. At HBS, she’d do Class Civ, Politics, English and History. But she really doesn’t want to do 4.
Hi

Are you sure Watford Girls still do Classical Civ for A level?

It was removed last year due to funding cuts.

Watford
ToadMum
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Location: Essex

Re: HBS v Watford Girls

Post by ToadMum »

It is in the prospectus.

https://www.watfordgrammarschoolforgirl ... 4BCA21.pdf

However, one might imagine that it might be a vulnerable subject, vis à vis the numbers actually definitely intending / qualifying to take it, come results day and enrollment?
Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read.Groucho Marx
Middlesexmum
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Joined: Wed Jun 22, 2011 9:54 am

Re: HBS v Watford Girls

Post by Middlesexmum »

Her offer letter from Watford definitely says Class Civ. They can't withdraw the subject now can they?
Daogroupie
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Joined: Wed Mar 04, 2009 3:01 pm
Location: Herts

Re: HBS v Watford Girls

Post by Daogroupie »

Yes they can.

dd1 was offered a place at HBS sixth form and it was not until the day we brought in her GCSE results in August that they "mentioned" that her combination of A levels were no longer available and could she please move to a different combination?

Needless to say dd1 decided against joining the HBS sixth form.

Check on their results page if Class Civ does run every year.

A sixth form student we know at another school was doing A level class Civ in a class of five and the other four dropped out so she had to move to another subject. DG
Middlesexmum
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Joined: Wed Jun 22, 2011 9:54 am

Re: HBS v Watford Girls

Post by Middlesexmum »

Oh dear, that's a bit worrying. I will check.
ToadMum
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Joined: Wed Jan 18, 2012 12:41 pm
Location: Essex

Re: HBS v Watford Girls

Post by ToadMum »

Middlesexmum wrote:Oh dear, that's a bit worrying. I will check.
I hate to add to your worries, but even subjects popular in schools generally can be dropped in a particular year. Three examples from our area:

- (six years ago) Local comprehensive making the painful decision that it could not afford to run any of the sciences, given the size of the cohort. The grammar school that DD attended (she had just done year 7 at the comp in question, as it happened) and DS was just about to join in year 12, took 5 students in.

- One of DD's friends, needing to repeat year 12, turned up to enrol at the school she was moving to, only to find that it was no longer running one of her sujects - Politics, which normally runs with full classes wherever it is offered.

- DS2 now has no back-up place for September, as the college where he had a provisional place for September to study A level Maths, Art and Physics has written to say that they have reorganised their offer. Said reorganisation including dropping both Art and Maths :shock:. I think they still offer ther Btec Art option and they do also still offer English Lit, which will be his fourth subject at school, but he doesn't fancy the Btec and thinks Eng. Lit. and Physics may have been in the same column :roll:. Meanwhile, his memory is that Psychology was in pretty much all of them...
Last edited by ToadMum on Fri Jul 26, 2019 1:13 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read.Groucho Marx
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