Choosing a sixth form has a major impact on your educational journey! Here’s a procedure, ranked by importance, for selecting your new school.

• Oxbridge Offers
  • Try to find up to date figures!
    • 2024: https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/which-schools-get-the-most-pupils-in/
  • Look at offer numbers over 2-3 years, mitigating outliers
  • Keep in mind, higher numbers can make it difficult to stand out, but also indicates a better culture and stronger support.
• Progress Score
  • This is better than A Level percentages because it indicates how much value the school actually adds to students
    • (i.e. taking a kid from 6s to As is more impressive than getting a straight 9 kid A*s)
  • The Government lets you rank schools by progress: https://www.compare-school-performance.service.gov.uk/schools-by-type?step=default&table=schools&region=all-england&for=16to18
  • Be cautious, look at the data over several years to mitigate outliers.
• Average A Level Grade
  • B+ is decent, anything above that indicates a solid school (usually!)
  • See Here: https://www.compare-school-performance.service.gov.uk/schools-by-type?step=default&table=schools&region=all-england&for=16to18&orderby=ks5.0.TALLPPE_ALEV_1618&orderdir=asc
  • Try to find this per subject too, on the school’s website, it can signal teaching quality or quality of classmates (competition is always useful)
• School Type
  • Selective “Free” Schools are usually the best option: these are your LAE, NCS, ICS, HWSF — Oxbridge feeders.
  • Grammar schools are decent BUT can feel isolating: if others students have had better teaching & opportunities for years, with friendships in place, you can get left behind.
  • If you’re trying for Oxbridge, avoid private schools, unless they’re elite (Eton, Harrow, CLSG, Westminster, SPGS, etc)
  • Maths schools are very interesting! They are the best performing in the country (usually), have very difficult tests, and often produce elite destinations. I would say, though, that the lack of diversity of subjects can create an insular, exhausting environment.
• Prestige
  • Certain sixth forms (ICS, NCS, LAE, HWSF, Private Schools) provide you with unique, elite opportunities through their connections
  • The name also goes a long way later on if you’re trying to work in finance/law/consulting! Name dropping that you both went to the same school is a good “in”.
• Location
  • London has more opportunities, full stop. Especially true for visiting universities for public lectures, like LSE.
  • Being on the outskirts of a major city can provide you with the best of both worlds: opportunities and space for extracurriculars like sports.
• Culture
  • Best way to find out about this is by talking to students who’ve gone/currently go there.
  • Figure out whether students act like they don’t revise, if the social scene is quite bad, stuff like that.
• US Uni Support
  • Most elite private schools provide support, but increasingly state schools are getting involved!
  • Naturally, these are the elite state schools: QE Boys, ICS, NCS, LAE, etc.
• Extracurriculars
  • Most elite Oxbridge feeders which aren’t private lack serious extracurricular opportunities like sports.
  • Private Schools — aside from elite grammar schools — are unmatched when it comes to

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