Sixth Form FAQs
Please find answers to our Frequently Asked Questions below. If you have any further questions, please contact us at sixthformadmissions@croxleydanes.herts.sch.uk and we will get back to you as soon as possible.
Admissions
Q. The current [internal] Year 11 form size is 180 students. Will the Sixth Form also be around 180 or do you anticipate filling many additional places from outside of the current Year 11s?
All existing Croxley Danes Year 11 students who apply for a place in the Sixth Form are eligible for a place if they achieve the academic entry criteria published in the prospectus. The minimum number of external applicants to be admitted is 35. Thereafter, decisions will be made based on the planned capacity in a given subject or course. More detailed information explaining the admissions process can be found in the prospectus.
Q. What happens if a student’s final GCSE grades fall below the Sixth Form entry criteria?
Internal students, and external students holding conditional offers, who have met the entry criteria will be invited to confirm their GCSE results and subject choices via the Sixth Form office by 3pm on GCSE Results Day. Following this, should the school have additional spaces, these will be published on the school website the day after GCSE Results Day.
As explained in the admissions process in the prospectus, there is then a process of offering further places in an order of priority. It should be noted that both of these priorities include meeting the entry criteria. In the event that a student’s final GCSE grades fall below the entry criteria, it is likely not to be possible to proceed with the student’s chosen courses that are affected, however an appeals process is detailed in the prospectus. Further guidance would then be offered.
Guidance to applicants is therefore an important part of the application process. All internal applicants will be offered guidance meetings on subjects and pathways. Where their predicted grades do not meet our admissions requirements, additional guidance and support will be given on alternative post-16 options. External applicants will be required to provide an appropriate current school email address which we will use to request predicted grades. If we are able to make a conditional offer of a place, subject to the Over subscription Criteria published in the prospectus Admissions Information, external candidates may have a meeting with a member of staff in Spring Term 2025 after receipt of their application to discuss the suitability of their chosen courses.
Q. If a student's subject choices cannot be accommodated, is there a reciprocal process in place with other Sixth Form colleges to find the student a suitable place? Or is it worth applying to other schools to have these as a back-up?
There is no national system for applying to post-16 places, unlike the UCAS system that supports applying to universities. We recommend all students explore the local options available to them to inform their decisions. Students can apply to as many providers as they wish and, in due course, where they hold conditional offers of a place they will be asked to confirm these at GCSE Results Day. The county and national careers services offer support following GCSE Results Day. The reason for the Friday 14th February 2025 application deadline for Croxley Danes Sixth Form is to provide time to finalise staffing, timetabling and feed back to individual students if there are any anticipated changes.
Staffing and Learning Support
Q. Will the Sixth Form be fully staffed with specialist subject teachers?
Yes; in September 2024 we have successfully delivered 22 courses with subject leaders and specialist teachers. If there are any changes to staffing we will recruit appropriately for Sept 2025. This year we are offering 26 subjects and the Extended Project Qualification.
Q. My child has additional needs. What help would they get if they were to stay on?
Post-16 education still involves the need to identify, assess and provide support for young people with special educational needs. The effectiveness of any support provided should be reviewed regularly, taking into account the student’s progress and any changes to the student’s own ambitions and aspirations, which may lead to changes in the type and level of support. The SEND and learning support team will therefore continue to work with post-16 students.
Curriculum
Q. What is the minimum number of students required to run an A-level subject?
We do not publish a minimum number of students required to run a subject, however any decisions made about whether a subject can run on lower numbers involves an assessment of what is financially viable. The reason for the Friday 14th February 2025 application deadline for Croxley Danes Sixth Form is to provide time to finalise staffing, timetabling and feed back to individual students if there are any anticipated changes.
Q. Can a student change course and within what time frame?
If your child applies and then changes their mind about the subjects they have selected, they can make changes up until the deadline, which is Friday 14th February 2025. After this date, we will create the timetable and organise subjects into option blocks. While students can still request a change after the deadline, the new subjects would need to fit within the available option blocks.
Students can be supported to change courses within the first four weeks of Sixth Form Study, where there is capacity on another course and where they also meet the entry criteria. Following the national school census at the start of October, the funding the school receives for a student’s place is then dependent on them successfully completing their courses. It would also be considered that by then, too much of a course will have already progressed to make a change an advisable option.
Q. Does everyone get a chance to do an EPQ if they’d like to?
Extended Project Qualification will initially be open to applicants taking Pathway 1a (GCSE Best 8 APS greater than or equal to 7.50 - see prospectus page 4). If there is further capacity to support additional students in EPQ, an application process will be undertaken in the autumn term of Year 12.
The School Day
Q. Will students be allowed to leave school at lunch time?
Sixth Form is a stepping stone between age 11-16 main school and the next steps in adult life of university, apprenticeships, employment or gap years. It follows that students are granted additional freedoms and responsibilities suitable for their age group. The school introduces privileges such as the ability to sign out and leave site at lunch time, or ‘exeat’ (temporary absences such as leaving before the end of the school day if a student does not have a lesson in the afternoon), in a proportionate and staggered manner.
Q. What facilities can you offer in the Sixth Form with regard to common room, quiet room, cafe, etc.?
Croxley Danes School has been designed for a population of 1206 students including a large Sixth Form. The typical facilities of a ‘Sixth Form block’ are integrated into the existing building. The Sixth Form plans for the cohort joining in September 2025 is based on the existing full use of the ample spaces already provided within the existing building. In addition to our supervised Sixth Form Study Room, we have additional capacity in our Learning Resource Centre, Dining Hall and English/Maths hubs. This provides a flexible, rewarding and enriching learning and study experience for our Sixth Formers. The Sixth Form timetable is built around five timetable blocks of subjects, so around 40% of students are free at any one time. There will be a fantastic range of learning spaces for all of our students to find where they best excel, and additional privileges for Home Study built into the programme as students progress through the Sixth Form.
