Admissions & Enrolment to Sixth Form

 

Download the Application Form the link below:

Applications are currently closed.

Applications should be emailed to y12applications@gms.bucks.sch.uk

 

• GMS 16-19 Bursary Fund    Forms to be completed by:  Friday 22^nd September 2023

SIXTH FORM ADMISSIONS CRITERIA

1. To study 3 A-level subjects, you will need five or more GCSE qualifications including English Language and Mathematics at Grade 5 and three others at Grade 5 or above. You will also need to meet specific subject criteria.
2. Consideration for entry into the sixth form will be given to students with a high Grade 4 in English Language and Mathematics and who meet specific subject criteria.
3. To study at Level 2 you need five or more 9-1 grades and meet individual course criteria.
4. To study a combination of A-levels and Level 3 BTECs you need five or more 9-1 grades (including both English Language and Mathematics) and meet individual subject criteria.
5. To study the T Level Technical Qualification in Education and Early Years (level 3) delivered by NCFE, students will require a Grade 4 in English and Mathematics plus three Grade 4s in other subjects.

A-level reform

All A-level subjects, will run for two years with examinations in the summer of the second year of study. Internal examinations are undertaken at intervals to assess student progress.

Two year courses

In recognition of the fact that students progress at different rates, and that a curriculum that meets the needs of one student may not meet the needs of another, GMS offer the following courses.

• BTEC Level 3 National Extended Certificate in Creative Digital Media Production
• BTEC Level 3 National Extended Certificate in Travel and Tourism
• BTEC Level 3 National Extended Certificate in Sport
• BTEC Level 3 Subsidiary Diploma in Public Services
• T Level Technical Qualification in Education and Early Years (level 3) delivered by NCFE

These options will enable successful students to achieve A-level equivalent qualifications at the end of two years of study.

FURTHER ADMISSIONS CRITERIA

If the school is oversubscribed, after the admission of students with a Statement of Special Educational Needs, or Education Health and Care Plan, where the school is named in the statement or plan, priority for admission will be given to those children who meet the criteria set out below, in order:

1. Looked after children

For admissions purposes a ‘looked after child’ is a child who is a) in the care of a local authority, or b) being provided with accommodation by a local authority in the exercise of their social services functions as defined in Section 22 (1) of the Children Act 1989.  This covers accommodated children and those who are in care under a care order/interim order.  This can include: living with family or friends, in foster care, a children’s home, residential school, special school or in supported lodgings.

This includes children who were previously looked after and immediately after being looked after became the subject of an adoption, residence or special guardianship order as set out below.

Other definitions:

Residence Order is an order setting out the arrangements made concerning the person with whom the child is to live under section 8 of the Children’s Act 1989

Special Guardianship Order is an order appointing one or more individuals to be a child’s special guardian (or special guardians) under Section 14A of the Children’s Act 1989

2. Children of staff at the school

Priority may be given to children of staff in either or both of the following circumstances:

a)     where the member of staff has been employed at the school for two or more years at the time at which the application for admission to the school is made, and/or

b)    the member of staff is recruited to fill a vacant post for which there is a demonstrable skill shortage

3. Children whose normal home address is within the catchment area of the school.

The catchment area is bounded on three sides by the Oxfordshire border, the River Thames and the A404.  The northern boundary runs from the Oxfordshire border north of Stokenchurch, between Waterend and Stokenchurch running north of the M40 but south of Studley Green and Piddington then south to include Lane End and east to join the A404 at Monkton Farm.

From 2013 this has included the entire parish of Wheeler End

A map of the area is available from the Local Authority within the Guide for Parents pack.

4. Children who have exceptional medical or social needs supported by written evidence from a doctor, social worker, education welfare officer or other appropriate person.

If you want GMS to consider your child under this rule you must include supporting evidence from an independent professional person, who is aware of the situation and supports your reasons for preferring a particular school for your child.

The supporting evidence must relate specifically to the application to Great Marlow and clearly demonstrate why it is the only school that can meet your child’s needs in a way that no other school can.  It must also illustrate the difficulties that would be caused if your child had to attend an alternative school.  The person who supplies the evidence might be a doctor, an education welfare office or other professional aware of your case.  The Governing Body will decide which children will be considered under this rule before any allocations are made.

No applications can be considered under this rule unless written independent evidence is received

5. Those living outside the catchment area for the school.

In the event of over-subscription, once the admissions criteria have been applied, then any further places will be awarded according to the straight line distance between the family’s normal home address and the school’s main entrance gate on Bobmore Lane, using the Local Authority’s measurements as set out by ordnance survey, offering the closest first.

APPLICATION PROCEDURE

For further details of the application process, and application timetable, please contact the school.  A Sixth Form Options’ Evening is held each year in the late autumn or early spring term. Application forms for external candidates can be downloaded from GMS’s website and emailed to the Head of Sixth Form.

Where a Sixth Form applicant has been refused a place at the school, parents and carers will be advised of their right of appeal against the decision of the Governing Body to an Independent Appeals Panel.

The right of appeal will apply equally to students currently attending the school and seeking entry to the sixth form and to external applicants. A waiting list for the sixth form will be maintained, in line with the school’s over-subscription criteria, until the end of September. Students are not admitted to sixth form courses after that date.

EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES, DISABILITY DISCRIMINATION, RACE RELATIONS

In dealing with applications for admissions governors will have full regard to the Sex Discrimination Act 1975; Race Relations Act 1976 and 2000; Human Rights Act 1998; Disability Discrimination Acts 1995 and 2005; and Equality Act 2010.

SCHOOL TRANSPORT

For students who are 16, 17 or 18 years of age before 1 September in any academic year the council operates a travel scheme (The 16+ Scheme).  Further details of the scheme are available from the Passenger Transport Section at Buckinghamshire County Council.

NAMED CONTACT

All initial enquiries regarding admission to the sixth form should be made to Mr O Hollyman, Head of Sixth Form at Great Marlow School – Tel No: 01628 483752.