Sixth Form Admissions

Planned Admission No: 180 (combined Year 12 and Year 13)

Aylesford School offers the International Baccalaureate Career Programme in the Sixth Form. Places will be offered to students who will typically be enrolled in Year 11 at the time of application and be age 16 at the time of admission.  Priority will be given to existing pupils transferring from year 11 who meet the entrance criteria.

Requests for admission outside of the normal age group should be made in writing to the Headteacher as early as possible to allow the Governors sufficient time to make a decision, in full consultation with the Headteacher, before the relevant closing date. Where evidence is provided to support a request to defer an application it must be specific to the child in question. Where the School agrees to consider an application outside of the normal age group, the applicant will be ranked alongside all others in accordance with the School’s oversubscription criteria.

Applications for entry in the academic year 2023, are open from December 2022

In addition to transferring students from Aylesford School Year 11, applications are welcome from students attending other schools.

All students joining the Sixth Form must meet the general entry requirements below and the specific entry requirements for the subjects they wish to study for pathways 1 and 2. Pathway 1 must fulfil the requirements of the IB for the completion of the full IB Career-related programme. Details are available from the School’s website, along with course and other Admissions information for the 3 different pathways the school offers. Gaining a place in the Sixth Form does not guarantee that a particular range of courses may be followed.

All Sixth Form courses and pathways last for two years and applicants are expected to commit themselves to completing the IB Career-related Programme.

Every applicant will be invited to an information and guidance meeting to review the suitability of their course choice selection. The meeting will not form part of offer making decisions. 

Sixth Form entry requirements

All candidates should have 5 GCSE’s A*-C including English, Mathematics (Grade 4 or above where applicable) and at least one science in pathways 1 and 2. Students who wish to apply for pathway 3 need to achieve A*-F (or equivalent) in English, Maths and Science however, students will be taken on an individual basis.

Applicants whose Statement of Special Educational Needs (SSEN) or Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) names the School, and who have met the general entry requirements above, will be admitted.

A Statement of Special Educational Need is a statement made by the Local Authority under Section 324 of the Education Act 1996 specifying the special educational provision required for that child. An Education, Health and Care Plan is a plan made by the Local Authority under Section 37 of the Children and Families Act 2014 specifying the special education provision required for that child.

Parents and applicants have a statutory right of appeal, both in the event that a conditional offer is not made and in the event that a conditional offer is not confirmed. All appeals should be lodged as soon as possible and not after 20 school days have passed from the date of the refusal letter. Appeals lodged under both circumstances will be heard within 30 school days of the GCSE results.

After a place has been offered the School reserves the right to withdraw the place in the following circumstances:

1. When an applicant has failed to respond to an offer within the deadlines stated on the offer letter; or

2. When an applicant has failed to notify the School of relevant changes to the application information; or

3. The admission authority offered the place on the basis of a fraudulent or intentionally misleading application.

Offers and Appeals

Offers will be made on the basis of predicted performance at GCSE, with the requirement that the above grades are achieved in the final examinations prior to entry to the Sixth Form and the pupil’s 4 chosen subjects being accommodated on the timetable, in feasible group sizes.

All offers made during Year 11 are conditional on pupils meeting the grade criteria specified and will only become firm offers upon confirmation of actual GCSE results.

Offer letters will be made before the end of May. Offers will be confirmed once the school has been notified of GCSE results in August.

Where learners have achieved better result than the predicted grades they will be considered based on the grades achieved and ranked accordingly for any places that become available as a result of other learners failing to meet the required entry levels.

Parents have a statutory right of appeal, should an application for a place be refused, by writing to The Clerk to the Governors, care of the school.

Late applications will be considered if places in appropriate subjects are still available after all other applicants have been considered.

A waiting list will be held, ranked according to the over-subscription criteria.