Admission arrangements to sixth form 2024 / 2025

Application closing date

Pupils can apply for a place at a sixth form at a Swansea school in the spring term prior to them seeking a place for the following September. Closing dates for applications will be determined by individual schools.

Provisional offer

Pupils will be offered a provisional place. This provisional place will be subject to achieving certain specified entry qualifications as published by each individual school. For further information on specific entry qualifications contact the school directly.

GCSE / equivalent results

When GCSE grades are published i.e. the third Thursday in August ordinarily, it will be necessary for individual pupils to contact the school of choice to confirm grades at GCSE or equivalent examination results.

Choice of subjects

Pupils who have achieved satisfactory grades at GCSE or equivalent will be given a firm offer of a place in the sixth form at the school of choice where places are available. It must be noted, however, that it may not be possible to study all the chosen subjects at the school of choice. It may be necessary for students to link with a sixth form at another school to pursue some subject choices.

Students who have achieved satisfactory grades at GCSE or equivalent but are unable to study all subject choices at the school of choice can be offered an alternative choice of subjects being taught at the particular premises. Alternatively, these students can seek a place at an alternative venue i.e. another Swansea school sixth form or Gower College.

Pupils will not be required to sit an entrance interview.

Admission limits - sixth forms

All school sixth forms can admit up to the admission number subject to students achieving the entry requirement specified by the school (details are available from individual schools). Parents and pupils who are refused a place at the school sixth form must be given the right of appeal.

Admission arrangements

The arrangements for admission into Year 12 and 13 for maintained community schools are delegated to the establishments directly. Details on admission arrangements for Voluntary Aided Schools may be obtained directly from the establishments concerned and will form part of their admissions policies.

Waiting list

If a school sixth form is over-subscribed and the school cannot meet the demand for courses a waiting list will be maintained. Applicants who have met the entry criteria (see above) but who have been refused a place due to the limit on places available will be offered an opportunity to put their name on a waiting list. In the event that a place(s) becomes available, pupils whose names are on the waiting list will be offered a place in accordance with the oversubscription criteria (see below).

Oversubscription criteria

For pupils who achieve the specified entry qualifications, where more applications have been received for any school sixth form than there are places available, the following order of priority will apply:

1. Pupils who are looked after by a local authority (LAC) or are previously looked after*.
2. Pupils who live within the school's defined catchment area. There is no guarantee of a catchment place. If there are more applications than places, the places will be allocated in distance order with those living nearest (shortest available walking route) receiving priority.**
3. Pupils who have a brother or sister of statutory school age attending the school at the date of their admission***. If there are more applications than places, the places will be allocated in distance order with those living nearest (shortest available walking route) receiving priority.**
4. Pupils who attended the school in Year 11 but who live outside the catchment area of that school. If there are more applications than places, the places will be allocated in distance order with those living nearest (shortest available walking route) receiving priority.**
5. Other pupils for whom a place has been requested for whom criteria 1 to 4 above do not apply. If there are more applications than places, the places will be allocated in distance order with those living nearest (shortest available walking route) receiving priority.**

* Looked After Child (LAC) / Previously Looked After Children - a looked after child refers to a child who is looked after by a local authority in England or Wales, (as defined by Section 22 of the Children Act 1989 and Section 74 of the Social Services and Wellbeing [Wales] Act 2014) at the time the application to a school is made and who the Local Authority has confirmed will still be looked after at the time of admission to the school.  Previously looked after children: looked after children who cease to be so because they were adopted or became subject to a residence order, or special guardianship order immediately following having been looked after (as defined by the Welsh Government School Admissions Code document no. 005/2013).  Evidence will need to be provided for all LAC criteria applications

**All distances are measured electronically taking the distance from home to school by the shortest available walking route.  The measurements will be taken from outside the entrance of the property (house or flat) to the nearest official school entrance.

***A brother or sister will be defined as a natural or legally adopted child of either parent living at the same address.  In any circumstances in which there is one place available and the next eligible pupils are twins/triplets then the LA will admit both/all pupils.  Statutory school age is defined as pupils who are between age 5 and 16 (i.e. pupils in any year group between and including Reception to Year 11).

Note: Pupils with Individual Development Plans (IDP) where the LA has named a school in section 2D.1 of the IDP or Statements of Special Educational Needs may transfer to sixth forms in Swansea schools. The decision to transfer is made by the local authority in consultation with the relevant school. Please note that the information contained in this publication is correct at the time of going to print, but subject to change based on new guidance / legislation being issued which was not available when published.