The Student Room Group

HELP!! Moving back to old Sixth Form!?

I've just started sixth form at a college considered to be really good, it's considered the best A level College in Yorkshire and the pass rate is 99%, with 62% of grades A*-B. I'm two weeks in and I do like it here, I've made a few friends (though the social side isn't great, i do feel a little left out/lonely at times) and there's a hardworking atmosphere, and we get a lot of freedom too. The teaching is really really good and i can see why people get such good results here. However, i have to travel more than an hour each way so im travelling 2-3 hours everyday. Not only does this waste lots of time, it leaves me exhausted - I'm often too tired and sleepy to concentrate in class and also too tired to revise/do my homework at home. I also have less time to revise due to the travelling, and working on the bus is just impossible for me. I want to do voluntary or part time work outside of school (this is especially important because i want to study medicine) but that probably won't be possible if i continue here simply because there aren't enough hours in the day. I have to get up quite early to catch the bus too so miss out on sleep, which im trying to make up by going to sleep earlier but it's hard when i often get home late. My teacher said i should be revising 4 hours per week per subject, but im struggling to just complete the small amount of homework i'm set! I am doing 4 subjects and i do plan on dropping to 3 if i can't handle it, but that still doesn't take out the 2/3 hours of lost time everyday, and the travelling will still make me tired regardless of the number of subjects i do.

My other option would be to move back to my old school that's roughly a 10-15 minute walk from my house. It's not considered a good school - it recently went into special measures. The sixth form get very little freedom in terms of leaving the building and uniform (which i don't really mind, but i thought it's worth mentioning). However i still managed to get good GCSE grades by working hard myself, and i've talked to some of my friends still there (who are all hardworking and stuff) and they seem to have some of the better teachers teaching the subjects i want to do. Another thing i should probably mention is that, being a much larger and prestigious college, the college has more opportunities in terms of students it sends to oxbridge or studying abroad and stuff which i'm interested in. The ofsted report highlighted the school sixth form as particularly weak, but they do seem to be making an effort to really improve things..
What do i do!? Sorry if this is long, i needed to vent..

I want to make my decision before it's too late and i end up with refrets. Also, i'd feel quite guilty if i went back to my old school because it was my idea to move schools in the first place,, and my parents have paid £50 on enrollment, £20 on books/labcoat and £269 on a yearly bus pass for west yorkshire, that was intended for college..

I know i've posted this before but time is ticking and i'm getting desperate.. :/

Thankyouuu
(edited 7 years ago)
Original post by iamayesha
I've just started sixth form at a college considered to be really good, it's considered the best A level College in Yorkshire and the pass rate is 99%, with 62% of grades A*-B. I'm two weeks in and I do like it here, I've made a few friends (though the social side isn't great, i do feel a little left out/lonely at times) and there's a hardworking atmosphere, and we get a lot of freedom too. The teaching is really really good and i can see why people get such good results here. However, i have to travel more than an hour each way so im travelling 2-3 hours everyday. Not only does this waste lots of time, it leaves me exhausted - I'm often too tired and sleepy to concentrate in class and also too tired to revise/do my homework at home. I also have less time to revise due to the travelling, and working on the bus is just impossible for me. I want to do voluntary or part time work outside of school (this is especially important because i want to study medicine) but that probably won't be possible if i continue here simply because there aren't enough hours in the day. I have to get up quite early to catch the bus too so miss out on sleep, which im trying to make up by going to sleep earlier but it's hard when i often get home late. My teacher said i should be revising 4 hours per week per subject, but im struggling to just complete the small amount of homework i'm set! I am doing 4 subjects and i do plan on dropping to 3 if i can't handle it, but that still doesn't take out the 2/3 hours of lost time everyday, and the travelling will still make me tired regardless of the number of subjects i do.

My other option would be to move back to my old school that's roughly a 10-15 minute walk from my house. It's not considered a good school - it recently went into special measures. The sixth form get very little freedom in terms of leaving the building and uniform (which i don't really mind, but i thought it's worth mentioning). However i still managed to get good GCSE grades by working hard myself, and i've talked to some of my friends still there (who are all hardworking and stuff) and they seem to have some of the better teachers teaching the subjects i want to do. Another thing i should probably mention is that, being a much larger and prestigious college, the college has more opportunities in terms of students it sends to oxbridge or studying abroad and stuff which i'm interested in. The ofsted report highlighted the school sixth form as particularly weak, but they do seem to be making an effort to really improve things..
What do i do!? Sorry if this is long, i needed to vent..

I want to make my decision before it's too late and i end up with refrets. Also, i'd feel quite guilty if i went back to my old school because it was my idea to move schools in the first place,, and my parents have paid £50 on enrollment, £20 on books/labcoat and £269 on a yearly bus pass for west yorkshire, that was intended for college..

I know i've posted this before but time is ticking and i'm getting desperate.. :/

Thankyouuu


For me I think the extra hours are probably not worth it, especially if you feel sleepy.

Maybe an honest talk with your parents to apologise about the money they've spent already and getting their support to transfer to your closer school may be a good idea. Okay, they don't seem to be as prestigious as the other one and are trying to improve but... at the same time, you can use some of the extra time you gain to just put that extra bit of work in if necessary.
You should stick it out at your current college, you'll get used to the long journeys

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