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Changing schools for Spanish A-level

Hi there, I'm just looking for some advice regarding sixth form.

I'm looking to do 4 a levels since I'm not really sure what I want to study at university (maybe something regarding computer science??). I'm definitely going to study maths and computer science, and possibly philosophy or physics. In addition, I'm quite good at Spanish (I've been getting 9s throughout my GCSE mocks) and I enjoy it, so I want to study it for A level. However, Spanish isn't being offered at my current school (fyi it's a good school with quite good a-level results in most other subjects). Therefore, I'm looking at moving to another college (one of the top colleges in the country), which I've received an offer from. The problem is that the other college is a lot further from my house than my current school, and I don't know anyone going there. However, I've heard many people say that it's worth going to a college rather than school sixth form due to it being much more like uni. Many have also told me that unis really like languages. I suppose my question is: should I move?

Thanks in advance :smile:

Reply 1

hello,
My situation is ever so slightly similar to yours. My sixth form that's connected to the secondary school i went to didn't end up teaching french there despite offering it on the application, so i ended up going to a new school that was just added to our trust with 5 people (including me) in a class.
the new school is just under 20 minutes by car to get there from my house or school, and almost an hour by bus, so it's a bit far.
me and a new student to my usual sixth form do french, so thankfully i wasn't alone. however, even if you don't know anyone now, you'll definitely make some friends or at least acquaintances.
there will probably be only a few people doing spanish, as the popularity of studying languages has gone down, so don't worry about being lonely at your new school forever, you'll surely become friendly with at least one person in your class.
personally i don't know anyone else at my french sixth form, other than the people in my class, and I'm not really bothered because I'm not that much of a sociable person.
also, i initially thought you were asking whether to move house 💀. but if it's about going to a different school, then maybe you could talk to both schools to try and sort out a schedule that allows you to study everything you want without a clash in the schedule?
if you can't figure out a good schedule, go to the school that has better results, or just the one that you feel is right for you. If you like Spanish enough, then you should be dedicated to it.
about the college being like uni thing, you're gonna mature at some point and learn life skills anyways. imo sixth form is great bc you can get extra support from teachers, and it's even better if you know the teachers there already.
languages teach you a range of different skills which i cannot be bothered to name, but unis will definitely appreciate those skills, more so if they're very relevant to a course you want to do like french studies.
I'm happy to give more advice if needed, and I hope my waffling helped in some way at least.
Good luck with your decisions!

Reply 2

Original post
by aaravshah07
Hi there, I'm just looking for some advice regarding sixth form.
I'm looking to do 4 a levels since I'm not really sure what I want to study at university (maybe something regarding computer science??). I'm definitely going to study maths and computer science, and possibly philosophy or physics. In addition, I'm quite good at Spanish (I've been getting 9s throughout my GCSE mocks) and I enjoy it, so I want to study it for A level. However, Spanish isn't being offered at my current school (fyi it's a good school with quite good a-level results in most other subjects). Therefore, I'm looking at moving to another college (one of the top colleges in the country), which I've received an offer from. The problem is that the other college is a lot further from my house than my current school, and I don't know anyone going there. However, I've heard many people say that it's worth going to a college rather than school sixth form due to it being much more like uni. Many have also told me that unis really like languages. I suppose my question is: should I move?
Thanks in advance :smile:

How far away is it? If the journey is longer than one hour from home to school then that's too far.
(edited 10 months ago)

Reply 3

Original post
by sigmaberry
hello,
My situation is ever so slightly similar to yours. My sixth form that's connected to the secondary school i went to didn't end up teaching french there despite offering it on the application, so i ended up going to a new school that was just added to our trust with 5 people (including me) in a class.
the new school is just under 20 minutes by car to get there from my house or school, and almost an hour by bus, so it's a bit far.
me and a new student to my usual sixth form do french, so thankfully i wasn't alone. however, even if you don't know anyone now, you'll definitely make some friends or at least acquaintances.
there will probably be only a few people doing spanish, as the popularity of studying languages has gone down, so don't worry about being lonely at your new school forever, you'll surely become friendly with at least one person in your class.
personally i don't know anyone else at my french sixth form, other than the people in my class, and I'm not really bothered because I'm not that much of a sociable person.
also, i initially thought you were asking whether to move house 💀. but if it's about going to a different school, then maybe you could talk to both schools to try and sort out a schedule that allows you to study everything you want without a clash in the schedule?
if you can't figure out a good schedule, go to the school that has better results, or just the one that you feel is right for you. If you like Spanish enough, then you should be dedicated to it.
about the college being like uni thing, you're gonna mature at some point and learn life skills anyways. imo sixth form is great bc you can get extra support from teachers, and it's even better if you know the teachers there already.
languages teach you a range of different skills which i cannot be bothered to name, but unis will definitely appreciate those skills, more so if they're very relevant to a course you want to do like french studies.
I'm happy to give more advice if needed, and I hope my waffling helped in some way at least.
Good luck with your decisions!

Thanks so much for your advice, it was really helpful! Out of interest, which A levels are you doing?

Reply 4

Original post
by Muttley79
How far away is it? If the journey is longer than one hour from home to school then that's too far.

Yeah, it would be around 1hr by bus but ig with traffic it could sometimes be more. Plus it ends at 4.30 so if I have lessons till the end of the day then I would come home around 5.30-6pm. On the contrary, to get to my current school it takes like 20-30 mins by bus and ends at 3.30, so definitely more convenient.

Reply 5

Original post
by aaravshah07
Thanks so much for your advice, it was really helpful! Out of interest, which A levels are you doing?

No worries! I'm doing English lit, history, and French.

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