Don’t penalise college for having less able students

12:43pm Friday 9th May 2008

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As a parent with a son at Wimbledon College, I was disturbed to read the headteacher's warning in the Wimbledon Guardian of the difficulties facing the sixth form at Wimbledon College.

I wrote to the director of the south London division of the Learning and Skills Council, which is responsible for sixth form funding in our area, and he gave a number of reasons for reducing funding.

One was that Wimbledon College A-level results were not up to the standard of other nearby sixth forms and the other point was the drop-out from the sixth form after one year.

On closer examination they are imposing a penalty on Wimbledon College. The nearby sixth forms he refers to are at the selective grammar schools in neighbouring Sutton and Kingston that skim off many of Merton's bright kids at 11.

As a result they not surprisingly get better exam results at 16 and 18.

What those schools fail to do is to help the less able pupils who they exclude. Wimbledon College and Ursuline both accept all abilities with some 15 per cent admitted with learning difficulties, which I believe is commendable.

Secondly Wimbledon College Sixth Form admits boys who are only aiming to do one-year courses, which will provide them with qualifications that help them find work.

Perhaps those parents in Merton who choose to send their brighter children to selective grammar schools in neighbouring boroughs should also bear in some part the responsibility for the shadow hanging over the borough's only sixth form.

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