First Impressions of Sixth Form - expectation vs. reality

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After possibly the best summer yet (which in my opinion needed to be a lot longer) it’s back to work, although this time in sixth form! Crazy to think we only have two years left at school … We’ve only had 3 days back, 2 if you count the super engrossing Cathedral service, but I’m going to share some things I initially thought versus the reality of sixth form life.

Expectation: more freedom

Reality: Hmm not so sure about this one. On the one hand it is true, you have free periods to ‘work’ and you can go to town at lunch without having to get permission.  However, people make a massive thing about sixth form being more about individual learning and doing things your way, but to what extent is that true? You still have to do every bit of homework set by the teachers, go to every lesson (even pointless ones like LFL), learn the way the teachers like to teach… it’s pretty much GCSEs in terms of freedom but with less subjects and more that you actually want to do!

Expectation: Fun frees (sorry, independent study periods)

Reality: I had a vision of them being a fun time to talk to your friends, but I’m quickly realising that I’m going to have to work in them if I’m ever going to keep up with my subjects and have time to relax as well. Although, my frees this week have been pretty boring… four in one day with no work to do in them got tedious! Hopefully next week I'll have things to do so I don't feel like I'm wasting my time.. I'll probably regret saying that next week when I'm drowning in work.

Expectation: Sixth form perks

Reality: I’m already taking advantage of being able to waltz into the canteen without queueing, although I always feel like I’m breaking a rule when I just walk in! But it means I can have a chicken on a stick before they run out, and it’s even better if you have a free before break.

We’ve also got the sixth form common room, which I’ve only braved twice so far. It’s great because you actually have somewhere nice and warm to go at break and lunch, but it gets really crowded so I don’t know how much time I’ll actually be spending there. There are loads of improvements that could be made to the common room, stuff like mini fridges so you can have milk in your tea and common room cake days, but for now it's pretty good!

Expectation: harder work

Reality: This one is definitely true! Just two days of lessons and can already see how hard the work is (especially economics- right now I have pretty much no clue what is going on), and this is only the beginning. Older years are always going on about how big the step up is from GCSE’s to A Levels and I definitely see that now. But doing the subjects you like and having frees to catch up on work makes it a lot more bearable… I hope.

Expectation: Getting home earlier

Reality: NOT TRUE. Unfortunately until Christmas we’re not allowed to go home early even when we have frees in the last periods, which is so stupid, I don’t see the point staying at school doing nothing when I can be at home. This was especially annoying this week because I didn’t actually have any work to do during those frees, so I felt I was wasting so much time at school when I could’ve been at home drinking tea and watching F.R.I.E.N.D.S . Speaking of, happy 20th birthday to the best show ever!


Like I said, I’ve only had a few days back at school so I think and hope that some of these realities will change. But overall, sixth form is looking a lot better than middle school ever was, so I'm excited to see what happens over time- 'the best years of my life' as some describe it, or two more years of this crap? ☺

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