Parents fear school standards will fall under plans to close and reorganise sixth forms in Bridgend town.
A shake-up of post-16 education is underway with the closure of all sixth forms, mergers and greater collaboration among some of the options being considered.
Bridgend Council is looking at plans which also include building new sixth form centres in places such as Bridgend town centre and the Pencoed campus of Bridgend College.
But parents said pupils may not want to travel further from home, or start at a new school for sixth form. They also fear standards in the GCSE years in schools with no sixth forms will drop if there are no older pupils they can get to know, learn from and aspire to be.
More than 500 people have signed an online petition to save Cynffig Comprehensive School's sixth form.
The petition, launched by students says: "Our sixth form helps prepare us as young adults to go onto university, apprenticeships or employment. The relationships developed from the beginning of secondary education to sixth form, not just with other pupils, but with our teachers lay the foundations for our success.
"Our teachers genuinely care about us and our success in sixth form and our futures. We fear this would not be the case in a sixth form centre, which would care about our grades, not our wellbeing. Having an accessible sixth form in our community is imperative for our future, please help us save ours."
Cindy Davies, who has whose 13 year-old twins Liam and Naomi are in year eight at Coleg Cymunedol Y Dderwen said: “This is causing a lot of anxiety for parents and pupils.
“They say facilities will be better but they spent £39m building Coleg Cymunedol Y Dderwen not long ago and the facilities are outstanding.
“I think taking away the sixth form would affect them my children and other children.
“They aspire to go as far as A levels in one place and stay with their peers, not all go to different places for sixth form.
“They all have such good relationships with their teachers and the pastoral care is amazing. Going on to other schools for sixth form would unsettle them.
“The younger children look up to the sixth formers and the head boy and girl and they are good role models.
“I know some children have already said they won’t go on to sixth form if there isn’t one at their school.”
Under the options being looked at Coleg Cymunedol Y Dderwen’s sixth form would go to Bridgend College or Maesteg Comprehensive, which are both 40 minutes drive away from their home, compared to a short drive now, added Cindy.
Douglas McGlashan, who lives in Blaengarw, is worried his daughter Skye, 15, who is currently in year 11 at Coleg Cymunedol Y Dderwen, will be among the first to be affected.
“She’s hoping to go to university but we’re not sure about how she’ll feel about travelling to a new school in Bridgend or Maesteg. It is very disruptive,” he said.
“My daughter does really well because they have a good rapport with the teachers atColeg Cymunedol Y DDerwen that gives them belief and a support system. There is a lot of illiteracy in this area and they should be putting money into each school’s sixth form and getting people to progress.”
Parents of primary age children are also worried. Sophie Jenkins, who has two children in their last year at Blaengarw Primary, thinks taking the sixth form out of the local school will lower aspirations in the area.
“We are already isolated in this valley and to know there is a sixth form is a lifeline to us.People in this area can lack confidence, it’s a deprived area and pupil well being may be affected.
“I can see some people moving on to sixth form further away, but not others.”
Bridgend Council has said it intends to create sixth form centres with a minimum capacity of 250 students, saying it will then ensure there are enough learners to provide a broad curriculum, enabling minority subjects like modern languages to be protected.
Projections suggest only Brynteg School will continue to exceed 250 students in the next decade, while Porthcawl Comprehensive School and Bryntirion Comprehensive Schoo l sixth forms will be close to that.
All other schools in Bridgend already have sixth forms well below 250 students.
A Bridgend Council spokesman said: “The council is currently looking at how post-16 education is provided as part of a wider strategic review of schools.
“Because we want this to be as open and as transparent as possible, we have placed a full range of possibilities before the public along with detailed analysis of the associated risks and benefits.
“It is important to note that no decisions have been made yet, and one of the three options under consideration already includes retaining sixth form provision at all secondary schools.
“We want this to be a genuine consultation which can be used to inform the final decision, and encourage as many people as possible to take part and have their say.”
A decision is expected in the spring.
