My thoughts: I don't think it's as gloomy as you say. This year there are individual cases of students with good grades not having places, but generally speaking, someone who was going to get good grades *and made intelligent applications* got a university place. Students should have been advised by their schools that places were going to be tight this year, and should have been applying down, to universities that would definitely see them as good catches, making sensible use of insurance offers, considering their choice of courses carefully, thinking about having a year out, etc. TBH the cases in the press that I've seen are of students who applied only to top flight universities for popular courses - that obviously carries a risk of not getting an offer, and students should have been aware of that.
You mentioned IT specifically, as though there weren't IT jobs. That's definitely not the case, at least for well educated software developers prepared to be reasonably flexible about where they work and on what kind of software. I know at least one good employer near me who recently advertised and got no applications - there is a shortage of people for these jobs, if anything. Yes, lots of work is done in Asia etc. now, but the sheer demand for work to be done is increasing more than enough to compensate for that.
I can't say whether this particular school is a good deal for your child - I understand that you're very concerned about the way they've handled bullying in particular, and maybe leaving your son there is not the best choice, I don't know. I do think that education is more important now than ever before, and if there is to be increased pressure on university places, I think it's best for one's child to have the shiniest certificates possible. With the best will in the world, it's harder for universities to make exceptions, look at students as individuals, etc., when they are overwhelmed with "standard" applicants than when they are not.
