Sixth Form Open Afternoons

[KB]

CRGS standard is to take all 4 AS to A2 so choosing AS subjects is in practice the same as choosing A2 subjects.
I am sure as the top performing state school in the country at A2 for many years there are on top of the changes.
Interestingly they do not 'cull' after GCSE. They do have an entrance requirement for internal students to continue to 6th form but at AAAAB it rarely cuts in and if a student doesn't manage that then they would be unlikely to choose to submit themselves to the academic rigour of the GS 6th form.

I am glad we aren't going to have to go through this next round of changes. Whether they prove to be for the better or not, change is always disruptive and there will be individuals who loose out during the transition.

[moved]

Me too! It is stressful enough without all the changes.

[Minesatea]

Sorry guest55, I dont have a copy of the prospectus (the application form is on line but not the 6th form prospectus) and we wont be applying til next year so no urgency for us, we were just advance looking.

[new2me]

Parmiter's website states that they are offering full 'A' level course only. They will offer some AS courses, but only in subjects where they are not running a full 2 year course. In addition they state that they expect their students to take four subjects in lower sixth, and in 90% of the case, drop one of the subjects in upper sixth.

My DS is in year 10 and already thinking that it will be a challenge to pick only 4 subjects. I won't be happy to tell him he may only be allowed 3 in upper sixth.

I am now seriously considering offering him the chance to move to our local independent school. It offers 4 ASs in lower sixth, 4 A levels in upper sixth, as well as General Studies and Critical Thinking (although I have no idea what they are and understand that most universities discount them).

[scary mum]

Universities only ever offer on 3 A levels so there is little value to the student in doing four. AS/A2s are a big step up from GCSEs and can be quite stressful. I can understand why in year 10 your dom would find it difficult to choose 3 or 4 but things may be clearer next year. Critical thinking and (particularly) general studies are largely irrelevant in university applications.

[Guest55]

I think you will find lots of schools changing their option structure this year and next.

The problem with taking 4 through to Year 13 is you may get offers based on four!

[KB]

Universities do make offers based on 4 A levels and these can lower the grade requirements on one of the core 3 but that only applies in some cases. In others they may not include the 4th in the offer or the offer may add a requirement for a particular grade in the 4th.

Generally you are best taking the number that us standard at the school you are at. For example, Universities know that students at my DCs' school take 4 so if someone applies with 3 it will raise questions and though the university's standard offer is on 3 that student nay not be offered at all.

General studies if it is taught well has the practical advantage for science specialists of developing essay writing skills and critical thinking similarly can help develop skills useful at degree level. Critical Thinking may possibly get brownie points from admissions officers but I wouldn't base a choice of 6th form on either subject being provided.

Depending how things pan out my guess is that the major differentiating factor between 6th form providers that students should be considering is whether they take AS exams or not.

[Daogroupie]

So if Parmiters are not going to do AS, but you are still expected to start with four and drop one, surely that means you have no qualification in the fourth subject or am I missing something? DG

[new2me]

The particular issue for my DS is that he has always wanted to study medicine but his favourite subject is physics and he might want to take a science degree instead and that requires a maths 'A' level. If he wants to keep all his options open he'll need maths, physics and chemistry 'A' levels plus a biology AS. His school offered this before the change but not planning to offer AS courses moving forward. If he concentrated only on medicine, he'd like the option for a non science related subject like Philosophy and Ethics, but it would be too much of a gamble to drop maths and physics, his best subjects, for a third 'A' level where he has no idea how well he would perform in that subject.

It seems this new 'A' level structure is limiting options for our DCs and doing nothing to reduce the pressure.

DAO - you are not missing something. There will be no exam/ award for the dropped subject. Only ASs will be for standalone subjects that are not offered as full 'A' levels.

[KB]

I'm assuming you've done your homework so are sure the biology AS is necessary so if he were my DS I'd look at taking it out of school - maybe self study through an external centre or evening classes or with a private tutor etc etc. If the school have an allocated activities afternoon they may allow him to use that time. For a bright student its quite possible. Have DCs & their friends who've done various sciences up to postgrad level and biology AS is seen as undemanding by talented scientists ( which it sounds like your DS is).

Actually, if he might do physical sciences at degree level he could also think about AS further maths in y13. Self study & bit of tutoring should be relatively straight forward.

Even with work experience required for medicine it should be possible.