Grammar school ditching A Levels for the IB

[mike1880]

You have to wonder how feasible the dual option was ever going to be when the CHB head was simultaneously lamenting cuts to 6th form funding and publicly wondering how his school could cope. It would be interesting to know what level of resourcing FW was able to put into IB and how that compared to other IB schools.

Mike

[Tracy]

BGS has run both IB and A levels very, very successfully but has now decided to focus just on the IB.
The schools is developing its links with other successful IB schools both here and abroad.
If your dc wants to do the IB, this school in the place to be.
The difficult GCSEs chosen by the Head fully equips the students for the IB should they wish to take it.

[pabrighton0]

I think that few schools are big enough to offer both the IB and A levels. They are different exams. As far as I know the schools that have started and then stopped the IB have tried to do both at once. They have different teaching and learning requirements for any given subject. Therefore I would tend to support the idea of only IB or not at all. Naturally it doesn't suit everyone (though perhaps a larger number of students than often imagined). My daughter's school does only IB and there is quite an amount of shuffling around at 16 both in and out.

NLCS offers IB alongside A levels but clearly most of those girls get much higher scores than the vast majority of Hockerill's 6th form group.

Also I am not sure if IB alone explains the 50% shuffle you mention (transition to 6th form). Are you comfortable that that school partners well with the parents?

[P's mum]

I assume that the last post is a query specifically about Hockerill and I am answering it on that basis. There are a number of reasons for moving in and out at the sixth-form:
1. There are additional boarding places in the sixth-from, specifically to encourage newcomers. I think predominantly children from the continent who want a British education but access to a wider pool of universities. Also many parents will consider boarding in the sixth-form but not younger. There are other IB schools that follow this pattern - I'm thinking of Sevenoaks in the independent sector, though that school is selective at 11.
2. Sixth form places are virtually guaranteed to boarders (as changing schools could be a major headache for overseas boarders) - this is not the case for day students who need minimum grades I think 3 As in their higher subjects and 3 Bs in their standard subjects - though I think that there may be some variation from student to student. All students, however, do have to formally apply for sixth-form places. In fact the school does everything it can to facilitate anyone who really wants to stay - for example there have been a few cases of students doing a three year sixth, resitting some GCSEs and doing preparatory work for the IB in the first year. But for some this really isn't a sensible option.
3. Hockerill does not select at 11 therefore there are some children in the lowest sets, who may be severely dyslesic (hmm I can't spell either) or have other learning difficulties, who are likely to move into other forms of further education perhaps offering more vocational studies.
4. Some students want different subject choices either more narrowly based - only arts or only science - or want 'different' subjects e.g. psychology or sports science higher that are not offered in the IB at Hockerill.
5. A few win scholarships into the independent sector (though there is also movement from the independent sector into the school).
6. Some just want something different e.g. the big sixth form college at Hills Road Cambridge attracts a few each year (the commute from Cambridge to Bishop's Stortford or in the opposite direction is quite easy).
7. Some day students (so I'm told by my daughter) leave because there are other options that don't require Saturday school!
So I don't think that its is a case of not working with parents. In fact the school is very flexible as described in 2 above.

IB results are well above the average world wide but this is not a selective school like Sevenoaks or NLCS.

[pabrighton0]

Thanks for laying these so well which helps explain why about 50% of the children that finish GCSE do not continue at Hockerill and why a similar number join for 6th form. We should however be mindful in that other partially selective schools in Herts have a very similar level of students that follow vocational qualifications after GCSEs (which is extremely small). Clearly the senior school takes a small number of children whose parents live abroad. A small number do not have English as a first language and some do not have a very strong command of English.

Still, the intake of Y7 is exceptionally strong which is expected for a school where most day students (that get free places) move or "move" closer to the school so they have a qualifying address for application.

Hockerill is commonly thought by parents to be a very odd school - it has a mix of innovation combined at times with an old fashioned approach. On the later, questions from parents are routinely ignored and children are apparently threatened with detention when their parents cannot bring them earlier to help set up for assemblies, etc etc.

I understand the 6th form places are also very sought after. Do you know how these new joiners (that historically include a large German contingent) are selected and how much weight is given to their prior academic achievement?