Advancing to Year 13

Due to the nature of the examination timetable the vast majority of AS exams are completed and when Year 12 students return from study leave they commence there A2 courses.All students continue with their subjects until the end of the academic year although we know a number of students will be reducing their A level subjects from three to four. The reasoning behind the policy is based on experience. On a significant number of occasions students have changed their minds about dropping subjects particularly in light of their AS results. However if they had stopped attending the A2 lessons they would be not only six weeks behind but also have missed the summer work that subjects set. Therefore final decisions are not made until the start of year 13 in consultation with subject tutors.

Occasionally, students will wish to drop a subject but this means they would only be studying two A levels whilst school policy is that all students should study 3 A levels (not including General Studies). It is the expectation that they will then select a subject to take an AS level in from the year 12 timetable that does not clash with the A levels they are studying on the year 13 timetable.

Progression into year 13 is normally a straightforward process once subjects to be dropped or taken up have been finalised. We do however, review all the year 12 results and where we consider continuing with A2 studies will not be suitable a meeting is arranges with the student and parents to discuss the options for the future. Clearly if a student really struggles in year 12 the step up to A2 studies will only cause more stress. Fortunately, this is a relatively rare occurrence and we have found that students often take the decision to leave themselves.