Options Guidance & Key Dates

As you near the end of the Lower School (Key Stage 3) and move into the Middle School (Key Stage 4) some important changes in the curriculum will be taking place. Constraints of time combined with Course content make it impossible for you to continue with all the subjects you have previously experienced and so you will need to make some choices about your future courses.

Increasingly in Key Stage 4 you become more responsible for your own progress and learning. The focus is on GCSE courses leading to public examinations, which form the principal method of assessment of your work.

GCSE courses have recently been reformed to make them more focused on the knowledge and skills required in modern society. New and reformed GCSEs have little and no coursework, are examined at the end of 2 years, and are graded 1-9 rather than A*-E. 9 is roughly equivalent to A*and 5 is roughly equal to an old C grade.

Our GCSE timetable is structured so that students learn Science in the same class sets as they study Mathematics. These two subjects have considerable overlap and we consider progress in Mathematics as a good indicator of potential success in Science. It is very unlikely that it would be appropriate for a Year 9 student currently in the lowest Mathematics set of their half year to do triple Science. We would only recommend that students in Sets 1 or 2 in the Y half and 1, 2 and 3 in the Z half follow the Triple Science route. Those students taking Triple Science will be placed in Triple sets for both Mathematics and Science, while those opting for Combined will be allocated to Combined sets for these subjects as they commence Key Stage 4.