Have any schools said what new GCSE grades they will require for A levels yet?

That's one of things I like about DS's 6th form - they do A levels and BTECs so there is more choice for all.

Bear in mind thst not everyone needs A at A level either. At ds's school you need a C to do A level and so far most kids have got to the further/higher education places they wanted. It's not a 6th form that high flying academic types would choose, but not all kids want/ need that.

Ricardian I agree. DS was told that they preferred A/A but if you had A, A*, B they'd consider it depending on what your subject teacher from the school thought. I don't know if they let you often or not, DS didn't need to ask for the ones he wanted.

I think that the jump from GCSE to A level is too hard to take one where you got a B.

I suppose a B is one of the top grades when they go from A-G.

But B is the absolute floor for doing A Level. Is there a serious school, anywhere, that will take people onto an A Level with a C without massive extenuating circumstances? And aren't they the people Nick Gibb quite rightly wants to stop fromdoing it?

Ricardian I suppose a B is one of the top grades when they go from A-G.

A*/A/B in the subjects that you want to do at A level is needed at DS's school. They have said that they will continue to ask for the top grades

at B being a top grade.

I think noblegiraffe reckons that the modal AS grade for people with a B in maths at GCSE is U. It's not as bad in other subjects, but back in the day it was usual to ask for A at O Level in order to A Level, and without getting involved in all the tired debates about comparability a B at GCSE certainly isn't an A at O Level, of that we can be certain.

A*/A/B in the subjects that you want to do at A level is needed at DS's school. They have said that they will continue to ask for the top grades with the new GCSEs and will expect a 7-9 grade if they want to study it at A level.

The local grammars here have different points systems which all basically equate to 4As and 4Bs. You must have A in the subjects you want to study. That's in a county with loads of grammars.

It's hardly difficult, though, is it? Sixth colleges will make offers based on conservative readings of the equivalences. If they undershoot their recruitment, they will just accept people who missed the offer by 1/2/3/whatever points. If they seriously undershoot, they'll just out an advert on the back of buses saying "XXX College, now recruiting, why not give us a ring?"

Conditional offers are a pain, and the system that has grown up around university admission, with hacks upon hacks to deal with anomalies (clearing, adjustment, continuing application) would be far better replaced by everyone applying with their A levels in their hands. It's regrettable that a similar system has grown up at the Y11/12 boundary. But making out that it's some sort of impossibly complex problem is overstating it: there will be some turbulence, but places will be filled with roughly the same people as would have filled them under the previous system. Anyone old enough to remember similar prognostications of doom with the changes from O/CSE to GCSE, or from norm- to criteria-references A Levels, will will a great sense of either deja vu or ennui.

I think that this thread shows one thing clearly. That nobody has a bloody clue how it's going to work, even this close to D day. Or is that 5-6 day?

It's a very high achieving selective school.

I asked the school my ds wants to go to the year after next. They currently want As. They will be asking for 7s.

Well, I think that's a good thing. Ds says that at his sixth form college droves of kids started A Levels - they had to start off with four anyway - and were either uninterested in the subject or completely out of their depth.

I think there's so many mixed messages. There's this drive to get as many people as possible into further education, and the dubious mantra "anybody can achieve anything if you put your mind to it" and then when pupils are unable to step up to an A Level course it's everyone's fault but their own brains.

When I was at school you had to have an A at O Level (no A*s back then) to pursue a subject to A Level. Trying to do A Level Maths with a B is a ridiculous ask and stressful for the pupil.

It's tough for the first cohorts of the 1-9 scheme. Dd will be a victim and I posted a while ago about how the hell are you supposed to know if what's on your results slip is great, good or blah.

Financial penalties for abandoned A-levels will mean fewer kids attempting tough A-levels like maths and Physics. This will disproportionately affect girls who tend to lack confidence in their abilities.

What an utterly stupid proposal, but not unexpected from this government of idiots.

Your thread came to mind when I read about the leaked FE skills white paper and other surrounding discussion.

Quite a few places offer students one A Level and another qualification if they don't get the grades to do 3 or 4 A Levels but this looks like it may not happen in future - the two 'paths' may not be allowed to be mixed.

It also says "Skills Minister Nick Boles also announced on April 29 that schools could soon be fined if they sign students up to inappropriate A-level courses that they later abandon." - this makes me think that sixth forms may increase the entry requirements for A Levels to avoid these fines.

we've been told by dd's school that they will consider a 6 to be a B - this is for current year 10s so only maths & English in the new system, for year 9 onwards I don't know.

DD has also been told that to do science A levels (without maths A level) she will need "a really solid 7 in maths" as a minimum.

In the 7-9 band literally no one knows. There's currently a consultation going on to decide how to work out the grade 9 boundary (which will affect the 8 boundary).

Our local Sixth form has asked for 4s. Really surprised me!

For current Y11 what we know is that the same proportion of students who currently get a C or above will get a 4 or above and those who get an A or above will get a 7 or above.

So courses that require a C will most likely accept a 4 as its direct equivalent and those that require an A will accept a 7.
That's this year, maths and English.

For later years, if they currently take a B for A-level, I'd expect them to want at least a 6 rather than a 5, as the new A-levels are harder than the old ones.

I would imagine places offering A Levels that accept a C to accept a 5 and places that accept a B to accept a 6. Because of the way the grades line up this is slightly above the current grades but with A Levels also getting harder it keeps up. For other Level 3 (and Level 2) qualifications it may vary more.