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Original poster

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

37 replies

Balletgirlmum · 07/05/2016 16:48

I'm trying to gauge what the new requirements will be. For example most schools in my area require you to have got a B in a subject to do it at A level. A couple require an A grade for maths/science.

One school require 5 B & 6 C to continue to A levels.

None have yet published wherher they will require the new grades 4 or 5 in lieu of a C or a 6/7/8 in lie my of a B/A

I'm wondering what other schools are going to be doing.

OP posts:
Original poster
Balletgirlmum · 07/05/2016 18:37

But this is incidental. I know the current requirements. I just need to know how schools are interpreting the new grades.

OP posts:
Original poster
Balletgirlmum · 07/05/2016 18:34

At ds's school the teacher said that their double scientists do very well at a level. All that is required is BB (dds school didn't offer triple hence why I asked but is now doing so for the first time)

OP posts:
catslife · 07/05/2016 18:24

For Science A levels it's a bit more complicated as it depends on whether pupils have done Double or Triple Science at GCSE.
If Triple Science local sixth forms require Bs in allScience subjects i.e. BBB and also grade B Maths. If Double Science at GCSE then they specify AA and a B for Maths.
These are non-selective schools.
But please be aware that most sixth forms have thresholds for pupils moving from Y12 to Y13 and that a higher proportion of pupils with lower entry grades may not complete their A level courses.

Original poster
Balletgirlmum · 07/05/2016 17:42

I also took the liberty of emailing the head of science who is ds's form tutor about dd & he confirmed that they would be happy with a B grade to do a science a level. I just need to know what that translates into.

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Original poster
Balletgirlmum · 07/05/2016 17:40

It's private & dd would have both sibling priority (ds is there in year 7) plus they said dd would always be welcome back there (I had to pay a terms fees in lieu as we gave up her place last minute - she went to attached junior school & they will deduct the fees if she ever goes back.

We don't have state grammar schools here.

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Ricardian · 07/05/2016 17:28

So the number of children from outside the school's own 11+ getting in without mostly A and A* will be very low. Because there's the floor requirement for in-house Y11s, the school will be allowed to interview and then make conditional offers, and those sure as hell won't be 5B 3C (unless it's completely unlike the super-selectives in this city).

Ricardian · 07/05/2016 17:27

That's the school with the 5 B 3 c requirement.

The only reason selective schools impose that requirement is as an admissions code hack which allows them to offer places as of right to their own Y11s before opening it up more widely. If there were no such requirement, things would get trickier.

In reality, 5B 3C (a) would be extremely unusual for someone in a super-selective without huge mitigating circumstances which would be considered on a case-by-case basis and (b) indicates that (with the same caveats about mitigating circumstances) that they are going to struggle seriously with A Level, especially when taught in a school where everyone is targets AAA-ish, or BBB-ish at the very least.

Original poster
Balletgirlmum · 07/05/2016 17:03

The school dd may go to (a selective school shel added the exsm for at 11 but chose not to go to ) do IGCSE just to confuse things. That's the school with the 5 B 3 c requirement.

OP posts:
DorothyL · 07/05/2016 17:03

Grades 9 to 1 are used as points, so you'd need for example 7 sevens and one 8

Original poster
Balletgirlmum · 07/05/2016 17:00

How does points work?

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Ricardian · 07/05/2016 16:58

Since it's not at all clear what the grade boundaries will mean in terms of actual performance in the exams or against the syllabus, given there hasn't been a cohort assessed yet, worrying about this is rather putting the cart before the horse. The colleges know neither how many people will have particular grades, nor how good those people are in terms of A Level ability.

Doing A Levels from a GCSE B always strikes me as a triumph of hope over experience.

DorothyL · 07/05/2016 16:51

Selective grammar school expects 57 point from 8 best gcses