Are there any school 6th forms which insist on doing 4 A levels for the duration of Year 12?

[greenteam]

My DD's current school does and I am trying to find out if any other schools do.

It is a selective school but most students don't want to do 4 and parents spend time fighting the school to allow 1 to be dropped. Historically, student would have taken an AS at the end of Year 12 in one of the subjects and then carried 3 on to A level. But only a few subjects in the school can now be taken as an AS at the end of Year 12.

Here on the Wirral, all the schools (comp, Grammar & Private) now encourage 3 (unless doing Maths & Further Maths, which they have put into 1 so you have 2 more choices). They will let the odd student take 4 if there is a good reason. A friend of DDs is taking 4 as 1 is her her native language.

The change from 4 to 3 has only happened recently and I know a lot of parents weren't happy originally, but understood once explained to them that 4 are just not needed and the workload is enough with 3. Better to get 3 excellent grades etc.

Our school nearly everyone has to do 4 right the way through. Fine for the scientists but a bit tough perhaps for the humanities crowd. Only a very few are allowed to drop, and if they do it can causes university issues as it is known that the school does 4.

I get a vague sense that the policy might be softening.

It does do much for the stats, which suggest quite a few students decide to sacrifice their 4th to boost their offer three, so there are more weak results than one would expect for a very Alex ride school, which really hits the average.

Our v strongly encourages it, but they default to taking one subject as an AS at the end of y12. They can drop to 3 subjects earlier if they really really want to but it's something they feel quite strongly about as a lot of students do change their mind about which is their 4th subject during the year.

That would be ideal fir DS.
I think it’s a good idea as often they aren’t sure.
Sadly DS’s state school doesn’t have that option and we’re really struggling with the third.

My son's grammar school does

Brind able to get an AS in the dropped subject makes it all seem more pointful

The local grammar school says only those with the highest grades at GCSE study 4 A levels.

My son's sixth form is a standard 3 but 4 if you are studying further maths but then no EPQ is required.

Ds did do 4 but it was further maths. Half of those studying fm dropped it at the end of year 12 to concentrate on bringing up their maths grade.

At our school everyone is encouraged to take 4 A levels starting in yr12 (or 5 if including Further Maths). One subject is taken as AS at end of yr12.

it's something they feel quite strongly about as a lot of students do change their mind about which is their 4th subject during the year.

Yes. Surprisingly many pupils do change their mind about which subject to drop or take an AS in.

Yes, DS's school (grammar) insists everyone does 4 in year 12, at least until Easter and then you can only drop one if your other A levels have better marks.

I only know one that does, and it's a girls' grammar school.

And yet other grammars in the same foundation say you cannot take four, unless 4th is further maths
Same MAT, same type of intake.

We all started with 4 and then a lot were dropped by the end of year 12.

Harris Westminster's students all take four A-levels (or Pre-U) as do those at LAE.

Ours starts with 4 but does allow you to drop one at Christmas or at any time after that.

It really is a good idea though to at least start 4 as some choose a subject they may not have done at gcse and the reality does not meet the expectation. Also some simply do not realise the jump up for certain subjects such as maths or chemistry even if they got an 8/9 at gcse. I would usually expect FM only to be as a 4th subject.

At the London super selective my niece attended everybody starts 4. Most drop one at end of Year 12. Gives them a chance to find out what they enjoy and what they don't, especially with a "new" subject.
Local 6th form college - you can take 4 if your average grade at GCSE is 7.5 or higher.