After AS levels June 2012, do they do much towards A2?

[mumblechum1]

DS is due to take his last A level in the week ending 21st June.

He's been offered the opportunity to go on the Territorial Army Summer Challenge which runs from 23rd June for 5 weeks. It's a residential course in Scotland which would mean that he was qualified after 5 weeks rather than the year it will take if he does it the normal way (he'd start training in September).

So he's very tempted to accept the offer, but the school term doesn't end till 20th July so he'd miss 4 weeks of school.

Do they start working on A2s in earnest immediately after they finish the AS exams, ie would he miss an unacceptable amount of work if he did this?

Thanks

Yes, we did.
Sorry

(2009)

yes dd did quite a lot of a2 work after exams

Hmm, that's what I suspected. It's going to have to be a no, then.

Yes, I teach a great deal after the AS exams.

worth talking to the school first??

You never know! Depends on how good he would be at covering what he'll miss, really.

Talk to the current A2 students who are doing the subjects he is interested in and see what happened last year. It seems to vary from school to school.

Talk to the school, some at DCs school do an OU unit in that time.

I teach a major part of the exam syllabus at that time

OK, I'll get in touch with the school. Would you recommend I make the appt with the head of yr 12, yr 13 , a deputy head, head, or careers advisor?

I don't really have any direct contact with the school these days, the older they get the less I seem to be involved.

Personal tutor or head of year i reckon.

Contact the head of year 12. Explain what the opportunity is and how fabulous it would be for career development/UCAS application. make sure you are clear with them that he will absolutely not go if the school feel it would disadvantage his course but that you just wanted to check before dismissing it out of hand.

They'll probably say no but you never know unless you try!

Thanks so much. I'll email her now.

let me know what she says! (and good luck).

We do cover syllabus but the kids are relatively unfocussed at that time of year. I can see the advantage of this experience for a student prepared to make up the work in the summer holidays.

I do but I do it project style, to make it a bit different. The students are not focused IME, and if you just plough on regardless, you have to re visit. I would support one of my students doing something like this actually, as long as they caught up over the summer.

Interested in this as I have a Y12 son in a sixth form college. i was wondering about this as to whether you have to enrol again in August for the term in September for the A2's. Bearing in mind you will probably drop one subject, do you just carry on studying all subjects until end of this summer term regardless of deciding to drop one in September?

In my school, for most students, yes.

My DS was told they would do 20% of the A2 course between the end of AS and the beginning of September. Days off verboten.

... and they had to carry on with their fourth subject, ie the one they would probably drop, in case they changed their mind/results dictated otherwise.