Sixth Form Curriculum
There are 22 subjects for you to choose from and an outline of each of these appears on the links above.
You will normally select 4 subjects for study in the lower sixth to AS level and continue with 3 of these to A2 level in the upper sixth. If you are struggling to cope with the AS grades it may not be appropriate to go to a straightforward A2 course, and individual guidance will be given. All subjects are modular, with possible unit examinations in January as well as June.
In addition to your A level subjects, set time is given to the broader curriculum. Wednesday afternoons are devoted to sport - important for both fitness and relaxation. Students choose from a wide range of activities; some competitive team sports played to a high standard, others just for fun. You will participate in a carefully designed General Studies programme which extends knowledge and skills through small group activities and stimulating lectures.
The 16+ Curriculum : a few words about A levels, IB and the Extended Project Qualification
8,855 different combinations of subjects at A Level ...
One of the great things about Churcher’s College is that we are able to meet almost everyone’s first choice combination of AS levels; you don’t have to fit to our wishes, we fit to yours. This is no mean feat when you realise that you will be choosing 4 from 23 possible subjects, including new ones like Business Studies and Economics you wouldn’t have met further down the school. Four from 23, the different combinations are huge; there are potentially 8,855 different combinations you can choose. That makes for a very long menu card, a huge range of choice.
What’s not offered ...
8,855 different combinations we do offer here in the 6th Form, what about the things we don’t? You can do new subjects that you couldn’t do at GCSE like economics or business studies but we don’t offer Psychology or Media Studies or law or IB for example.
Why not you may ask? Well the answer is your future and entry to university. Take Psychology as an example. Psychology at A level isn’t a required stepping stone to Psychology at university, or not the universities we encourage you to apply to; the selecting rather than recruiting one, those popular universities with more than one applicant per place. These top Universities want the more traditional academic indicators - Biology or Chemistry or Maths or Religion and Philosophy or English.
You may not know that Psychology A level is the subject which is most often dropped at A level because the course is not what people expect it to be. It involves a significant amount of reading and statistical analysis and so ends up disappointing the mathematicians, because of the reading, and the more literary inclined, because of the numbers. If you want to know what makes people tick, if you are interested in the psychology of those around you, do the philosophy and ethics of R&P, or literature analysis of English or physiological study of Biology A level.
Media Studies likewise might lead you into journalism but so does English and the universities prefer English and employers prefer university graduates.
The International Baccalaureate or IB ...
Some people like to talk up the International Baccalaureate, some even shout. So what is the IB about and why do we not do it here. IB gives you breadth, they say; IB inspires you to do extra-curricular activities they say; IB is academically harder they say. Well it does, it does and it is.
You do get breadth if you do IB; in fact your forced to do it. You have to keep Maths going if you’re a linguist or a language going if you’re a mathematician. But you can do that with A levels as well – Biology, Chemistry, History and French or English, R&P, Maths and Art, for example. And there is AS General Studies that you all do and AS Critical Thinking that some of you may do. The breadth is there with A levels it is just not force upon you. Remember there are 8,855 different combinations you can have; that is some breadth!
Extracurricular activities – we don’t need IB to force you to do them, you do them out of choice at Churcher’s. Just look at the numbers involved in the activities here. IB wasn’t needed to encourage the World Challenge Blue Group to reach the summit of a Himalayan peak nor for multiples of hundreds to be involved in Duke of Edinburgh or the Combined Cadet Force nor for the drama group, 'Churcher’s Footlights’ to take their play to the Edinburgh Festival; that level of involvement and, more importantly, that type of self-determination is a hall mark of Churcher’s students not imposed upon them.
And IB is tough. No bite size pieces of a modular course; it is all terminal examination and therefore there are no chances to retake, it is one bite of the cherry only, and if you miss, it’s tough. So for us it is A level – better suited to most and more likely to allow you to access the top grades you need.
Extended Project Qualifications ...
And for those of you who are more academically inclined there is an exciting new opportunity called the Extended Project Qualification. Would you like to undertake a piece of university style research; a project that takes you above and beyond the confines of A level; a new qualification that is recognised as special by the top universities? Well you can here by choosing to do an EPQ, an Extended Project Qualification. To give you a flavour of some of the research projects undertaken this year we have: James working on King Alfred’s legacy in Winchester, Chuck on the treatment of toxic shock in dogs, Chris devising a program for composing music from random input, another Chris working on bridge design, Tom on fuel hedging, and Lydia on an aspect of physical geography; all very varied, very exciting and very powerful stuff.
