The Sixth Form at Kelly

The Sixth Form at Kelly offers great flexibility, enabling students to maximise their academic potential, provided they are sufficiently determined and motivated. Although we accept students from a broad academic spectrum, we believe that their targets should be realistic. The three years that cover GCSE, AS level and A2 level should be seen as a progression, with increasing demands made on a student’s intellectual and organisational skills as well as the capacity to learn. It is clear that those without the necessary skills would be better served if their education were to “ceiling” at an appropriate level. We therefore ask that every student progressing to our sixth form should possess 6 GCSE passes and at least 47 – 52 GCSE points (counting an A* as 8 points, an A as 7 etc) to study four AS levels, or a minimum of 40 GCSE points to study three AS levels with at least C grades in each of English and Mathematics. To begin a subject at AS level, you will be expected to have gained a grade B in that subject, or a close equivalent to it, at GCSE.

Indeed, entrants to the Sixth Form may be required to gain higher grades than this minimum, as demand for Sixth Form places at Kelly is highly competitive. Students from overseas will be expected to have the equivalent to the above GCSE qualifications from their own, domestic examination systems.

Similarly, at the end of the Lower Sixth year, we make it a rule that in order to continue with a subject to A2 level, each candidate has to gain a grade D overall in that subject at AS level, with a pass in all three AS level modules. Candidates whose AS result in a particular subject is 3 grades lower than they achieved in that subject, or an equivalent, at GCSE, might not be permitted to progress to the A2 course in that subject.

It is clear that, if the candidate cannot gain a pass at the first attempt at AS level, his or her best interests will be served by retaking that subject, rather than struggling with the much more difficult A2 level. Although this inevitably means that some students eventually might not leave Kelly with 3 A2 levels, nearly all will have gained sufficient UCAS points to progress to an appropriate course in Higher Education.

A Sixth Form booklet is available (by clicking here) which describes the options and gives advice on how to choose "A" level subjects. Parents of new pupils joining the Sixth Form are asked to contact the Director of Studies at an early stage to discuss options.