Choosing the right path for the Sixth Form

In our latest blog, Head of Sixth Form, James Ralphs gives us his top tips for identifying which academic route is right for you...

The Sixth Form is a wonderful part of school life. It is a chance to widen your horizons from both an academic and co-curricular perspective. Even before you step through the threshold of the lower sixth, you are asked to select what you are going to study.

So, where do you start?

A levels, IBDP or IBCP?

At Bryanston we offer three different academic routes for the Sixth Form: A level, the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme (IBDP) and the International Baccalaureate Career-related Programme (IBCP).

	A level	IBDP	IBCP
No. of subjects	Minimum of 3	6 (3 at higher level and 3 at standard level)	Cambridge Technical and 2 Diploma subjects

For some pupils, the idea of being able to study a broad range of subjects through the IB is an exciting one. For others, having to learn English, Maths and a language, even at standard level, is a non-starter and therefore A levels would be the appropriate path to take. Although there is overlap between the subjects offered at IB and A level, the course content can vary considerably. Therefore, a careful consideration of each subject and programme is essential. Talk to your current teachers and make the most of the information available to you. Bryanston pupils attend a Sixth Form choices fair in the spring term of Year 11 as well as having access to the Sixth Form choices guide, which gives a detailed breakdown of each subject.

What are your strengths?

Although not a perfect science, performance at GCSE does have a correlation with progress made in the Sixth Form. Choosing subjects in which you have a particular strength would be wise. At Bryanston, all heads of department will be looking for a 6 or higher at GCSE in order to access the A level or IB higher level subject content. The step up in workload, per subject, is considerable from GCSE to Sixth Form. Having a particular interest in your choices will make the work outside the classroom a lot easier. It is important that you have a desire for deeper learning, and a willingness to read around each of your chosen subjects in order to give yourself the best opportunity to succeed. Are you somebody who would benefit from less weighting on exams? Choosing a subject or programme with coursework would spread deadlines throughout the year.

What is your next step?

What you choose can have an impact on your options after school. One of the ultimate goals for studying in the Sixth Form is to qualify for entry into whichever route you would like to go down next. If this is university, then you will want to choose subjects which give you the best opportunity of achieving top grades. Some degrees will have specific pre-requisite subjects. For example, studying Medicine usually requires both Chemistry and Biology (at higher level for IB) and the majority of the top Economics degrees require Mathematics. If you don’t have a particular degree or career in mind, pick subjects which complement each other and play to your academic strengths.

The decision of what to study in the Sixth Form shouldn’t be taken lightly. Discuss the advice above with your tutor throughout the rest of the autumn and spring terms. Speak to older pupils about their courses but ultimately ensure that the choices you make are right for you.

The IB: as good as it gets!

It’s the time of year where as a school we gear up to admit a fine cohort of sixth formers for September 2019. Bryanston has always welcomed a pleasing number and quality of candidates at this point, and the existing yeargroups, year on year, enjoy and benefit from the injection of new ideas, talents, and energies.

One of the attractions of Bryanston (and there are many) is that we offer the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme (IBDP) alongside the now very traditional A levels. This provides the school with a varied offering and one which attracts really interesting pupils who study one or the other programme.

What is it about the IBDP that means it’s worth offering?  And how do schools convey that to 16 year olds and their parents without seeming to diminish the national A level programme?

I think there are some very key reasons for offering the IBDP that fit right into our Bryanston profile of all we do.  And that’s why Bryanston is a great place to study the IBDP.

1.      The Bryanston model of education is  and always has been all about producing independent learners and learners who will contribute their own particular talents to the world.  The tutorial system here of one-to-one support and guidance is a jewel in the crown for all pupils, whatever they are studying.  But in terms of a pupil managing the IB and learning fast the techniques of research and independent study, this tutorial approach is ideal.

2.   Bryanston rejoices in pupils with a wide range of talent.  They do not necessarily want to confine themselves to three subjects at A level (though some do) nor to follow necessarily an entirely ‘traditional’ system.  They may want to study Film or Psychology, both of which subjects have a strong syllabus at IB.  They may want to study English Literature which is not focused mainly on dead white males.  They may want to keep up a level of Maths to make them ready for their life in work, but not wish to study it at a higher level. They may be bilingual and wish to study both their best languages as a Language Av.

3.   The pupils enjoy the Core in the IB as much as they do their main subjects.  The extended essay allows them to research at a level which university admissions offices find compelling;  the CAS (Creativity, Activity, Service) element is a key part of the diploma making sense of the world beyond their immediate walls; the ToK (Theory of Knowledge) component might be the best bit of their week.  The IB is in other words a diploma; the six subjects interrelate and the Core pins them together.  The diploma is about producing young adults who are ready to learn for the rest of their lives and to be part of a global world not just a small and self-referential slice of it.

4.   Bryanston has always prided itself on pupils leaving the school ready to live happy and purposeful lives, and ready to contribute to the wider world.  This is closely aligned to the IB’s mission. After Bryanston, pupils tend to study at university and importantly to study at the university which suits their interests and abilities in terms of providing the best degree course in that subject and for that pupil.  There is an increasingly international flavour in that respect from Georgetown to Melbourne from Cambridge to Berklee.  The world’s an exciting place and the IB prepares pupils for that beyond our foggy Brexit-obsessed island.

This is not to say that you cannot perfectly well achieve most or all of that whilst studying A levels. You can, but the IB insists upon it; has a mission and a vision; marries in its educational provision the rigorous with the comprehensive; promotes critical thinking throughout all subjects and the core; encourages cultural awareness, global responsibility, and resilience. It is as their motto states: ‘education for a better world’.

It’s hard to argue with. There are reasons for not studying the IB of course, but it’s hard to accept the one that A levels are ‘easier’. For two good reasons: (i) why is that in any way a good thing? And (ii) it’s not true. A levels are harder than they were, have no coursework and will not, in the next few years, be anywhere near as accessible to all as they once were. This may not be a bad thing, but it only reinforces the fact that they are not the ‘easier’ option.

So, at this time of thinking about the sixth form and future choices, I heartily recommend the outward looking, active and participatory, critical and creative IB diploma. I honestly think it’s as good as it gets.

Reflective learners

This week our Head of Teaching and Learning, Will Ings, looks at the importance of reflection in learning for both pupils and staff.

Over the past 12 months the school has been preparing for its first five-year review of the IB and, as such, we have been scrutinising and reflecting upon how the IB Diploma is delivered at Bryanston. One of the principal areas of discussion has been the IB Learner Profile and how it fits with the Bryanston method of teaching and learning. The 10 attributes of the IB Learner Profile underline the whole IB endeavour and define the type of pupil (if such a thing is not too derived) an IB graduate ought to be.

“As IB learners we strive to be: inquirers, knowledgeable, thinkers, communicators, principled, open-minded, caring, risk-takers, balanced and reflective.”

It is the last of these, the need for proper reflection, which I think is most apposite to Bryanston, as regular reflection is a part of what our pupils do. Weekly tutorials and Correction Periods (work
review sessions) rely upon it and thrive because of it. There is no ‘normal’ way in which it is done, that is part of its beauty, but it is an essential part of our weekly (even daily) routine. Plans for the forthcoming week are regularly updated by a pupil and tutor when discussing the successes (or not) of the previous week’s work. Similarly, in a subject Correction Period, an academic technique or exercise is analysed, reflected upon and refined, ready for the next activity and thus, progress is guaranteed. We are fortunate that such a system ensures that a pupil never just glances at the grade given for a piece of work before consigning the piece to a file forevermore. Instead, in-depth feedback is given there and then, in real time, allowing the pupil to benefit fully from their assignment tasks.

A truly world-class school will not stop there: it will encourage reflective practice not just in pupils, but also in teachers. Pedagogical forum will become an absolutely normal part of its teaching set-up.

At Bryanston, departments devote time in their staff meetings to such debate and sharing of good practice every week and there are various other opportunities in which reflection is both encouraged and celebrated. The now-regular Teaching and Learning discussions set out with this aim firmly in mind. Staff meet once every half of term and discuss, over a delicious meal kindly supplied by our wonderful catering team (I know that this is a fool-proof way to people’s hearts!), an issue of pedagogical significance to the school. The meeting starts with a brief digest of recent research into the given topic, before opening up for discussion. Sessions are voluntary and have been well attended since the very first meeting two years ago and now we find ourselves wondering if the venue is big enough to house the growing numbers of enthusiasts.

It is difficult to find an IB learner profile attribute that is not well-represented in the ways both pupils and teachers learn and develop at Bryanston, but reflection is arguably the first and foremost of our particular vernacular. It is the pivot of our shared philosophy, and that is for pupils and staff.