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Choosing your academic subjects
Your choice of what to study should reflect your own aptitudes, ambitions and interests. Your enjoyment of a subject, or the motivation provided by clear career aims, should be key factors in deciding what to study at A-level or in the IB Diploma Programme.
What minimum GCSE grades do you need?
Careers advice and guidance can help you make decisions which are both well matched to your talents, and realistic. To be successful at A-level or at Higher Level in the IB DP, most students need to achieve at least a grade B/6 at GCSE in each of the subjects (or a related subject) they want to study. For Standard Level IB courses, this is, perhaps, not quite so crucial. In contrast, our experience is that, in some subjects, students
would be ill-advised to embark on a course without at least an A/7 or even an A*/8/9 in the relevant GCSE
course: examples including IB Higher Level Mathematics, A-level Mathematics and A-level Further Mathematics. Upper School courses are more challenging than their GCSE equivalents, and it is unlikely that you will do better at A-level that at GCSE.
In practice this means a minimum of four B/6 grades at GCSE within a total of at least seven GCSE passes at a minimum of grade C/4, or equivalent, if you are to keep your A-level options open or to feel confident with the breadth of the IB Diploma.
In particular, you must gain at least a C/4 grade in both English Language and Mathematics. If you enter the Upper School with grades of less than a C/4 in English Language and Mathematics you will be expected to undertake remedial work and then re-sit. This is the minimum for university entry, however, some universities may require grades 5 or 6 in Mathematics or English Language.
Housemasters/Housemistresses and Tutors are in the best position to advise you whether you are likely to fulfil the entry standard for the Upper School at Oakham. If this looks unlikely, then during the course of Form 5, with the help of the Careers Department, you should consider the various alternatives to A-levels or the IB DP.
ICT Skills and laptops
ICT is an important tool for Upper School students, and you will need a range of ICT skills whatever subjects you choose to study. Depending on your particular course there will be more or less emphasis on particular ICT areas, but all Upper School students are expected to be able to make effective use of software for word processing, spreadsheets, presentation (e.g. PowerPoint), internet research and email. The ICT department is able to provide assistance if you need to improve your ICT skills, through a combination of self-learning courses and personal help, and there is also the option to take the ECDL (European Computer Driving Licence) if you would like to gain a recognised qualification. All Upper School students are expected to own their own laptop and be able to
bring this to School if required.
Succeeding
Talent alone will not bring examination success. You will need to be determined and well organised. By approaching study in this way you will be surprised at your results compared to the results of those who just ‘tick over’ and who will probably end up disappointing themselves. ‘Time management’ is particularly important if your choice of subjects includes some that require coursework. Being naturally good in a particular subject is not, in itself, any guarantee of a high grade in the Upper School.
In the Spring Term of Form 6, with the help of your tutor, you will be setting targets for your exam grades. You must be ambitious but realistic. Every extra grade at A-level or point in the IB means more opportunities from which to choose after Oakham.
Assessment
Regular Subject Cohort Assessments (SCA) are in place to help you, your tutor, your Housemaster and others to see how you are doing. In each term in the Upper School (except in the Summer Term for Form 7), you will receive a Progress Report (PR), which provides a summary of your present standing and of the effort you are making.
The Deputy Head (Academic) and the Head of Upper School consider effort grades to be of equal importance to attainment grades. Whatever your marks, nobody is justified in criticising you if you are working hard to improve your understanding and performance in a subject. Your teachers should discuss with you their suggestions for how you can improve.
You should also make it a priority to attend the parent/teacher evenings in Form 6 and Form 7 together with your parents or guardians. If your education is being discussed you should be there, even if they are unable to attend.
Your Tutor
Your Upper School Tutor will help you meet the demands your teachers will place upon you, and the other challenges you will have to face. He or she will help and guide you in the decisions you need to make about what to do after Oakham. You need to help your Tutor to compose the best possible reference for your application form that records your ambitions for when you leave Oakham.
Total Curriculum
Learning at Oakham takes place in the classroom, but also beyond it. In the classroom the focus of learning is academic. However, this academic learning is complemented by broader learning achieved through the Total Curriculum. It is this quality and breadth of the broader learning that is a distinguishing feature of Oakham. The range and variety of opportunities offered by the Total Curriculum means that when you come to leave, whether to university or elsewhere, you will be able to demonstrate academic ability and important life skills.
In the Upper School you have considerable choice about what you learn and where (making such choices are themselves an important aspect of learning). Your aim, in consultation with your Tutor, should be to choose a Total Curriculum that plays to your strengths and aspirations, and is both challenging and enjoyable. So, in addition to your lessons you should aim be to be involved in other aspects of school life, and through this involvement learn. Indeed, it is expected that Oakhamians will take at least one weekly activity alongside any sport, music and drama.
Universities and employers are looking for much more than pure academic achievement.
“Most employers are less interested in the precise details of what (undergraduates) have studied than in what the experience has taught them….What matters is that (graduates) have the framework which allows them to keep on learning” Richard Lambert, Director General CBI, 2010
Enjoy it!
Academic life in the Upper School is not easy. It is, and is meant to be, a challenge. But meeting this challenge should prove to be a rewarding, satisfying and, most of all, an enjoyable experience. Oakham also excels in the enormous variety of opportunities it provides outside the classroom for sport, service, leadership, teamwork, individual initiative, music, art, drama and societies as part of the total A-level or IB Curriculum. The more you put in, the more you get out. Work hard and stretch yourself!
Mrs Lesley Asher-Roche
Assistant Head of Upper School
lea@oakham.rutland.sch.uk
Choosing your academic course and subjects
The decision to choose between the IB Diploma and A-level will be individual and personal. During the course of this year you will be able to discuss your ideas with subject teachers, tutors, housemaster and your parents. Although many of you will not make a final career choice for several years, career and higher education ideas need to be discussed alongside the decisions about Form 6 courses so that as much future choice as possible is retained.
Every Form 5 student has an individual guidance interview with one of the members of the Careers team. The interviews take place in the Winter Term. The results of the Morrisby series of psychometric tests will be available to you for discussion at the interview.
We will suggest further research using the various sources in the Careers Library and using online tools. We will suggest careers experience to help you clarify your ideas and to appreciate the varied demands of the workplace. A written summary of the interview, including suggestions for further research on courses and careers, is available in your online dasboard.
All Form 5 will also participate in the careers part of the activities programme.
The course you take in the Upper School, whether IB or A-level, requires you to narrow the range of subjects you studied at GCSE. You also need to consider some new subjects which have not been available at GCSE.
Here are some questions which you should ask yourself about your subject choices:
Am I interested in the subject and will I enjoy it? What are the differences between the A-level and IB syllabuses for the subjects I am interested in? Do I need any particular subjects for a career choice? Do I need any particular subjects for a higher education course? What are the right abilities to succeed in the subject? What are the differences between the subject at GCSE and at IB DP or A-level? Do I want variety in my courses or subjects that relate to each other? Do any of the new subjects use my talents? Do I want to develop any particular skills through my choice of course? How much coursework is involved? Which will suit me better, A-level or the IB DP?
Tutors will be asking you for preliminary choices once the interviews are completed.
Students who are unsure about their suitability for the academic route of A-level or the IB may need to explore alternatives to this path. There are two BTEC options available at Oakham. NVQs, BTECs and apprenticeships, are also available in local colleges and offer an alternative, more vocational route into higher education or employment.
You and your parents are welcome to come along at any time to the Careers Department for further discussion or to use the resources of the Careers Library. Students applying to join the Upper School from outside Oakham are particularly encouraged to come and discuss their subject choices. The Careers Department is also available after GCSE results for any further discussion that might be needed.
If you discover that you have made the wrong choice, you may be able to adjust your choice of subjects in the first weeks of Form 6. Further delay means that catching up will be difficult.
