King's College School: Enhanced Sixth Form Curriculum from September 2013

From September 2013, King's College School will reintroduce A levels to run alongside our long-established and successful International Baccalaureate programme.

We are one of the leading IB schools in the world, with an extraordinarily consistent average score of just over 39 points in the last four years. The success of the IB is further demonstrated in the excellent universities our sixth formers attend each year. For example, this year, well over forty boys and girls in the Upper Sixth have been made offers from Oxford and Cambridge universities alone. However, for all of the evident success of the IB at King's, we have decided that we should revert to offering a mixed economy, as we did until 2007, for three key reasons.

First, the current government has taken steps to reduce the grade inflation that has eaten away at the reputation of A level, especially by means of introducing the well-received A* for exceptional performance. Secondly, the King's Sixth Form has become extremely popular with pupils across London since it went co-ed in 2010; as a result it now numbers nearly 400 boys and girls, and a greater degree of choice is both attractive and affordable. Finally, we have come to the conclusion that for some boys and girls IB is not the best fit, and we are very happy to accept the consequences of that conclusion.

A copy of my letter to parents can be read by clicking here. Further details outlining the implications of the change for current King's boys in the Lower Fifth and below, and prospective boys and girls in Year 10 and below in other schools, will be made available later this term.

Andrew Halls

FAQs on IB & A Level
Letter to Parents
The Sunday Times blog by Andrew Halls