WHAT COURSES CAN I FOLLOW AT PRIESTHORPE?

At Priesthorpe we offer Advanced and Intermediate Courses.

Advanced Courses

These lead to qualifications required by Higher Education institutions to start on H.N.D. or degree courses. Alternatively, some students choose to enter directly into employment in jobs where high levels of skill, intellectual ability and application are required. Success on an advanced course will lead to entry into a career at a higher level than would be available for a student who has only GCSE passes.

Priesthorpe offers a wide range of advanced courses, which will enable students to combine the more traditional academic subjects with the advanced vocational courses which have been such a success in recent years. Alternatively, it will still be possible to pursue a programme of study which is wholly academic or wholly vocational. We encourage all students to choose a broad range of courses.

In Year 12, Advanced students will be able to choose one subject from each of five study blocks. These will correspond to either, half 'A'-levels (AS), or, part-Advanced Vocational Certificates (VCE). In Year 13 they will usually focus on up to three of the subjects chosen in Year 12 to build on the foundation blocks of their study. Upper Sixth half-courses are called A2s. This will enable the student to build up a qualification equivalent to the 'A'-levels and Advanced VCE with which we are familiar. This framework allows more flexibility, so that students who traditionally took clusters of closely-related subjects have the opportunity to broaden their education. For example, students following three sciences in Year 12 will be able to study an AS in a subject such as English Literature, Film Studies, a Modern Foreign Language or a part VCE. Students intending to follow a broad 'arts'-based course will be able to keep up their science or maths skills by taking an AS in one of those areas. Students are also given the opportunity, where appropriate, to take General Studies at examination level.

We expect students intending to pursue broadly academic courses to have achieved Grade C passes at GCSE in a minimum of five subjects : where the focus is on vocational studies, an entry qualification of four grade C passes will normally be required.

Intermediate Courses
GNVQ Intermediate Courses

At Priesthorpe we offer GNVQ Intermediate Courses in Business, Health and Social Care and Leisure and Tourism. If there is sufficient demand, we would also offer a course at this level in Art and Design. These are one-year courses, suitable for students who gain a minimum of four passes at GCSE at Grades D and E. As with the Advanced courses, students have a good deal more responsibility for their own learning than they have been used to in the Lower School, and this, together with the central role of work experience, encourages greater self-reliance and maturity. The courses provide the students with the chance to develop their skills and knowledge relating to a particular area of work, and are a valuable bridge between school and the world of employment.

A significant number of our students, however, follow successful completion of intermediate courses by moving on to advanced courses. In this way, many who would have had little chance or realistic opportunity of achieving success on an advanced course at sixteen, are able to gain the maturity, skills and sense of personal responsibility, which make this a viable option a year on.