Key Stage 4 Qualifications
All subjects on offer at Key Stage Four are GCSE or Vocational qualifications, all of which are equivalent to Level 2.
GCSE courses have recently been reformed to make them more focused on the knowledge and skills required in modern society. The reformed GCSEs are academic qualifications that have very little or no coursework and are rigorously examined at the end of two years of study.
The table below gives an indication of ‘rough equivalence’ between the old and reformed GCSEs.
Reformed grades are graded on a scale of 1-9, rather than A*-E. A grade 9 is roughly equivalent to A*and a 4 is roughly equal to an old C grade. The Department for Education introduced the phrases ‘Strong Pass’ which is a grade 5 and ‘Standard Pass’ which is a grade 4, in recent years. A grade 4 is still considered a pass for students.
In addition to our GCSEs, we also offer Vocational courses which are equivalent to GCSEs as both are level 2 qualifications. Most of our Vocational courses are BTECs with Pearson. These Vocational qualifications provide students with a more ‘career related’ learning experience. Our Vocational qualifications are examined at differing times throughout the two year programme of study with coursework and controlled assessments forming part of the final grades.