Part of castle school education trust

"Castle School Education Trust is committed to high quality education across the primary, secondary and sixth form key stages. Our schools cover the South Gloucestershire area. We encourage independence within each school within a strong framework of values."

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Downend

  • To report a student absence please email dow-studentabsence@cset.co.uk or call 01454 862395 with your child's name, tutor group and reason for absence

Making Your Choices

It is important that you choose courses that you will enjoy and be successful at. You will want to think about your strengths, interests and skills. You should find your subjects challenging and engaging.  Remember, you won’t just have to study those subjects during lessons, but will also have to dedicate significant amounts of independent study time to them so it is important that you enjoy them too. 

You may have a specific career goal in mind so we advise you to look at the entry criteria on the UCAS website to ensure that you are picking the subjects that will best support any future applications for higher education or apprenticeships. 

If you do not have a specific career goal in mind, then try to choose subjects that will offer you the widest range of university courses and job offers. Also, check that your course combinations work well together. 

We are happy to discuss this with you and offer advice.

Pathways in Sixth Form

Although these are not limiting, we do advise the following: 

Grades

Number of courses

Extras to consider

Mainly 8 – 9’s

4 A Levels

Further Maths

EPQ

Core Maths

Mainly 6 – 8’s

3.5 A Levels or equivalent

Core Maths

EPQ

Mainly 5 – 6’s

3 A Levels or equivalent 

Core Maths

Mainly 4 – 5’s

3 A Levels or equivalent (most likely to include 1 or more ‘vocational’ subjects).

GCSE resits Maths or English 

Entrance Criteria

To study A Levels and other level 3 courses you will need to have a minimum of five 9 - 4 GCSEs, including a 4 in either English or Maths. Different courses have specific entry criteria so make sure you look at the subject information booklet to check individual course requirements. Students who do not have a 4 in English or Maths are legally required to continue with this subject. You will have the opportunity to take either of them alongside your other studies. 

For further guidance on choosing courses please look at our Sixth Form Information booklet Click Here