The Avon Valley School & Performing Arts College
THE ENGLISH BACCALAUREATE
The English Baccalaureate is a performance measure that recognises a student’s achievement at
grade 5 or above in five subject areas:
English
Mathematics
History or Geography
Combined Science OR two of the separate sciences from Physics, Biology and Chemistry
OR Computer Science.
A modern (or ancient) foreign language - French, Spanish or German are currently taught at
Avon Valley. Other languages can also count (e.g. Polish, Gujarati, Arabic…..)
We encourage a student with an interest and an ability in these subjects to opt for these ‘traditional’
and ‘academic’ subjects. However, if a student does NOT opt for the English Baccalaureate
subjects, their future career path or entry into university should not be affected.
Advice from the Russell Group Universities (twenty-four of the ‘best’ Universities within the UK,
including the Universities of Oxford, Manchester, Bristol, and Birmingham…) can be found below in
the web link called ‘Informed Choices’. In the document, it details information about the preferred
choices at A level (or equivalent - called ‘facilitating subjects’) and advice about GCSE choices.
http://www.russellgroup.ac.uk/Informed-Choices/
MY ACADEMIC JOURNEY POST 16
The options chosen in Key Stage 4 can also affect the opportunities available for further study at
Key Stage 5. Further guidance on entry requirements at the various sixth forms and colleges is
advisable when making a choice at Key Stage 4. Most A level courses (or equivalent) demand a
grade 4-6 or more at GCSE (or equivalent) and advice on the different colleges and sixth forms
within Rugby and beyond is worth researching.
It is hoped that the range of options on offer at Avon Valley, will allow students to follow a broad and
interesting curriculum that will open doors to future study and/or employment, and allow students to
develop a love of learning.
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