our curriculum

A-levels have changed in recent years.  The AS qualification is a standalone and does not form part of the A-level assessment. The AS marks will no longer count towards the Advanced level qualification.

All the A-level examinations will take place at the end of the two year course.

All subjects have now converted to this format with September 2017 seeing the final phase of change in Mathematics, Further Mathematics, Government & Politics, Film Studies and Technology subjects. 

For September 2019, all the subjects we offer will be linear assessment A-levels. However, students still have a choice at WKGS of whether to take 3 A-levels (over two years), 4 A-levels (over 2 years), or 4 subjects in Year 12 with one being an AS choice and 3 being studied to A-level in Year 13. If students take four subjects, they will be asked, after Parents Evening in January, if they intend to complete one to AS only. Students will then sit this subject in June of Year 12 before proceeding to Year 13 with three options. It will be possible to continue with all four subjects, if desired, but we recommend most students cease studying the fourth subject at the end of Year 12.

For able mathematicians, Further Maths can be taken as a fourth or fifth subject choice.

Sixth Form Option Choices

All Year 12 students who wish to study at West Kirby Grammar School Sixth Form will choose three or four A-level options with a view to reducing four choices to three courses in Year 13. We still advise students to take four subjects if it suits them but the majority of students will now opt to study three subjects from the start of Year 12. Guidance and advice will be offered when options are taken.

Option choices are made via a ‘free-choice’ system. The School does not set option blocks in advance of the application deadline and student preferences are used to determine the ‘best-fit’ of option blocks for Year 12 each year. This system ensures the greatest number of student choices can be met, within the constraints of available staffing and budgets.

Once the option blocks have been set, students are welcome to explore possible changes to A-level courses, between March and September, but these will need to fit within the newly-created Option Blocks and below the maximum group sizes for each subject. All students opting for 3 A-levels take an additional extended project qualification in the Sixth Form. This is a wide-reaching qualification, which prepares them for life in undergraduate study and the world of work.