Subject Choices

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Francis Holland prides itself on the ability to offer a wide choice of subjects and every effort is made to accommodate different subject combinations. Teaching groups can be quite small, which allows staff to support girls as much as possible.

Most Sixth Formers take three subjects in the Lower Sixth, although students with a very strong GCSE profile can take four subjects. Most students continue with three subjects to A Level in the Upper Sixth. Students taking three subjects in the Lower Sixth also take an elective course, some of which are examined. All students follow a general Life Skills programme (not examined), enjoy Sixth Form Lectures from external speakers, as well as take part in PE and PSHE. They have the additional opportunity to study for the Level 3 Extended Project Qualification.

Electives

The Electives are designed to provide additional breadth, foster intellectual curiosity and provide an opportunity for students to explore subjects not taught at school. Some of these additional courses lead to a qualification and all of them are designed both to extend and to enrich learning, providing a schooling for life.

The following enrichment courses are available to students in the Lower Sixth studying three A Levels:

Sports Leader Award*
Lessons in Financial Education*
Language for Business (French)*
Engineering Education Scheme*
Social and Cultural Thought of the Twentieth Century: Music, Art and Literature
Zine (Arts) Magazine

* These courses lead to external qualifications

More details of the electives currently on offer can be found in our Sixth Form Subject Booklet.

Extended Project Qualification

All pupils have the opportunity to undertake an Extended Project Qualification. This project is designed to challenge the most able students beyond A Level, and is offered to all Lower Sixth girls. Work on the Extended project starts in January of Year 12 and is completed at the end of the calendar year.

The projects range in subject matter from ‘Fairy tales are relevant to adults as well as children, a closer look at Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tales’ to ‘Will it be possible for electric cars to be 100 per cent sustainable?’. Other subjects studied include ‘An investigation into night-time photography’ and ‘The heroine and anti-heroine in “Middlemarch”.’ The EPQ is undertaken in addition to A Levels, and is normally submitted in December.