Key Stage 5 curriculum

About KS5

Having successfully completed GCSE/IGCSE examinations, students will move into Year 12 and 13 - the final two years of school where they are afforded greater freedom and independence in their learning. The teacher/student ratio is even more impressive as students are taught in tutorial style classes with a vast degree of support and attention from teachers. 

In addition to the A-level programme students can pursue the exciting International Duke of Edinburgh’s Award scheme and also choose to complement their study with an Extended Project Qualification. 

Work for Year 12 begins in Year 11 when we work closely with the students to help them choose A-Levels correctly. The school uses the Russell Group’s Informed Choices document to help students narrow down their 4 subjects for their Year 12 programme. The choice of subjects is carefully researched as students at this stage should be considering university choices and future career aspirations. For university application purposes only 3 subjects at ‘A’ level are required. The UK’s departure from the EU has no impact on the value and accessibility of A-levels. A-levels will continue to be recognised around the world as the ‘gold-standard’ of UK education. For example students use AS & A Levels to gain places at leading universities worldwide including the UK, Ireland, USA, Italy, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, India, Singapore, Egypt, Jordan, South Africa, the Netherlands, Germany and Spain. In countries such as the United States and Canada, good grades in carefully chosen A Level subjects can result in up to one year of university course credit. 

In recent years New School Rome students have gone on to excellent universities in Canada, Holland, USA (MiT, University of Michigan) Australia, Italy, Spain, France, Singapore and of course the UK.  Year 12 and 13 students use Unifrog to help research and prepare for university application. The site is international in outlook.   The school uses two examining boards for its A-levels: Cambridge and Pearson/Edexcel. Here you can find more information on why A-levels provide the very best learning opportunities for students in Year 12 and 13: Cambridge International AS & A Level A guide for universities  (This is an Italian version: AL Uni Guide Italian 2018 GK.indd) Pearson / Edexcel also detailed why they think A-levels are the best qualification here: https://qualifications.pearson.com/en/qualifications/edexcel-international-advanced-levels/about.html

The New School offers the following subjects at ‘AS’ and ‘A’ level:

• English Literature
• Mathematics
• Further Mathematics
• History
• French
• Italian
• Spanish
• Physics
• Chemistry
• Biology
• Art
• Computer Science

At the end of the course students receive a grade in each subject representing a range of pass grades from ‘A’ to ‘E’. Universities will make an offer of a place conditional on a number of pass grades.