A Glowing Report from Cambridge Pre-U Examiners
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At Walthamstow Hall we have long pioneered programmes to engage and extend our most able students. We were one of the first schools to replace some GCSE subjects with the more stretching IGCSE and in 2006 became involved in the national pilot scheme for the introduction of the new Cambridge Pre-U examinations as an alternative to A levels. The University of Cambridge’s qualification gives high achieving pupils, the opportunity to extend their studies beyond what traditional A level courses can offer.
The Cambridge Pre-U is not constrained by modules and constant examination, rather it plays to the strengths of teachers giving them more flexibility in what they teach and when. At the end of their two year course Pre-U students have the opportunity of achieving Pre-U distinction grades that go beyond the A level A grade, and indeed the new A* grade being introduced in 2010. The top two Pre-U distinction grades also exceed the value of the top International Baccalaureate grade 7. Not surprisingly, the pre-U courses have been welcomed by Universities at home such as those in The Russell Group of universities, and abroad, for example by the likes of Yale and Duke in the United States.
Three years after signing up to the Pre-U programme the first wave of Walthamstow Hall pupils to choose Pre-U rather than A Level are half way through their studies in English, Maths, Further Maths and History and have found that the courses are delivering everything that they had hoped for.
Anne Murphy, our Head of History, described the positive impact of the pre-U in her subject in Cambridge Pre-U’s monthly update;
“We have covered a great deal more history this year than we would be able to do at AS, and the knowledge that exams are at the end of two years has allowed girls the opportunity to develop skills gradually…”
Chief examiners from Cambridge have been assessing course work and grading at pioneer schools, including Walthamstow Hall, giving the Pre-U a kind of “interim health check”. At Walthamstow Hall they have found that one year in all Pre-U subjects are being taught and assessed at exactly the correct level by Walthamstow Hall Teachers and that already the most able students are achieving the very high Pre-U distinction grades which well exceed the A level A* or IB 7 top grades.
Headmistress, Mrs Jill Milner said,
“The report from the Cambridge examiners is fantastic. We have long known that many of our students wanted the opportunity to go beyond what A level studies can offer and they have really embraced the Pre-U. 71% of our pupils are studying at least one Pre-U subject and the fact that they are already excelling in their studies affirms that we have made the right choice in adopting this new qualification, alongside the new A level. Our highly qualified teachers are also revelling in the freedom to teach their specialist subjects at a very high level with fewer constraints.”
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