Meet our dedicated Upper School leaders
One of the unique advantages of attending Cambridge Home School is that we teach in ‘levels’, which allows your child to access the curriculum at their current level of potential attainment as opposed to their age. Levels 3 and 4 broadly equate to Year 10 and Year 11 in the UK education system. Students usually enter Level 3 when they turn 13/14 before the start of the Autumn term. However, if your child demonstrates a particularly high academic ability for their age in a particular subject, then they may take an IGCSE course from age 12 upwards.
The usual pathway for students to study IGCSEs at Cambridge Home School Online is to continue on from our Level 2 year. We have individual IGCSE options meetings with Success Coaches in the Spring Term to support our students in making the best decisions for them. However, your child may also apply to our Upper School as an external applicant using the button below where you can arrange to have a meeting with a member of our senior leadership team to discuss the best options for your child.
If offered a place, your child will be expected to join the school in the Autumn Term at the start of Level 3. Joining the school mid-way through the IGCSE course in Level 4 could present significant disruption to your child’s learning, given that they may have studied a different exam board, specification, topics and texts from that which their peers are covering. If you wish to make an in-year application in exceptional circumstances, please contact our Deputy Head, Mr Boylan on mr.boylan@chsonline.org.uk to discuss, and each case will be considered on the basis of what we consider to be in the best interests of the child.
At Cambridge Home School, your child will be guided in their IGCSE course choices prior to joining Level 3. It is essential that chosen courses build on their key strengths and optimise their opportunity for success when making their applications to sixth form and higher education establishments. Students should also ensure that they choose subjects that will allow them to follow their chosen career path if they have already decided upon a particular course at university.
Although we currently have a broad range of 19 subjects on offer at CHS, we advise that students commit to a maximum of 9 IGCSE courses. The exception will be for those students who may need to take Additional Maths in preparation for Further Maths at A Level, or for those that have shown an exceptional ability in Lower School. The capacity to balance their academic studies with extra-curricular commitments will also be taken into account when deciding on the number of IGCSEs.
Ultimately, the top priority for students choosing their IGCSE options is to choose subjects that they enjoy and are good at. Please see below for the IGCSE subjects currently on offer at CHS. You can click here to inform us of IGCSE subjects that may interest you, so that we can make plans to accommodate your choices and keep you informed of taster sessions.
IGCSEs are taught as a two-year course at CHS Online, with the expectation that students will sit all of their papers at the end of their Level 4 year in May/June. Almost all of our courses are with the Cambridge International Examination Board (CAIE) with the exception of Psychology which is examined with the AQA exam board. This means that students studying Psychology GCSE with CHS will need to be able to sit that exam in the UK as AQA exam centres are extremely limited internationally.
Please note that it is your responsibility to register your child for their exams with a local exam centre; we offer additional guidance in this process.
At Cambridge Home School, we provide unrivalled teaching, using cutting-edge technology, to help students attain the highest grades. Your child will be assigned a timetable providing them with their own teacher and class, meeting 2-4 hours per week for each subject.
Online lessons, delivered on Microsoft Teams, afford a degree of precision, collaboration, discussion and immediate feedback that is hard to match in a physical school, with all of our IGCSE classes having numbers of 10 students or less.
Your child will have classes, resources, assignments and grades set on Microsoft Teams. Missed lessons due to illness or other commitments can be caught up on by using our recordings, but we do have an expectation that all students attend their full timetable of lessons.
Students sit end of year assessments in Level 3. In Level 4, mock assessments will take place in November of Autumn term and March of Spring term. These formal assessments take place under timed exam conditions on Teams.
Reports are issued at the end of Autumn term and Summer term for Level 3, and after Mock assessments in Autumn term and Spring term for Level 4. Reports comprise of grades and comments from Success Coaches and the Head Teacher. Parents are encouraged to use their family Teams account to keep in dialogue with teachers regarding students’ progress throughout the year, which allows for the unique benefit of more detailed tracking than an annual parent consultation evening.
See our Spring / Summer 2023 schedule of assessment and reporting below:
We believe that success in sixth form and university begins with wider reading and participation in academic activities. We aim to put our students ahead of their contemporaries for the limited opportunities available at top universities, with access to both an online library and our own CHS academic society, ‘Think Big’, which paves the way in excellence for Level 1 students upwards.
Students are encouraged to take part in internal, national and international competitions. We expect attendance at our fortnightly external speaker programme, where leading academics and professionals share their wisdom and passion with the students – please see our Autumn 2022 programme here. We hold weekly student debates on topics of significant academic and cultural interest and also give our students the opportunity to present their own ideas worth sharing in our student talks programme, ‘The Big Talks’. We have an Oxbridge programme in sixth form, into which we accommodate Upper School students if they show exceptional ability.
We run a broad and varied programme of extra-curricular clubs that we expect Upper School students to take an active part in, often taking the lead. Our academic society, ‘Think Big’ is run by Upper School students and our very own publication, the Cambridge Collective is also chaired and produced by some of our Upper School Students, click here to read the Autumn edition.
Upper School students are expected to take on positions of responsibility in our prefect team or head pupil team covering everything from house captain, library prefect, charities work to mentoring younger students. We emphasise the community aspect of our school and believe that this not only enhances our students’ experience of their education, but also their mental health and well-being.
Upper School students will also be timetabled a weekly session with their own Success Coach, which is a chance for your child to have:
- one-to-one guidance on how to maximise their experience of online teaching
- an opportunity to introduce topics for discussion that will enrich their mental and physical well-being in line with the UK PSHE curriculum
- the chance to meet other students their age in a more informal setting
- the opportunity to access a teacher-mentor, who is there to support their journey at CHS and beyond
In Level 4, coaching for choosing A Levels will also take place in Success Coach sessions.
What are the benefits of taking online IGCSE courses at Cambridge Home School?
Cambridge Home School’s online IGCSE courses are respected qualifications that serve as a stepping stone to A Levels and higher education. The school offers a unique level-based approach to learning, enabling students to engage with the curriculum based on their current academic ability rather than age.
How does Cambridge Home School select students for its online IGCSE classes?
Admission to the school’s IGCSE classes is highly competitive. The school selects only the best candidates for limited places each academic year. Generally, students transition from Level 2 at Cambridge Home School to their IGCSE courses, but external applicants are also welcome.
At what age can students enroll in online IGCSE at Cambridge Home School?
Students typically enter Level 3, equivalent to Year 10 in the UK education system, when they are around 13 or 14 years old. However, academically gifted students may start their IGCSE courses from the age of 12 onwards.
How do students apply to the online IGCSE school?
Students usually progress from Level 2 at Cambridge Home School. Individual meetings with Success Coaches are set up in the Spring Term to help students decide on their IGCSE courses. External applicants can also apply and arrange meetings with the senior leadership team to discuss the best course options for them.
How many IGCSE courses should a student commit to?
While the school offers a broad range of 19 subjects, students are advised to commit to a maximum of nine IGCSE courses. This ensures a balanced academic load and allows room for extra-curricular commitments. Exceptions may be made for students who require Additional Maths or have displayed exceptional ability in Lower School.
