Transfer from AS to A2 Programmes

You may be already studying AS courses at another college but are moving into the Northwich area or want to continue your studies with us for another reason. The notes below explain some of the difficulties of making such a transfer.

Firstly, since the introduction of the AS/A2 programmes in September 2000, we have been able to sustain a very high percentage of our L6th students through to a second year of study, which has led to very full A2 sets, particularly in certain popular courses.  Our first duty is clearly to ensure effective progression of our own AS students, and transfer of external students into A2 programmes will always have to be conditional on there being room in the subject areas concerned.  This, unfortunately, is not known until after the AS results are published, when our students are asked to submit their final A2 choices.  As a result, any preliminary arrangement for transfer can only be confirmed towards the end of August.

The second consideration concerns our duty towards students moving into our catchment area at the end of their AS programme, and for whom we automatically become the nearest provider of A2 programmes. Whilst the course-availability constraints referred to above will still clearly obtain, such students will necessarily be given priority over those who, having chosen to start their post-16 education at another establishment in the area, decide during the year that they might prefer to complete their A level work at Sir John Deane's.

A third, and in many ways the most important, factor to be taken into account when considering AS/A2 transfer is the degree of success with which the subject progression issues can be handled by the student. All of our students taking A2 courses begin their lessons for these courses immediately after they finish their AS examinations and are given work to complete over the summer.  Only those who have completed this preparatory work are permitted to continue.  Successful progression to A2 also pre-supposes that the AS base itself is reasonably solid and that the student is clearly willing and able to give full commitment to the even greater academic challenge which A2 represents.  For this reason, when considering transfer requests, we will always ask for a reference from the student's current school or college, to allow us to judge the wisdom of what is, inevitably, a very disruptive process.

Closely connected with this, of course, are the technical difficulties associated with transfers between Exam Boards and subject specifications.  Some Boards simply will not allow progression to A2 in certain subjects from the AS awarded by another Awarding Body, because the whole slant of the first year work differs so fundamentally from their own AS specification and, in all cases, we are required to seek the permission of the 'new' Boards concerned.  Fortunately, from a regulation point of view, progression is not a problem in most subject areas, but obviously the new A2 is always going to represent a greater challenge, initially at least, for any student who has not met the same subject content in Year 1 as the rest of the group.

As you can see what may seem a very straightforward request to you is actually very complex and you will appreciate the importance of weighing up the pros and cons of transfer, particularly if the move is not for reasons beyond your control.

We hope the above comments are of use in helping you to decide whether to pursue this option.  If you do wish to take your enquiry further, please write to Mrs R Dunn, Assistant  Principal, or e-mail (dunn_r@sjd.ac.uk) giving:

• all relevant details of the reason for the transfer request
• all GCSE subjects and results
• AS subjects currently taken with examination boards and specification
• any results of modules taken 
• details of the specific content of all modules already studied
• contact details of your current school/college and a named person there who could be approached for a telephone or written reference