King Edward’s School Announces Exciting Changes to GCSE and A-Level Programmes

King Edward VI School, Southampton’s oldest and leading academic co-educational day school, is proud to announce significant enhancements to its GCSE and A-Level programmes. These changes, set to be implemented from September 2025, reflect King Edward's ongoing commitment to providing a first-class, 21st-century education and ensuring that every pupil thrives academically and personally.

For nearly 500 years, KES has remained dedicated to innovation, consistently providing the best educational experience for its pupils. Despite recent challenging times, the pupils and the School itself, have remained focused on ensuring to continue to innovate, develop and expand it's educational offering. This has included transforming pastoral care to build pupils’ resilience, and maintaining a rich variety of clubs and activities in sports, the arts, and intellectual and ethical societies.

Mr Parker, Head said "We know that exam results matter greatly, but we also know that teaching the skills highly prized in the workplace are an equally vital component of any leading education. For this reason, we have been working hard over the past year to review what we offer to our pupils through the School’s academic programme, so that we can both ensure that KES pupils have the very best chance to accomplish highly in examinations, and also so that they can thrive in their future university or workplace lives". 

GCSEs

From September 2025, pupils at KES will have far more flexibility to devise a programme of GCSE studies to suit their passions and talents. The new core subjects will be maths, English literature and English language. In addition, all pupils will either take all three science subjects or, if they wish, may opt to take double-award science – which provides a grounding in physics, biology and chemistry while enabling pupils to pursue an additional option choice in another subject.

The school will not require pupils compulsorily to take either a humanities or a language at GCSE, although the school do hope and expect that for the majority of pupils both of these subject areas will remain an important part of the choices. Lastly, King Edward's will be moving from a 10.5 GCSE model to a 9 GCSE model, removing the compulsory short-course religious studies exam in Year 10 and allowing pupils to focus on ‘quality over quantity’ in their GCSE choices. 

An exciting new academic programme will also be introduced to enhance study skills, revision techniques, and other essential skills in Years 10 and 11, preparing pupils for the world beyond school.

A Levels 

King Edward's Sixth Form do not intend to fundamentally change the A level programme. However, have made the decision from September 2025 that all students will start on a three A level programme (other than for pupils wishing to take Further Mathematics). By so doing, the school will be able to timetable additional periods to each subject both in the Lower Sixth and Upper Sixth, which will give pupils greater opportunities to deepen their understanding and appreciation of their core subjects. This three A-Level structure is standard in leading schools and colleges, and KES pupils will not lose out on any experiences. Further Mathematics will remain available as a fourth A-Level for those who need it.

The school envisage teachers using this newly created time flexibly to suit the specific needs of the pupils. Including dedicated time being given to the EPQ (extended project qualification) programme, enabling and encouraging more of pupils to complete this incredibly useful and much valued high-level research qualification in their Lower Sixth.

King Edward's are committed not only to offering detailed and careful guidance and advice to pupils in Year 11, so that A level choices are fully informed and thought through, but also to offer flexibility in the Autumn term of Lower Sixth, so that pupils who feel that their choices have not worked out are able to transfer within a reasonable period of time in the Sixth Form. 

Mr Parker, Head said: "I am incredibly proud of this comprehensive academic review and the forward-thinking changes we are implementing. At King Edward VI School, we believe in progress and innovation to support the future of our children. These enhancements will not only uphold our tradition of excellence but also prepare our pupils to succeed in the rapidly evolving world we know today"