I thought today I'd do a post about my choices as to what I've chosen to do next (academic) year and the options that were also available to me. I'm hoping this will help people who are going in to year 11 into there choices for the following year or anyone who wants to revisit further education. Also to anyone who doesn't live in the UK I hope this gives you an insight into how our education is.
So, as many of you know I left school this year as I was in year 11, which also means that I finished all of my GCSEs at the end of June. After doing my GCSEs I had a lot of different options to do which I can't say for people younger then me will have. The Law for me says I have to stay in further education until I'm 16 but anyone born after September 1997 have to stay in full time education until they are 18.
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| Source: WeHeartIt.com |
What could I have done?
There were a lot of things I could have chosen to do in September (2012) such as: left education all together and gone into work, gone into an apprenticeship, gone to college or to a sixth form to do my A-Levels.
What did I choose to do?
As many of you would know I have mentioned that I am staying at my schools Sixth Form. I could have gone to college to do my A-Levels but after talking to some teachers Sixth Form was the thing that suited me as a person more. Apparently there isn't much difference apart from the fact in a sixth form there is more support from the teachers (well that's what I've been told so don't hold me to that!).
What subjects have I chose? Why?
I have chosen to do 4 subjects but I could have done anything from 3 to 5 subjects. The 4 subjects I have chosen to do are: Sociology, Spanish, English Literature and History. I have done all these subjects before bar Sociology. One thing I would recommend if you are thinking of doing a subject you haven't done before is to do quite a bit of research to see what it's like so you know if you are making the right decision or not.
I am one of the lucky people who already knows what I want to do when I leave school...I want to go into Law and so I kinda of had an idea of subjects I would need to do to achieve this. 2 of which were English Literature and History...luckily I did both of these at GCSE and enjoyed both of them. I then picked sociology as it was an interesting new topic and also something which interests me and then spanish as I have been doing it for 5 years, enjoy it and my teacher recommended I should take it for A Level.
Sixth Form
At my school, sixth form is completely different to being at GCSE level. We can wear our own clothes, we have to buy all our own stationary (as they don't provide anything only worksheets), we only have five lessons per subject a week (so I have 5 free lessons a week), we are expected to get our own copy of the textbooks needed for certain subjects, we are expected to do 4 hours extra work in our own time per subject a week and pay for our own transport to and from school (if you live in a village). All of this seems quite a lot of work looking back at it now and an expensive choice but it's what I wanted to do. Also because I live within walking distance to the school I am able to walk home so no extra cost for transport to and from school.
I hope this has helped people who are going into year 11 and not quite sure what they want to do yet or even people younger then 15/16 who want a head start.
What have you chose to do in September?
