So what is the EPQ for A level students?

As I said on a previous blog, there is a lot of change with A levels in the UK now. Most universities will be making offers based on three A levels only - the only exception being medicine. 

So very top universities are very interested in what else you have to offer them. The most popular qualification is the EPQ - Extended Project Qualification. This is a piece of research on a subject of your own choice - linked to an aspect of what you want to do at university. It shows your interest and commitment to your chosen field and you should make reference to this on your Personal Statement. It does not count as a separate A level on its own, but it does show your commitment to your subject and shows you have extended and developed your views. The EPQ is growing in popularity. 

So do you need to do it? Well, if you are headed for a top university and are predicted grade A s you should definitely be doing it. If you are getting lower predictions you should focus on your A levels alone.

At CATS Canterbury we also offer a great range of other qualifications which all boost your chance of university entry - online university courses, Leadership Awards, Business, Science and Enterprise Events - they are all listed in your Key Professions booklet. Always remember that 3 grade As are not enough..... You need to show more. You need to be a broader candidate showing interest and commitment to your subject. There are no short cuts to success but we are here to help you all the way.

Welcome to our January Start students

A very warm welcome to everyone starting at CATS Canterbury in January. 

You will have had emails from us about the college and starting to get you used to what life is like here. Don't worry if it's  a bit overwhelming at first! For many of you it will be a new country, new food, new ways of working and it will take time to get used to it all! If you click on the emails we send you can get hold of all the emails we have sent including before you applied so you don't feel left out! Remember we are all here to help you and if you are stuck any anything please ask! 

To start with, download the CATS Canterbury App for iPhone or android. If you are in China, download it as soon as you have a UK phone. It has everything you need to know about the college on it and it's useful to refer to when you are stuck about anything!

If you are a Foundation student with high grades and aiming for LSE, Kings or very top universities you need to see Dawn Merriman  our university officer as soon as you arrive and she will help you with what you need to do as soon as you arrive. If you go to the St Lawrence Learning Centre you will find the UCAS office there. There is a map of the college  on the CATS Canterbury App if you want to see where things are and you will be given a hard copy when you arrive.

Remember we are all here to help you, and welcome to Canterbury!

Jonathan

Jonathan Ullmer MBE - Principal

Christmas approaches and university deadlines

Christmas is a great time to reflect and think of others in the middle of all the work all our students are doing. Many have completed university applications and already have offers - others are all expected to have all applications ready by the end of term before returning home. Our university officer is helping and advising students with any worries or questions, and those students arriving in January will be registered as soon as possible and have a later deadline. Any January start students taking UFP and heading to top London universities have been given work to do before their arrival as their applications need to be off in the middle of January. If you are applying to LSE, UCL or Kings please alert Dawn Merriman or the Principal so we can make sure January start UFP students are preparing the right things before they arrive!

To help you, you can now download the new CATS Canterbury Ap on Google and Android and this will give you direct links to a lot of really useful things to know

CATS Canterbury wins top Independent Schools Award

Well done to staff and students as the college wins the top award for Excellence and Innovation from the Independent Schools Association in the UK. The award reflects a lot of amazing work supporting students from all over the world as we help them on their journey to top UK and world universities.

Awards at CATS Canterbury

CATS Canterbury is shortlisted for the Independent Schools Awards and for the Award of Excellence and Innovation by the Independent Schools Association

IB and courses to take you to top universities

I am at the World IB Headteachers meeting in The Hague this weekend. Universities are increasingly dropping their point scores for IB as they value this qualification a great deal. Kings College London and Leeds are now asking for 35 and Birmingham 32 points. Ofqual - the UK qualifications framework has rated a 7 at IB as equivalent to A* at A level and a 6 as equivanent to an A. You can see why universities get so excited by IB... !

At CATS Cantebury we offer a full range of qualifications including A level, Foundation and IB - all of which have been great qualifications to get students into top universities. Clearly a two year course is always better than spending one year in the UK, but our one year Foundation course was the first ever in the UK and is now nearly 30 years old and sends students to the very top UK universities.

Staff here are always happy to talk about the differences between these three routes to university and remember CATS Canterbury is also an SAT Testing Centre and we prepare students for entry to universities across Canada and the USA too with SAT preparation sessions included as standard!

The new A levels at CATS Canterbury

Many people overseas are worried about the new changes to A levels which they may have heard about. You do not need to worry about this as we have it all in hand here in Canterbury. This year some of the A levels are new ones and some are the old ones. Universities treat them all the same and once the new A level subject is on line, the old course is withdrawn.

The main change coming is that A levels will become a 'terminal' exam with exams only at the end of the course - no more modules or exams half way through. This is exactly the same as IB which we have successfully run for many years here so this does not worry us at all. 

AS exams are still available but they no longer count towards the final A level so most good schools will no longer offer them. Schools that do will lose a whole half term of teaching with the exam no longer counting towards A level so it will waste students a lot of time which is better spent in lessons. We will offer a final end of year internal exam using A level papers and report on these grades to parents so you will know exactly what level your child is at - this is exactly what happens with our very successful IB course. This year we sent IB students to both Oxford and Cambridge so they are clearly at no disadvantage!

The other thing to be aware of is that most universities are no longer asking for four subjects at A level and taking three subjects will become the norm in the UK. Universities are not interested in lots of A levels - they want three at top grades. The main exception to this remains Further Maths and if students take this they will do Maths as well and so have four A levels. 

Students heading for top universities at CATS Canterbury will take the Extended Project Qualification (a research project top universities are very keen on) and a range of extra activities from our Key Professions Programme. This will give them a real head start in university applications and we have a very wide range of extra activities we expect students to do directly linked to their university applications. This is what will make the difference in a successful application to a top university.

So it's all systems go here at Canterbury! We are more than prepared and ready for any changes and with over 160 university visits here each year students get the chance to talk to universities directly and be reassured in everything we do here.

What you need to do to apply to university

Just a reminder that all students should now be thinking about their five university choices and working on their draft personal statements. Students who were here last year should have registered on UCAS already and have completed draft personal statements. Those new to the college will be doing these now. New universities are visiting each week and check your emails for latest news and visits. Queen Mary's are here soon and full details are on our Discovery Intranet. Medics and Oxbridge applications have already gone now and we are receiving our first offers and students have already been offered interviews at Oxford University - more news coming in every day!

You do not have to use all five choices on your UCAS form yet as if you change your mind about courses it's quite useful to have a choice in reserve you can make. Our Higher Education staff - Dan and Dawn are available to help you and the Principal is available every night if you are worried and need to talk to someone about your applications. Remember we are all here to help you.

Welcome to CATS and great to join in!

A warm welcome to our new and returning students - particularly our late arrivers who joined us after the start of term. You can see how fast moving it has all been already! We welcomed LSE in for small group meetings with students and then over 80 universities at our October University Fair including Imperial, Bath and Kings and overseas universities such as New York, Florida and Hong Kong. 

We were shortlisted for awards of Excellence by the Independent Schools Association and the Times for 2015 and won the International Schools Award. We celebrated the state visit to the UK of the President of China and students went on a half term trip to Paris - only two hours from Canterbury! More trips are planned next year to Morocco and Poland as we celebrate being part of such an amazing world. We had House competitions for the best Halloween decorations and fun trips to Thorpe Park...!

In the middle of this we soon approach November 11th where in the UK we keep two minutes silence to remember all those around the world who have died as a result of war. The Queen leads the tributes in London and it's a time to reflect on the peace and stability we enjoy which cost many people their lives to create for us. Let's all remember how lucky we are and on the 11th remember all those who have died as a result of war  and be thankful for the full lives and peace we all enjoy while we focus on our studies in the UK.

Exam time and the future

It's an incredibly busy time at CATS Canterbury every summer as we work hard with students to reassure them about their next steps and help and support them through to their next steps at university. Our IB results were our highest ever and A level grades were 86% A*/B with student places already confirmed at Oxford and Cambridge Universities, Durham, Warwick, York, Sheffield, Manchester, UCL, City, Exeter, Bristol and many more all over the UK as well as Europe and North America. We are an SAT testing centre for the States and offer tuition and support towards the SAT tests as well as a flourishing IB, A level and Foundation programme. Our Foundation was the first ever in the UK and now nearly 30 years old with students from this course going on to Kings College London and CEG Foundation students also being placed at Imperial and LSE. It's an exciting time!

Much of our work though is just giving reassurance at the moment. Students are worried at this important time of their life and just need a friendly face to say it's all Ok and they don't need to worry if they have their grades and haven't heard immediately from their university. It's a busy time for universities and we have to be patient.

Very best wishes from all of us here at CATS to students finishing exams all over the UK - your future awaits and it's the start of an amazing adventure!

Jonathan