The Sentamu Suite of Baccalaureates (proposed)

As promised, here is our initial set of proposals for a coherent suite of baccalaureates.  The rationale is given below the table:

	Subject	Qualification
Core	English	GCSE A* to C
	Maths	GCSE A* to C
	Double Science	GCSE A* to C / BTec Merit
	ICT	GCSE A* to C / BTec / OCR Merit
	Humanity (History, Ancient History, Geography or RE)	GCSE A* to C
	Modern Foreign Language	GCSE A* to C, Applied GCSE A* to C, or other level 2 equivalent
	Enterprise Skills	NCFE certificate
Options	In addition to the Core, each  Bac will contain another two subjects	GCSE / BTec / OCR or other level 2 equivalent qualification
	Arts Bac	Two of Drama, Music, Dance, Art, or Performing Arts, plus Young Arts' Leader Award
	Business Bac	Business Studies and additional ICT qualification
	Classics Bac	Two of Latin, Greek and Ancient History
	Health Bac	Childcare and Health & Social Care
	Humanities Bac	Two of History, Ancient History, Geography, Leisure & Tourism
	International Studies Bac	IGCSE in Global Perspectives plus additional MFL
	Literary Bac	English Literature plus second MFL
	Science Bac	Triple Science Award and Forensic Science
	Sports Bac	BTEC Sports, plus two of Junior Sports Leader, Young Health Leader, D of E Awards.
	Technology  Bac	Two of Product Design, Textiles, Electronics or Food Technology

We believe that our suite of Bacs has many advantages over the E-bac proposed by the Secretary of State.

1. To gain our Bacs, you need to achieve 9 level two qualifications, as opposed to just 6 for the E-bac.  
2. Although we are suggesting that the English, Maths and core Humanity should be a GCSE, there is the option to take more vocationally-oriented qualifications for the other subjects, according to students' learning styles and preferences.
3. By insisting that BTec / OCR qualifications in the Core are at Merit level, we are ensuring that they are at at taken at a level at least as rigorous as a higher-level GCSE.
4. We are ensuring that all students achieve a good qualification in ICT, which we would define as a core skill.
5. We are ensuring that all students achieve a certificate in Enterprise, something we believe is essential for entering the workplace effectively.
6. By giving the option of a level 2 equivalent for Modern Languages, we are giving students the option to study a more business-related curriculum.  We are also enabling students to study Mandarin (as many do at our academy) and still gain a Bac.  Under Mr. Gove's proposal, students taking Mandarin as their only language will be debarred from the E-bac. This is because the GCSE is aimed at native Mandarin speakers, in the same way that English GCSE is aimed at native English speakers.
7. By including RE in the core, we are widening choice.  This is especially important for students in Church schools and academies such as our own, where all students take RE to GCSE level.  Indeed, under Mr. Gove's proposals, students in church schools will in effect have to take two humanities subjects to achieve the E-bac, thereby narrowing their choices.
8. By including a range of other awards in the options (Sports, Health, Arts Leaders and Duke of Edinburgh), we are ensuring further breadth of experience.

In sum, we believe that our suite of Baccalaureates are rigorous, rounded and realistic.  We believe that they will prepare our students extremely well for both further study and employment.  We believe that they will cater well for students' varying interests, aptitudes and learning styles, and that as such, they are more likely to encourage our young people into further study Post-16.

We would welcome the comments of anyone with an interest in this.  In particular, we would welcome views as to whether or not we should also have a Bac accredited at Level 1.  At the moment, we have decided not to do this, on the grounds that it sets out to be a challenging qualification.  However, let us know if you disagree!