Upper Secondary Section

Nantwan International Students (NIS) students follow a carefully structured programme of studies from Lower to Upper Secondary level. NIS teachers and managers are available throughout our students’ periods of enrolment to provide expert advice and guidance to students, parents and guardians. Please don’t hesitate to approach any member of our team for a personal discussion about the best qualifications for your son or daughter: we’re here to help you!

Our programme of Secondary studies may be represented as follows:

KEY STAGE 3 (for students aged 11-14 years old in Grades 7 to 9)

Key Stage 3 is the English National Curriculum assessment stage for Lower Secondary students in Years 7 to 9. Their studies at this crucial stage reflect the fact that they have reached a crucial transitional age in terms of their general and academic development. They are no longer children but teenagers or young adults preparing for major life choices in their studies, career, development etc.

Consequently Key Stage 3 studies are specifically designed and refined for pupils who have completed Primary studies and are considering more specialised education in their Secondary years. There is increasing scope for supplementing subjects carried over from Primary with specialised studies, and this reflects the increasing specialisation all studies undergo as students become more advanced.

At NIS Key Stage 3 students prepare for Cambridge Checkpoint examinations.

A typical Key Stage 3 timetable would include:

IGCSE (for students aged 14 -16 years old in Years 10 to 11)

The International General Certificate of Secondary Education (IGCSE) began as a qualification in 1988. It represented an international version of the General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE): the main qualification UK students take upon completing their compulsory education at the age of 16. GCSE students usually take between 6 and 9 subjects; examinations are set according to nationally agreed criteria which guide schools and teachers over syllabus content.

The IGCSE is broadly similar in scope and standard to the GCSE but more global in outlook, orientation and subject matter. It is taught in schools in over 100 countries and recognised by universities worldwide. The IGCSE has proved so effective and popular over the years since its inception that it is increasingly being adopted by UK schools (as well as by international and bilingual schools all over the world) in preference to the GCSE.

A typical IGCSE timetable would include:
 

A Levels (for students aged 16-18 in Grades 12-13)

Advanced (or A) Level examinations are the most popular and most widely recognised pre-university qualifications in the world. They enjoy universal recognition for their very high academic standard and are valued by universities as entrance qualifications to undergraduate (BA) degree courses.

A Levels are recognised by all universities in the United Kingdom, by 434 universities in the United States of America, by 41 universities in Canada, by 38 universities in Australia and by universities in New Zealand, India,  Singapore,  South Africa and other countries.

In Thailand A Levels are recognised as useful entrance qualifications for international programmes offered at BA level by Chulalongkorn, Thammasat, Mahidol, Kasertsart, Assumption and other premier universities. A Levels are taken each year in 130 countries around the world (including the UK and Thailand) by c. 170,000 candidates. They normally follow 13 years of education and are based on c. 360 hours of guided learning over 2 years (during which candidates take 7 moduled: 4 AS or Advanced Subsidiary modules in the first year of their A Level studies and and 3 A2 modules in the second year of their A Level studies).

A typical A Level timetable would include: