Can the intended subjects be taken together?
A subject may be offered but clash with another in the timetable. See how one published timetable for September 2027 handles this combination, and what the other schools have confirmed.
Other ways to use the record
Research · Sixth form
What kind of education are you choosing?
There is a great deal to be curious about in a school: the ideas pupils discuss, the subjects they can keep together, the work that takes them beyond the syllabus. We read the results, school publications and inspection reports with those questions in mind, and bring the findings together so you can get to know the schools on your shortlist.
- Begin with your shortlist
Choose schools and an entry year. You don’t need to enter a child’s details.
- Take a closer look
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- Keep the questions that matter
With research access, save a briefing and add your own notes as you learn more.
Questions that can change the choice
What changes when joining at sixteen?
Look at the course of study, the support described and the daily commitment. Then ask how a new pupil joins a community in which others already know one another.
Which bill applies to a new entrant?
Read the fee for the pupil’s entry point, what it includes and which extras still need checking. The next intake may have a different price.
Your research
Which schools are you considering?
Start with King’s College School, Wimbledon and St Paul’s School. Change the selection to inspect another choice.
Getting to know the schools
Read the school accounts side by side
A timetable can tell you something about a school’s priorities. So can the place it gives to discussion, independent work or a subject pursued for its own sake. These accounts look at the education each school describes and the observations inspectors have made. You can follow the sources and their dates as you read. What can an inspection tell us about school life?
The important differences
The research for your choice
Research access adds our accounts of these schools, explaining their differences with sources and questions to explore. Read the complete open example and check the coverage before buying.
For your next visit
Your questions for the schools
A conversation often becomes more useful when you ask for an example. How did a pupil choose a project? What happened when the first attempt went wrong? Choose the questions you would like to take with you; each stays linked to the school and the research that prompted it.
What the schools have published
Read the school’s published subjects, entry requirements, arrangements and fees alongside the source dates. Information for 2026–27 does not confirm what will apply in September 2027. Where something is missing or the sources disagree, we say so.
Read a complete example
Choosing between King’s Wimbledon and St Paul’s
At KCS Wimbledon, a pupil can consider A levels or the IB. St Paul’s describes an A-level programme with independent project work. The choice affects how many subjects a pupil keeps and the work they do beyond them. This free briefing compares the programmes alongside school accounts and historical results.
Read the complete public example with every finding and source
Picture the week your child would join
Picture a week in the sixth form. There are subjects to study, work to manage alone, people to get to know and interests to follow beyond lessons. A school’s results deserve attention, but these particulars help you understand the education behind them.
A pupil joining at 16 also has to find a place in a community already under way. Ask how newcomers meet tutors and friends, and how they begin taking part. An advertised opportunity becomes useful only when the pupil can reach it: the timing, selection and everyday encouragement all matter.
Questions to settle with the schools
- Which advertised opportunities can an ordinary new Year 12 pupil regularly use, and what requires selection, audition, invitation or an additional charge?
- How does a new pupil first get to know teachers, tutors and other pupils, and who helps if those introductions are slow to develop?
- Which parts of the week are compulsory, and how do lessons, study, activities, travel, evenings and weekends fit together?
Who notices when a pupil needs help?
A tutor’s name is a useful starting point. The more revealing question is what happens next: who notices work slipping, how they approach a quiet pupil, and whom a family can reach if the first conversation does not resolve the difficulty. A policy describes the intended arrangement; it cannot tell us how consistently every pupil receives help.
Give broad questions about pressure and happiness something definite to rest on. Ask about a difficult week, competing deadlines or the first term in an unfamiliar house. Personal accounts may suggest where to look, but one reassuring testimonial or worrying anecdote cannot speak for a whole school.
Questions to settle with the schools
- Who notices and follows up a new pupil falling behind, and how does support change after the first warning?
- Whom can a pupil approach if the difficulty involves their usual tutor or house contact, and who takes the concern further?
- Who checks how new day pupils and boarders are settling in, and what happens if the first arrangements are not helping?
- Can the school describe how a new entrant receives help in practice, without sharing another child’s private information?
King’s College School, Wimbledon: breadth, independent interests and a shared day
At King’s, breadth can take two quite different forms. A-level pupils begin with four subjects, keep at least three in Year 13 and pursue a question of their own through the King’s Essay. With departmental agreement, that work can sometimes become a composition or performance. The IB asks pupils to stay with six subjects at Higher and Standard Levels, alongside Theory of Knowledge, the Extended Essay and CAS. The choice concerns how much of their education remains broad as their interests become more particular.
The creative alternatives to the King’s Essay make the breadth question more particular. An A-level pupil may be able to pursue an idea through composition or performance, with departmental agreement, rather than keep every interest as an examined subject. That possibility is worth separating from a timetable entitlement: the proposed form, supervisor and demands still need to be agreed. A pupil reluctant to lose an art or musical interest has a useful question to put to the school.
The February 2025 inspection gives this ambition some texture. Teachers asked pupils to explain and clarify their thinking, and discussion reached beyond examination syllabuses. Senior pupils could also start and run societies: the report names an East and South-East Asian society and Her’d, which promotes female voices. Ideas could become contributions to the school’s life. These are observations from that inspection, rather than a description of every lesson or a promise about a future pupil.
The wider education needs room in the day. King’s describes at least one compulsory games afternoon a week and a two-year Personal Development Programme in which visiting speakers are followed by small-group discussion and reflection. Relationships, emotional and cultural understanding, and responsibilities beyond school are among its themes. Inspectors also described a timetable that helped pupils reach the wider activities programme. A prospective sixth-former needs to see how these shared commitments fit around subjects and work of their own.
The first year begins through smaller groups as well as the school as a whole. King’s assigns newcomers a house-linked form and tutor group, with a buddy from their own year and house. Its support page describes girls-only forms within the coeducational sixth form. The buddy sits alongside tutors, house staff and specialist pastoral contacts. These published arrangements make the next question more concrete: how does a quiet newcomer find their way into those relationships, and who follows up if they do not?
King’s describes an A-level programme that begins with four subjects in Year 12 and continues with at least three in Year 13. The King’s Essay gives pupils a project of their own in Year 12.
IB pupils keep six subjects: three at Higher Level and three at Standard Level, alongside Theory of Knowledge, an Extended Essay and CAS. The curriculum table sets out the restrictions on choices within each group and level.
King’s describes games and a two-year Personal Development Programme alongside academic study. To understand what pupils gain from them, a family needs to look beyond that description.
Girls and boys can join the sixth form. King’s has no boarding and does not sponsor Child Student visas, so families need a suitable arrangement for living and travelling to school.
King’s describes English, Mathematics and general tests, followed by interviews for selected candidates. Offers are generally unconditional, although the school reserves the right to require particular grades in individual cases.
The published tuition fee for Year 9 and above is £11,940 per term from September 2026. Lunch, sixth-form textbooks and stationery, and examinations are charged separately. For 2027 entry, the acceptance deposit is £5,970.
In February 2025, inspectors described classroom discussion, access to wider activities and pupil-led societies as ways in which intellectual breadth became part of school life.
With the relevant head of department’s agreement, the King’s Essay can take another form, such as a composition or performance. A pupil with a creative idea should ask who would supervise the work and how it would be assessed.
King’s says sixth-formers have at least one compulsory games afternoon each week. In its Personal Development Programme, visiting speakers are followed by small-group discussion and reflection. Both need room in the week alongside lessons and work pupils manage for themselves.
New sixth-formers join a form and tutor group linked to their house. For their first year, 16+ newcomers also have a buddy from the same year and house. The sixth form is coeducational, with girls-only forms within it.
King’s names tutors, heads of house and year, and specialist pastoral staff as people who can help. A family can use those names to ask what happens when a concern arises, who follows it up and how soon a pupil can expect a response.
The published creative alternatives to the King’s Essay may provide a way to continue an interest outside the selected A levels, subject to departmental agreement. They do not establish that every proposed project or subject combination is available.
Questions to settle with the schools
- For the proposed A-level or IB subjects and levels, can we see a current pupil’s ordinary week, including games, personal development, research and activities?
- How is a King’s Essay or IB Extended Essay idea developed with a supervisor, and what happens when the pupil’s first approach stalls?
- How are the same-year buddy, tutor and house staff involved during a new sixth-former’s first term, including when that pupil has not found an activity or friendship group?
- How can a new pupil start or help run a society, and who helps them keep that responsibility manageable alongside academic work?
- If a pupil drops an examined creative subject, could that interest become their King’s Essay work, with which supervisor, timetable and assessment?
King’s College School, Wimbledon: what still needs asking
The publications explain what the school offers. A visit and direct questions are still needed to explore daily teaching and support; these accounts cannot confirm a place or decide whether the school suits a particular child.
The curriculum guide is undated and describes typical offers. Exact subjects, timetable blocks and capacity for the intended entry year remain to be confirmed.
The fees shown begin in September 2026. For September 2027 entry, ask for that year’s fees and the compulsory and optional extras that would apply.
The same subject can involve different work at IB Higher Level and A level. Read the qualification and level beside the subject name.
The subject table is a starting point for enquiry: its footnote says not every typical subject or combination can always be offered. A historical result cannot fill that current-availability gap.
With no boarding alternative in the published arrangements, a family needs to be comfortable with the daily journey or a local living arrangement.
A sixth-form family needs to budget beyond tuition. Some extras have published charges, while the cost of books and examinations still needs to be confirmed.
Questions to settle with the schools
- Can the school confirm the exact proposed A-level combination or IB subjects and HL/SL levels for the intended entry year?
- What conditions would apply to this offer and to later sixth-form/subject progression?
- What is the 2027-28 tuition and the actual book, stationery, exam and lunch bill for the route/year selected?
St Paul’s School: scholarship, supervised enquiry and growing responsibility
St Paul’s describes the Eighth Form, its sixth form, as a step towards university-style study. Pupils take four or five subjects in small teaching groups, with more room for independent research. Its teaching account is interested in how thought develops: through reading and listening, reflection, argument and debate, with teachers approaching their subjects in different ways. These are the school’s ambitions for teaching; examples of pupils’ work would help a family see how they take shape.
The Extended Project gives that ambition a practical shape. A pupil can make a dissertation, investigation, performance or designed artefact, working with a staff supervisor and eventually presenting it to peers. Preparation begins at the end of Year 11, before topic choice and two terms of work in Year 12. Someone joining at 16 will want to ask how they enter that sequence. Engineering is described separately as a course based on the Edexcel Level 3 Extended Project, so its name should not be mistaken for a full additional A level.
The presentation to peers changes what independence asks of a pupil. A private interest has to become something other people can follow, question and discuss. St Paul’s describes one-to-one staff support alongside that public conclusion to the project. The useful example would show the stages between them: how the first question changed, what the supervisor challenged, and what the pupil decided to keep.
Independence sits alongside a regular meeting with other people. Sixth-formers meet daily in mixed-age tutor groups, which the school limits to twelve pupils. Friday time lets the group relax and reflect together. Counsellors, nurses, learning-support staff and senior pastoral staff sit behind the tutor. For a new entrant, the group offers contact across year groups as well as an adult to see each day; how the pupil comes to feel at home within it remains something to explore.
The pattern of the week changes as pupils take more responsibility. The Year 12 account includes Friday service and academic enrichment, with opportunities to contribute to societies, charities, sport and the arts. Some pupils reduce their subjects after Year 12 and are then expected to manage the additional free periods more independently. Ask to see the timetable on either side of that change, and how staff respond when a pupil has more freedom than they yet know how to use.
St Paul’s describes pupils taking four or five subjects in Year 12, with some dropping a subject at the end of the year. The pages we checked do not set out which choices fit together in the timetable, so a pupil’s particular combination still needs to be confirmed.
For the EPQ, a pupil works with an academic supervisor on a dissertation, investigation, performance or artefact. The school describes Engineering separately as a course based on the Edexcel Level 3 Extended Project.
St Paul’s describes daily meetings in mixed-age tutor groups, with community service and academic enrichment on Fridays. That account gives a family a pattern to ask pupils about: how do they join in, and what do they make of those parts of the week?
The selection guidance linked from the 2027 entry page describes a conditional offer for external candidates: eight (I)GCSE passes at grade 7, including at least six at 8 or 9 and the intended A-level subjects. Meeting those conditions does not tell a candidate how likely they are to receive an offer.
The school describes day places, full boarding and weekly boarding from Sunday evening to Friday afternoon. Flexi boarding for one to four nights depends on space being available.
For 2026-27, the termly fee for a new Year 12 pupil is £12,905 for a day place or £19,420 for boarding, including tuition. The basic fee includes compulsory lunch. Purchased books and public examinations are charged separately.
In its account of teaching, St Paul’s gives reading, listening, reflection, argument and debate a central place, with teachers approaching their subjects in different ways. These are the school’s stated aims; examples of pupils’ work would help a family understand how they take shape.
Preparation for the EPQ begins at the end of Year 11. The school then describes supervised work and a presentation to peers in Year 12. Someone joining at 16+ will want to ask how they catch the beginning of that process.
The school says its mixed-age tutor groups have no more than twelve pupils, meet daily and have time to reflect together on Fridays. A wider pastoral team supports them. Those regular meetings create opportunities to get to know people; the relationships themselves are something to ask pupils about.
The school says some pupils drop a subject after Year 12 and take more responsibility for the free periods that follow. Ask how staff help pupils learn to use that time, and what happens when work is missed.
The school’s EPQ sequence connects individual staff supervision to a final presentation of research to peers. It gives a family a concrete way to ask how an independent idea becomes a communicated argument or creation.
Questions to settle with the schools
- In the intended subjects, what recent task asked pupils to build, defend or revise an argument beyond an examination answer?
- For a new 16+ entrant, how is the EPQ preparation described at the end of Year 11 provided, and which project or Engineering work is optional within the agreed programme?
- How does a tutor introduce a new Year 12 pupil to the mixed-age group, and what happens if daily contact does not reveal a settling-in or work problem?
- Can we see how a Year 12 and Year 13 week changes, including Friday service, enrichment and free periods, and how a pupil receives help managing that change?
- Can we see how one recent EPQ changed between its first question, staff feedback and presentation to peers, including what remained the pupil’s own decision?
St Paul’s School: what still needs asking
The reviewed subject and daily-life pages are undated. Their published wording does not confirm the exact subjects or routine for the intended intake.
Public descriptions give different numbers for the external intake, so we cannot give a dependable figure. The dates page also gives a weekday and date that do not agree for accepting 2027 offers. Check the offer letter and ask the school to confirm the deadline.
There is no published 2027–28 tariff in this research. The 2026–27 fee for a new Year 12 entrant should be kept separate from the general school tariff.
An Engineering project and a Computer Science A level are different types of study and qualification. The presence of both departments should not become a claim that both are full A levels.
The conditional grade pattern should be read separately from the entrance examination; a promising examination performance does not erase the published offer conditions.
Use the external-Year-12 fee when budgeting a new entrant: the school publishes a separate, lower existing-pupil fee.
Full, weekly and flexible boarding answer different family arrangements; the flexi wording contains a space condition, not a guarantee.
The saved 2027 dates page labels the acceptance deadline “Tuesday 17 December 2026”, although that calendar date is a Thursday. The source conflict remains unresolved; this briefing does not choose a replacement deadline.
Questions to settle with the schools
- Will the precise intended four-/five-subject programme fit, and which studies are full A levels versus EPQ or Engineering project work?
- What are the internal continuation rules and the permission process for dropping or changing a subject?
- What boarding arrangement is available and what will the 2027-28 new-entrant fee and additional charges be?
- What is the confirmed 2027-cycle acceptance deadline?
King’s and St Paul’s: independent interests and the life around them
There is a sociable side to serious study in both school accounts. At King’s, the February 2025 inspectors saw teachers drawing pupils into discussion beyond examination material, and pupils enjoying the effort of working through difficult ideas. St Paul’s describes teachers bringing their own styles to their subjects, room to reflect as well as argue, and laughter alongside serious scholarship. The attraction in both accounts is intellectual company: curiosity that has someone to answer it, challenge it and share it.
That ambition takes different curricular forms. King’s offers a choice between the six-subject IB, with its compulsory core, and A levels beginning with four subjects and including the King’s Essay. St Paul’s describes four or five subjects and separate project opportunities. At King’s, an A-level pupil’s own question can sometimes become a composition or performance, with departmental agreement. St Paul’s gives its EPQ an audience: after work with a staff supervisor, pupils present what they have made or discovered to their peers. Its preparation begins at the end of Year 11, making entry into that sequence a particular question for someone arriving at 16. The comparison concerns the place an individual interest finds within the whole programme, as well as the qualification attached to it.
Interests also become reasons to gather. King’s inspectors described senior pupils creating and running societies, including an East and South-East Asian society and Her’d, which promotes female voices. St Paul’s describes sixth-formers taking leading roles in clubs, societies, drama and music; its Engineering page gives a more particular example in EnSoc, where talks sit alongside practical challenges. These are occasions to contribute something to the school’s life and find people who share an enthusiasm. How a newcomer joins in is a more revealing question than the length of either activities list.
The smaller, recurring encounters have a different shape in each published account. King’s gives a new sixth-former a buddy from the same year and house for the first year, alongside a house-linked form and tutor group. St Paul’s describes daily meetings across year groups, in tutor groups capped at twelve, with Friday time to unwind and reflect together—sometimes over cake.
These interests and relationships need time. King’s reserves at least one games afternoon each week and runs a Personal Development Programme in which visiting speakers are followed by small-group discussion. St Paul’s includes service and enrichment on Fridays, then describes more responsibility for free periods after some pupils reduce their subjects at the end of Year 12. Its Year 13 common room adds a place of their own to that greater freedom. Comparing a real week would show how chosen pursuits, shared commitments and time with other people fit around the academic work.
King’s offers six-subject IB study with Higher and Standard Levels and the Theory of Knowledge, Extended Essay and CAS core, or A levels beginning with four subjects and including the King’s Essay. St Paul’s describes four or five subjects. The whole programme matters when comparing the breadth a pupil will retain.
At St Paul’s, Engineering is described as an Extended Project qualification. It should not be treated as an extra full Engineering A level when comparing the course offer.
King’s curriculum table warns that all subjects or combinations cannot always be offered. St Paul’s daily-life account gives subject numbers but no option-block map. Confirm the intended combination and project commitments at both schools.
King’s allows some creative alternatives to the King’s Essay with departmental agreement. St Paul’s describes individually supervised EPQ work, preparation at the end of Year 11 and a presentation to peers in Year 12. Compare the project’s form, status, supervision and timing, including how a new entrant joins the sequence.
King’s publishes a first-year buddy arrangement alongside house-linked forms and tutor groups. St Paul’s describes daily contact across year groups and groups of no more than twelve, with relaxed Friday tutor time. These are documented occasions for companionship; they do not establish how every pupil experiences them or that either school lacks other arrangements.
King’s games and Personal Development Programme, and St Paul’s Friday programme and later free periods, shape the week around lessons. St Paul’s also describes a Year 13 common room. Ask how pupils actually use the time and spaces available to them.
King’s February 2025 inspection describes intellectual discussion and enjoyment of challenging ideas. St Paul’s teaching account presents varied methods, reflection, debate and classroom humour. These sources support a comparison of the intellectual company each portrays, while retaining the distinction between a dated inspection and institutional self-description.
King’s inspectors named senior pupil-led societies, including the East and South-East Asian society and Her’d. St Paul’s describes sixth-form roles in societies and the arts, while its Engineering Society combines talks and practical challenges. These examples make participation more concrete without establishing an opportunity’s current availability to every newcomer.
Questions to settle with the schools
- Can we see the proposed A-level or IB week, with the exact subjects, compulsory project work and shared commitments marked, alongside activities a pupil actually chooses?
- Can pupils show a recent project they enjoyed pursuing, including how feedback changed it? How does a new 16+ entrant join the preparation, particularly the sequence St Paul’s begins in Year 11?
- What have new sixth-formers recently contributed to a society, performance or practical project, and how did they find their way in?
- Can a current sixth-former describe an ordinary tutor or buddy meeting, and where they now find company during the week? If joining in or managing the work becomes difficult, who notices and what help follows?
King’s and St Paul’s: joining and daily commitment
King’s is a day school with a coeducational sixth form. St Paul’s is a boys’ school offering day and several boarding arrangements. Before comparing a timetable, picture where the pupil would live, how they would travel and whom they would see at the beginning and end of the day.
Those arrangements shape the first term, but do not predict how happily a pupil will settle. Ask how a new Year 12 entrant meets people, finds activities and reaches help when a difficulty persists.
A family considering King’s needs a workable daily journey or local living arrangement; there is no boarding alternative in the published provision.
St Paul’s describes full and weekly boarding, with flexi boarding subject to space. These are different practical arrangements and need separate confirmation.
Questions to settle with the schools
- How are new Year 12 pupils introduced to existing tutor and friendship groups?
- What parts of the ordinary week run beyond lessons, and what would the daily journey or boarding arrangement require?
- Which named contact notices academic or settling-in problems, and how can the family reach someone when a concern remains unresolved?
Compare the bill that applies to the entrant
The fee that matters is the one for the pupil joining. King’s publishes tuition from September 2026. St Paul’s 2026–27 tariff distinguishes a new Year 12 entrant from a pupil already at the school. Using its general fee would miss that difference.
Then work through what tuition includes, what is charged separately and when deposits are paid or returned. A deposit is not automatically an extra annual fee, and termly and annual alternatives must not be added together. Neither publication supplies a complete 2027–28 family budget.
A comparison using St Paul’s standard existing-pupil figure would miss its higher published new-Year-12 tuition. King’s separately charges lunch and sixth-form books, stationery and exams; the headline tuition figures therefore have different boundaries.
Questions to settle with the schools
- What tariff applies to a new Year 12 entrant in the intended academic year?
- Which compulsory charges and ordinary sixth-form extras sit outside tuition?
- What are the deposit, notice, refund and withdrawal terms for this entry route?
What the results add to the question
How do KCS Wimbledon and St Paul’s compare on A-level grades at A*?
St Paul’s comes out higher than KCS Wimbledon on the share of A-level entries awarded A* when the available years are compared. The same school comes out higher in every period we checked.
The full study shows which years and groups sit behind this comparison. Read those details alongside the pattern: they cannot tell us the quality of teaching today, how much attending the school contributed, or what a future pupil will achieve.
King’s also publishes an IB route. This A-level entry-share comparison covers the named A-level populations; it is not a comparison of the whole sixth form or of pupils across both qualification routes.
Share of published A-level entries awarded A* in the named examination year.
Questions to settle with the schools
- Which pupils or examination entries are included, and which qualification did they take?
- Have the subjects, pupils included or way of reporting results changed since these years?
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The complete KCS Wimbledon and St Paul’s example is free. We have written comparisons of KCS Wimbledon, St Paul’s and Westminster, of Eton and Winchester, and of SPGS and Wycombe Abbey. For other selections, we bring together the available school accounts, dated subject studies and questions. Some accounts are short introductions. A new shortlist does not commission a new comparison; read the coverage for your schools before buying.
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