THE first independent school to abandon A levels in favour of the International Baccalaureate (IB) tops The Times table of leading schools this year.

Scoring 587.9 points on the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (Ucas) scale, the 216 candidates at Sevenoaks School, in Kent, beat their nearest rivals, King’s College School, in Wimbledon, southwest London, by 75.3 points.

Sevenoaks’s achievement will increase pressure on other schools to introduce the IB instead of, or alongside, A levels.Mike Bolton, the undermaster at the coeducational school, which was founded in 1432, said that it was the first member of the Headmasters’ and Headmistresses’ Conference (HMC) of 245 top independent schools to adopt the IB in 1997.

“Initially, it was taught alongside A levels but the school made the decision to phase out A levels in 1999 just before the Government introduced new-style A levels.

“We felt it would provide a more challenging option for our able sixth-formers and offered a real alternative to the narrow specialisation of A levels.”

The IB — for which students study six subjects, complete a theory of knowledge course, write a 4,000-word essay and do community service — has been growing in popularity.

Advocates say that the Swiss-run diploma offers a more challenging course than the traditional three A levels.

Four of the schools in the top ten in The Times A level league tables offer the IB. They include Hockerill Anglo-European College in Bishop’s Stortford, which is the leading state school in the list.

With 496 points and in sixth place, Hockerill, like Sevenoaks, has abandoned the A level.

North London Collegiate School for girls in Edgware, northwest London, which offers the IB with A levels, is the leading girls’ school in the list.

Bernice McCabe, the headmistress, said that it was important that pupils were given the choice to do either the IB or A levels, which were favoured over the baccalaureate in some subject areas, notably science and maths.

“What we like about the IB is that it gives confidence to students to apply their knowledge across a range of disciplines,” she said.

For A levels, an A grade is valued at 120 points, a B at 100, a C at 80, a D at 60 and an E at 40, with AS grades worth half their equivalent at A level.

For the IB, Ucas scores range from 280 points to a top mark of 786, equivalent to six A grades at A level and one A grade at AS. The IB scores used have been agreed with Ucas for entry into higher education from 2008.

The results for independent schools were supplied by the Independent Schools Council. State schools and colleges, which are marked with an asterisk in the table, supplied their results directly to The Times.

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