The academic programme for students entering the school at 11+ is designed to build on their existing knowledge, skills and experiences and to prepare them for courses leading to GCSE in five years time. 

We aim to follow the National Curriculum as far as possible in all subjects but to offer more than the bare bones of what is prescribed. The aim of the first two years in the Senior School is to ensure that students develop an excitement about their learning in a much wider range of subjects than in the primary curriculum. They will need to impress fourteen different teachers in fifteen different subjects – quite a challenge for a lively 11 year old.

During the first year students are taught French and Spanish in half year blocks before making a choice on which language they wish to pursue from Year 8 to GCSE. All students also have an introduction to playing a musical instrument and receive specialist teaching. Emphasis is placed on English and Mathematics, as literacy and numeracy provide the foundation for success in other areas, and there is a solid grounding in Science taught by specialists. Students are also introduced to Drama.

Each student will have the support of a personal Tutor who will look after every aspect of their life at school in consultation with the Housemaster or Housemistress. Students are assessed regularly and every half term they are formally graded for attitude to learning and every term for academic attainment.

Year 9 is the last year of a broad curriculum of fifteen subjects before they start to specialise with their choices for GCSE. As such it is important that it is approached in the right way. Students are encouraged to put away any preconceived notions of where their strengths and weaknesses lie. They are urged to have a go and if they fail, to pick themselves up and try again with the support of their subject teacher, academic tutor and Housemaster or Housemistress.

At such a young age students do not know what they are good at or what they will need in the future and it would be wrong of them to mentally close subjects off without a last good try. In languages the nature of the course dictates that children who arrived having studied a language will continue with it for Year 9. We do not run any ab initio languages courses at this point. They can then choose to continue it for GCSE when they make these choices later in the year. Students receive advice from a number of sources over their GCSE course choices since it is the first time that often difficult choices are made. Students continue with Mathematics, English and Sciences through to GCSE. Depending on which sets they are in they will take between 4 and 7 GCSEs in these core subjects. They then choose four other options, and we encourage them to consider a Humanity, a Modern Foreign Language and a Creative or Performance based subject. They then have one more choice to make from all the subjects that are available.

Each student will have the support of a personal Tutor who will look after every aspect of their life at school in consultation with their Housemaster or Housemistress.  Students are assessed regularly and every half term they are formally graded for attitude to learning and academic attainment.