Key Stage 4 and IGCSE

The move from Key Stage 3 to Key Stage 4 involves some important changes both in the structure of the timetable and in the nature of the lessons. By the end of Key Stage 3 students will have followed up to fifteen subjects and they now begin the process of selecting areas of specialism.

The Key Stage 4 programme provides students with opportunities to engage with increasingly complex and challenging issues which are relevant to their daily lives. Students are encouraged to apply their knowledge and use their creativity.  It is important that education doesn’t just focus on the academic in isolation but also embraces the social, physical, emotional, cognitive, and ethical dimensions of the individual.

In Key Stage 4 students choose a smaller range of IGCSE (International General Certificate of Secondary Education) and GCSE subjects and have specialist teachers for the courses they select to study.

Prior to making the important I/GCSE choices, students in Year 9 receive advice and assistance from teachers about the subjects on offer. Students have the chance to play a positive, pro-active role in making decisions that could influence their future opportunities in life.

• English - Language & Literature (2 IGCSEs) or Second Language (1 IGCSE) 
• Mathematics (IGCSE)

• Physical Education
• PSHE - a planned programme of learning through which students acquire the knowledge, understanding and skills they need to manage their lives.

During Year 10, students begin to look at their futures and start to develop their understanding of careers and future options. Students have work experience opportunities to develop their understanding of the world of work, what expectations from them as workers might be and what they might expect to gain from a working environment.

Towards the end of their time in Key Stage 4 students are offered a structured transition towards the Sixth Form. The vast majority of our students stay on to study the IB Diploma programme at the school.