Our Approach

The Senior School is vibrant, exciting and challenging: a place for students to mature into responsible young adults as they learn together in a thriving international environment. We work closely with families to ensure that students have high academic aspirations, achieve success in public examinations and discover interests that stay with them for life. Our first class facilities and highly qualified staff enable students to explore their academic fascinations and to develop a lifelong love of learning.

Throughout their time in the Senior School, students enjoy outstanding opportunities to explore and develop their own interests, have access to the very latest learning resources, technology and facilities, and benefit from the experience and expertise of our truly exceptional teaching team.

A supportive network of pastoral and learning support specialists, Heads of Year and Form Tutors, with whom many students and parents form a particularly close bond, closely monitor progress both inside and out of the classroom, ensuring that the wellbeing and happiness and students in their care remains the school’s first priority.
 

Academic Programme

Students follow a broad and balanced programme of study that is based on the English National Curriculum and adapted for our multi-lingual, international context. Full details of the curriculum are available in the Curriculum Guides.

All students in Years 7 to 11 study English, Mathematics and Science (either combined or separate sciences), supplemented by a range of languages, humanities and creative and performance subjects.  As students move up through Senior School they focus upon subjects of their choice, preparing for the internationally recognised General Certificate of Secondary Education (IGCSE) courses in Years 10 and 11 and Advanced Level (A Level) in Years 12 and 13.

Students are encouraged and supported to take greater personal responsibility for their learning. Collaboration, group work and individual assignments are all used to develop the students’ skills, knowledge and understanding through ever more independent approaches to learning and discovery.
 

Developing Personal Skills

We are proud to enable our students to develop the skills and attitudes to be lifelong learners: to think independently, to challenge and discuss rather than be treated as empty vessels to be filled with facts.  We ensure that they have high academic aspirations and achieve success in public examinations but more importantly to develop a lifelong love of learning.

Our team of dedicated Higher Education advisors supports students throughout their applications to the world’s leading universities and to prepare them for careers in industries that have yet to be invented.  This requires our curriculum to be flexible and to focus upon the higher order skills of collaboration, communication and creative problem solving.
This education for life extends well beyond the traditional classroom: through the “You Time!”after-school activities programme, House System, International Award, and a carefully constructed “Learning for Life” programme, we encourage our students to develop leadership skills and become compassionate and responsible members of the community, willing to question while retaining respect for traditional values.  We challenge them to take calculated risks, to develop their sense of adventure, to explore new interests and to understand the place that these have in a balanced and healthy approach to life.

We are proud to teach our students to learn, to think independently, to challenge and discuss rather than be treated as empty vessels to be filled with facts. Our success speaks for itself!
 

Mr Robert Millar
Vice Principal (Head of Senior)