Students begin GCSE courses in Term 6 of Year 9

All students are required to study Mathematics (8 Hours), English Language and Literature (combined 7 Hours) and either Triple Science (13 hours) or Combined Science (9 hours).

In addition, all students choose at least one humanity from either Geography or History (4 hours) and at least one language from either French (4 hours), Spanish (4 hours) or Latin (4 hours). As a result, all students are entered for the English Baccalaureate suite of subjects.

Those choosing Triple Science may select two further options. Those choosing Combined Science will choose three additional options, all taught over 4 hours.

Students will attend Mathematics, English and Science lessons in classes of approximately 25. Only Mathematics sets are based on ability with students from Bridge, Castle and Gordon being placed into ability sets 1-4 and students from Pitt, River, Thetford and Tower in sets 1-5. All other subjects are taught in classes of mixed ability.

Our GCSE timetable is structured so that students learn Science in the same class sets as they study Mathematics. These two subjects have considerable overlap and we consider progress in Mathematics as a good indicator of potential success in Science. It is very unlikely that it would be appropriate for a Year 9 student currently in the lowest Mathematics set of their half year to do triple Science. We would only recommend that students in Sets 1 or 2 in the Y half and 1, 2 and 3 in the Z half follow the Triple Science route. Those students taking Triple Science will be placed in Triple sets for both Mathematics and Science, while those opting for Combined will be allocated to Combined sets for these subjects as they commence Key Stage 4.

The top sets in Mathematics also complete a GCSE in Further Mathematics.

Beyond certificated GCSEs, students continue to attend compulsory Games lessons on Wednesday afternoons for Year 11 (2 hours), or Thursday afternoons for Year 10 (2 hours),  where they are offered a wide range of sporting activities. They also attend PE lessons (2 hours) and Life Skills lessons (2 hours) throughout the week in their Science sets.

Information about the individual subject can be found on the Subjects page.