The GCSE Years – Developing
There are not many adults who would choose to repeat Year 10 and 11 again given the choice. They are notoriously difficult years to negotiate yet the foundations put down in the first year provide the stability and platform for a sustained learning experience. The priorities for the staff are clear:
- To cultivate a positive attitude to and love of learning for its own sake and to provide a working atmosphere where good relationships between staff and students make learning both academically exciting and enjoyable
- To enable every student to acquire the knowledge, skills and concepts necessary to enable them to compete and flourish in a rapidly changing world.
- To ensure continuity between the stages of education and to prepare students for the opportunities, responsibilities and experiences of adult life.
- To encourage students to develop confidence and self-respect as well as a respect for difference in others. There is recognition that the efforts and achievements of every individual in our community are valued equally.
- To promote an awareness of, and appreciation for, a spiritual dimension to life in order to facilitate students’ spiritual, moral, cultural, and intellectual development.
- To encourage an enthusiasm for the world beyond the classroom – in particular, sport, music, the performing arts and the concept of community service.
- To ensure that the curriculum can be accessed by all, and that it is effectively monitored, evaluated and implemented.
- To develop a strong activist spirit amongst the student body, that is reflected in an independent and dynamic approach to work both inside and outside the classroom
