Curriculum

CURRICULUM ORGANISATION

Year 13 - Upper Sixth - IB Diploma Year 2

Year 12 - Lower Sixth - IB Diploma Year 1

Year 11 - GCSE final year/Pre-IB year

Year 10 - GCSE

Year 9 - GCSE

Year 8 - Common Entrance

Year 7 - Common Entrance

Year 6 - Common Entrance

The IB Diploma Programme is designed as an academically challenging and balanced programme of education with final examinations that prepares students, normally aged 16 to 19, for success at university and life beyond. The programme is taught over two years and enjoys recognition and respect from the world's leading universities.

For more information, please visit our Sixth Form column.

 GCSE

GCSE stands for General Certificate of Secondary Education. It is highly valued by schools, colleges and employers. Results are consulted by university admissions tutors along with subsequent qualifications so careful choice is important.

The qualification mainly involves studying the theory of a subject, combined with some investigative work. Some subjects also involve practical work. GCSEs are studied full-time at Westbourne over three years. Students joining in Year 10 can also take a negotiated range of GCSEs taking into account previous study and achievement. Students joining in year 11 will complete a pre-IB year with choice of subjects from the GCSE subject list. A personalised timetable is developed to best enable students to prepare for the IB Diploma.

For more information about the GCSE Course, please visit our Senior School column.

COMMON ENTRANCE

An assessment across all curriculum subjects at age 13+. The assessment is academic in nature and we use the process to enable our students to commence their GCSE studies in Year 9. The curriculum content in lessons in Years 6-8 covers all aspects of this syllabus which is set by the Independent Schools Education Board.