Senior School

In the Senior School at RGS, we strive for excellence in academic study and achievement. Our students are supported in this by a curriculum that promotes both breadth of study in the early years to develop the subject knowledge, and development of the key skills that students will need to allow them to access learning at a suitably high level for success at GCSE and beyond.

KEY STAGE 3

In Years 7-9, all students study the same wide core of subjects that embrace and develop numeracy, literacy, scientific knowledge and understanding, development of language, appreciation of the humanities, artistic and creative learning, dramatic performance, sporting and physical development and social and emotional well-being.

Students study all subjects in mixed groups with the exception of Maths, where the groups are setted according to ability and attainment. Students therefore develop good social interaction skills within these groupings.

In Year 9, the curriculum allows a degree of choice to give students the opportunity to broaden their knowledge into new areas and to deepen their understanding of others. The broad core remains common to all. The arrangements for Maths continues as in Years 7/8.

KEY STAGE 4

At GCSE, students are given greater freedom of choice of academic subjects but within the constraints of what we consider a good RGS education should provide; namely a solid grounding in Maths, English and Science. New subjects are introduced in Year 10 that give opportunities for further knowledge and understanding to be developed.

Throughout these formative years students are encouraged to think carefully about their emotional, social and physical well-being through our PSHE programme together with a combined Philosophy and Religion course that allows them to explore spiritual and ethical ideas. This encompasses not only timetabled lessons but also time off-timetable to explore ideas in greater depth.

All students take 10 GCSE exams at the end of Year 11, with some taking an extra GCSE in Further Maths. Many of our subjects offer the IGCSE exam as opposed to the mainstream GCSE. These are directly equivalent in terms of university applications but we think they provide better courses more suited to our students and certainly a better preparation for A Level.

For a list of our exam boards and specifications, please click here.

KEY STAGE 5

In the Sixth Form, students have complete freedom of choice to choose the subjects they wish to study. We expect all students to study three or four subjects to A Level. Full details can be found in the Sixth Form Guide and here. 

For a list of our exam boards and specifications, please click here.

See our previous years' results here