The Foundation Stage starts in the Early Years (ages 2 to 5), where learning is play based. Children acquire their first notions of numeracy and literacy through active, playful activities. By the end of the Early Years, most children have acquired basic reading and number skills and a grounding of a second language.
In the Primary school, KS 1 (ages 5 to 7) and KS 2 (ages 7 to 11) focuses on learning good fundamental Maths and English language skills. Science, Technology, Humanities and Art are covered as multi-disciplinary topics and through projects. Within Primary school, students will sit national exams called SATS in Year 2, and GL assessments in Year 6.
The curriculum in KS 3 Lower Secondary (ages 11 to 14) is more subject based and aims at building students’ ability to work independently and think critically. At this stage the emphasis is on exposing opportunities to a wide range of subjects so that they can begin to form ideas of where their academic interests lie.
Upper Secondary students in KS 4 work towards their (I)GCSE examinations (ages 14 to 16) and A-Level exams. At (I)GCSE, students study English, Maths, Science and a second language plus an additional four or five subjects from a selection. At A Level students specialise further and choose three or four subjects from a range of options.