Approaches to learning

Whilst GCSE qualifications are significant in terms of future study, they are strong, exciting and rigorous courses in their own right. At Haileybury, we offer a mixed economy of qualifications: some are GCSE and some are IGCSE. The simple explanation for this is that we are driven by the desire to offer the pupils the best possible course: by this, we mean the the course that will best prepare pupils for later study, and the course that we believe challenges all pupils.

The GCSE years also present a time of educational maturity. The curriculum we offer ensures that academic rigour is treasured, and that pupils will start to identify as linguists, artists, historians, and other such specialists. They will not be driven towards examinations: they will be taught to interact with, and to love their subjects. This will, inevitably, bring about examination success. This rigour will be balanced with opportunities for pupils to develop their curiosity, to question and probe the veracity of the subjects that they are studying, and to recognise connections across these subjects. Independence of thought and of study will be developed: this is, of course, the end goal of education, rather than the means through which it is delivered.