Loughborough Grammar School: Loughborough, Leicestershire, UK

The curriculum of this top boarding school is designed to ensure pupils experience linguistic, mathematical, scientific, human and social, physical, technological and aesthetic and creative education. The structure, depth and focus of the curriculum differs according to the age group concerned.

The curriculum from Year 6 to Year 8 is intended to encourage breadth of study and range of experience. It does this by providing a wide range of subjects (12 plus RE, PSHE, PE and Games by the end of Year 8) with a necessarily limited contact time for each. In Year 9, there are 9 compulsory subjects and an additional 3 are studied from a list of 9. In most subjects these courses have ‘education for the citizen’ as their primary aim although, necessarily, they are also laying the foundations for further academic study. All boys follow a ‘half’ GCSE course in IT in Years 7 – 9 and take the assessment at the end of Year 9.

In Years 10 and 11 the characteristic of the curriculum is ‘broad and balanced’ study with greater depth leading to external examination in 9 subject areas but with an element of compulsory breadth. A core of English (x2) and Mathematics is augmented by six option choices, PSHE, RE and Games. One option must be a Modern Foreign Language: it is also expected that boys choose at least two Science subjects and at least one Humanities’ subject. Many boys engage with aesthetic and creative education through the wide-ranging extra-curricular programme which compensates for any absence of subjects in this area in their academic options. A small number of boys take a tenth GCSE which is studied during CCF time.

In Years 12 and 13 the curriculum is characterised by ‘flexibility and choice’. Students normally choose four AS subjects leading to three or four A2 subjects plus General Studies.