Senior Years Curriculum

As a leading independent school, we provide our students with the breadth and the depth required to prepare them for success in life, as encapsulated in our motto: “Ad Vitam Paramus”. We aim to stimulate, challenge and support all students inside the classroom as well as nurture and promote their talents across a wide range of extra-curricular activities. Our students are equipped to succeed in their examinations, and to compete for places at the best universities in the UK and overseas.

The senior school day is organised to allow our students to pursue their wider interests in the fields of academic learning, sport and beyond; they take part in debates, lectures, poetry readings, tournaments and theatre productions. There are also numerous trips organised both at home and abroad throughout the year.

During year 9, students maintain the broadest possible curriculum in order to introduce them to the full range of subjects available at Sherfield and options are kept to a minimum.

In years 10 and 11, our boys and girls study a core of compulsory subjects to GCSE: English, Mathematics and Science – with the precise configuration tailored to their strengths; to these they add, following discussions with their tutors, teachers, and our academic and university advisors, a number of options in the fields of Languages, Humanities and the Arts.

In year 12, students have a wide choice of subjects offered at A- level. Students choose between three and five AS subjects, which they may then narrow somewhat to specialise at A2. We model the teaching in the sixth form on the Oxford tutorial system, in small groups, and support our sixth formers in developing the research skills and independence required at with university. For more information on the sixth form, click here.

Schemes of work are reviewed annually and are designed to ensure that lessons are optimally focused and that all students make progress throughout their education.