The Middle School (Years 9 - 11)

Our GCSE Approach

Our approach to GCSE study is one which aims at ensuring pupils benefit from a wide range of choices and options when it comes to GCSE courses. Personalised learning goes to the heart of academic study and pupils tend to do best when given some ownership over which study pathway is the right one for them. We believe that playing a role in creating your own tailored study programme is more likely to lead to greater engagement with study in the all-important GCSE years.

Our GCSE approach requires all pupils to do Maths, English and three Sciences (or Dual Award Science) as a standard. Pupils then choose an additional four ‘options’ subject choices from a wide variety of choices, as outlined in the GCSE Subject Information Handbook, and we ask that one of these choices be a language (Chinese for native speakers, French, German, Latin or Spanish) - unless the pupil has no prior language experience. Please note that from September 2026, Chinese GCSE (Edexcel) will be available to native speakers only.

Badminton education has shaped my work ethic. We worked so hard but we were also conscious of the importance of having a balanced lifestyle.

Justine Hung, Old Badmintonian

Once pupils have chosen their core curriculum subjects, they may also want to take an additional course to complement their mainstream curriculum.

Pupils should see this as a chance to do something a little bit different or outside of the core offering to develop key transferable skills of, for example, independent research or a chance to embrace some creativity.

The options offered, subject to uptake, include courses like HPQ, ICDL and JACR Classical Greek. Although many pupils do these courses, they are not mandatory and many pupils opt for wider school engagement through participation in clubs and activities.

When making GCSE choices, whilst pupils should look to do subjects they enjoy and are likely to do well in, pupils should also think about how subject choices may affect future pathways. Whilst we ask all pupils to choose a language (unless no prior language experience), pupils should also keep in mind future A Level and Higher Education choices. For example, although medicine A Level requirements can vary slightly from university to university, we believe that aspiring Medics, Vets and Engineers would be wise to opt for all three sciences at GCSE. In addition, it would be worth keeping in mind that university courses in these subjects can also sometimes look for grade 8 or above at GCSE.

Whilst this website is mainly geared up to making informed A Level choices, pupils and parents may wish to use it to help frame and inform their GCSE choices: Informed Choices