Chronicle Spring 2022

12 ST EDWARD’S CHRONICLE

The Evolution of the Curriculum at St Edward’s by David Flower, Deputy Head Academic

Award Science from September 2022. We think that it is important for each pupil to be able to pursue the courses best suited to them and so returning to Triple Science for those best equipped feels like a progressive step. One of the ways in which we will achieve this is to move to 45-minute lessons, a development recently announced by the Warden. The new Pathways and Perspectives courses, which have been hugely popular and give our curriculum unrivalled breadth and diversity, will continue to be an option alongside GCSE subjects, allowing pupils to build a Middle Years programme which fuels their individual interests and ambitions. Another way in which we want to make sure our curriculum fits the needs and abilities of all of our pupils is to allow them to choose to take four separate A Levels. Up until now this option has only been open to pupils who take Maths at A Level as they have been able to add Further Maths as a fourth course. Any Fifth Form pupil who thinks that they might want to take

four A Levels ought to see me and I will explain the process, as soon as possible. It has been wonderful to see the Christie Centre in use as the architects envisaged. I enjoy roaming the buildings during evening prep time and witnessing the quiet productivity in the Roe Reading Room, a lovely contrast to the bustling break-out spaces that are used for collaboration in the daytime. It is fantastic that one building can encapsulate so much of our academic ethos. To support post-lockdown learning we have re-introduced prep timetables into the Shell, Fourth and Fifth Forms – these are not onerous, but do ensure that prep is evenly spaced out, with at least 48 hours between setting and submission. We continue to believe that self-regulation is a crucial skill that pupils need to be taught during their time at school and the purpose of these new timetables is to bring predictability and regularity to their workload. Pupils can record work in their diaries, which means that they need not always work on a device in the evenings. Of course, some work is

The evolution of the curriculum at St Edward’s continues to move at a great pace. In September, the new Academic Steering Group, together with the Heads of Department, conducted the first of what will be an annual consultation on the subjects that we offer at IB and A Level, as well as through the Middle School years. Probably the biggest alteration to come out of this will be to include GCSE and A Level Computer Science for the first time from September 2022 – a change which has already been warmly welcomed by many Fifth Form parents at their Sixth Form options evenings. Other new arrivals include IB Dance and A Level Textiles. A key principle that you can begin to see being revealed here is to maximise choice. Whilst this cannot be achieved in one fell swoop, parents and pupils will begin to notice a slightly greater range of subject choices being offered over the next few years. A good example of this is in the Middle School where will be offering Triple Award Science as well as Double

Phoebe Eggs with her textile designs