Departments

We seek to nurture students by providing curricular choices that cater for their individual God-given talents and interests. To support this the College provides a dedicated and supportive staff who are always willing to go the extra mile in terms of providing support and encouragement to students. We aim to provide a holistic education which promote academic success.

Curriculum

In the Senior College students follow a balanced, core curriculum in years 7 & 8 (our U3rd and L4th) before making four options choices for year 9 (U4th) that allow students to begin a process of personal specialisation before embarking on their GCSE courses. In years 10 & 11 (L5th and U5th) the majority of our students study 9 GCSEs/iGCSEs (we use the specifications that we deem to be most interesting, that are also fair in terms of their accessibility and marking) – English Language, English Literature, Mathematics, Religion, Trilogy Science (worth two GCSEs) and three option choices (one of which could be to change to the separate Sciences). Restrictions on those three option choices are kept to a bare minimum to allow students to pursue their own interests.

Most students at St Bede’s study nine subjects for GCSE.

The following six subjects comprise the core: English Language, English Literature, Religion, Mathematics, Combined Science (Trilogy – worth two GCSEs). If you are in the top Mathematics set you will also take GCSE Statistics in the same time allocated to your Mathematics lessons.

Three subjects, selected from the following options list, are then added to the core subjects: Art, Business, Classical Civilisation, Computing, Design Technology, Drama, Economics, French, Geography, Geology, German, History, Latin, Music, Physical Education, Photography, Separate Sciences and Spanish. The Separate Sciences option provides extra Science lessons which will allow a student to complete the three Separate Sciences (Biology, Chemistry and Physics – three GCSEs) instead of the Trilogy award (two GCSEs)

All students also have Physical Education lessons and PSME lessons with a full programme of moral and spiritual education, assistance with revision techniques and careers advice.

In the Sixth Form we offer an extremely wide range of A-level courses (26) and the ability to take either 3 or 4 upon entry. These are supplemented by not only our PSHEE programme and Senior Games, but also by a range of supplemental qualifications including EPQs, Core maths and the iGCSE in Global Perspectives.

We are proud of the exciting range of Sixth Form opportunities open to you at St Bede’s College. There are few comparable institutions offering such a variety of choice, not to mention talented and experienced staff working very hard in partnership with our students to make the two years of Sixth Form stimulating, successful, productive and above all greatly enjoyable.

 We strive at St Bede’s to find the correct educational programmes for each of our individual students and this has been one of our drivers behind a significant increase in the number of our students taking an EPQ (the Extended Project Qualification). These are well respected by universities and give students a real chance to demonstrate their ability to work independently, a highly valued skill.

To retain the Bedian emphasis on your spiritual, moral and physical development, you will also take part in Games where a very wide range of options is now open to you. As well as Games, we also offer the possibility of Community Service beyond the College. Finally there is private study time as preparation for the university years of fully independent study.