Academic Overview
At North Bridge House Senior Canonbury, we have created a broad and varied curriculum that prepares students for the competitive global job market. Specialist options complement the balanced range of core subjects for every year group, so that, from the outset of their secondary education, students are familiar with and can pursue sought-after fields of interest.
Students refine their curriculum choices as they progress through GCSE and A-Level to allow for greater specialism and depth of study. Together with two weekly enrichment sessions, the curriculum at North Bridge House Canonbury targets life skills and personal development as well as academic achievement.
French and Spanish are taught on a fast track system: students are given the opportunity, should they feel ready, to take their GCSE exams in these subjects at the end of Year 9. This subsequently allows them to either take a further language at GCSE (Latin/Mandarin or French/Spanish), or have more time to focus on their other subjects. Completing their Spanish or French GCSE early also enables students to study these subjects at AS level during Years 10 and 11.
Key Stage 3:
Years 7 and 8
From age 11 pupils study:
English, Drama
Mathematics, Science,
History, Geography,
French / Spanish (Students choose between the two),
Latin, Mandarin (Pupils study both in the first half term and continue with one in the second half),
Art, Music,
Computing,
PSHE and PE.
Key Stage 3
Pre-GCSE
In Year 9 (age 13+), all pupils study:
English,
Maths, Science,
PSHE, PE,
at least one language,
at least one humanity,
at least one creative subject,
plus two more options.
Subject options include:
French / Spanish / Mandarin / Latin
Art / Drama / Music
Geography / History
Key Stage 4
GCSE
In Years 10 and 11 (ages 14-16), pupils select three GCSE subjects of their choice to study alongside the compulsory subjects of English, Maths and Science. They also have compulsory weekly Enrichment, P.E. and PSHE sessions but are not examined in these subjects, unless they have selected P.E. as one of their three GCSE options.
| Compulsory GCSE subjects | Non – compulsory GCSE subjects | Compulsory non-GCSE subjects | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| English Lit. & Lang | Enrichment | |||
| Maths | + | Choice of 3 subjects | + | P.E.* |
| Double/Triple Science | PSHE |
* P.E. is offered as both a GCSE and non-GCSE subject. All students do one afternoon of non-examined P.E. a week. Students can also choose to study GCSE P.E. in addition to this.
NBH Canonbury GCSE Options
Students select three subjects to study from the following list:
Art
French
Music
Drama
Spanish
Computing
History
Mandarin
P.E.
Geography
Latin
A-Levels
In Years 12 and 13 (ages 16-18), students typically study 3 or 4 subjects depending on their GCSE results and / or ability.
They can choose from*:
English Literature
Latin
French
Spanish
Mandarin
Maths
Further Maths
Economics
Biology
Chemistry
Physics
History
Geography
Psychology
Government and Politics
Art
Photography
Extended Project Qualification
Music
Classical Civilization
*Courses may vary in availability each year depending on uptake.
