The Senior School

The Senior School Curriculum

The aim of Gosfield Senior School is to provide for its pupils a broad curriculum which allows them access to a wide variety of disciplines and experiences, and which will enable them to make informed choices of courses in their further education, career and lives.

A young person who has been educated at Gosfield School should have access to a broad and balanced curriculum through:

  • Cultivating the habit of work and pride in achievement.
  • Achieving academic qualifications.
  • Being able to communicate effectively through ICT.
  • Having a moral sense, learning to be responsible for themselves and others as well as being well mannered, courteous and respectful of other people and their property.
  • Having had access to some non-academic/sporting achievement or qualification.
  • Having been introduced to the rights and responsibilities of Citizenship.
  • Having had access to higher forms of “Culture”.
  • Developing a high self-esteem with regards to their social and academic achievement

We try to educate Gosfield students to be confident, qualified, and willing to try. We also want to educate them to be decent young people with a zest for life. The way we go about doing this is through

  • Small classes with specialist teachers
  • Extension activities and a range of visits
  • Learning Support for those who need it
  • Sporting opportunities for all who want them
  • A full programme of Activities from school productions to hobby clubs
  • A Personal and Social education which encompasses a social life as well as charity work

'The Gosfield Secondary Curriculum Presentation' (Powerpoint 220Kb).

The Academic Programme.

The academic programme at Gosfield follows the National Curriculum with the normal progression through the Key Stages and a balanced range of Arts, Sciences and Humanities is offered throughout the School and into the Sixth Form.

SATs take place at the end of Year 9 and Students normally take 10-12 GCSEs before going on to take 4 AS Levels and 3 A Levels. A particular feature of Gosfield is the use of Valued added Data to support student progress. We pride ourselves on the progress and achievements of all our students.

The Extension Programme.

The Extension programme is all about putting the ‘WOW!’ factor into education by introducing our students to a range of educational experiences that are original, stimulating and aimed at sparking real interest and enthusiasm for learning. Since the inception of the programme in 2001, students at Gosfield have had the opportunity to participate in some or all of the Extension activities listed below.

  • Leadership and management training with the Royal Marines, the Army Youth Team, the RAF, the National Sea Training Centre and management consultants from industry.
    Visits to the National Gallery, National Portrait Gallery, the Royal Academy and the Tate Modern
  • Hostage negotiations (in Spanish), Ship handling on a simulator and fire fighting
  • The National Archives Seminar on the case of Jack the Ripper (using the actual letters)
  • Visits to the Royal Botanical Gardens at Kew, St.Paul’s Cathedral, Whitehall and the Millenium Bridge
  • The Gosfield School International Anglo-Zulu War Conference
  • Visits to the National Maritime Museum, The Royal Observatory, the Cutty Sark, the National Army Museum
  • Mathematics seminar at the Royal Artillery Museum, Woolwich
  • Action Jackson Motivational Speaker
  • The British Library Theory of Knowledge seminar and a visit to the Silk Road Exhibition
  • A lecture on Journalism, Politics and the BBC by James Robbins, BBC World affairs Corresponcdent (held the day before the Hutton Report!).
  • A lecture on Al Queda, Rogue States and International Terrorism by Caroline McLeod, Defence expert
  • Visits to parliament and Portcullis House as guests of Alan Hurst MP (Lab) and Brooke Newmark MP (Con).
  • Lecture by Colonel Tim Collins (“We come not to conquer but to liberate”) Royal Irish Regiment on the Lessons of the Iraq War at the Palmerston Room, Houses Of Parliament.
  • Crisis Management Training with the Ministry of Defence.

In addition to this, individual departments run a full range of activities. There are language exchanges to France and Spain, an inter-school mathematics competition, sporting fixtures, participation in the Duke of Edinburgh Award scheme and Young Enterprise. The music department ensures that around 50% of our students play a musical instrument and that students have the opportunity to sing in the choir (at venues as diverse as Disneyland Paris and the Royal Albert Hall), while the English department arranges theatre trips as well as staging our own school productions.

Personal, Social and Pastoral Education

In our efforts to produce decent young people, we focus on

  • A Pastoral system that provides plenty of opportunities for guidance and intervention when things are going right as well as for when they are going wrong.
  • The creation of strong vertical and horizontal, friendship groups throughout the school.
  • Opportunities for Charity work.
  • Opportunities to take responsibility
  • Social events to knit the school together.

'Personal, Social & Pastoral Education' Presentation (Powerpoint 320Kb).

The Pastoral System

  • There are three Houses; Nevill, Tudor and Woodstock. All students and most staff belong to the House system.
  • Form Tutors actively counsel and look out for their own classes.
  • All staff act as conduits and role models for the students and they can be approached at any time by any student for help.
  • Friendship groups are encouraged through
  • Sports teams, School productions and Musical activities all mix students of different age groups.
  • This means that students will have friends in their own Year Group
    They will also have friends in Year Groups above and below them

Very often they will keep friendships with those at University or in the world of work. Gosfieldians are always welcome to come back for a visit or a game of soccer.

Students will have the opportunity to take responsibility as

  • Prefects
  • Sports Captains
  • School Councillors
  • Mentors

Charity work makes us understand our responsibilities towards those less fortunate than ourselves

  • We support ‘Jeans for Genes’, Red Nose Day, and the Xmas Shoebox Appeal.

Our special charity is ex-Arsenal goalkeeper Bob Wilson’s Willow Foundation which provides ‘Red Letter’ days for terminally ill cancer patients. This year we held a 24 Hour Football marathon to raise funds for it.

Social events are an important part of the calendar

  • At Christmas there is always a dinner for all students. This is usually organised by the older students and is a great opportunity to dress up and show out!
  • In Yr 10 and 11, Tutors will usually organise Form Dinners at a local restaurant
  • In the Sixth Form, students are invited to the School Balls.

'The Sixth Form at Gosfield' Presentation (Powerpoint 340Kb).

Some people say that small schools don’t cater for the proper social development of young people. We disagree.