Academic Matters

Our Teaching Style

Our teaching style is predicated on highly interactive classes in which students are actively engaged throughout.

Our maximum class size in the Sixth Form is 10 - except in science subjects, where the maximum is 8. Working with relatively small groups means that we can teach and run our classes in the way that we like to. We want to be able to teach to each individual student in the class; we want to encourage questioning, debate and evaluative, critical thinking; and we want students to engage actively with the material, to hear, and to offer, alternative points of view.

Our approach to teaching has twin aims: we are intently focused on preparing our students for the task at hand, that is to say achieving to their full potential at A level; at the same time, we want to ensure that they acquire the academic skills and the self-awareness needed to become independent learners who are well prepared for the next stage in their lives.

In many ways, we believe in good old-fashioned teaching: where the teacher's role is to teach - that is to enthuse, to motivate and to foster a passion for their subject in their students; to convey the material clearly and compellingly; to create an environment in which students are curious to discover more; and to help develop the academic skills needed to do well at the end of the day.

At the same time, we want to help our students to become independent learners, because we believe that this is fundamental for success further down the track, both at university and in their future working careers.

What do we mean by independent learners?

By independent learning, we mean a combination of three things.

  • Learning to research, to select information, to think for oneself, to evaluate information and to have the confidence to construct a well informed and well reasoned argument.
  • Developing self-awareness, so each student knows how s/he learns most effectively - identifying the methods and techniques work best for them, and learning to use these to maximum effect in their current and future studies.
  • Developing the ability to manage one's time effectively, to juggle priorities and to get things done on time, calmly and effectively.

We would like to think that all our students will have developed these skills and qualities to a significant extent by the time they leave us.

 

"Best college ever ever ever. You wake up in the morning and want to go to school!"

Student survey 2012