Welcome To Wellington College International Shanghai Welcome-to-Wellington-booklet-2017-18 | Page 20
ACADEMIC OVERVIEW
OVERVIEW IN
THE SENIOR
SCHOOL
The Senior School operates on a
two-week cycle of lessons with each week
being designated as Week A or Week B.
Every day, the pupils will have five lessons,
each of which is an hour long, followed by
CCAs (shortened to one hour on a Friday).
The CCAs cover academic (prep, pastoral,
enrichment and support) alongside physical
and creative activities.
The Senior School curriculum comprises
three separate stages:
Key Stage 3 (year 9), during which the pupils
will continue to build on the solid foundation
of the Prep School with a wide-ranging
curriculum based on the English National
Curriculum;
Key Stage 4 (years 10 and 11), pupils follow
a broad range of subjects which culminate in
the IGCSE examinations. Full details of the
available options are set out in a separate
IGCSE booklet.
Sixth Form (years 12 and 13), pupils
follow the International Baccalaureate (IB)
framework by selecting six subjects which
they study, in depth, leading to the IB Diploma
qualification. Full details of the available
options are set out in a separate IB booklet.
During year 9, pupils will be encouraged to
develop a love of learning for its own sake,
the belief being that this will stand them in
good stead for the IGCSE and the sixth form.
In particular, intellectual curiosity, academic
risk-taking and creativity will be supported
and applauded by teachers at Wellington.
Thus, pupils will be thoroughly prepared for
IGCSE, both in the acquiring of appropriate
skills for their subject choices and through
obtaining the flexibility necessary to master
new disciplines.
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Having made their choices for IGCSE, pupils
will embark on courses in a wide variety of
subjects, which will include the compulsory
ones of English language, English literature,
mathematics and chemistry plus one other
science. In addition, pupils are required to
take at least one humanities subject as well as
a foreign language and an enrichment subject.
Most of our pupils will study ten subjects at
this level, with the selection designed to keep
many options open to pupils for study in
higher education. Options are available within
a structured framework. The objective is to
give pupils a degree of choice, ensuring they
maintain a broad selection of subjects and do
not become overly focused in one area or
close any potential future paths of study.
The IB Diploma Programme, the world’s
foremost university entrance qualification,
requires pupils to study six subjects, through
a mixture of obligation and choice.
A pupil’s IB choices are strongly influenced
by their thinking about what their chosen
university degree or potential major might
be. However, the IB is much more than an
academic qualification, its core components
– CAS (Creativity, Action, Service), TOK
(Theory of Knowledge), and the extended
essay – encourage independence of
thought, communal responsibility, and the
development of research skills.
Ambition, suppleness and self-sufficiency
are qualities that are consistent in all three
stages of the Senior School’s academic
programme. In the twenty- first century,
robotic attainment is no longer a guarantee
of success, and pupils at Wellington Shanghai
will learn that schooling is at its most effective
when it is enjoyable, energetic, inquiring,
mutual, and rigorous – virtues enshrined in
the Wellington Aptitudes.
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