Welcome to Upper Years

In the Upper Years we develop in our students the skills they need to ensure that, in their adult lives, they can be effective individuals, in terms of their personal relationships but also in their engagement with the wider community. Our students develop a sense of duty to themselves and to the world as a whole.

All this is achieved by the nurturing of an environment which promotes personal and intellectual growth – not only for the students, but in respect of all members of the school community including the teachers.

We seek to develop a sense of global citizenship and responsibility, and therefore to be well informed about current affairs and to be media savvy generally. Our students hear a range of visiting speakers (recently an American senator, a Paralympian, an Auschwitz survivor, a Guardian journalist and one of UK’s Leading cardiologists).

Our students engage in local charity work and politics through student-led committees that select and invite visitors to discuss the chief issues of the day.

In addition to a strong academic and intellectual course of study, and our high expectations of all pupils in terms of GCSEs, all students participate in an integrated outdoor education programme which includes the Duke of Edinburgh award scheme, Young Enterprise and Peter Jones’ Tycoons in Business. Being involved in these activities, and in music and drama productions, is how our students develop the interpersonal and organisational skills which will serve them throughout their university and adult lives.

In Years 10 and 11, students complete a two-year cultural studies course (taught by the Headmaster), which underpins all their learning by ensuring that all knowledge is placed into a cultural, thematic and chronological context.

Students now have the option to continue with us into out Sixth Form. But some students elect to study at other schools and colleges (recently Westminster School, Kingston Grammar School, Latymer Upper, City of London School, Surbiton High, University College School, Esher College as well as a number of renowned boarding schools such as Bedales, Millfield, Hurtwood House, Bryanston and Hockerill).

We are delighted that so many former students stay in touch with us, and come back to visit whenever they can. We are proud that our pupils have gone on to achieve in such varied ways – not only by gaining places at top universities (including Oxford and Cambridge), but also by setting up their own businesses, by using their fluency in foreign languages in their work, by training for the Law, by representing England in sporting activities (athletics and ice-skating), by forging their way as professional actors in film, TV and on stage, by excelling musically as soloists and orchestral players, and even in signing multi-album deals with EMI.