The Cambridge Primary Curriculum will be adopted for Grade 5 and the Cambridge Lower Secondary Curriculum will be adopted for Grades 6-8. The Cambridge International General Certificate of Secondary Education (IGCSE) will be offered in Grades 9 and 10. Cambridge A levels and the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme (IBDP) will be offered in the final two grades of secondary education. Our academic programs are underpinned by an international framework and student-centered, inquiry-based approaches to teaching and learning. These are practices that support successful students and humans in the 21st Century.

Subjects

1. The following subjects will be offered to students in Grades 5,6,7, and 8.
2. English
3. Mathematics
4. Computing
5. Global Perspectives
6. Science
7. Physical Education
8. Art and Design
9. Bengali – National Curriculum
10. French – Ontario, Canada curriculum

English

Learners develop skills and understanding in four areas: reading, writing, speaking listening, viewing, and presenting. They will learn how to communicate effectively and respond to a range of information, media and texts to:

1. Become confident communicators, able to apply all four skills effectively in everyday situations
2. See themselves as readers, engaging with a range of texts for information and for pleasure, including texts from different times and cultures
3. See themselves as writers, using the written word clearly and creatively for a range of different audiences and purposes.

This curriculum supports an integrated approach to teaching the six skills. With the support available, you can deliver Cambridge Lower Secondary English using a broad range of activities that promote experience, reflection and improvement.

Students study a range of fiction genres, poetry, playscripts and non-fiction texts to provide authentic contexts for skills development

Global Perspectives

The programme develops the skills of research, analysis, evaluation, reflection, collaboration and communication. It strengthens the links across English as a first or second language, mathematics, science and ICT Starters. 

Research says that the earlier students start to develop and practise their skills, the greater the impact on their learning. Making Cambridge Global Perspectives available to younger students will develop and embed cross-curricular skills at an earlier age, supporting them in their studies as they progress to Cambridge Upper Secondary and beyond. 

How is the programme taught? 

Cambridge Lower Secondary is made up of a series of Challenges. There are six Challenges a year. Teachers can integrate the Challenges into their existing teaching or lessons and do as many as they like. View sample Challenges for Stage 8 and Stage 9 below.

The programme is flexible so schools can choose how they organise teaching, either as one-hour blocks or as a full day, allowing teachers to focus on the Challenge from start to finish. Flexible delivery options is a key characteristic of the programme.

Each Challenge is six hours long, subdivided into a range of activities, and covers a range of skills. The skills are taught through a wide range of topics using a personal, local and global perspective. These topics are the same as the Cambridge IGCSE syllabus, allowing secondary schools to develop and embed cross-curricular skills at an earlier age. Teachers help students to look at a variety of global issues or topics that give a range of contexts.

Cambridge Lower Secondary topics

How is Cambridge Lower Secondary Global Perspectives assessed?

Throughout the programme, teachers focus on formative feedback on the skills they want students to develop. When a Challenge is completed, teachers can discuss with students ‘what went well’ and how they can improve further, so that students can reflect on, and improve, their performance. 

A Cambridge Lower Secondary Checkpoint Global Perspectives assessment is available at the end of the final year to assess learner performance. Students produce an individual research project. It enables teachers and students to assess how skills have developed throughout the programme. Teachers mark the projects before they are moderated in Cambridge. Learners receive a statement of achievement at gold, silver or bronze level and the school receives a feedback report. 

Mathematics

What will students learn?

Learners develop a holistic understanding of the subject, focussing on principles, patterns, systems, functions and relationships. They will become mathematically competent and fluent in computation, which they can apply to everyday situations.

‘Thinking and working mathematically’, a unique feature of our curriculum, encourages learners to talk with others, challenge ideas and to provide evidence that validates conjectures and solutions. When learners are thinking and working mathematically, they actively seek to make sense of ideas and build connections between different facts, procedures and concepts. This supports higher order thinking that helps them to view the world in a mathematical way.

How is the programme taught?

We have divided this subject into three main areas called ‘strands’, which run through every lower secondary mathematics stage. Learners will develop skills in:

1. Number
2. Algebra, Geometry and Measure
3. Statistics and Probability.

The strands work together to help students recognise connections of mathematical concepts as they engage in creative mathematical thinking to generate and improve numerical fluency.

Science

Our exciting new lower secondary science curriculum helps learners develop a life-long curiosity about the natural world and enables them to seek scientific explanations to the phenomena around them.

What will students learn?

Students will think scientifically and develop practical skills alongside knowledge and understanding, which is vital for explaining the world around us. Improving learners’ awareness of science in the world around them develops their sense that ‘science is for me’, helping to connect themselves to the subject.

This approach provides them with the knowledge and skills they require to excel at science in later stages of education and to make informed choices, including considering sustainability issues and meeting the challenges facing our environment.