Upper School.

From Myth to Literature - The transition from pre-literate cultural forms such as myth, saga, and religious ritual to the origins of literature, with its shift from collective to individual experience.

Poetry – Pupils examine different poetic forms and look at how words can be used non-literally, delving deep into the rhythms and sounds of the natural world through language. Pupils learn how to understand and to compose different styles of poetry.

• Algebra - Exploring principles, processes and methods and solving a wide range of algebraic and graphical problems.

  • Trigonometry - Investigating the development and application of the fundamental principles of Trigonometry. Study includes the Theorem of Pythagoras and the Sine, Cosine, Tangent and Cotangent ratios for angles between 0° and 90° described and defined.

  • Surveying - Practical application of Mathematics learned in Trigonometry. Students explain and demonstrate the use of surveying instruments to measure and record distances and horizontal angles and draw a scaled map with boundaries and topography.

Focus on Mechanics. Covering tensile and compressive forces, centre of area and centre of gravity, conditions for equilibrium, moments of forces, resolution of forces and the triangle and polygon of forces, elasticity, the stiffness of springs and Hooke’s Law.

Experiments in dynamics look at velocity and acceleration. Uniform acceleration as the result of gravity acting on a mass in free fall and the relationship between force, mass and acceleration will be investigated and discussed.

Potential and kinetic energy is explored and defined.

Students study comparisons in the brain and nervous system with the study of the heart and circulations.

The brain’s relationship to perception, thought and memory provides a basis for discussing consciousness and moral aspects of conscience.

The relationship of the heart and circulation system to emotional experience is studied.

Students study acids, bases, and salts and the reactivity series of metals through experiment, observation and analysis. They examine different minerals from the earth and consider how and from what they formed.

Students will look and make salt crystals, investigate the role of water in crystallisation, discover the qualities and reactivity of metals and start balancing reaction equations using words and symbols.

The relationship of Early Civilisation to its geography; the dependence of people on the Earth, the climate, the resources, contrasting it with the present disconnection/independence from the natural world. Archaeological remains from the last Ice Age are studied to discover what they can tell us about the way people lived and interacted.

The development of the early civilisations of the Tigris and Euphrates, the Nile, the Indus river and Yellow river are studied: how they influenced each other, later civilisations and ultimately the culture of the modern world.

French & German

A study of international humorous texts, jokes and idiomatic expression to support the broadening of students’ social, psychological and cultural horizons.

Drawing and Painting – Formal composition and principles of shaping a picture. Exploring colour, atmosphere and mood. The logic involved in planning pictures or designs that may need to be drawn in mirror form, or in which a composite picture is built up using several plats or blocks challenges the students’ power of thinking as well as the precision involved in the work.

• Print-making - applied to a range of media.

Pythagoras, Socrates, Confucius. Plato, and Aristotle and how the philosophers of the 5th and 6th Centuries BC influence modern thinking, including what it means to be human and the purpose of existence.

Study includes

• Climate Change

• Plate Tectonics

• Geomorphology

• Atmosphere

• Ocean Circulation

  Students also create and present a detailed study of a natural hazard.

Shakespeare and Drama – Shakespeare’s texts and dramatic devices are analysed and dramatic characterisation and staging discussed and worked with practically.

OUTDOOR LEARNING

Students develop their knowledge through gardening and farming, both in school and during external visits.

• Dress making and tailoring – provide individual patterns relating to the rectangular shape of the woven cloth.

• Woodwork – provides the concepts of plumb, square and true

• Pottery – reinforcing science with an awareness of the perpendicular in relation to the horizontal plane.

• Metal work – understanding material, force, shape and process through practical work.

Sitting both GCSE Maths & English Language gives students the experience and skills of writing under examination condition and enables students to meet Government criteria for a Student Loan at University.

One hour per week for each is taken to prepare for the exams using subject knowledge gained from our Waldorf curriculum.

Our Class 10 GCSE results for 2023 were a 100% Pass with grades ranging from Grades 4-9.

Sitting both GCSE Maths & English Language gives students the experience and skills of writing under examination condition and enables students to meet Government criteria for a Student Loan at University.

One hour per week for each is taken to prepare for the exams using subject knowledge gained from our Waldorf curriculum.

Our Class 10 GCSE results for 2023 were a 100% Pass with grades ranging from Grades 4-9.

Both contemporary English Literature and World Literature, examining how literature reflects changing individual and cultural consciousness..

Students explore how to interrogate purpose, and developing and shaping complex arguments, eloquently articulating a stance

• Film Studies and Creative Writing

MATHEMATICS

• Projective Geometry - Building on the work in Class 11, Projective Geometry in Class 12 penetrates more deeply into the relationship between plane, line and point. The effect of infinitely distant elements is explored by constructing a sequence of measures of the line, forms using perspective and projective correspondences, asymmetrical rotations and plane path curves (spirals). Polar transformations are also constructed.

• Calculus - Building on Class 11 the differentials and integrals of the trigonometric, exponential and logarithmic functions are derived and defined. Parametric functions and implicit equation are differentiated. The area between various types of functions and the volumes of revolution generated by them is explored.

• Complex Number Theory

20th and 21st Century Physics - including Atomic Physics, Wave Systems, Electricity or Mechanics.

Optics - Students investigate new paths in the realm of optics. The applicability of quantum theory to the microcosm and of the theory of relativity to the macrocosm are combined in relation to the human experience.

Beginning with the sense of sight and by bringing thought to bear on the known facts concerning light, an attempt is made to find a relationship to the real nature of light.

Students study the biochemistry of the body, specifically the gut system, and compare it with the biochemical substances and processes of other living organisms, such as the bee.

From this they expand the topic to consider the impact of chemicals on the environment and living organisms.

Evolutionary Biology - We look at different theories about evolution including Lamarck, Darwin, Steiner and modern scientific theory. Students investigate the evolutionary pathways of ‘human and animal’.

The resources of London’s museums and university research centres are used to explore and observe the teeth, skulls, skeletons and relics of our hominid ancestors and to compare them with animals such as the shark and the primates.

Students consider the impact of human development on local and global eco-systems, and look at anticipating the future and imagining the role of science in building sustainable futures.

Statistics applied to projects in various subjects including:

Biology

Chemistry

Geography

Ecology.

Foreign Languages (French & German)

“That art makes visible otherwise hidden cultural and psychological forces has long been recognised and has made it a tool for the cultural historian as well as the psychiatrist. It can be used to diagnose an age, a culture or a patient.”

We move from the 20th Century and up to the present: to discuss their work in the context of personal biographies as well as contemporary social and political issues; to ask what motivates them; to evaluate how well their work conveys their ideas; and to evaluate the ideas themselves.

After an overview of some of the main players in the major art movements of the first half of the 20th Century, students direct and lead the block through their own research and presentations according to their individual interests

• Modern and Contemporary History – What characterised the Greco-Roman age? How did the Middle Ages differ from modern times? How are historical periods defined? Can one find the same stages of cultural evolution in geographical regions, such as the Far East in comparison to Europe?

History teaching in Class 12, complemented by sociology, undergoes a change of viewpoint. Earlier in the school the structure has been chronological.

Now different perspectives, processes and themes are studies that span large periods of time. This change of position enables the pupils to gain some understanding of the philosophy and methods of history as a science.

Studies of changing communities over time in relation to natural, cultural, political and economic systems, plus an independent research project on a chosen community.

We use mathematical thinking and interpretation of data to better understand risks to people and the world, and to imagine mitigations and solutions to these issues.

We look at geography through the prism of democracy to understand the relationships between geographical location and culture and to understand the impact of geography on power and politics

Throughout history, music has served different needs in the society. In the Middle Ages, music was a tool for people to have communion with God, followed by Renaissance, Baroque, Classical and Romantic musical movements. Then came the violent 20th century where two World Wars were witnessed and rapid technological advancements like recording and broadcasting were made.

This is the context in which various divergent musical movements developed that is striving to make a break with the Austro-German musical tradition. Driven by new impulses and the trauma of the world wars, composers in the 20th century were searching for new answers, new paths to forge ahead together with the powerful tools that technology have provided. In this block, we would look at the various social, political, psychological impulses that were influencing the composers as well as their unique biographies that often determine which impulses were picked up to shape the musical movement they bring to the world.

After an overview of some of the main musical movements of the 20th Century, students direct and lead the block through their own research and presentations according to their individual interests.

Democratic Participation

Understanding the power of language and text in shaping and influencing political views.

Understanding how language and text can be used to manipulate people’s political thinking.

Linking to Mathematics we examine the power of data and statistics in shaping and influencing political views and understand how data and statistics can be used to manipulate people’s political thinking.

Linking to Biology we examine the motivations for technological and scientific development, and reflecting on the political aspects scientific progress.

Drama including::

• Monologues

• Physical theatre

• Theatre design

• Playwriting

• Directing

• Comedy and the history of drama

Class 12 Play - A full-scale drama production for all Class 12 students.

Culture of the 20th Century

Understanding the interdependence of history, materials, science, technology, art, craft and performance in the development of societies and cultures.

Investigating the properties, limitations and potential of materials and tools.

Understanding the history of techniques, technologies and processes, and their impact on making and creating.

Asking questions of and answering questions through creative and aesthetic media.