Year 9

Year 9 girls are given opportunities for leadership in the Middle School. They can initiate new clubs or take an assembly in the Middle School.

This year some girls in Year 9 will have the opportunity to take part in a three-day leadership programme that brings together students from a number of different schools. Each day has a different theme and includes opportunities to meet external speakers in a variety of fields. They explore the levers of power, examine how decisions are made and consider how they can make change happen.

Year 9 also have the opportunity of participating in the Duke of Edinburgh's Bronze Award Bronze. They can also stand for selection as deputy House Captains.

Science is taught as three separate subjects in Year 9 and in PSHE they cover citizenship, sex and relationships education, drug awareness, personal safety and finance. They participate in a Study Skills seminar on learning and revision strategies and are given a vocational guidance test which will help them in their choice of careers. They are also invited to attend lunchtime lectures on careers given by visiting speakers.

During Year 9 girls choose their GCSE options. All girls study the core curriculum: English, English Literature, a modern foreign language (either French or Spanish), Mathematics and Science. In addition to this they choose three more GCSEs from the following: Art, Business Communications, Classical Civilisation, Classical Greek (short course), Drama, Geography, German, History, Latin, Music and Spanish.

One of the highlights of Year 9 is the trip to the First World War battlefields sites of France and Belgium. The girls spend three days visiting a range of sites, including Ypres, the Somme and the Flanders area to remember those who died and to see at first hand the fields of battle and the memorials to the 6 million who died between 1914 and 1918. They visit the Menin Gate, the In Flanders Field Museum and Thiepval memorial to the missing.