Form 3
Sixth Form
Welcome to Concord College, a truly international boarding and day school catering for 580 students from around 40 nations.
The college was founded in 1949 and has been educating students from around the world ever since. Its founders believed that learning together with students of different nationalities would build peace and understanding, something the modern school continues to promote.
Our 73 acre campus is set in beautiful English countryside, and encompasses beautiful green spaces, sports and music facilities and boarding houses as well as classrooms and state of the art laboratories.
Concord is dedicated to helping our students to flourish and achieve their (rather considerable) potential. We believe that to do this, they should be surrounded with a physical, emotional and intellectual environment that is ideal for their development.
Concord is a highly academic institution: everyone here shares a love of learning, a dedicated commitment to working hard to achieve our ambitions and an understanding that above everything, kindness and understanding towards others are paramount.
Together, the culture we create is one of excellence in all that we do. This includes our academic endeavours, but extends to a rich and varied programme of enrichment activities as well as to our interactions with each other.
Our curriculum is both demanding and challenging, supported by a wide-ranging super-curriculum. Concord gives its students the skills and qualifications required for access to top universities in the UK and globally, and prepares them for lives where they can make a positive difference to those and the world around them.
Curriculum
Form 3
Form 3 is Concord’s name for Year 9. Students have the opportunity to learn and explore a wide range of subjects spanning languages, mathematics, arts, humanities and sciences.
Our curriculum builds the skills required for academic study and at the same time gives students exposure to perspectives on global history, music and the arts.
Students in Form 3 at Concord study Mathematics, English, Sciences (Biological and Physical), Geography, History, Religious Studies, Music, Art and Drama. They also study at least one Modern Foreign Language, all study Spanish and most study French as well. A small number of students substitute History and a second Modern Foreign Language for additional lessons in English if EAL support is required.
There are also opportunities to study Psychology, Economics, Computer Science, German and “Future Leaders”.
GCSE years
Forms 4 and 5 are the gateway to students’ first experience of externally examined qualifications. Students will build an academic foundation of skills and knowledge that will pave the way for further, more detailed study in the Sixth Form.
Students in these year groups at Concord all study Mathematics, English (either as English Language and Literature or English as an Additional Language (EAL), Biology, Physics and Chemistry. They also choose four additional options. All students also attend Physical Education and PSHE lessons which are not examined but are nonetheless important.
Students choose four options from a menu of subjects which includes Art, Astronomy, Computer Science, Drama, Economics, French, Geography, German, History, Music, Psychology, Religious Studies, Spanish and Statistics.
The majority of Concord students take ten or more GCSE and IGCSE qualifications and therefore have a varied and challenging curriculum.
Alongside their studies, students are encouraged to lead balanced lives and to begin to develop their extra-curricular interests. This helps them to explore and develop their strengths in the so-called softer skills such as resilience, teamwork, empathy and leadership which are increasingly prized by university recruiters and employers alike.
In Form 4, students are able to apply for positions as Monitors, roles of responsibility which require them to demonstrate maturity and teamwork as well as embodying Concord’s values as role models for others.
Coming before students embark on their GCSE courses, Form 3 students have the opportunity to explore subjects widely and teachers have the flexibility to encourage critical thinking and the understanding of different perspectives.
All Form 3 students also have weekly PSHE lessons and timetabled PE and Games/ Outdoor activity lessons.
Alongside their studies, students are encouraged to lead balanced lives and to begin to develop their extra-curricular interests. This helps them to explore and develop their strengths in the so-called softer skills such as resilience, teamwork, empathy and leadership which are increasingly prized by university recruiters and employers alike.
In the summer term, Form 3 students act and perform in an outdoor Shakespeare production, which takes place in our beautiful grounds.
Sixth Form
Our Sixth Form experience is structured so that students at Concord take their first steps towards university. Students follow a rigorous academic timetable with university preparation woven through it, and gradually increasing levels of independence.
In the Sixth Form (Years 12 and 13), students specialise and choose A Levels according to their passions and strengths. They prepare not only for the A Level exams but also for university entrance.
Concord’s A Level students usually study four subjects at AS Level (most are examined at the end of Year 12) and continue with three or four at A Level in Year 13. A range of subjects is available to choose from including Art, Biology, Chemistry, Economics, English Literature & Language, French, Further Mathematics, Geography, History, Mathematics, Physics and Spanish.
A number of students also complete the Extended Project Qualification (EPQ): almost any topic is supported for this, though specialist Music or Drama-based EPQs are an additional possibility.
Non-native English speakers continue with English lessons in the Sixth Form and complete the English qualifications necessary to support university entry. Developing English skills beyond the functional and necessary level helps students to better express themselves and to articulate their passions – something that helps them to succeed in interviews for university.
Alongside their chosen academic subjects the Sixth Form curriculum includes PSHE, a compulsory course that provides important information for living healthily and which also helps students to develop skills in critical thinking and discussion.
Sixth Form students are all members of a tutor group, where 10-12 students from the same House and year meet with their tutor each weekday morning.
Although Sixth Form students do not have timetabled PE lessons, they must all attend at least one “Sports Prep” session each week. Engaging in physical activity is important for a healthy and balanced life and helps students’ mental health. Sessions are varied and students can choose the activities they wish to participate in.
Sixth Form students have their own induction programme in 6.1. In the summer term, at the end of their exams, they all spend a few days undertaking an outdoor education programme in Wales. This builds their team working skills and teaches them to approach unfamiliar challenges positively.
