Nursery: 3-4 years of age

Reception:4-5 years of age

Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) includes our youngest students from Nursery and Reception. The curriculum in this area of the school closely follows the UK Early Years Foundation Stage framework that focuses on seven areas of learning:

• Communication and Language
• Physical Development
• Personal, Social and Emotional Development
• English
• Mathematics
• Understanding the World
• Expressive Arts and Design

Key Stage 1 (age 5-7 years) includes our youngest students from Year 1 and 2. These years help lay the crucial foundation for education experiences and King Henry VIII College Primary provides a fun and meaningful environment where students can explore different topics and interests. Led by specialist Key Stage 1 teachers, classrooms cater to the needs of students within this age range to aid their development, and achievements, while encouraging their passion for learning. Inquiry based units will integrate different areas of the curriculum, with focus on areas of learning that provide a solid basis for education in upper years, such as:

• Phonics within English
• Mathematics
• Science
• History
• Geography
• Music 
• Art
• Physical Education
• Mandarin

Students in Key Stage 2 from Year 3-6 (age 7-11 years) build upon the foundations laid out in the previous schooling with the aim of developing independence and taking ownership of their learning. Timely individualised assessments by specialised Key Stage 2 teachers ensures that progress is on track and students are achieving at their full potential. Weekly lessons in specialist and core subjects include:

• English
• Mathematics
• Science
• History
• Geography
• Music
• Art
• Physical Education
• Mandarin

The Senior School at King Henry VIII College is divided into two sections; Years 7 to 9 (Key Stage 3), iGCSE Years 10 and 11 (Key Stage 4).

Students will build on what they have learnt in the Primary School, or be guided if they join the school during these years, to become self-assured students. They will be ready for their examinations, but also capable of thinking for themselves – adaptable learners, with skills that will see them into the Sixth Form and beyond.

In Years 7 to 9 students will continue with a modified version of Key Stage 3 of the UK National Curriculum, studying a wide range of subjects in the following areas of learning: linguistic, mathematical, scientific, technological, human and social, physical, and aesthetic and creative.

In the upper section of the Senior School (iGCSE Years 10 – 11) the core of the curriculum will be Cambridge Assessment International Education IGCSE’s, and students will sit these internationally-recognised examinations at the end of Year 11.

Life in the Sixth Form is about so much more than Advanced Subsidiary (AS) and Advanced (A) levels – they are vitally important, of course, but King Henry VIII College students will leave the school not just with a top university place beckoning.

As well as that preparation for university, there will be an emphasis on the wider life beyond school. Alongside academic specialisation, and the opportunity to explore areas of academic interest much more fully than before, will be the sort of preparation and development of skills that the modern world demands.

Qualities such as flexibility, openness to challenge, confidence, and the ability both to lead and to be a member of a team, are by far the most important qualities for future employment. This is especially true in a world where the employment market is likely to look very different in five, let alone ten years’ time. Such skills are developed uniquely in the Sixth Form of a school like ours, where there are numerous opportunities for teamwork, leadership and the development of communication and negotiation skills.

In the Sixth Form the core of the curriculum will be Cambridge Assessment International Education examinations (CAIE) AS and A levels. Students will sit these internationally-recognised CAIE examinations, which are the conclusion of broad and balanced study across a wide range of subjects.