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The transition to secondary school is an important time in your school career – it’s a big leap. We work with you to make the move as smooth as possible. Resilience, confidence and responsibility are all nurtured in you from the beginning.
Our curriculum is wide-ranging, including (for example) Art, Design & Technology, Drama, Media Studies, Music, Modern Languages, Latin and Physical Education at GCSE. There may be some setting (grouping pupils by aptitude) in Mathematics in Year 7 and it is introduced in full in Year 8. Setting is subsequently introduced in Science.
It is our job to help you succeed, to help you identify your own unique potential and give you the best possible passport to what happens next.
The Art & Photography Department at Colfe's is an exciting, creative space that values imagination and intuitive responses in both group and individual work. It is a safe place to explore ideas that will often evolve into inspired and imaginative pieces of artwork. You will learn to read and communicate with images as skillfully as when writing or reading text.
The Art & Photography Department is housed in the Beardwood Creative Arts Centre and consists of three spacious, light-filled studios and a separate photography studio and dark room. Further facilities include a digital area with a full adobe suite, a printmaking and screen printing area and a kiln.
We teach technical, thinking and planning skills that enable pupils to form their own ideas into objects or images. As our students progress through the school, we teach them to manage their own projects and time effectively – working towards a stunning show of personal work should they choose to pursue the subject at GCSE and A-level. In addition, history of art and photography forms an integral part of the course and the starting point to every unit of work in every year group.
Classics opens doors. A study of Roman and Greek language and culture is a gateway into an ancient world both strikingly familiar and shockingly alien to our 21st-century minds. But it is also much more than that, since any study of the classical past prompts us to think afresh about our own society and values. Much of what the Romans and Greeks created – their art, drama, political systems, buildings, and much more – remains central to our lives today, and the languages of Latin and Classical Greek are mother-tongues for modern European languages. To study a classical subject is also to study ourselves.
The Classics Department provides three ways in to this ancient past. Latin is offered throughout the school for Years 7-13, Classical Greek is an option from Year 10 and Classical Civilisation is available as an A-level. All three subjects provide a rigorous and broad academic syllabus.
In addition to all of the above, the department is keen to get students out of the classroom on visits, study days and overseas trips – for example Rome and the Bay of Naples, Greece and London which is, of course, a Roman city and we take advantage of its remains and world-leading museums.
The teaching of Computer Science and IT at Colfe's aims to endow you with a wide range of skills, which are highly sought after in all types of industry. Computing has deep links with Mathematics, each of the sciences and Design & Technology providing insights into both natural and artificial systems. Studying Computer Science allows you to learn the principles of information and computational thinking, understand how digital systems work and how to put this knowledge to use through a range of programming languages.
Elements of computational thinking, logic and problem solving are taught in Years 7 and 8, both at a theoretical level and more practical with Micro:bits and Makeblock robotics. Coding in a more graphical format is also covered at this point. All pupils in Years 7 and 8 have one lesson of Computer Science per week and those in Year 9 have two per week.
Those who study Computer Science will understand computer systems and develop skills in a range of applications. Pupils become digitally literate – able to use, and express themselves and develop their ideas through information and communication technology – at a level suitable for the future workplace and as active participants in a digital world.
These skills lead to the opportunity to take GCSE Computer Science, which develops greater programming skills as well as delving deeper into every aspect of computers into today's society.
We have two dedicated computer suites with additional ICT facilities for students to use throughout the school, including the library, Sixth Form common room and creative ICT suites in the Arts block.
Should your child have a particular area of interest that would take them beyond the confines of the syllabus, every assistance will be provided to support such enthusiasm. This extends to the purchase of items of hardware and software necessary to pursue such an investigation.
Pupils will also have the opportunity to a visit The National Museum of Computing at Bletchley Park, as well as attend talks from visiting experts about particular aspects of the subject. The department facilitates co-curricular activities including a Computer Science Club and holiday-time task orientated course with robots.
Colfe's is an ambassador school for CodeCombat in the UK.
Design & Technology at Colfe's prepares pupils to take part in a rapidly changing world; learning to think creatively, become problem solvers and innovators and design products to fulfill needs and wants not yet realised.
Pupils will explore the use of materials, new and traditional, using them in different and exciting ways. Pupils also learn practical manufacturing skills with an understanding of how to apply form, shape, aesthetics and ergonomics to create a functioning product or prototype with consideration for the environment. Teachers in the Design & Technology department are passionate about the subject and believe that it makes an essential contribution to the creativity, culture and wealth of society.
Our aim is to help you learn how to express yourself, to explore your unique creativity and ultimately to become a confident performer. Studying Drama will help you develop many important skills – co-operation, concentration, listening and appreciating the perspective of others. The kinds of skills that you will use for the rest of your life.
The Drama department is housed in The Beardwood Centre, which consists of a number of studios and a 130-seat black box theatre. It's a well-equipped, versatile place to host the wide variety of productions that take place throughout the year. Recent productions have included our socially- distanced promenade of A Midsummer Night's Dream (Year 9), James and the Giant Peach (Years 7-9), Return to the Forbidden Planet (Years 10-13), The 39 Steps (Years 11-13), School of Rock (Years 7-9), A Chorus of Disapproval (Years 11-13) and a promenade performance of Romeo and Juliet (Years 7-10).
During the GSCE and A-level years, there are regular theatre visits which enable students to experience a wide variety of theatrical styles, for example: Witness For The Prosecution, Death of a Salesman, Grown Ups, Things I Know To Be True, Network, The Tempest and 4.48 Pychosis. Workshops with visiting theatre companies are also frequent – Frantic Assembly, Splendid Theatre and Punchdrunk to name but a few.
Past pupils who have studied Drama A-level at Colfe's have gone on to attend competitive drama schools such as RADA, Central, Guildhall, Rose Bruford Drama School and the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama. In keeping with our recent success rate in he last three years where six pupils from the Senior School fought off fierce competition to be invited to join the prestigious National Youth Theatre of Great Britain on the acting and technical theatre courses.
Pupils may also opt to sit the LAMDA (London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art) examinations. Scholarships are available for Year 7 and Year 12 pupils based on previous acting experience and a workshop audition.
English teaching at Colfe's is focused on developing pupils' engagement with literature, introducing them to a range of writers and texts and encouraging them to become independent, proficient readers.
English Literature A-level is a popular course in the school where you are given the opportunity to expand your knowledge, skills and engagement with the subject even further. Lessons are seminar style, featuring informed, lively discussion about texts. You are encouraged to become more independent and more rigorous in the process: researching and reading criticism and, in turn, bringing new ideas and new perspectives to class discussion, which then feeds into your written work.
As part of the department's commitment to enrichment, pupils of all ages also enjoy a rich diet of trips to the theatre, the Globe and the Museum of London and, at A-level, lecture days and other outings. Within school, our Literary Society is open to all 6th form pupils and we have had talks on topics from ‘Feasting' to ‘Japanese Poetry'. Bookclub meets at least once each half term for pupils in Years 11 to 13 and we invite Year 10s to join us in the summer term. Keen younger readers are encouraged to join the Carnegie Shadowing group, which is based in the Library.
The English department also contributes enthusiastically to House competitions; we promote two House reading challenges each year, for Years 7 and 8, and House poetry recitations, which now take place in Years 8 and 10 to make space for Balloon Debates in Years 7 and 9. We have had notable success with writing competitions and there are opportunities to enter your creative (prose and poetry) and analytical writing for school, local and national competitions.
Be your best self. Care for others. Flourish.
pronunciation: eu·dai·mo·nia
“Educating the mind without educating the heart is no education at all.” Aristotle
Eudaimonia at Colfe's is the teaching of the activity of wellbeing. Broadly based on the virtue ethics of the ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle, the word Eudaimonia itself is most commonly translated as ‘flourishing' by practising virtuous behaviour and engaging with what it means to be human. Learning how to develop this skill helps pupils to be happier, more ethical, more fulfilled and are engaged in cultivating their own wellbeing and that of others. In essence, Eudaimonia is a practical response to Socrates' great question “How, then, should we live?”
Pupils in Year 10 and Year 11 benefit from one lesson per week of Eudaimonia.
Pupils in Year 7 have one lesson per fortnight.
Year 8 and Year 9 have two full days of Eudaimonia over the year.
In Economics and Business the emphasis in the classroom is on developing analytical abilities, encouraging argument from different standpoints and critical examination of data. Both subjects are challenging and rewarding with a sound basis in academic study as well as the excitement of dealing with topical issues.
Both A-level Economics and Business courses follow the AQA specification with exams at the end of the two years.
In A-level Economics the syllabus deals with concepts of micro and macroeconomics. You will develop an understanding of the world based on demand and supply factors whilst also discussing the core methods of government intervention in failing markets. Should education and healthcare be provided by the government or through market forces? Should the Bank of England raise interest rates? Is austerity the best way to achieve economic growth? Should the minimum wage be increased – or abolished?
To study Economics you are expected to have achieved a grade 7 or above at GCSE Mathematics; additionally most Economics degrees require A-level Mathematics.
In A-level Business, you will study the four functional areas of Finance, HR, Marketing and Operations. Problem solving skills are paramount; how can small firms compete with online giants such as Amazon? How can the rise of the discount supermarkets such as Aldi be explained? Do emerging markets such as China still offer Western firms an opportunity for increased profits? Exams are case-study based and requires you to perform the role of a consultant to the firm in question.
You are expected to engage in this ‘current affairs' subject and are given the opportunity to subscribe to the Economist at a much reduced rate. Theory studied in the classroom is topical based. Many students make excellent use of the @COLFESeconomics twitter feed. At the end of Year 12, you are given the opportunity to enter essay competitions through the Royal Economic Society, Cambridge University and the IEA.
Our planet is a dynamic, complex and beautiful place. As far as we know it is unique. Studying Geography can help you to understand it, but studying Geography at Colfe's can help you thrive in it.
Geography is in the news every-day – natural disasters, conflict, development issues, global trade, migration, population growth or decline, global warming, deforestation and the list goes on. The one theme these issues have in common is change. What will your local environment, your country and your planet be like in ten or twenty years' time? What issues will we face as an increasingly global society? What solutions will humans come up with to manage these issues? What will your role in all this be?
Studying Geography at Colfe's will give you the skills to flourish in the world of work. The subject is broad-based: it seeks to explain the relationships between natural systems and human activity. This frequently involves collecting and interpreting data, both numerical (quantitative) and non-numerical (qualitative). Geographers at Colfe's learn to critically evaluate the data and reach informed decisions. Employers greatly prize this capability, especially in project management. This makes Geographers some of the most in-demand graduates entering the workplace today.
We follow the CAIE International A-level specification in the Sixth Form which gives pupils a very broad and solid grounding in the discipline and which will prepare them for University level study of the subject.
As Geographers, we like to explore the world around us and encourage others to do the same. Recent trips have visited the Azores, The Grand Canyon and Death Valley in the USA, Iceland, and China. We also organise a range of educational visits to lectures, museums and exhibitions.
Colfe's History Department lives and breathes History, not least because of its unique link to the Second World War in that the school took a direct hit from a Nazi rocket in 1944 – this captivates and fascinates our young historians. The History syllabus at Colfe's studies some of the most significant events and people in British and World History over the past 2,000 years. It aims to inspire a passion for the subject, which enables our young historians to see how the past is being used- or abused- to justify people's actions in the present.
We provide pupils with opportunities to engage in handling and questioning the record that the past has left behind – developing hypotheses, testing and proposing different types of claims about the past by using sources as supporting, modifying or refuting evidence. This ability to take a critical approach to perceived wisdom is an incredibly valuable skill that nurtures a respect for truth, an understanding of valid argument and a recognition that historical knowledge is organised in terms of the nature of the questions asked. We regularly use role play and re-enactment in our lessons to truly bring the past to life.
History is the study of people: their hopes and aspirations, their problems and achievements and their expressions and beliefs. As such, we investigate key but controversial leaders such as William the Conqueror, King John, Elizabeth I, Nikita Khrushchev and Winston Churchill. This allows pupils to engage in enthusiastic debates about how they should be remembered and investigate events that were influenced by ‘ordinary people'; Year 11 for example grapple with ‘Power and the People' investigations; how political protest has been influenced by varied factors such as war, religion and the economy over time.
Our studies take us beyond the classroom with visits to sites of historical significance from the Cabinet War Rooms, to the Berlin Wall, or Sachsenhausen concentration camp. To commemorate the special link between Colfe's and the Leathersellers', all Year 7 discover the story of Colfe's through an exciting day trip to the Leathersellers' Hall. History Film Club evaluates how Hollywood has chosen to represent the past, and our House History competition is a fiercely competitive and enthusiastic experience whereby pupils demonstrate their level of historical knowledge acquired from Year 7-10. We also work closely with Colfe's CCF unit to mark the commemoration of our 129 Colfeians who fell in the First World War, as well as leading a joint battlefields tour.
Colfe's School is currently the education partner for the Spitfire AA810 Aerospace Careers Programme, which also seeks to inspire young people and combine History and STEM through the story of Sandy Gunn, a reconnaissance pilot whose rare Spitfire was shot down in the Second World War. Sandy was executed under the orders of Adolf Hitler for his part in the ‘Great Escape' in 1944, and Colfeian historians have the opportunity to partake in touring workshops about Sandy's Spitfire and the aerospace industry, as well as visiting a workshop to help build component parts of the crashed Spitfire that hopes to return to flight by 2023. It is these extra-curricular opportunities that we seek to engage our brilliant young thinkers and to provide vital skills and opportunities for the future.
Mathematics is the keystone to the modern technological world in which we live. It enables us to understand our physical environment through sophisticated modelling techniques and is the ultimate language of strategical reasoning. Its veracious nature spans many other fields including economics, logistics, computer science and artificial intelligence.
Pupils in Year 7 combine recapping basic numeracy with investigation tasks and problem solving is our core focus throughout the school. Setting of students in mathematics does not happen until after the first term of Year 7 is complete. This allows efficient and effective teaching and learning in Algebra, Number, Shape and Data, in an environment which is geared to each individual.
Assessment in all years is regular and short, in conjunction with three major examinations throughout each year. We host many weekly clubs – some specialist for year groups where pupils may seek support and assistance and ask any questions.
Mathematics has to be rigorous, but it must be fun too. We enter all pupils into individual UKMT Maths Challenges and compete in the prestigious Hans Woyda competition. In addition, there are numerous other team challenges and we are always keen to promote connections to real world maths by engaging children in Royal Institute lectures. In Year 9 pupils visit Bletchley Park and learn the basics of codes and ciphers. Later in the year, we host the ‘Maths in Action' day where pupils compete in activities such as financial trading and structural engineering.
In Year 10, pupils commence the IGCSE course. Top set pupils are accelerated to ensure that they complete the course early in Year 11 so that they can then study GCSE Further Mathematics. This A-level bridging course provides extra stimulus and challenge, exposing pupils to methods that will facilitate a better understanding of higher level mathematics.
Each A-level Mathematics class is led by two teachers, thus ensuring students are taught by Mechanics and Statistics experts, aside from the pure requirements. Further Mathematics provides suitable and extensive challenge for the very brightest candidates who aspire to study Mathematics, Physics or Engineering at university. Problem solving is infused into the courses via Harkness lessons, whereby pupils are regularly given five challenging extra-curricular problems to research, individually or as a group. They are then required to articulate their findings in a student led environment, designed to encourage ideas and allay any confidence issues.
Why study media? What's the point? What will I gain? These questions are often directed to us. To a media analyst it's similar to asking, ‘Why should I be interested in my world?' Media Studies is about understanding how our world is constructed and how we are encouraged to perceive it. If you understand how the media works, you understand how the world works.
We should also point out that Media Studies is not a celebration of the media. We teach young people to stand back, reflect and deconstruct their media saturated world. In fact, to call it ‘Media Studies' is quite misleading. Yes, we use media texts but it's much more than that. It's essentially a cultural anthropology course. We live in a world where media is omnipresent. The largest and most powerful corporations are media industries – we need to acknowledge that many Colfe's pupils will work in this field.
We therefore prepare them with ‘real life' learning and practical skills, which make them desirable to institutions of higher education and employers. Media Studies involves pupils making their own films, writing their own newspapers, setting up their own websites, creating their own music videos and cross media campaigns. It's extremely hands-on; pupils interact with modern technology in lots of ways, using the latest IT programmes and video and sound editing software.
We offer GCSE Eduqas Media Studies as an option in Year 10. In Sixth Form we offer two courses: the Pearson BTEC National Foundation Diploma in Creative Digital Media Production and Media Studies A-level. Both courses offer our students the best opportunity to put theory into practice, whilst developing their creative skills and soft skills – essential if you wish to thrive in the workplace.
Finally, let's dispel a common myth – Media Studies isn't easy. It isn't soft and it isn't a ‘Mickey Mouse' subject. Nevertheless, we might use Disney to explore issues of media imperialism, Marxists' approaches to hegemony and the concept of liberal pluralism in a capitalist society. The study of media is a lot more than you may think.
“What's the point in learning a language anyway? Everyone speaks English nowadays.”
Learning a language brings reward: it is revered by universities and employers alike and opens doors to employment and friendship. Whatever your linguistic ability, you will benefit from learning a modern language.
At Colfe's you will:
- learn communication and presentation skills;
- be exposed to European and non-European cultures, customs and traditions;
- cumulatively build your linguistic knowledge through our novel blend of modern grammar teaching and more traditional methods of learning vocabulary.
- Pupils begin their linguistic studies in Year 7 by studying French, German and Spanish in a carousel. After completing each language carousel, pupils can decide which languages they would like to continue studying in Year 8. GCSE, AS and A-level courses are offered in all three of these languages. A variety of extra-curricular languages, such as Japanese, Russian or Italian are offered as clubs.
All classes are conducted as much as possible in the foreign language and our French, German and Spanish assistants provide regular conversation practice for small groups of pupils. For Years 7-9 there is the European Film Club. Able pupils can gain internationally recognised certificates in French (DELF) and German (Goethe-Zertifikat). At A-level students can take part in work experience programmes, help in the running of the European Film Club and in the extra-curricular programme offered for pupils at our Junior School.
The Modern Languages department has a dedicated IT computer room and a separate study room for Sixth Form students with computers. There are support clubs for pupils in Years 7-9 who need extra advice or help and GCSE revision clubs for pupils in Years 10-11. At A-level, students' progress is tracked in each language and we run additional classes in response to their needs.
Whether it's to be able to purchase gaufres from a stall holder at the Christmas Market in Lille or Aachen, to navigate a water-logged ditch with guidance from the surveillant at the Château de la Baudionnière, to take part in German classes in Bonn or dance salsa with a real Spaniard in Barcelona – what you have learnt in the classroom will help you in the world outside. And when it happens, it's immensely satisfying! At A-level, too, after your first day's immersion in the ‘World of Foreign Work' – perhaps as a journalist's assistant in Rouen – you may be weary but you will also be delighted with the mind-full of new and old language you have assimilated.
Music is an integral part of life at Colfe's. The importance of studying music can't be overstated; it enables pupils to build confidence through performance, nurture creativity through composition and develop critical inquiry through musical appraisal.
In Years 7 and 8 you receive two lessons per two-week cycle. You study a wide range of topics from different musical styles and cultures, including Western Classical Music, Popular Music and World Music. There is a strong emphasis on composition and practical music-making within the curriculum to build confidence and encourage collaboration, alongside a thorough grounding in basic music theory. Music becomes an optional subject in Year 9 and builds upon the skills taught during Years 7 and 8 preparing the ground – in a comprehensive practical way – for the GCSE course.
At GCSE and A-level, you follow the Edexcel syllabus, studying a range of set works from a variety of eras and styles. The appraisal component is both challenging and diverse, allowing you to explore musical genres broadly and place each set work in its wider cultural and historical context. You are also expected to compose and perform as part of the course. You benefit from a wide range of extra-curricular performance opportunities to hone your skills as both soloists and chamber musicians, whilst there are regular visits from a professional composer to support GCSE and A-level classes.
Unique to the Music department at Colfe's is a strong working partnership with Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance, one of London's leading music colleges. Our pupils have the opportunity to work on collaborative projects with conservatoire students where they can learn from aspiring professionals and enhance their own performances.
Co-curricular Music
All pupils are also encouraged to take part in co-curricular Music – orchestra, ensembles, productions and House competitions.
At Colfe's we believe that a healthy mind, body and spirit leads to happiness and success.
Through the Physical Education and Sport programme, our pupils experience opportunities to develop skills which enable them to make informed lifestyle choices in adulthood and a lifelong love of sport and physical activity.
The department has excellent sporting facilities across three sites which include:
Colfe's School
- Floodlit all-weather astro surface
- Sports Hall
- Sports pitches (rugby/football/cricket)
- 25m swimming pool
- Three netball courts
- Six tennis courts
- Artificial cricket wicket
- Indoor and outdoor cricket nets
- One Junior School MUGA
- Two fitness suites and fixed TRX points
- Sports Pavilion and changing rooms
Leathersellers Sports Ground
- Sports pitches (rugby/football/cricket)
- Pavilion and changing facilities
- Cricket nets
Horn Park Lane
- Sports pitches (rugby/football/cricket)
- Club House
- Squash courts
- Indoor hall
In addition, we also use Sutcliffe Park Athletics Track, The Reach Climbing Centre in Woolwich and Mottingham Riding Stables.
Our world is built on ideas. We have ideas about freedom of speech, how far tolerance should extend, how laws should be made, what rights we intrinsically have and, importantly, what kind of life we should live. All these ideas have a historical pedigree, which a study of world religions and Philosophy bring to life.
Giving you an opportunity to engage with the rich history of philosophical and theological thought contributes to your personal growth and ethical development. Take the questions: Is the mind separate from the brain? or What makes an action right or wrong? You have the ability to energise conversation, stimulate thought and create a feeling that there is something intriguing and worth learning about. By encountering the rich diversity of ways in which thinkers, both religious and secular, have gone about trying to answer Socrates' great question How, then, should we live? you learn that your own ideas about life are open to challenge and critical question.
Religion & Philosophy is compulsory in Year 7 and 8, with many pupils opting to study it further in Year 9, GCSE, A-level and beyond. The curriculum in the Year 7-8 examines the major world religions and introduces pupils to Philosophy and ethics. In addition, we teach modules on Christianity, mindfulness, tolerance and new religious movements. In Year 9 pupils explore Islam, Buddhism, Humanism, arguments for the existence of God and ethics.
The Religious Studies & Philosophy GCSE focuses in part on Christianity and Buddhism, with the remaining content dedicated to philosophical and ethical themes. At A-level we offer Philosophy with modules in epistemology, moral philosophy, the metaphysics of mind and the metaphysics of God.
Outside the classroom many pupils choose to engage their faculty of wonder in the fortnightly Philosophy Club, participate in House Philosophy or attend one of our frequent trips to lectures, conferences and debates.
The Science department has 13 full time teachers supported by four technicians. Facilities include nine dedicated laboratories with access to notebook computers, so that ICT skills can be used to complement the learning of Science. All of the laboratories have multimedia projectors and interactive whiteboards, supported by a wide range of science software. Psychology is introduced in the Sixth Form and comes under the Science umbrella.
These generous, modern facilities allow you to learn about the world around you through Biology, Chemistry, Physics and Psychology. You won't just learn the answer, you learn how to pose the question. We work together to analyse why things happen; experiment to find out how they happen; predict what will happen next time – and discuss how we can make best use of this knowledge. This is science at Colfe's. It is clear and rational; it is exciting and intriguing.
Pupils in Year 7 and 8 currently study Science with one teacher. From Year 9 onward, you are taught by specialists in Biology, Chemistry and Physics. At A-level the sciences are thriving and expanding with excellent results and significant numbers of pupils continuing to further study at prestigious Russell Group universities.
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