Secondary

Learners thrive academically and pastorally when a school’s focus is on more than examination results. Here at LICS, all of our teachers and support staff are dedicated to helping our learners achieve their full potential as academics, sports people and future world citizens. Our small class sizes help foster a professional relationship between our staff and learners constantly feedback that our ability to see the full individual and not just the grade is what sets us apart from other institutions. While maintaining small class sizes we compete as well as any larger school and have learners regularly competing in national and international sporting events, entering, and winning literary competitions and year on year exceeding national and international averages for their examinations. In addition to this our enrichment and co-curricular programmes ensure that all learners’ interests and passions are nurtured and celebrated as part of our school life. It is vital that all learners feel valued and celebrated here as part of the LICS family.

In years 7-9 (Key Stage 3) learners follow the Cambridge Lower Secondary programme that ends formally with their international checkpoint exams in the second half of year 9 in English, Mathematics and Science. For those subjects that do not have formal checkpoint exams, available students will still follow a similarly structured course matching the Cambridge values and skills closely. This is considered a vital programme as it helps teach the tools and skills needed to fully embrace the Cambridge IGCSE programme which learners will follow in years 10 and 11 (Key stage 4). Upon the successful completion of their IGCSE programme learners then undertake Cambridge AS and A level courses in years 12 and 13 (Key stage 5). We follow the Cambridge examination board as it is an examination board specifically designed for international learners and it is the most widely recognised international examination board in the world with colleges and universities around the globe eagerly accepting students with these qualifications.

We feel passionately as a school that our learners should be prepared for more than just their examinations, we believe that the Cambridge exam board’s ideals match our own in this respect with a wide array of courses and curriculum content being offered. This, alongside our push on understanding global citizenship, the excellent work of our student support department (careers, counselling, and academic support) and our holistic approach to each individual learner really does help us to maximise their potential.

Student well-being underpins the successful education of the “whole” child. For this reason, LICS Secondary has in place a robust pastoral programme devoted to the holistic care of our students. Key Stage leaders work closely with a team of pastoral tutors, the Student Success Coordinator and the School Counsellor to ensure that we comprehensively understand our students so we can provide maximum support.

Student well-being can be supported in several ways, from the positive interaction between a student and a member of staff, to house activities that bring students together across years, to events such as International Day which celebrate the diversity of our school community.

Pastoral care is also part of the curriculum. We provide PSHE (Personal, Social, and Health Education) through a comprehensive scheme of work covering themes such as: resilience, physical and emotional health, dreams and goals, and social and employability skills. The goal of PSHE is to support students in their growth as

• discerning and mindful human beings willing to participate as positive citizens
• solution-focused individuals – knowing how and when to solve their own problems, and when to seek help
• resilient, caring people – caring for one’s self and others
• questioning and challenging minds that want to learn
• emotionally literate individuals with the self-knowledge for self-efficacy

The PSHE programme is delivered by form tutors who meet with their forms daily. During pastoral time, tutors also strive to foster a ‘community within a community’ atmosphere in which they celebrate learner successes, support individuals through challenges, supervise activities that build caring relationships, and maintain oversight of the academic and social-emotional well-being of their tutees.

School Counsellors

The social and emotional counsellor also plays a key role in promoting well-being across secondary, providing care for the entire student body as well as offering small group and one-on-one counselling for those in need. The recent coffee morning on ‘parenting and motivation’ proved wildly popular and this provision will be extended with the counselling team offering more presentations.

Student Success Services

The Student Success Team offers their services to students throughout secondary. Our team works in tandem with teachers in all areas of the curriculum and provides in-class learning support specifically tailored to address a range of learning, language and behavioural needs. This includes individual and small group support.