We have adopted a modern academic curriculum which satisfies the needs of our highly able students. A new dimension to this concerns our CCHS Learner Profile, inspired by the IB Diploma, which highlights the kind of attributes that we want our students to develop. We ask them to be articulate, creative, enquiring, knowledgeable, principled, reflective and resilient.

Key Stage 3 Curriculum

Year 7

Students study, English, Mathematics, Science, French, German, Geography, History, Religious Studies, Art, Drama, Music, Technology, Physical Education (including Dance), PSHE (Personal, Social, Health and Economic education) and ICT.

Year 8

The courses followed are as in Year 7, with Latin being introduced and the sciences being taught as separate subjects (Biology, Chemistry and Physics).

Year 9

The courses followed are the same as in Year 8, with the addition of GCSE ICT (short course).

Key Stage 4 Curriculum

Year 10

The core programme consists of GCSE courses in Maths, English Language, English Literature (IGCSE course), Biology, Chemistry, Physics, French or German, Geography or History and a Creative subject (Art, Drama, Computing, Music or Technology). Students also choose two other courses as optional subjects from French, German, Latin, Geography, History, Religious Studies, Art, Computing and Technology (Double Award Engineering, Textiles or Graphics). We regularly review the range of courses we offer and other subjects may be available in the future.

Year 11

Year 11 students continue their Year 10 courses.

Key Stage 5 Curriculum

Advanced Level

Students have a choice of two pathways in the Sixth Form. We have well-established Advanced Level courses across sixteen subjects; Art, Biology, Chemistry, Economics, English Literature, French, Geography, German, History, Latin, Mathematics and Further Mathematics, Physics, Psychology, Religious Studies and Theatre Studies. Students choose to study four AS subjects on entering the Sixth Form in Year 12, in addition to General Studies. They then have the option of completing the second part of the course in all four subjects, and, optionally General Studies, or of dropping one subject and continuing to A2 in three subjects, in which case they are required to study General Studies to A2.

International Baccalaureate Diploma

Since 2009, Chelmsford County High School for Girls has been offering the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme as an alternative to Advanced Levels in the Sixth Form. The IB Diploma has been running worldwide for more than forty years and has a considerable track record as an academically challenging and wide-ranging course of study. It is currently delivered by 2311 schools worldwide; 218 of them in the United Kingdom.

The IB Diploma offers a broad programme of study; students study six subjects in addition to the compulsory ‘core’ (Theory of Knowledge; Creativity, Action & Service; and the Extended Essay), which is studied by all students. The Diploma therefore appeals particularly to students who are interested in and successful in a wide range of subjects.

For more details on the KS5 Curriculum please visit the Sixth Form section of our website.