Year 11 New Beginnings through our Cognitive Curriculum

There is so much that I could write about this week as Senior School heads into a new academic year. I could focus on March Out, an event signifying the end of a journey for our wonderful Year 12s as they approach their final examinations. Or perhaps the exciting beginning of our Year 9 to Year 11 boys who have been involved in an extraordinary array of conference activities last week. Or even a welcome to Maria Hodges, our vibrant new Head of Junior School who will start a new chapter of her career at Scotch. Or the hardworking Year 5s who have moved into the next stage of planning for their PYP Exhibition. Or Beach School with Year 2s, Year 10 Expeditions, Year 8 Community Project, Year 5 and 8 transition days, the list of new beginnings goes on.

However, this week's article is focused on an exciting initiative that will directly benefit our Year 11 WACE students. In an effort to grow our Year 11s capabilities in the key areas of Leadership, Self-Management, Health and Wellbeing, Careers and Financial Literacy, Scotch, for the first time, will deliver a new course targeting these areas. Although the Year 11 Leadership course has been a strong part of our programme for a number of years, there are features that have been added to the overall programme aimed to help our Year 11 WACE students transition well. 

Delivered in four periods a cycle, we will continue to explicitly teach important skills to our students since the research we have gathered suggests a strong positive relationship between skill proficiency and academic performance. Titled, Year 11 Cognitive Curriculum, classes will be delivered in their Houses by academic staff who are passionate about sharing their expertise in this area.

Spring Term sees an entire term devoted to learning about effective study techniques, methods for organisation , goal setting, understanding how to access helpful resources and managing a positive mindset to deal with some of the challenges the Year 11s will face over the coming year. This expands into long term revision, memory recall, exam techniques and managing stress. In Summer Term, the course will develop into a sophisticated careers p rogramme  where students will learn about job prospects, further education, how to manage an online work media account and have an opportunity to practice interview techniques. In Autumn Term, the Commerce Department have written a nine-week  programme to teach the boys about financial literacy, so they are better placed to understand their own personal finances, budgeting, the impact of credit card debt and compounding interest. In the final term, Year 11 students will turn their focus back towards their study as they prepare for a year - long final examination. With the ongoing support of the Old Scotch Collegians, past students will provide an excellent network of support in conjunction with the Cognitive Curriculum teachers, where we will deliver a mix of exam skills and revision of content.

For the International Baccalaureate (IB) students, this aspect of their education is covered in the Approaches to Learning (ATL) that has been a part of their programme  since 2016. The ATL skills curriculum was established by the IB to  formalise important connections between learning. These skills are taught through the process of completing the Extended Essay (EE), Creativity, Activity and Service (CAS) and the Theory of Knowledge (TOK) course. Similarly, classroom teachers advance these skills during their independent research phase known as the Internal Assessments (IA). We are delighted to bring this preparation for university into our WACE programme and hope to enhance our boys' experience as we prepare boys for life.