Key Stage 4

Key Stage 4 is years 10 and 11. These are the years that culminate in public examinations – ICGSE years.

Our belief in the value of a “broad and rigorous curriculum” extends into KS4. Hence, subjects that are considered important, not only by us but by universities around the world, remain compulsory. They are:

In addition, we introduce choice to the curriculum as students have optional subjects. They are:

• French or History
• Geography or Art
• Economics or Computer Science

Students also have the opportunity to continue with either PE or Urdu. The former is a non-examined subject, but no less valuable for that; the latter is an IGCSE subject, which students usually complete at the end of Year 10.
The focus of KS4 is towards the public examinations at the end of Year 11. With this in mind the nature of our teaching also changes, becoming more narrowly centred on examination success rather than broader exploration of ideas and concepts.
All that being said, our KS4 curriculum retains and extends opportunities for personal development. Community service, via our Co-curricular Programme, continues to be compulsory and, in Year 10, we introduce the Duke of Edinburgh Award scheme Bronze Award (see ‘Life at the BOS’).

Public Examinations

In Pakistan the very fact that the BOS offers I/GCSEs and uses the Edexcel examination board sets us apart from the vast majority of independent schools here – schools that favour the Cambridge International Examinations (CIE) and its O level offering.

Our choice of I/GCSE and Edexcel is another example of where we determine the balance between modernity and tradition to lie. I/GCSE is a contemporary examination that combines the need for knowledge with the skills of application – rote learning will not do.

Edexcel, part of the Pearson Group, is quite simply the largest examination board in the UK.