Upper School Academic Curriculum

St George’s academic enrichment programme for Upper School and Sixth Form provides is a vibrant range of activities that offers challenges to students’ thinking and expands their view of the world around them.

Innovative, creative and interdisciplinary STEM opportunities at St George’s equip our girl students with skills that will allow them to be competitive in a rapidly changing world. 

Read about some of our recent STEM competitions to get a feel for the breadth of STEM opportunities we offer:

The UK Space Design competition requires teams to take on the role of a company pitching a design for a space settlement to the Foundation Society, who ultimately finance the project. The St George’s team collaborated with St Columba’s in the regional competition and won with their design of Balderol- a mining settlement on the moon. At nationals they collaborated with 6 other schools on their design of Arial, a Space Elevator settlement on the moon. They gave a superb presentation and ultimately came runners up in the competition. Read the full story

This year we had three ‘CanSat’ teams from Upper 5-Upper 6 designing a satellite no bigger than a drinks can. They had to design, construct and program the satellites themselves, which would transmit data such a temperature and pressure back to a ground station when launched. Nineteen students have achieved a Silver Industrial Cadet award for their project reports, despite the weather’s best efforts to derail our satellite launch. Read the full story

The Physics Olympiad offers a challenge for the top Physics students in the country to push themselves in the area of problem-solving. This year students have competed at three levels: intermediate; senior and round one main competition. Fourteen students achieved bronze awards, thirteen achieved silver and two achieved gold.

The AWS GetIT programme is designed to get more girls interested in a career in technology, by working through a series of online modules, then entering a competition to design an app that solves a problem in their community. As St George's Upper 4 completed the programme as part of their curriculum. Only two groups could enter the UK competition, one of which, ‘Roots’, was selected by a panel to compete in the UK final. In June the team travelled down to London for the national final, where they presented their app, "Roots" designed to help users find the safest routes to their destinations by highlighting crime hotspots and suggesting alternative paths. The app mainly targets women, children, and tourists—groups that often feel vulnerable. However, its features are beneficial for anyone seeking safer travel options. The team were runners up in the whole competition and acquitted themselves very impressively indeed. Read the full story

An Arkwright Engineering Scholarship is the most esteemed scholarship of its type in the UK, designed to inspire students to pursue their dreams and change the world as an outstanding engineer of the future. The Scholarships are awarded to hard-working 16-year-old students through a rigorous selection process, supporting them through their A levels, Scottish Highers or equivalent qualifications. A Lower Sixth student was awarded the Arkwright Engineering Scholarship this year. Every Scholarship is sponsored by a commercial company or other organisation and our recipient is being sponsored by Amazon Future Engineering who are providing mentoring and support. Read the full story

St George’s School hosted Women in Computing encouraging girls across Edinburgh to consider a career in tech

St George’s School invited girls from 12 state and private schools across Edinburgh to an event today (Wednesday 11 December), Women in Computing, aimed to inspire, motivate and empower females from P6 upwards to take their first steps towards a future in computing and technology. The event was opened and attended by the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills, Jenny Gilruth MSP. Read the full story

Students in Upper 4 can apply for a reciprocal exchange to our partner schools in Toronto, Canada and Philadelphia and Fort Worth in America. The duration of the programme ranges from 2- 4 weeks.

Students in Upper 5 and Lower 6 can apply for a reciprocal exchange to our partner schools in Australia, Chile, New Zealand and South Africa. The duration of the exchange is 4 – 6 weeks.

There are opportunities for expeditions with Global Action to Nepal and Costa Rica which run every 2 years.

Global Perspective course

Global Perspective course delivered in the Upper 4 Curriculum

• develops learners’ ability to consider significant global issues from different perspectives
• encourages learners to work collaboratively and individually and to apply their knowledge in different contexts
• develops transferable skills to complement learning in other curricular areas and prepare learners to be active global citizens in a life beyond school
• Encourage critical thinking.

This develops as students progress into the Upper Secondary School, where the increasing demands of the curriculum necessitate more independent learning and increased autonomy from students. Students use their individual devices to support their learning in lessons, helping them coordinate and structure their notes, making homework and revision easier and more meaningful. Digital inking, coupled with a full keyboard and full desktop app functionality affords students the best learning experience, with the greatest flexibility in how they use their device to enhance their education. Class Teams are used as a learning hub for students, where their teachers can share files, links and notes, as well as issue Assignments for classwork, coursework, and homework.

Upper 4 (S2, Yr 9)

In Upper Four students who take Learning Support in place of a second language other than English, will receive two periods a week with a member of learning support staff and one period per week of specialist mathematics support.

In addition, co-operative teaching is undertaken in English and mathematics lessons and individual support is available to students who may require some additional support. Individual lessons take place once a week on a rolling timetable, which requires the student to come out of another subject.

Lower 5 and Upper 5

At the end of Upper 4, students who would benefit from continued access to Learning Support can choose it as one of their options for study during Lower 5 and Upper 5. These students will have Learning Support for four periods per week, two with a Learning Support teacher and two with a Mathematics teacher. The aim of Learning Support over these two years is to provide the students with skills that can be transferred to all their subjects.

In addition, support is also available for students who have not opted for Learning Support. This is offered through co-operative teaching in English and individual support as required.

Upper 4 classes attend library lessons once every fortnight as part of their English timetable, where they expand their research skills and reading horizons. In Lower 5 and above, classes may visit the library with their class teachers as directed or use the space and resources in their own time.