The ethos of Westminster School’s curriculum – to take our pupils well beyond the examination syllabus and to inspire them with a life-long interest in the subject – has the happy effect of enabling pupils to achieve top grades in public examinations and places at internationally acclaimed universities.
Our style of teaching is designed to enrich and extend understanding. We give pupils plenty of opportunity to take initiative in their learning. Collaborative and independent research projects, presentations, seminar-style discussion and a rich variety of enthusiastically attended pupil-led societies encourage pupils to learn actively and from each other. As a result many are inspired to enter competitions and with great success, including international Mathematics, Biology, Chemistry and Linguistics Olympiads and the IGGY and Litro Young Writers’ Prize.
An unusual feature of the Sixth form curriculum at Westminster is that most pupils take four subjects at A-Level and/or Pre-U instead of three, alongside a programme of academic enrichment courses ranging from ‘Genes and Memes’ and ‘Early Modern Political Thought’ through to ‘Russian Cinema’ and ‘Arabic’. Consistently pupils have achieved over 54.5% A* in the last 5 years. This makes us the top performing academic school in Britain.