Setting pupils up for success
Parents choose Long Close Senior School for its high-achieving, nurturing environment with small classes, a strong curriculum, and outstanding pastoral support.
At Long Close, we prize academic ambition and the development of character in equal measure. Our curriculum is therefore carefully crafted to provide children with opportunities that challenge them in the classroom and beyond.
With a focus on participation, enjoyment and achievement, our extra-curricular and enrichment programmes are designed to develop a sense of resilience, leadership and personal self-esteem in the children.
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Key Stage 3 to 4
High quality learning
Long Close Senior School is where the true essence of our tailored educational approach comes to life. Guiding students from Year 7 onwards, our mission is to empower them for success in their GCSEs, charting a course toward selective Sixth Forms, prestigious universities, or rewarding apprenticeships for a promising future.
Amidst our intimate class sizes, ongoing assessments, and dedicated pastoral care, an open line of communication thrives among teachers, fostering a deep understanding of each student's journey. This keen insight illuminates areas of challenge that may warrant extra attention, showcases burgeoning strengths that deserve exploration, and, above all, outlines pathways to accomplishment.
Curriculum
Empowering excellence
Long Close Senior School offers a comprehensive curriculum designed for academic excellence, preparing students for success in A-levels, university, and beyond. Our dedicated specialist teachers combine academic rigor with technology, providing each student with a personal 1-2-1 Laptop for a versatile learning experience.
Our hallmark is intimate class sizes and exceptional pastoral care, ensuring teachers understand each student's unique needs. We use a strategic intervention approach to create personalised learning plans, capitalising on strengths and addressing areas of growth across all Key Stages.
Our approach
A holistic approach
Our holistic education includes PSHE/Citizenship, sports, culture, and leadership opportunities. We foster independent thinking, effective communication, and interpersonal skills, empowering graduates academically and as contributors to society.
In Year 11, we provide a versatile education to expand horizons and future options. We envision each Long Close graduate embracing academic triumph and embodying qualities that transcend the classroom, enabling them to become impactful, engaged citizens in the wider world.
To ensure our Senior School students are prepared for success in the world, we deliver a curriculum of length and breadth.
Core Curricular
From Year 7, students enjoy weekly lessons in English, Mathematics, Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Spanish, Geography, History, Religious Studies, Art, Music, Design Technology, Drama, Computing, PSHE and Games.
GCSE Curriclum
In Year 9, students then select their options for the General Certificate in Secondary Education (GCSE).
At Long Close, all pupils must study English (language and literature), Mathematics and Triple or Dual Science GCSEs. In addition they select four options and many students will include a Humanity and modern foreign language (Spanish) in order to follow the English Baccalaureate, a qualification that is promoted by the government and the Russell Group of universities in the UK.
Co-curricular
Pupils have access to a wide range of peripatetic staff, Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme, LAMDA classes, ISA (Independent Schools Association) competitions, residential trips, day trips and the Cognita Active Learning Group.
Enrichment Curriculum
Our weekly Enrichment Curriculum is made possible by collapsing our core curricular subjects once a week.
Pupils have a chance to try new skills and areas of interest that span academic extension; creativity and expression; global citizenship and languages or health and wellbeing.
Join us on a personal tour of the School
We would be delighted to invite you to our wonderful school and share with you what makes Long Close School the first choice school for so many families.
Gifted & Talented Pupils
Nurturing Gifts and Talent
Our personalised approach to education enables us to promptly recognise and nurture children's unique gifts and talents and for academic high-flyers we provide specialised short courses at local universities. We extend this commitment to excellence to music, drama, and sports, forming partnerships with local clubs to cultivate county-level athletes.
As a Cognita Schools Group member, Long Close excels in supporting gifted and talented students. We recognise exceptional exam performance with silver and gold badges and provide academic scholarships in our Senior School. We also innovate with 'curriculum collapse' weeks, creating dynamic, enriched learning experiences that unite students across age groups and traditional subjects, allowing them to showcase their talents and thrive.
Work Experience
Inspire the Future
As our students progress towards Year 11, we start talking to them about how they will go on to contribute to society. We see to it that all of them take part in a work experience programme to help them understand the kind of responsibility and discipline required for them to achieve success.
We provide them with specialist leadership training to match the kind of roles we expect many of our pupils to go on and perform; and we organise trips to outside events where pupils, for example, spend the day with experts in a particular industry, or engage in product design and development.
In recent years we have also launched an initiative called ‘Inspire the Future’, designed to tap into the many strengths of the wider Long Close community. As part of the initiative, we invite parents and other friends of the school to come in and give our students an introduction to a particular area of work.
The sessions have proved to be extremely informative, offering pupils a unique insight into the various career paths that they may choose to follow.
Aspire to Continuity
Long Close School's seamless journey from Nursery to GCSEs
Our unique educational pathway, offers a consistent and integrated learning experience from the early years in Nursery right through to Senior schooling, culminating in GCSEs, ideal for families seeking a stable and continuous educational journey for their children.
2 - 4 yrs old
4 - 5 yrs old
5 - 11 yrs old
11 - 16 yrs old
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