Pupils at UCS benefit from demanding yet supportive teaching. Throughout the curriculum, they develop excellent study skills – gaining much from both formal instructions on critical thinking and philosophical approaches which inform their study habits and techniques for learning.
Intellectual curiosity, breadth of study and independence of mind are intended consequences of this enlightened vision of education, which, together with well-balanced personal development and academic excellence, produced highly impressive publicly examined results for the school in 2024.
However, our first priority always remains our pupils’ happiness and wellbeing. We believe that academic success is something that will follow only when our young people are content and self-confident. This crucial aspect is what pleases us most whenever their hard work – and that of our dedicated teaching staff – gets its reward in terms of elite grades.
of GCSE grades were 8–9 in the 2023 results
pupils achieved straight 8s and 9s at GCSE
pupils registered straight A*–A grades at A Level
of all GCSE grades for 2023 were 9–7
of all A Level grades were A*–B in 2023
of pupils took up places at 1st/2nd-choice university
Breadth of study
Our pupils are encouraged to nurture their own academic specialisms as they move up the school while also benefiting from the avowedly rounded education in which we offer more than 22 subjects at both GCSE and A Level.
The independence and initiative which characterise our approach to lessons and academic enrichment subsequently lend themselves perfectly to the two years at our co-educational Sixth Form, where student engagement often seems to be at undergraduate level.
Our leavers then move on to a variety of the UK’s leading universities, including Oxford, Cambridge, LSE, Imperial, Edinburgh and St Andrews, as well as prestigious overseas institutions such as Duke University, the University of Miami and New York University.
UCS was graded Excellent – the highest descriptor that can be awarded – in the Educational Quality Inspection carried out by the Independent Schools Inspectorate in November 2021.