Key stage 3 (Year 7 - 9)

Years 7, 8 and 9 (Key Stage 3 in England) make up the Lower School.  Students are helped in making the move from primary to secondary education and they learn to cope with a more disciplined and structured learning environment.

The expected standards of students’ performance are clearly defined for both parents and students when a student joins the Lower School.  Regular assessment of in-class tasks, formal classroom tests and homework assignments build up a comprehensive performance record for each student.  This provides both students and parents readily accessible and easily understood information about progress and helps define future targets for each student.  These targets form an important planning tool for the staff to ensure progression and continuity across and through the Key Stage.  The subjects taken are: Art, Drama, English, Geography, History, Infornmation and Communications Technology (ICT),  Mathematics, Modern Foreign Languages (French and choice of Arabic, Spanish or German)  Music, PSHE,  and Physical Education and Science.

Year 9 is an important time for students at NCBIS, as it is the culmination of three years of work, which will be assessed through National Curriculum Tests (commonly referred to as SAT’s) in English, Mathematics and Science. 

GCSE (Year 10 & 11)

Students entering the Upper School (UK Key Stage 4) in Year 10 are firmly focused on the courses of study that they have chosen to take at GCSE level.  In many cases these decisions are critical to a young person’s plans and aspirations about careers and further education.  GCSE courses place great importance on a student’s ability to apply principles, theories, concepts and ideas to a variety of situations – not simply the ability to remember facts.  We have  high expectations of all of our students.  We use a variety of strategies to ensure that all students recognise their individual potential including but not limited to target setting, value-added analysis, individual meetings and revision lessons prior to examinations.  Every effort is made to ensure that students’ workload is well balanced.  All work is reviewed and marked promptly so that students can make necessary improvements when required.  Regular performance reports for parents help to ensure that everyone involved shares common values and are able to support the student in an appropriate way.

Normally nine examination subjects are studied over a two-year period with external exams at the end of Year 11.   Formal internal exams are taken at the end of Year 10 and mid-way through Year 11 (Mock GCSE examinations), which provide a good indication of student achievements and the foundation for a rigorous revision programme.

The school uses the EdExcel (London) GCSE syllabuses, which are used worldwide in international schools and are recognised as equivalent to the IGCSE for university entrance in Egypt and elsewhere.  The subjects at GCSE are: Arabic (native speakers),  Art, Biology, Business Studies, Chemistry, Drama, English Language and English Literature (2 GCSEs), Geography, History, Information and Communications Technology (ICT), Mathematics, Modern Foreign Languages (Arabic, French and Spanish), Music, PSHE, Physical Education and Physics.

6th Form (Year 12 & 13)

At NCBIS we recognise that post 16 education is essential for those students who wish to go on to further education in colleges and universities around the world or here in Egypt.

For our international students, this means studying a range of subjects at both the AS and A full level.  For our local Egyptian students, AS-level or A-level qualifications are now often required for students with GCSE or IGCSE qualifications wishing to enter Egyptian university courses in medicine, architecture, engineering, information technology and other similar subjects.  Our Sixth Form Studies Unit has been set-up to accommodate both requirements. The school uses the EdExcel AS and A-level syllabi, students study up to four AS subjects in their first year and up to three further A2 units in the second year.  The subjects available at present include Biology, Chemistry, Economics, English, French, General Studies, History, Information and Communications Technology (ICT), Maths, Music and Physics.  Other subjects may also be offered if there is sufficient demand and appropriate staffing.