A guide to Cambridge Lower Secondary
The Cambridge Approach
Welcome to Cambridge Lower Secondary. This self-study guide will give you an overview of the programme. It will also guide you through the materials and support available, and tell you where you can find out more.
Cambridge Lower Secondary continues learners' exciting educational journey, setting out what they should be able to know and do at each stage of their lower secondary education. The programme is designed to help learners develop the skills they need to succeed in their lower secondary education and progress to Upper Secondary, the next stage of learning.
Five elements lie at the heart of a Cambridge education:
- international curriculum
- teaching and learning
- assessment
- international recognition
- global community.
A broad and balanced programme
The programme develops skills and understanding in a wide range of subjects including English, Mathematics and Science. It is designed to help you deliver a broad and balanced curriculum that suits your schools' context, culture and ethos.
We believe education is most effective when curriculum, teaching and learning, and assessment are closely aligned. For effective teaching and learning, there needs to be coherence between the curriculum, pedagogy and assessment. Therefore, we have designed Cambridge Lower Secondary around this principle.
Curriculum
The learning objectives in the Cambridge Lower Secondary Curriculum Frameworks define the content for teaching and learning. You can tailor the content to your learners' needs. It is also flexible, and can be taught alongside local and national curricula. You can teach as many or as few subjects as you wish.
Pedagogy
Each subject is supported by an extensive range of high-quality teaching and learning resources and a choice of assessments. These are all directly aligned to the learning objectives in the Curriculum Frameworks to make sure all aspects of our programme are coherent.
Assessment
We offer a range of optional assessments to help you prove and improve learning:
- Potential: Our Cambridge CEM baseline and diagnostic assessments help measure and benchmark learners’ potential (MidYIS).
- Progress: Use Cambridge Lower Secondary Progression Tests to check learners’ progress in Stages 7, 8 and 9. They are updated annually and marked in school.
- Achieve: Monitor individual and group performance at the end of the Lower Secondary programme using Cambridge Checkpoint tests. See how your learners are performing in comparison to the rest of their class and against an international benchmark. We mark the tests.
Cambridge Lower Secondary Progression Tests and Cambridge Lower Secondary Checkpoint are developed in parallel with the Curriculum Frameworks. This means you can be sure that your learners will be tested on the content you have covered in the classroom.
The Cambridge Approach
Welcome to Cambridge Lower Secondary. This self-study guide will give you an overview of the programme. It will also guide you through the materials and support available, and tell you where you can find out more.
Cambridge Lower Secondary continues learners' exciting educational journey, setting out what they should be able to know and do at each stage of their lower secondary education. The programme is designed to help learners develop the skills they need to succeed in their lower secondary education and progress to Upper Secondary, the next stage of learning.
Five elements lie at the heart of a Cambridge education:
- international curriculum
- teaching and learning
- assessment
- international recognition
- global community.
A broad and balanced programme
The programme develops skills and understanding in a wide range of subjects including English, Mathematics and Science. It is designed to help you deliver a broad and balanced curriculum that suits your schools' context, culture and ethos.
We believe education is most effective when curriculum, teaching and learning, and assessment are closely aligned. For effective teaching and learning, there needs to be coherence between the curriculum, pedagogy and assessment. Therefore, we have designed Cambridge Lower Secondary around this principle.
Curriculum
The learning objectives in the Cambridge Lower Secondary Curriculum Frameworks define the content for teaching and learning. You can tailor the content to your learners' needs. It is also flexible, and can be taught alongside local and national curricula. You can teach as many or as few subjects as you wish.
Pedagogy
Each subject is supported by an extensive range of high-quality teaching and learning resources and a choice of assessments. These are all directly aligned to the learning objectives in the Curriculum Frameworks to make sure all aspects of our programme are coherent.
Assessment
We offer a range of optional assessments to help you prove and improve learning:
- Potential: Our Cambridge CEM baseline and diagnostic assessments help measure and benchmark learners’ potential (MidYIS).
- Progress: Use Cambridge Lower Secondary Progression Tests to check learners’ progress in Stages 7, 8 and 9. They are updated annually and marked in school.
- Achieve: Monitor individual and group performance at the end of the Lower Secondary programme using Cambridge Checkpoint tests. See how your learners are performing in comparison to the rest of their class and against an international benchmark. We mark the tests.
Cambridge Lower Secondary Progression Tests and Cambridge Lower Secondary Checkpoint are developed in parallel with the Curriculum Frameworks. This means you can be sure that your learners will be tested on the content you have covered in the classroom.
Developing the Cambridge Learner Attributes
The concept of a ‘Cambridge learner’ helps us communicate attributes we believe are important for learners in the modern world. We recognise that a meaningful curriculum is more than a collection of subjects. Learners need to develop a set of academic skills, life skills and attitudes to be successful. Cambridge learners are:
Confident in working with information and ideas – their own and those of others
Responsible for themselves, responsive to and respectful of others
Reflective as learners, developing their ability to learn
Innovative and equipped for new and future challenges
Engaged intellectually and socially, ready to make a difference
Cambridge Support and Training
We believe that supporting teachers in their professional development leads to improved outcomes for learners. Good-quality training and reflective practice are essential parts of a teacher’s professional life.
You can choose from a number of different resources and professional development opportunities for teachers according to your experience and needs:
Education briefs and animations Explore important themes in education and why they’re important.
Getting started with guides Learn about different teaching and learning concepts, like assessment for learning, mentoring and metacognition.
Professional Development courses Find the right course that meets your needs and connect with teachers around the world to engage in dialogue beyond your classrooms.
Evaluation tools and services
Cambridge Teacher and School Leader standards Use our standards of effective teaching and leadership to evaluate your current practice and diagnose your professional development needs.
School Self-Evaluation service Use evidence and stakeholder data to review your school’s performance, identifying both strengths and ways of becoming more effective.
Community
Our School Support Hub contains a community area where Cambridge teachers worldwide can share ideas or simply ask questions. We have introduced forums for each subject. The subject forums are moderated by us, so if you post questions specifically for Cambridge International we will answer them
The Cambridge Lower Secondary forums:
- host interesting discussions on different aspects of teaching
- are supported by expert Lower Secondary moderators
- provide opportunities to talk to over 30 000 Cambridge teachers around the world
- contain discussion topics clearly visible in ‘threads’, so it is easier to follow a conversation.
To participate in discussions in our Cambridge Lower Secondary forums, go to the Forums page on our School Support Hub. You can use the same username and password for both the School Support Hub and the Cambridge Lower Secondary support site.
For more information contact us: info@cambridgeinternational.org
Stay updated on exciting changes and additions to the Cambridge Lower Secondary programme on the Messages page of our support site.
Cambridge Support and Training
We believe that supporting teachers in their professional development leads to improved outcomes for learners. Good-quality resources and reflective practice are essential parts of a teacher’s professional life.
You can choose from a number of different training and professional development opportunities for teachers according to your experience and needs:
Education briefs and animations Explore important themes in education and why they’re important.
Getting started with guides Learn about different teaching and learning concepts, like assessment for learning, mentoring and metacognition.
Professional Development courses Find the right course that meets your needs and connect with teachers around the world to engage in dialogue beyond your classrooms.
Evaluation tools and services
Cambridge Teacher and School Leader standards Use our standards of effective teaching and leadership to evaluate your current practice and diagnose your professional development needs.
School Self-Evaluation service Use evidence and stakeholder data to review your school’s performance, identifying both strengths and ways of becoming more effective.
Community
Our School Support Hub contains a community area where Cambridge teachers worldwide can share ideas or simply ask questions. We have introduced forums for each subject. The subject forums are moderated by us, so if you post questions specifically for Cambridge International we will answer them
The Cambridge Lower Secondary forums:
- host interesting discussions on different aspects of teaching
- are supported by expert Lower Secondary moderators
- provide opportunities to talk to over 30 000 Cambridge teachers around the world
- contain discussion topics clearly visible in ‘threads’, so it is easier to follow a conversation.
To participate in discussions in our Cambridge Lower Secondary forums, go to the Forums page on our School Support Hub. You can use the same username and password for both the School Support Hub and the Cambridge Lower Secondary support site.
For more information contact us: info@cambridgeinternational.org
Stay updated on exciting changes and additions to the Cambridge Lower Secondary programme on the Messages page of our support site.
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