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Why the Cambridge Curriculum?
ASE uses the Cambridge International Examinations curriculum.
Cambridge International Education is the world’s leading English language curriculum. Cambridge exams–including Cambridge IGCSE, AS Level, and A Level exams, for many subjects–are taken 66 countries across the world. It is not only accepted but embraced by universities all over the world, including in South Africa.
At ASE, we choose Cambridge for 3 main reasons:
Global standard, internationally recognized.
Cambridge is recognized all across the world as a very high quality qualification. It is generally considered, even by the South African government, to be at a higher standard than the South African CAPS curriculum.
The sad truth about South African education, in general, is that it is not at a global standard. The World Bank estimates that the average South African learner gains less that 6 years of learning in their entire school career. Yet almost 90% of those writing matric receive passing marks! So what does that tell you? That the standard is low.
Cambridge, on the other hand, uses a globally-benchmarked standard. That ensures that graduates are capable of succeeding not only in South Africa but anywhere in the world that they might want to go
Better university preparation
Most South African matriculates who are lucky enough to move onto university face a rude awakening. They find themselves unprepared for university work, and many fail as a result. In fact, many universities offer remedial maths classes because so few of the students they enroll can cope with university-level work.
This is not true for Cambridge graduates. Because Cambridge is a higher-level qualification, graduates often find that their first year of university is easier than their final years of high school.
But don’t take our word for it! Watch this video from Gcuinumzi Haduse, Director of Admissions at UCT. Write the full university name instead of UCT.
Better preparation for the uncertain future.
Finally, we feel that Cambridge provides better preparation for an unknown future. While local curricula often emphasize memorizing a body of content whose importance was often decided decades ago, Cambridge focuses on developing skills that can be used in any context: analytical skills, numeric skills, communications skills, etc. The result is that, as the world changes in ways we cannot predict, ASE graduates will be prepared to meet it regardless of which direction it moves.
Subject Offering
Our subject choices are based on the goal of opening as many doors as possible for our scholars by teaching the most widely useful content and foundational skills.
In Grade 8 & 9:
We teach all scholars mathematics, English, combined science, history, isiZulu, drama and computer skills. We also offer a suite of extracurricular options in sports and arts..
In Grade 10:
We continue with the same subjects at the IGCSE level, with a few exceptions. Combined science is split into chemistry and physics. Global Perspectives and Research, a history-type course focused on developing the skills of a historian and researder, replaces the traditional history course. At the end of Grade 10, scholars write a large number of official IGCSE exams. Most scholars are more than halfway to their Bachelor’s Pass by the time they finish Grade 10.
In Grade 11 & 12:
We move to AS and A Level content, which is more in line with the standards of a typical university than those of a typical high school. isiZulu and ICT, which are only examined at the IGCSE level, are dropped, giving scholars more time to concentrate on English, mathematics, the sciences, and global perspectives and research.