Lower Secondary (Classes 7-9)

Building on the foundation of River House Primary, our Lower Secondary programme provides a dynamic, balanced curriculum that fosters curiosity, collaboration, and academic exploration. Starting in Class 7, students deepen their understanding across core subjects—Maths, English, Science, Humanities, and Modern Languages—through the Cambridge programme, aligning with River House values: Live:Love:Learn.

In Lower Secondary, the focus is on cultivating essential skills and soft competencies like teamwork, self-awareness, and resilience, which underpin future learning. Students engage in both core academic areas and enriching co-curricular subjects, such as Sport, Music and Creative Arts, which allow them to express themselves and develop diverse talents. Personal Project sessions offer students a taste of independent research and self-driven learning as they explore topics of their choice, from environmental studies to music and digital innovations, with individual mentoring and reflection sessions guiding their progress.

Technology is also integrated into the Lower Secondary curriculum, with students using laptops, tablets, or Chromebooks for class assignments, many of which are managed through Google Classroom. They also use technology for simulations, adding an interactive dimension to their learning experience.

This stage encourages a love of learning and prepares students to approach their studies with confidence, responsibility, and creativity, embodying the River House spirit within a supportive, collaborative environment.

Maths

We organise the Cambridge Secondary Mathematics curriculum in six content areas or ‘strands’:

Number
Algebra
Geometry
Measure
Handling data
Problem solving

The first five content areas are underpinned by the sixth: problem solving, which provides a structure for applying mathematical skills. Mental strategies are also a key part of the Number content. This curriculum framework focuses on principles, patterns, systems, functions and relationships so that learners can apply their mathematical knowledge and develop a holistic understanding of the subject.

The Cambridge Lower Secondary Mathematics curriculum framework provides a solid foundation for Cambridge IGCSE.

An essential subject for all learners, Cambridge IGCSE Mathematics encourages the development of mathematical knowledge as a key life skill, and as a strong basis for more advanced study. The syllabus aims to build learners’ confidence by helping them develop competency and fluency with mathematical concepts, methods and skills, as well as a feel for numbers, patterns and relationships. The syllabus also places a strong emphasis on solving problems and presenting and interpreting results. Learners also gain an understanding of how to communicate and reason using mathematical concepts.

English

We have designed our course to allow students to take either English as a First Language IGCSE or English as a Second Language IGCSE depending on circumstance.

The course enables learners to:

develop the ability to communicate clearly, accurately and effectively when speaking and writing
use a wide range of vocabulary, and the correct grammar, spelling and punctuation
develop a personal style and awareness of the audience being addressed

Learners are also encouraged to read widely, both for their own enjoyment and to further their awareness of the ways in which English can be used. The Cambridge curriculum also develops general analytical and communicative skills such as inference and prediction, the ability to order facts and present opinions effectively.

The study of English offers students the opportunity to respond to a rich array of reading texts during the course. Students use these texts to inform and inspire their own writing, using a range of genres for different purposes and audiences. Students develop skills in speaking, listening, delivering presentations and responding to questions.

Prowess in English encourages appreciative and critical readers, writers, speakers and listeners.

Our aims are to enable students to:

read a wide range of texts, fluently and with good understanding, while enjoying and appreciating a variety of language
read critically and use knowledge gained from their reading to inform and improve their own writing
write accurately and effectively, using Standard English appropriately
work with information and with ideas in language by developing skills of evaluation, analysis, use and inference
listen to, understand and use spoken language effectively
acquire and apply a wide vocabulary alongside knowledge and understanding of grammatical terminology and linguistic conventions

Science

Children are naturally curious and Science supports the development of a child’s curiosity, helping them to investigate problems, learn more about the world around them and understand and use scientific explanations for a wide range of phenomena.

Scientific enquiry is about considering ideas, evaluating evidence, planning investigative work and recording and analysing data. Scientific enquiry objectives underpin Biology, Chemistry and Physics, which are focused on developing confidence and interest in scientific knowledge, including environmental awareness and the history of science.

Students develop research, collaborative and creative skills that will help with many aspects of their future learning and development. The course supports progression to a wide range of science subjects at Cambridge Upper Secondary.

Cambridge IGCSE Combined Sciences gives learners the opportunity to study Biology, Chemistry and Physics; each is covered in a separate syllabus. It is a single award qualification, where learners gain an understanding of the basic principles of each subject through a mix of theoretical and practical studies, while also developing an understanding of the scientific skills essential for further study.

They learn how science is studied and practised and thus become aware that the results of scientific research can have both good and bad effects on individuals, communities and the environment. As well as focusing on the individual sciences, the syllabus helps learners to understand the technological world in which they live and take an informed interest in science and scientific developments.

Biology

Characteristics of living organisms
Cells
Biological molecules
Enzymes
Plant nutrition
Animal nutrition
Transport
Gas exchange and respiration
Coordination and response
Reproduction
Organisms and their environment
Human influences on ecosystems

Chemistry

The particulate nature of matter
Experimental techniques
Atoms, elements and compounds
Stoichiometry
Electricity and chemistry
Energy changes in chemical reactions
Chemical reactions
Acids, bases and salts
The Periodic Table
Metals
Air and water
Organic chemistry

Physics

Motion
Work, energy and power
Thermal physics
Properties of waves, including light and sound
Electrical quantities
Electric circuits

Spanish

This course is designed for students who are learning Spanish as a foreign language. The aim is to develop an ability to use the language effectively for practical communication. The course is based on the linked language skills of listening, reading, speaking and writing, and these are built on as learners progress through their studies.

Our Spanish curriculum also aims to offer insights into the culture of countries where Spanish is spoken, thus encouraging positive attitudes towards language learning and towards speakers of other languages.

The subject content is organised in five broad topic areas. These provide contexts for the acquisition of vocabulary and the study of grammar and structures. The study of these topic areas enables students to gain an insight into countries and communities where Spanish is spoken. The five topic areas are:

Everyday activities
Personal and social life
The world around us
The world of work
The international world

The syllabus gives students opportunities to develop and apply a wide range of foreign language skills. Students will be expected to read and understand a variety of written and spoken texts on familiar topics as well as demonstrate understanding of the main ideas, opinions and attitudes, select and extract relevant details and deduce the meaning of occasional unknown words from context. They will also have opportunities to write in Spanish on familiar, everyday topics, and to speak the language by taking part in everyday conversations.

Global Perspectives

Global Perspectives is a stimulating course that stretches across traditional subject boundaries and develops transferable skills. It is both cross-curricular and skills-based and taps into the way 21st century students enjoy learning, including teamwork, presentations, projects and working with other learners around the world. The emphasis is on developing the ability to think critically about a range of global issues where there is always more than one point of view.