Exceptional Potential
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Stretch and Challenge: The Exceptional Potential Programme
Our core academic purpose is to ensure that every student is challenged to realise their full potential.
From a curriculum perspective, our students are challenged through precise, differentiated questioning and a rigorous focus on teaching the ‘best that has been thought and said’ within each subject domain.
In addition, we encourage students to move beyond the boundaries of the curriculum and to develop their intellectual curiosity through a series of extracurricular challenge projects within the ‘Exceptional Potential’ programme. Our ultimate aim is to identify and nurture our students’ ‘Exceptional Potential’ to excel across a diverse range of academic, sporting and creative disciplines.
How are DGGS students challenged outside of the curriculum?
Project ROAR
Project ROAR (Russell Group or Alternative Ready) is an annual programme which aims to raise aspirations for students in Years 7-10 by promoting early discussions about university choices and by fostering a sense of intellectual curiosity through independent 
subject-specific enquiry projects.
Students attend an initial workshop in order to conduct initial research into possible university and career pathways using Unifrog, a specialist careers platform. Students then embark on an independent enquiry project within their chosen subject domain. The finished project is assessed using a university-style grading system and then displayed publicly so that students can present their findings and reflect on their learning through viva voce style questioning. Previous projects have ranged from a creative reinterpretation of Mary Shelley’s novel ‘Frankenstein’, to film reviews written in Russian and French and an investigation into how prime numbers can keep us safe through the science of encryption. Project ROAR provides an excellent way of identifying and nurturing students’ interests and strengths at an early stage in their academic development, enabling us to guide them towards targeted interventions such as summer schools, further wider reading and scholarship programmes further up the school. Project ROAR is an inclusive programme and all students are invited to participate.
Optima Magazine
An annual magazine produced by Sixth Form students with the aim of showcasing the best in creative writing and non-fiction journalism at DGGS. All year groups are encouraged to contribute via messages on the students’ Teams page.
- Entry into competitions in fields such as public speaking, STEM, creative writing, essay writing and mock trials
- Debate club
- Trips to higher education providers such as The University of Oxford and King’s College London aimed at raising students’ future aspirations.
- A guest speaker programme involving a speakers from a diverse range of academic and professional backgrounds.
- A range of subject-specific school societies, including Medicine, Law, History and Geography
- An Oxbridge group which offers advice on entrance tests and personal statements in addition to mock interview practice.
