As Assistant Head (Curriculum), Gary Woods shapes the curriculum from Year 7 to the Sixth Form. Here, he explains how BGS combines breadth, rigour and specialist teaching to stretch pupils, develop resilience and help them discover what they are truly capable of.
Designing a school curriculum is not simply about timetables and subject blocks. It’s about opportunity – about making sure every student has the breadth, depth and challenge they need to discover what they are capable of, where their strengths lie and to flourish.
As Assistant Head (Curriculum), that responsibility sits with me.
I oversee the curriculum from Year 7 through to the Sixth Form, shaping what students study, how their days are organised and, ultimately, the kind of education they experience at Bradford Grammar School (BGS). Much of the work happens behind the scenes — building timetables, aligning options and ensuring every subject is taught by a specialist — but its results are visible in the engagement, progress and ambition of our students.
My own route into education began with modern languages at Cambridge, followed by teacher training and a diploma in Spanish. Languages have always reinforced for me the value of perspective and curiosity. They remind you that there is always more than one way of seeing the world. That belief in breadth has shaped how I think about education ever since.
It’s why, in Years 7 and 8, we keep our offer deliberately wide.
Our students study more subjects than they might elsewhere: three separate sciences from the outset and multiple languages, including Latin, alongside creative arts, music, design technology, sport, English and mathematics. Those early years should be about exploration and discovery, not narrowing choices too soon.
Specialist teaching underpins everything we do. Students are taught by people who know their subject inside out and care deeply about it. That expertise matters. It allows us to stretch children properly and to support them when the work becomes demanding.
And it is demanding. Three separate sciences. A language to GCSE. A wide range of rigorous options. For able students who want to be challenged, that level of academic stretch is transformative.
Often, when I meet prospective parents, they tell me the same thing: their child is bright but bored, capable but not being pushed. Our job is to change that — to provide the challenge that helps young people realise what they can really do.
In the Sixth Form, we also try to keep doors open for as long as possible. Not every teenager knows their path immediately, and a little flexibility can make all the difference.
Breadth matters beyond the classroom too. Our enrichment programme allows students to try something new — philosophy, Japanese, computer programming, finance, bookbinding, sports leadership — often discovering interests they did not know they had. Education should expand horizons, not restrict them.
A large part of my role is to make sure all of this works in practice: balancing hundreds of individual choices, protecting small class sizes and safeguarding the breadth that defines a BGS education. It’s detailed, sometimes complex work, but it’s work worth doing. Structure shapes opportunity.
After nearly twenty years here — first as Head of Modern Languages and now in this role — what continues to impress me most is the ambition of our students. Many of our students aspire to highly demanding careers — medicine, law, finance — and they understand that achieving those ambitions takes more than natural ability. They drive themselves, take on voluntary work and prepare thoroughly for entrance exams. One former student, who went on to study medicine in Bulgaria, told me that the most valuable thing he learned at BGS was how to stick at something when it became difficult.
That has always stayed with me. It reflects something we aim to instil in every student – perseverance. Success doesn’t always come immediately, and it certainly doesn’t come without effort. At BGS, we challenge and support our students from the moment they join, helping them develop the focus and determination they will need to succeed and enjoy life, no matter which path they choose.
When families choose BGS, they are choosing a whole approach: breadth, quality and specialist teaching, combined with high expectations. It’s designed to help young people go as far as their ability and scholarship will take them.
And my job is to make sure the curriculum gives them every chance to do exactly that.
To find out more about a BGS education for your child click here.
“Designing a school curriculum is not simply about timetables and subject blocks. It’s about opportunity – about making sure every student has the breadth, depth and challenge they need to discover what they are capable of, where their strengths lie and to flourish.”