What to Expect on Your First Day at a Cambridge School

Are you about to start at a Cambridge IGCSE school? Congratulations! You’re about to start a new, exciting journey in a totally different school system. The Cambridge curriculum is difficult, but rewarding. 

This next step into Cambridge IGCSE might feel a bit overwhelming, but don’t worry! You can do it! To get yourself ready, you can focus on preparing ahead and getting yourself ready mentally for new school and social experiences. 

Preparing Ahead 

Let’s start with the basics first. The most obvious things you can expect on your first day have to do with your classes. 

Knowing Your Schedule 

Unlike with the CBC or the previous 844 curriculum, students in the Cambridge system of education won’t necessarily share all their classes with their peers. You may share the required core classes like mathematics, English, and some combination of sciences, but you are likely to have a different combination of courses than your peers. 

Students are free to choose the IGCSE subjects they want to take, so you may find that your schedule is vastly different from your peers. 

The point of this is to help you see that you need to be accountable for your own schedule. You won’t be able to just follow the crowd and end up in the right place. Know your schedule ahead of time and learn where you need to be and when so you can show up properly from day 1! 

Setting Up Your Class Materials  

Do you know what you need for each of your classes? It’s better not to assume that you can just show up and be ready. 

Some of your classes may require extra materials or a computer. Rather than carrying everything with you to all your classes, it’s helpful to learn what you need for your daily class load and to carry just that. There may also be storage available in the classrooms for some materials, which will make your life a lot easier! 

What You Need to Know 

Outside of your actual classes, it can be a huge culture shift moving to an IGCSE school if you’ve been studying in a CBC school. How can you make it easier for yourself? Learn the 3 B’s!

Be Ready to Feel Unready

School is school, but the way a school is run and the expectations placed on students can be vastly different from place to place. If you’re heading into a Cambridge IGCSE school, prepare yourself mentally to be surprised by new things. 

No amount of preparation will prepare you for everything new. There are likely to be differences in your new school that you won’t even be aware of until you get there. Simple things like the way homework is assigned or how exams are done may be surprising at first, but you can do it! 

If you go into your new school understanding that things will be different and you may not be fully ready for it, you will be better able to cope when things are unexpectedly different. 

Be Open to New Experiences 

In a similar vein, it’s helpful to embrace new experiences as they come. IGCSE schools in Kenya tend to emphasize sports, arts, and other extracurricular activities alongside your academics. You may have more opportunities than before to try new things and experience a totally different side of education. 

It’s up to you to take advantage of these new opportunities. Keep your mind open, explore new options, and give yourself permission to try new things when you can. 

Be Connected to Others 

The best way to succeed in a new environment is to connect with your peers. Having good friends around you will help you navigate a new school easier, no matter how different it feels.

Making new friends isn’t easy, but take advantage of the chance to meet people in the first few days and weeks of a new term. This is when other new people will be mingling and returning students will be more willing to embrace new friendships. 

Plan to meet new people as much as possible. Talk to your new classmates. Say hi to those eating next to you at lunch. Spend some time with your new roommates, if you’re boarding. 

You can’t force friendships, but by being open to new connections you’re setting yourself up for success in forming bonds with at least a few of your peers. 

Onward and Upward 

It’s always tricky to start something new. Do your best to prepare what you can, then keep an open mind. Your new IGCSE school will offer a lot of opportunities for you, as long as you’re willing to embrace them!