Ailsa Buddle
From the new academic year, Empower will extend across QCPS, giving every pupil opportunities to explore real-world issues and develop the knowledge and confidence to engage positively with a rapidly changing world.
Following its success with older pupils, Empower will be extended across Queen’s College Preparatory School (QCPS) from the start of the new academic year.
What is the Empower curriculum at QCPS?
Empower is QCPS’s innovative curriculum programme designed to help girls understand the world they live in and their place within it. Bringing together Philanthropy, Entrepreneurship, Digital Literacy and Global Citizenship, the programme takes learning beyond traditional academic subjects to explore some of the opportunities, challenges and responsibilities pupils will encounter in the wider world.
Through Empower, girls explore areas including social responsibility, business and innovation, online safety and ethics, sustainability and global issues, developing the knowledge and skills to think critically, contribute confidently and make informed decisions.
Four key areas of the Empower curriculum
The programme is built around four key areas:
- Philanthropy – encouraging pupils to recognise the needs of others and take action to support their communities.
- Global Citizenship – developing an understanding of the wider world and pupils’ role within it, including sustainability and global issues.
- Digital Literacy – helping girls navigate the digital world confidently and responsibly, with an understanding of areas such as online safety and ethics.
- Entrepreneurship – developing creativity, innovation, leadership and problem-solving while introducing pupils to ideas around business and enterprise.
The expansion of Empower means that these opportunities will now form part of the educational experience throughout QCPS, building progressively as girls move through the school.
Preparing girls for a changing world
Sitting alongside strong academic foundations, Empower reflects QCPS’s wider approach to education: encouraging pupils to make connections between their learning and real-world contexts while developing qualities such as collaboration, curiosity, resilience and critical thinking.
By extending the programme across the school, QCPS aims to ensure that every girl has opportunities to develop not only academically, but also as a thoughtful, informed and confident young person, equipped to engage with the world around her and make a positive contribution to it.