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Curriculum

Our teaching throughout the Pre-Prep is aimed at fostering curiosity, learning the skills needed to really enjoy learning and experiencing as much first hand as possible.  By the time children move on to the Prep department we hope that we have given them a clear grounding in Literacy, reading confidently and writing clearly and succinctly; in Numeracy, having fully grasped all the basic functions and operations; in Humanities through our topic work-reading maps, having a clear idea of historical timelines, understanding different cultures and land uses; and in Science, understanding fair testing and experimentation, simple anatomy, electricity, friction etc.  Alongside this the children will have music, PE, games, dance/drama, French and Forest School.

Literacy: the most important part of this curriculum is to encourage and develop children’s speaking and listening.  Children who speak clearly and listen with concentration will learn to read and write with relative ease.  Thus in all our Literacy lessons there are elements of role play/drama/talking to partners/talking to the class about ideas etc.  Literacy begins before the children join us in Nursery and we aim to help their development in this area throughout the Nursery curriculum by chatting as much as possible and listening with attention too!

Our classes are small so that all the children can be heard to read everyday and therefore have an individualised reading plan to give them as much support as is necessary for them to become fluent readers with a love of books.

Writing too is encouraged from the Nursery. Those early ‘marks’ on the page are as welcome as the story-writing at the other end of the Pre-Prep.  We encourage a ‘tripod’ grip as soon as little hands are strong enough to cope, and introduce handwriting as soon as the children are ready.  It really takes quite a lot of physical strength, stamina, co-ordination and concentration to write clearly!  Montessori activities are fantastic for developing hand strength and building up stamina!

At the end of the Pre-Prep we hope to have children who can read fluently and confidently with understanding, write for a variety of purposes (stories, factual reports, descriptive passages, poems etc.), whose spelling is secure for their developmental stage, and who can hold a conversation that makes sense and listen attentively to others with comprehension.

Numeracy: number work too begins before the children have arrived at school; counting, songs and rhymes, sorting blocks by size or colour, weighing ingredients for baking and adding extra things into the bowl, numeral recognition, putting objects into a sequence – little, bigger, biggest etc. – are all early numeracy concepts.  Our nursery children continue with these ideas and also use specific Montessori equipment that is designed to help children understand many of the mathematical concepts they will need as they progress though the school.

Numeracy as addition, subtraction, division and multiplication begins from Reception onwards and is introduced as and when the children are secure with their number bonds and understand fully the concepts already taught.  By the end of Year 2 the children can add and subtract with confidence, know their times tables and understand multiplication and division too.  They can work out written problems and confidently solve them.

Science, Geography and History: in Nursery and Reception our children cover these curriculum areas through topic work and with specific Montessori equipment.  Topics change half termly and are age-appropriate in their content.  Over the past couple of years they have covered Wintertime, Dinosaurs, Farms, Mini beasts, Transport, Growing and gardening to name but a few!

Year 1 and Year 2 children have timetabled sessions each week for Humanities and for Science.  They are all predominantly hands-on activities with written work following as it becomes appropriate.  They cover areas including, for example, The Great Fire of London, Farming in the UK and Kenya, Electricity, Solids and Liquids, Victorian School, Materials and Houses and Homes.

Art and Music: we have many art activities during the week, taking on a variety of forms from clay work to collage, sketching to painting, as well as producing both individual pieces and huge collaborative pieces too.

PE, Games and Dance/Drama: all our pupils have a PE and a Games session every week along with a Dance/drama lesson.  They have access to the Sports Hall, Astro pitches and fields for these activities.  Lessons concentrate on skills, co-ordination, fitness and strength and are of course all age-appropriate.  By Year 2 the skills and stamina are put to use in more formal games and the pupils begin to play hockey, netball, rugby, rounders, cricket and take part in simple athletics.  There are also clubs which the children can join where they can play short tennis, football and enjoy dance and ballet.

And then of course there is Forest School, which deserves a section all to itself!