Life in Lower School

The Lower School (Reception to Year 2) is where the children receive the foundation for their future education and indeed for their lives. As such every consideration and effort is made to ensure that their interest is stimulated and that they find school a safe, friendly, exciting and enjoyable place. Children are encouraged to become independent and to feel confident as they meet new challenges. This is based on a belief that nothing succeeds like success and new skills and concepts are introduced in carefully structured steps that are based on the children's experience and allow the children to feel successful and enthusiastic as they continue on the path of their education.

Their introduction to formal learning needs to be enjoyable and while we are justly very proud of the way the children learn to read, write and master their number bonds, we are equally proud that they also have ample time to play, to explore and discover the world around them and to develop their social skills.

With classroom assistants in all the classes, the children enjoy an excellent teacher to pupil ratio of never more than 1 to 10.

At entry aged 4 there are no assessment, testing or selection procedures; we allocate places on a first come, first served basis. There are two parallel classes in each of the Lower School year groups, with autumn and winter birthdays in one class and spring and summer birthdays in the other. Both groups follow exactly the same curriculum but it is usual that the older class develops a few months ahead of the younger class early on.

Alongside the specialist teaching and support provided by their teacher and classroom assistant, the children also receive specialist teaching for Music, ICT, and PE in the specialist subject facilities. Year One and Two also receive specialist teaching for Spanish.

The Lower School classrooms are bright, colourful and stimulating learning environments, packed full of seasonal and topical displays of the children's work. All classrooms have interactive whiteboards, computers, access to the internet and the school network. In addition all the classes have timetabled lessons in a fully equipped ICT suite.

At Christmas the whole of Lower School join together for a musical and colourful school nativity where every child has a part to play either as part of a group or as an individual. In the Spring term a Mother's Day assembly is held involving several songs and poems and in the Summer Term a Parent's Day completes the year whereby parents are able to see the work that their child has produced over the year and a concert is held based around one of the topics that have been covered by the children in their lessons.