Upper School 

Years 5, 6, 7 and 8 – top of the school, with lots to do and, of course, the rather more serious side of academic life with exams to pass!

From year 5 children follow a fully itinerant timetable and are taught entirely by specialist teachers, as they would in a senior school. We also introduce study skills and verbal reasoning against the day when they will have to take entry tests for senior schools.

The specialist teaching adds enormously to the depth and scope of lessons, and is a principle advantage of prep schools which end at 13+ and not 11+. Our children, for example, will be having five or six lessons of science and French per week, in addition to the thorough grounding in English, maths and the others.

From about year 6 onwards the children start to notice a distinct increase in tempo. They are required to take more responsibility for their own work, organization and motivation. In year 6 or year 7 many will be writing pre-tests to their senior schools.

We will also re-mix the classes to cater for the differing exits the children might make – via common or scholarship entrance, for example.

In year 8, all children will write either a scholarship exam or the common entrance exam as set by the Independent Schools Examining Board.