Moving Up

There is a care­ful and gradual move towards more struc­tured and special­ist subject teach­ing when chil­dren arrive in the Junior Depart­ment (Key Stage Two) from the age of seven. The curriculum is broad, with English and math­em­at­ics each day, and science, history, geography, modern languages, IT, art, tech­no­logy, reli­gious stud­ies, personal, social and health educa­tion and PE – includ­ing swim­ming and games – through­out the week. Classes are small and stud­ies are based on, but not constrained by, the National Curriculum.

From the age of seven your child will move into the Junior depart­ment. The timetable is more struc­tured and chil­dren are gradu­ally intro­duced to special­ist subject teach­ing. Pupils are taught English and math­em­at­ics each day, and science, history, geography, French, German, art, tech­no­logy, reli­gious stud­ies, personal, social and health educa­tion, phys­ical educa­tion, includ­ing swim­ming and games through­out the week.

Your child will exper­i­ence a range of teach­ing styles, depend­ing on the subject and the content and object­ives of the lesson. Class sizes are small. At a curriculum even­ing held early in the year, you can meet your child’s teacher and find out how the class oper­ates, the teacher’s expect­a­tions and the object­ives for the year. Pupils’ progress is care­fully monitored. You will receive two writ­ten reports a year and have the oppor­tun­ity to attend two parents’ even­ings. At Friends’ School, parents and teach­ers work closely together to ensure the academic and social devel­op­ment of each pupil.

The emphasis at this stage of your child’s educa­tion is to build on a firm academic found­a­tion, coupled with a more inde­pend­ent atti­tude to learn­ing. By the end of this stage your child will have had the oppor­tun­ity to develop a sound base in writ­ing, read­ing and spelling and be able to speak and listen with confid­ence. They will have a good ground­ing in math­em­at­ics and be encour­aged to think and ques­tion independently.