EDUCATION CORNER PODCAST
EDUCATION CORNER PODCAST INTERVIEW WITH HEAD
Miss Laura Whitwood FROM ST DUNSTAN’S JUNIOR SCHOOL, SE LONDON Miss Laura Whitwood speaks about the benefits of attending the Junior School, the Forder Programme, their Stuart curriculum and work that takes place with the local Lewisham community. Could you tell us about the points of entry for the Junior School for families who are considering applying?
There are three main points of entry in our Junior School. We have 3+ entry to start in the Nursery, 4+ for Reception and 7+ for Year 3. Often, parents think that these are the only potential starting points for their child, but what I would say is that they really shouldn’t rule out considering occasional place entry points for any year group across the Junior School. What do the entry assessments largely involve?
It’s different for every entry point, as you can well imagine. For a 3+ entry point, it really is a sort of play session. Parents are there with their child - we recommend that only one parent comes in with their child just because of space. The 4+ assessment is a bit more structured, because the children are a little bit older and are able to separate from their parents. The children come in in small groups and the assessment looks like a fun play session, there are stations of activities that they think are games, but one is designed to find out what they’ve done in terms of phonics, one 22 | EDUCATION CHOICES MAGAZINE | S P R I N G 2 02 3
links to maths and counting, another is fine motor skills, all kinds of different things. The 7+ assessment day is really the same as any Prep entry point. We have the children in for a full day, and there are ‘get-to-know-you’ sessions in the morning, so they can make friends and feel comfortable in the new environment. They have a tour to try to settle them before their assessment, and then they go through some computerised assessments in English and Maths and a non-computerised assessment for us to look at their writing. Then they have lunch and a play session, and in the afternoon they go into some taster lessons to see what life at St Dunstan’s is like - it’s a really wonderful day for them! What would you say are some of the main benefits of attending St Dunstan’s Junior School?
Where do I begin? Every school might have a motto or values and sometimes they just go on the website, but for us we live and breathe our college motto, Albam Exorda. It translates to ‘Adorn the White’ and the idea behind that is that on the first day any pupils joins us here at St Dunstan’s, however old they are, they’re given a metaphorical blank shield - the St Dunstan’s shield. It’s got a tiny picture of St Dunstan in the corner and then the rest of it is totally blank. The idea behind that is that it doesn’t stay blank for long - they soon fill it with all kinds of colour, and that colour is made up
