St Dunstan's College - Discover Pre-Prep

DISCOVER OUR PRE-PREP ST DUNSTAN’S COLLEGE

INTRODUCTION

At St Dunstan’s the forward-thinking, liberal and ambitious approach to learning begins in our Pre-Prep, where our bespoke curriculum is driven by children’s interests. We embed key learning behaviours to build the foundations of successful learning through awe and wonder. Pupil wellbeing is at the heart of everything we do and our excellence in pastoral care ensures our children are happy and secure, and a culture of trust allows children to develop academically, socially and emotionally in our supportive, safe environment.

Our pupils embrace the motto of Albam Exorna, ‘Adorn the White’; our white shield serves as the blank canvas onto which is emblazoned the story of each St Dunstan’s pupil. A programme of discovery ensures our pupils have the opportunity to explore a range of disciplines and interests as they make the first marks on their shields and begin their journey of self-discovery as independent, motivated learners who are curious about the world around them.

Our youngest pupils are learning to learn; we inspire our pupils to be imaginative and playful, to problem solve and think critically and our learning environments create a culture of independence, resilience, resourcefulness, determination and pride. Our pupils are self-motivated, adventurous learners who feel confident to question, to explore, to wonder and drive their learning through curiosity.

Our Pre-Prep experience ensures our pupils are fully prepared for the transition into our ambitious Prep environment. Pupils leave the Pre-Prep with a wide range of interests and the confidence to try new things; embracing challenge to reach their potential and thrive academically and personally as they move to the next stage of their St Dunstan’s journey.

I will always remember the feeling I had the first time I stepped through the doors at St Dunstan’s; the energy, enthusiasm and passion from the entire community was infectious and I knew I wanted to be a part of it. We are proud of our broad and balanced curriculum and excellent pastoral care, which builds a nurturing environment for each individual to thrive. Read on, or better still, come and visit to experience the magic of the St Dunstan’s difference for yourself.

Mrs Emily Rogers Head of Pre-Prep

A SHARED SITE, A THROUGH SCHOOL, A SHARED EXPERIENCE

St Dunstan’s Pre-Prep offers a progressive curriculum from Nursery to Year 2, where knowledge, skills and learning behaviours are explicitly taught and embedded. Our learning environments are carefully planned to provide a range of learning experiences designed to develop curious, independent and ambitious learners. Our pupils experience an inclusive, creative and personalised curriculum that focuses on the child as an individual, where the developmental needs of the child always come first.

Beginning the St Dunstan’s journey in the Early Years offers our pupils consistency, stability and security. As the children progress through the Pre-Prep, a sense of belonging and a shared language of education ensures they succeed in grounds that offer limitless opportunities for each individual to flourish.

Being part of a College on one shared site offers the unique opportunity for our pupils to access the specialist whole College

facilities; from sports grounds and a swimming pool, to science and technology labs in our new STEM block, our pupils benefit from state-of-the-art equipment, resources and subject specialist staff to enhance their learning experiences.

Our Pre-Prep pupils are truly part of the collaborative St Dunstan’s community and enjoy a range of opportunities to be part of the wider life of the College, including the House system, assemblies and celebrations, performances, Pupil Parliament, the St Dunstan’s Festival and the Forder Programme.

Opportunities to participate in House events begin in the Early Years, with competitions such as the House Bake Off, House Christmas Challenge and Sports Day. These experiences grow as children transition into Key Stage 1 and pupils take pride in earning House Points through their academic and co-curricular achievements.

I love St Dunstan’s because we helped the builders create our amazing school! Alexander, Nursery pupil

A DELICATE AND BESPOKE BALANCE BETWEEN WORK AND PLAY

Our Early Years environment provides a purposeful balance of child-initiated play and teacher-led learning through a range of carefully planned learning experiences. Our innovative curriculum is thorough, yet adaptable, which enables us to build on children’s interests and curiosities both in the moment and with longer term planning. Our exemption from the EYFS Framework enables us to have greater flexibility in our academic offering, giving the children wide-ranging, meaningful experiences which provide greater breadth, depth and challenge to their learning.

Following their experience in our Early Years classrooms, pupils arrive in Year 1 and Year 2 as curious, independent and invested in their own learning, with the foundation of a learner’s mindset which is developed and built upon throughout their Pre-Prep journey.

Our carefully tailored curriculum incorporates the International Primary Curriculum (IPC) and International Early Years Curriculum (IEYC), which captures children’s interests with engaging topics that cover history, geography, science and international understanding. Topics are linked to the core curriculum and actively allow pupils to develop their knowledge, understanding and skills in a practical way within a real-world setting. This creative and thematic approach to learning affords pupils the opportunity to apply their learning in context and become global citizens, with a developed understanding of the world, fully prepared for challenge now and in the future.

Educational visits form an important part of learning and are organised as an integral element of the curriculum. Our Pre-Prep pupils experience a range of meaningful trips and visits each year, all of which provide greater depth to the curriculum and enhance learning experiences. At the end of their Pre-Prep journey, our Year 2

I joined St Dunstan’s in Reception and I really love it here. My favourite lesson in Reception was ‘Helicopter Stories’. This is when we came up with our own story ideas and our teacher helped us write them down. Now I love being in Year 1 because it’s more grown up, but still fun.

Polly, Year 1

pupils embark on an overnight camping residential within the school grounds; a wonderful opportunity for them to collaborate and develop their friendships whilst celebrating their achievements.

Sophia, Year 1

Harry, Reception

SUBJECT SPECIALISED AND HUGELY EXPERIENCED STAFF

Our Nursery pupils benefit from a highly skilled teaching team who are passionate about the Early Years and have a deep understanding of how young children develop and learn. From Reception to Year 2, each class is supported by a trained Teaching Assistant and all staff are committed to ensuring stretch and challenge for all pupils.

Small class sizes and a high pupil to staff ratio allows our exceptional staff to deliver a bespoke curriculum, carefully tailored to the individual needs and interests of all our pupils. Our pupils are offered an enriched curriculum, designed to develop learners who are challenged to learn at greater depth, building on children’s interests and strengths whilst inspiring them to take the next steps with their learning.

The high value we place on pastoral care is evident in the way that all staff interact with our pupils; our staff are committed to ensuring

that children feel safe and supported and they make sure they are available and approachable at all times. Children learn in a safe environment built on trust, allowing them to become risk takers who are not afraid to learn outside of their comfort zone.

Our pupils benefit from specialist lessons delivered by experts in art, music, modern foreign languages, computing, PE, games and swimming. These sessions make full use of our outstanding facilities and take learning beyond the classroom. Early Years pupils spend one day, and Year 1 and 2 enjoy at least one lesson each week in our Woodland Classroom. These lessons are planned by our Forest School specialist, who ensures that physical, social, cognitive, linguistic and emotional skills are built through an ambitious programme of outdoor learning. Inspired by the natural environment, pupils are taught to take responsible risks whilst developing an understanding of and connection with their natural surroundings.

I like our art lessons because I can be creative and express myself. It makes me feel mindful and I use lots of colours.

I like doing Spanish because it is fun to learn a new language.

Sebastian, Reception

EXPLORATORY SPACE TO BEGIN A LOVE OF LEARNING

Weutilise the whole school environment and our exceptional facilities offer outstanding opportunities to learn both in and outside the classroom. Each Pre-Prep classroom has direct access to its own dedicated outdoor learning space, giving teachers the freedom to take learning outdoors whenever the opportunity presents.

Timetabled outdoor learning lessons take place in our flourishing Woodland Classroom. Here, learning embodies the Forest School approach and children are taught to become resilient problem solvers, who learn to collaborate as part of a team whilst developing a relationship with the natural world.

Specialist music lessons led by our Junior School expert take place in our dedicated music rooms. Pupils are offered the opportunity to explore learning to play a range of instruments across their Pre-Prep years through taster sessions and our dynamic Forder Programme. Individual music lessons delivered by visiting specialists can begin from Year 1. Our young musicians are invited to take part in a range of performances, both within school grounds and wider community performance spaces. Performances include strings recitals, carol concerts and the Junior School Summer Concert. Our Pre-Prep choir is enormously popular and pupils have the opportunity to delight audiences at a range of events across the year.

Not only do pupils benefit from the opportunity to access the Senior School facilities, our Junior School boasts its own specialist learning areas, including an art room, ICT suite, multi-use games area (MUGA), music room and LAMDA studio. Our well-resourced library is designed to inspire a lifelong love of books and children enjoy timetabled sessions, as well as time to relax and enjoy reading in a calm, cosy environment.

Our Junior School building is linked to our brand-new STEM block, and our pupils benefit from science and technology lessons linked to their IPC topics delivered by specialist teachers in laboratories and workshops, using subject specialist equipment.

I really like the Woodland Classroom because we got to see tadpoles. They grew little tails and turned into frogs!

SELF-MOTIVATED LEARNERS IN THE MAKING

The positive attitude towards risk taking and problem solving that children develop through our outdoor learning programme translates into the classroom environment, where pupils are consistently challenged to take their learning to the next level. Our excellent pastoral care ensures that pupils are not afraid to make mistakes as they build their confidence on their journey of selfdiscovery as resilient learners.

Our tailor-made curriculum builds upon children’s interests and develops a curious approach to learning about the world. This creates self-motivated leaners who are intrinsically driven to question, wonder and explore. An ambitious curriculum of active learning is driven by memorable experiences, carefully matched to individual developmental stages. Children have ownership of their learning process, inspiring them to use their independent learning skills, creative imagination an investigative thinking.

We value academic achievement, as well as effort and attitude to learning. We actively teach the learning behaviours of subject engagement, organisation, independence, collaboration and response to feedback, as well as the College values of Courage, Creativity, Confidence, Compassion and Curiosity. Pupils who have demonstrated one or more of these learning behaviours are awarded ‘Superhero of the Week’ and those that embody the College values are rewarded with a certificate. Each week, our winners are congratulated in our Celebration Assembly alongside their peers as role models and ambassadors of the Junior School.

I love to learn new skills when I try a new activity. Walter, Year 2

Bernard, Year 1

FRIENDS FOR LIFE

Weview strong relationships between our staff and our families as an essential part in supporting children’s learning and development. In the Pre-Prep, our staff practise an open-door policy and we ensure that we communicate with parents regularly about all aspects of their child’s education, beginning the year with a Welcome Evening event to meet the year group teaching team. We have a strong pastoral network and our Form Teachers, supported by Teaching Assistants, carefully create a nurturing environment where children feel safe and thrive.

We pride ourselves on our excellent home-school partnership where we learn from each other. We offer an annual cycle of parent workshops and seminars, culminating in our Dynamic Parents’ Evening, which ensures that parents are well informed and able to support their child with every aspect of their learning. At the start of the year, parents are invited to workshops designed to support reading and early writing, including an introduction to our cursive handwriting programme.

Over the course of the year, parents will be introduced to the PrePrep phonics scheme, as well as strategies to support early maths learning. We are fortunate to have such a diverse parent body and we regularly welcome parents on site to deliver workshops to our pupils; from architects and medics, to chefs and accountants, our pupils benefit from the passion, enthusiasm and expertise in our parents’ relevant fields. We work alongside our parents to

give pupils every opportunity to flourish academically, socially and emotionally. Our Friends of St Dunstan’s parent body organises social events for parents across the year, bringing our whole College community together, as well as fundraising for the school and local charities.

Pupil wellbeing is of the greatest importance to us; our pupils are happy and safe, and enabled to take risks and deepen their learning in a secure environment with support from adults and peers. We recognise the importance of learning from each other, so we create opportunities for authentic peer collaboration across the curriculum. Strong friendships are formed, and children leave the Pre-Prep happy, confident and ready to take on the next stage of their learning.

I love playing with my friends in school and I love learning with them too. I like working together to solve problems, because everything is more fun when you work as a team.

HIGHLIGHTS

I love Forder activities because there are so many options to choose from. One of my favourites is Ms Rose’s ‘Mindfulness in the Woods’.

Savannah, Year 1

Forder activities across the year Specialist lessons a week in the Early Years and six in Years 1 & 2

Challenge Competitions and two House Fun DaysPerformances a year across four venues. From class assemblies and seasonal productions to theatre performances as part of the St Dunstan’s Festival

Dunstan’s Festival

I joined St Dunstan’s in Nursery. I really enjoy playing and learning with my friends, especially building and making things together. One of my favourite subjects is maths; I like using lots of resources to solve problems. In IPC we learn about history, geography and science. My favourite topic so far has been ‘Time Travellers’ as we learned all about the past and The Great Fire of London. These lessons are even better when they are outside in our Woodland Classroom!

Deji, Year 1

I really like the swimming pool because swimming lessons are so much fun! I love that now I am in Year 1, I don’t need to use the floats anymore!

Maia, Year 1

ADMISSIONS

Nursery (3+) and Reception (4+) Entry

We accept registrations for our Nursery from birth, and early registration is advised. Children are considered for entry to the Nursery provided they have reached the age of 3 by the start of the Michaelmas Term. The deadline for online registration on our website for both Reception and Nursery entry is November of the year before entry. Our 3+ and 4+ assessments take place in November and early December.

Our 3+ assessments are relatively informal, lasting one hour and take place in small groups. Our 4+ assessment is designed to help the children show us what they have already covered in their current setting and all tasks are undertaken in a thoughtful, caring and friendly manner. Please refer to our separate Junior School Admissions leaflet for more detailed information and exact dates.

Other Points of Entry

Occasional places do become available from time to time in all year groups. Assessments are arranged as appropriate and will involve your child spending part or all of a school day with us. They will experience a mixture of time in class and formal academic assessments.

For all points of entry, we will also contact your child’s current setting or school to ask for a reference or recent school report. If you have any further questions concerning your child joining the Junior School, please contact our Admissions Team directly.