LIFE AND LEARNING
THE IMPORTANCE OF PLAY
At WHS we believe childhood is precious and we do all we can to create stimulating, engaging and memorable experiences across all aspects of Junior School life and learning.
Our ambitious, bespoke academic and co-curricular programmes are driven by a desire to spark joy and curiosity both in and out of the classroom. Play, the act of engaging in an activity for enjoyment or recreation, sits at the heart of the experience of childhood and plays a big part in our Junior School as the children learn and grow together.
Engaging in free, child-centred play not only strengthens the cognitive development and schema-building critical to early learning but it also provides fertile ground to learn to navigate friendships and negotiate challenges.
Mrs Sarah Chittenden Acting Head of Junior School
OUR ACADEMIC VISION
Our curriculum aims to fuse together the discovery of knowledge and skills. It is underpinned by provocative thinking, intellectual disruption, critical questioning and self-knowledge.
Our curriculum ensures pupils value the role they play in positively shaping the world around them.
OUR APPROACH…
Our bespoke, philosophy-led curriculum allows pupils to gain an understanding of meta-physics, aesthetics and ethics within a rich context of storytelling, questioning and collaboration. Learning is guided each term by a central theme for exploration, such as Dreams, Colour, Human Nature, Power, accompanied by a philosophical question for consideration:
Is human experience the same for everyone?
Does power always corrupt?
Does colour play a role in our identify?
…AND OUR SPECIALIST TEACHING
The majority of our curriculum, especially in the Lower Junior School (Reception – Year 2), is delivered by our skilled class teachers who get to know the pupils they teach inside out and can support a fluid and smooth progression through the first stages of school.
Our curriculum is, however, powerfully supported by specialist teaching, increasing as pupils move into the Upper Junior School, providing specialist expertise and subject knowledge and ambitious and aspirational lessons.
LOWER SCHOOL
Specialist Teaching:
(Years 1 & 2)
Modern Foreign Languages, PE, Music, Science and Art
UPPER SCHOOL
Specialist Teaching:
(Years 3, 4, 5 & 6)
Computing, Art, PE, French, Music, Science, English and Maths
OUR LEGACY
Our learners are instilled with a ‘love of wisdom’, integrity of thought and the social awareness to act with compassion, confidence and agency. They are filled with a desire to grapple with and overcome the challenges presented by the world in which they are growing up. They leave us for Wimbledon High Senior School ready for the next stage of their educational adventure.
OUR CO- CURRICULAR ETHOS
At Wimbledon High School, co-curricular activities go hand in hand with classroom learning, and never more so than in the Junior School, where our girls embrace the myriad of opportunities they have to explore the world around them.
Our co-curricular, enrichment and partnerships programme is called Arcadia and our main aims are breadth of experience, fostering adventure and fun.
It’s through having a go at something new, trying and perhaps failing the first time, that our children grow in confidence, develop new skills and crucially, find out more about themselves and what makes them tick.
A RANGE OF CLUBS
The range of clubs on offer extends from coding to rocket-building, football to dance and chess to art, with everything in between. Music and drama are popular, with the chance to be in plays and shows, to learn a musical instrument or sing in our choir. We are especially proud to promote the Rare Instrument Scheme, which makes learning an instrument affordable and gives a good chance of getting into an orchestra, when those instruments are in demand!
Sports fixtures become more frequent as the girls move up through school; WHJS has had considerable success in swimming, tennis, hockey, netball and gymnastics.
BRINGING THE OUTSIDE WORLD IN
Whether it’s speaking to astronaut Tim Peake on a live link, quizzing Afua Hirsch about the justice system or linking up live to the Amazon rainforest for an in-depth dive into life in the jungle, our pupils are exposed to a diverse and wide variety of inspiring speakers and experiences. These help enforce the message from our curriculum that our girls are expected to be active and engaged citizens, who have a say and know that as they get older, they can help bring about change.
AND HEADING OUT TO THE OUTSIDE WORLD…
Getting all pupils out under the sky in all weathers, participating in outdoor learning within our Wild Girls programme, is a key element of Arcadia. We are lucky to have Wimbledon Common on our doorstep, where we can explore and acknowledge the passing of the seasons, and where we appreciate the world around us, and the benefits to our wellbeing of connecting with nature.
CHARITIES AND PARTNERSHIPS
Becoming involved in charities and local partnerships is another way that we look out beyond the classroom. Our girls are delighted to work in collaboration with our local primary school partners –be it on Space Days, Musical workshops or other projects. They also enjoy partnering with students in our senior school, to read to people in residential homes, or do jigsaws with them over tea.
