ACADEMIC LIFE
We are proud of our ambitious learning culture with expert, evidence-informed pastoral care. Our girls are ambitious, successful and happy.
Culture Curriculum: Building the Foundations for our Learners
“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.” philosopher Will Durant (1926)
At Sydenham High Prep School, we understand the importance of exemplary behaviour for character development and attitudes to learning. As such, we have developed our Culture Curriculum to enable staff and pupils to engage with a consistent, supportive approach that sets everyone up for success, prepares pupils for the next steps in their education, and, most importantly, fosters a safe learning environment that facilitates essential risk-taking, resilience and independence within our pupils.
To achieve our goal, we explicitly teach and model key routines and expectations, such as ‘respectful walking’, ‘active listening’, ‘meeting and greeting’ and ‘resetting’. This curriculum ensures essential habits of mind are developed and maintained.
Our Giraffe Girls embody the themes within this curriculum and pupils to flourish and fly as learners, both socially and academically.
Read more about our Culture Curriculum in our Deputy Head’s blog.
Reception
The Early Years Foundation Stage is fundamental in instilling positive dispositions towards learning. Our girls will play and explore, make choices and learn to try things and persevere in their efforts, be creative and solve problems, form good relationships, and be safe, secure and happy. A large, stimulating environment, with multi sensory outdoor play area, supports the teaching of carefully planned learning opportunities and the girls’ own initiatives for learning. Specialist teaching begins from Reception in French, Music and Sport.
Teachers in the early years deliver an effective and enhanced curriculum. This allows children to make good progress in the classroom and to develop their skills through play. The knowledgeable and committed staff enable each child to meet the early learning goals, as well as realising their wider potential, so that they are well prepared for moving into Year 1.
The seven areas of learning and development that comprise the Early Years Foundation Stage are:
- Personal, Social and Emotional Development (PSED)
- Communication and Language (CL)
- Physical Development (PD)
- Literacy
- Mathematics
- Understanding the World (UTW)
- Expressive Arts and Design (EAD)
Reception parent, 2024
Year 1 & 2
Building on the Early Years foundation, our dynamic teachers deliver exciting, well-planned and differentiated lessons and provide the girls with a happy and relaxed, yet challenging, environment in which to work, play and learn. Girls continue with specialist teaching in French, Music and Sport, alongside humanities, Art, Design and Technology and our core curriculum study of English, Maths, Science, Computing, Personal Social & Health Education (PSHE), and Religious Education.
We develop confidence through plenty of opportunities to succeed and flourish in the classroom, building on their skills, knowledge and understanding, as well as introducing new challenges as they become independent learners.
Pre-Prep parent, 2024
Years 3-6
By Year 3, our girls are developing as confident, independent learners. Our high quality specialist teaching further extends from French, Music and Sport to Computing, Drama and Art & Design Technology, plus Spanish and Science from Year 5.
An hour a day is devoted to English and Maths for the development of core skills. Concepts are extended and explored in greater depth with an emphasis upon honing skills of synthesis, analysis and collaboration.
Ability groupings are used in some aspects of the curriculum so that the girls can be stretched or supported as required. Girls are expected to take more responsibility for their homework and lives within school. Personalised feedback characterises learning and the girls are self-reflective, setting targets for future progression.
Senior School Preparation
We deliver a robust and systematic preparation programme for all our pupils during the Summer Term of Year 5 and Autumn Term of Year 6.
Our preparation process is supportive, positive, and tailored. Pupils cover the required Senior School examination curriculum, master requisite examination techniques and experience a variety of practice papers, alongside the development of a growth mindset. While achievement and performance in the Senior School preparation process is valued, it is only one element of a broad and balanced curriculum.
We believe that by the January of Year 6, our pupils are more than ready to meet the high and demanding standard of the Senior School preparation process from all perspectives: academic, emotionally and socially.
