Welcome to Year 1 and Year 2
On moving up from Reception, the children find the curriculum in Year 1 and Year 2 to be rich, engaging and hugely varied. Pupils are expected to make excellent progress. Teachers are passionate educators who believe in the importance of differentiation, assessment for learning and traditional teaching techniques to get the very best out of each child.
We recognise the importance of maintaining the highest standards but never lose sight of the individual needs of every child in our care. Academic rigour is at the heart of what we do, but we never forget that there is more to childhood and learning than exams such as physical development, teamwork and leadership skills, moral, social, cultural and spiritual development.
Please click here for a full list of subjects delivered throughout all years of the Prep School.
The School Day
The school week runs from Monday to Friday with six periods each day.
Children may arrive from 8.00am, with registration at 8.20am.
The school day finishes at 3.30pm for Pre Prep children
Wrap care is available from 7.30am to 6.30pm at an additional cost.
Co-curricular
When our pupils move to Year 1 and onwards, they are offered an extensive co-curricular programme.
The range of activities and events is designed to complement the academic syllabus and provide an enriching experience for pupils.
All pupils have the opportunity to take part in three activity sessions a week. The activities programme changes on a termly basis and pupils are given the opportunity to choose their clubs each term. Activities are available across a wide spectrum including Sport, Art, Drama, Music, IT and Academic Subjects.
Performing Arts
All pupils engage in weekly Drama and Music lessons and are encouraged to embrace co-curricular Drama and Music to enhance their curriculum learning.
Pupils in Year 1 and 2 come together at Christmas to produce a Nativity performance combining their love of Drama and Music.
Year 1 and 2 Music provision extends from classroom music to StringBabies, a national programme for learning the early stages of music notation and an introduction to stringed instruments.
Sport
From a young age, we endeavour to foster determination, confidence, passion, respect and teamwork through sport.
Our generous sports facilities include a full-size multi-purpose astro-turf, football and rugby pitches, 4 netball/tennis courts, a 25-metre indoor swimming pool, sports hall and cricket nets and green.
Our goal is to encourage a lifetime love and appreciation of sport and physical activity through a varied and exciting curriculum. In Pre Prep the children are taught through multi-skills lessons to develop a wide variety of foundation skills including coordination, agility, balance and ball skills. Gymnastics, running and athletics activities also feature heavily in our programme, with sports day always a highlight in the calendar.
With weekly swimming lessons year-round too, children develop their confidence, safety and enjoyment in the water.
Forest School
Forest school takes place every week throughout the year for all our Pre Prep pupils, as part of their curriculum. Our children have the freedom to explore, discover, build, create, imagine, and use their senses to experience the outdoor environment and engage with one another.
Forest school is a holistic, child lead teaching environment where children learn to take responsible risks, making them more confident and self-aware whilst boosting their self-esteem. Forest School is a free and open learning environment in which children learn lots of different skills in a woodland setting.
We recognise the importance of outdoor learning as a tool to develop perseverance, self-reliance and teamwork in our pupils. Respect for, and enjoyment of the natural world is central to the outdoor curriculum and is an important aspect of life at Radnor House. This is an ideal opportunity for children to become more active and healthy in a fun and stimulating environment, giving them greater understanding and awareness of their natural surroundings.
The sessions are led by our specialist Forest School leader. In lessons, the children sing around the fire, learn to use and make tools, build dens, identify bugs and build their own bug hotel, and make craft items using natural materials. They learn skills that they can then apply across the curriculum and beyond, for example, when using the woodland and garden areas during lessons and at playtime.
Library
Pre Prep pupils are welcome to enjoy the safe space the Prep School library offers: to browse, read and borrow books; to colour and draw. Pupils have access to their library at morning break time and enjoy a weekly lesson in the library. Pupils can borrow books from the library from Reception onwards.
As a school, we are committed to promoting reading for pleasure across all year groups as this promotes not only academic progress but also good mental health, well-being and empathy. We are also committed to providing quality books to support the curriculum.
We celebrate the joy of reading with events such as World Book Day, Harry Potter Night, Outdoor Reading Events, book fairs, author visits and National Poetry Day.