EARLY YEARS & LOWER PREP

Special Days and Events

The Lower Prep Department of the School consists of the Early Years classes and Year One and Year Two. We have our own entrance, classrooms and play area which allow the children to have a gentle entry into School life ready to build their foundations for learning. As such, the children learn and play together and often share special events where we invite families to come and take part.

CHRISTMAS

We were delighted to invite parents to watch a performance of ‘A Midwifes Crisis’. The children worked hard learning catchy songs and dances to tell the story of the Midwife who attended Jesus’s birth! The children in Kindergarten to Year 2 went on a trip to Juniper Hall where they entered the world of Santa’s Winter Wonderland. They took part in a variety of races and activities such as stacking presents, a Santa treasure hunt, craft making and finally ended the morning with a visit from Santa who gave them all a gift. The Nursery children had a party of their own, wearing their best party outfit and enjoyed games and a party tea.

Stephan, the school gardener, prepared some wreaths that the children decorated and put onto the door of their classroom.

PUMPKIN HUNT

In Autumn, the children went on a Pumpkin hunt. They began the morning with the story of ‘Pumpkin soup’, hunted for pumpkins in the Dell and swapped these for the real pumpkins which were hiding in the meadow. The pumpkins were so big, we needed to borrow the gardener’s wheelbarrow to bring them back to school.

RECEPTION TASTER DAY

Each year the children in Kindergarten join with external visitors to discover what life is like in a Reception class. The children bought in their favourite toy to talk about and show the other children. They loved sharing some facts and answering their questions. They enjoyed listening to the story of The Stickman and then enjoyed a range of activities such as making edible stick men, measuring different size stickmen, counting them and threading them using laces. They finished the day by spending time in The Dell where they went on a hunt for items from the story and enjoyed making stick man out of clay.

PANCAKE DAY

The children love nothing more than being able to take part in house events that allow them to work with other children in the School. Pancake day gives them this opportunity and there is always lots of cheering as the younger children race concentrate so hard and try not to drop their pancake. The older girls are always very gentle with them and give lots of support.

MOTHER’S DAY

Year 2 wrote a beautiful acrostic class poem, using the alphabet to say how much they appreciated their Mummy. The rest of Lower Prep invited their Mummy to a special Mother’s Day performance and tea on the lawn.

EASTER EGG HUNT

This is our favourite activity of the year. The children were visited by an Easter Bunny (AKA the Prep Prefect) came to visit with some friends. The giant bunny knocked on the doors of Kindergarten and Reception and beckoned for the children to follow. They went to the meadow where there were lots of coloured eggs to find. The youngest children had to match some coloured eggs, the Kindergarten children matched patterns and the Reception class had to match numbered eggs and ones with rhyming words. When they had collected their eggs, the Easter Bunny generously swapped them with a real chocolate egg. The children loved having a group photograph taken before it hopped away waving goodbye.

Lego Stem Session

World Book Day Comic Relief

Expert Teaching in Subjects

The children in Reception, Kindergarten and Nursery classes have a creative curriculum both with their own class teachers and with other specialist teachers within the School, who use their knowledge and skills to develop the children’s learning.

FRENCH LESSONS

The children were engaged through plenty of repetitive games and songs with the help of our favourite French puppet, Lucie Lapin. New vocabulary was introduced and secured through memory games such as “Loud-Quiet Cache-Cache” in which children take turns to hide a picture or object for someone else to find with the help of the class saying the word loudly or quietly to show their proximity to the object. There were plenty of opportunities to lead the activities and the children loved helping each other with their recall of French vocabulary. Building up knowledge and confidence, we encouraged all our children to ‘have a go’ and to listen again. Some examples of activities are Four Corners, Charades, learning songs and changing them to include our own versions of verses, as well as drawing and writing. We used our iPads to create videos of topic related language. Learning a new language was exciting and fun.

SCIENCE

Lizzie from the Surrey Wildlife Trust took the Kindergarten and Reception pupils on a nature walk. They shook the trees to see what insects they could find.

FOREST SCHOOL

The children loved their weekly lesson in The Dell. They took part in a variety of activities designed to teach them how to tie knots, build shelters, and use a variety of tools safely. They loved to toast marshmallows over the open fire.

MUSIC

Music in Early Years and Lower Prep is given by a specialist music teacher weekly. The children enjoyed singing songs and fun singing games. The children in Lower Prep used percussion instruments and learnt about rhythm. They were thrilled to create their own music.

DRAMA

The pupils loved their drama lesson each week. They danced and enjoyed lots of role play which helped them prepare for their wonderful nativity.

PE

The children burned off some energy in sports which include Gymnastics, Cricket and Athletics. They developed ball skills. This weekly Swimming lesson at Dorking Leisure Centre was a highlight too.

CLUBS

The children had fun at various clubs. These have included Puzzle club, Challenge club, Outside games, Gardening club, R and R club and Football club. The children even had the opportunity to take part in a Lower Prep School Choir too!

ART

The children got creative in Art this year and experimented with pastels, paints, pens, pencils, clay and textiles. They were also inspired by what they could find in the grounds of the School and gathered natural resources too! They created some super masterpieces. Cooking was a highlight in the Summer Term, when they made fruit smoothies and savoury muffins!