St Christopher’s School
Ensuring your child is nurtured, engaged and inspired
“Our most recent Independent Schools Inspection Report (ISI) identified the School to be excellent in all areas, an external appraisal of our fantastic community. However to truly understand why children love St Christopher’s, come and pay us a visit and see how every child learns, shares and cares.”
Our School’s Mission to Learn, Share and Care encapsulates the importance of a safe, fun and positive learning environment, ensuring your child is nurtured, engaged and inspired in their learning journey throughout their time at St Christopher’s.
There is a palpable sense of community at St Christopher’s, and visitors often comment on the warm and happy atmosphere, and the family feel that they notice around the school. Our holistic approach to education means that we place great importance upon the intellectual, physical, social and spiritual development of each child, and our highly qualified, talented and dedicated teaching staff encourage children to engage as active learners, to take increasing ownership of their studies and develop their perseverance, resilience, adaptability, creativity, curiosity and collaboration, so that each child flourishes academically and emotionally.
We believe that a happy child is a child who is ready and excited to learn and learning is at the heart of everything we do. St Christopher’s is known for its small class sizes and academic excellence and with this foundation, every child at St Christopher’s has the best possible opportunity to achieve success, whether it be in the classroom, in the performing arts, the sports field or elsewhere.
Our children are well prepared and equipped for the 11+ examinations in Year Six and we guide our families through their journey with us towards their seleceted secondary school. These are chosen carefully and in partnership with parents. We aim to match a child’s academic ability, their character and personality to the most suitable future school.
Jonathan Coke Head, St Christopher’s School
Our ISI Inspection Report found us to be excellent and outstanding in all areas of the school. It is easy to see why.
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Our prep school has small classes of 14 children, on average. This allows each child to receive the personalised teaching to help them thrive.
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We have an outstanding track record of achievements at 11+ exams, with the majority of our students getting offers of places at Grammar Schools or gaining Scholarships
We have excellent teachers, including subject specialists and a teacher-pupil ratio which is rarely found in large Independent Preps and state primary schools in Wembley.
“The quality of pupils personal development is excellent.”
Reported by ISI Independent Schools Inspectorate
We have small classes of 14 children, on average. We have excellent teachers, including subject specialists and a teacher-student ratio which large Independent Preps are unable to match.
We have an outstanding track record of achievements at 11+ exams, with half of our students getting offers of places at Grammar Schools or gaining Scholarships. Furthermore, we challenge our students with an advanced curriculum which allows pupils to perform far in advance of age-related expectations. However, it is the excellence in our pupils’ personal development which makes us better than the large Independent Schools.
We prepare our students with the social skills and values they will need in their future senior schools. These values include:
• Moral Conduct
• Self Esteem
• Resilience
• Co-operation
• Independent Learning
These are values and aptitudes that become hard wired by adulthood and give our students the ability to succeed in life.
That’s our secret. We don’t only want to be measured by our academic success for its own sake.
At St Christopher’s School, we aim to develop the foundations and skills for all the eventualities and opportunities life will bring.
We value good communication with parents as we realise that working in partnership with them benefits the child’s progress and development. Each child has a home link book where notes and messages can be written between home and school. Parents may take an active role in school activities and are welcome to attend school events and accompany their child on one of the many educational trips.
The best way to see St Christopher’s School is to arrange a personal tour and view the school in action. We encourage prospective parents to meet our outstanding teachers, students and learning environment. We want to share our success.
St Christopher’s School was founded in 1928 and was originally a Christian Foundation. It was started in response to the increase in population of the Wembley District which grew from 16,000 in 1921 to around 40,000 in 1930. This was due to the new Metropolitan Railway which caused a swathe of new residential dwellings to be built
Since that time, a preparatory school has existed on the same site. There have been many improvements and extensions to the building throughout the years which now provides a large hard surfaced playground, ICT room and library, medical room, EYFS outdoor area and canopy, a main hall and 7 classrooms
St. Christopher’s ethos highlights its commitment to encouraging pupils to fulfil their potential and for them to be valued equally. We place particular emphasis on a balanced, all-round education. Our pupils are happy and confident, eager to learn and to help others.
The Independent Schools Inspectorate praised the quality of care for the children’s well-being and academic success, highlighting it as a particular strength of the school, adding: “Pupils demonstrate a delight in learning and a very strong desire to produce the best quality of work that they can.
The Personal, Social and Health Education (PSHE) programme, from Reception to Year 6, not only reinforces these good attitudes and behaviours but also broadens children’s outlook on world events and history. We introduce them to the democratic process through visits to the UK Parliament and through holding our very own election days, with older pupils developing their own parties and manifestos, choosing candidates and delivering campaigns.
We believe that values are principles that guide behaviour. At St Christopher’s school, adults are encouraged to model values and to give time for reflective practices. We believe that this empowers individuals to be effective learners and good citizens.
Our Values-based education philosophy underpins our work to actively promote fundamental British values of democracy, individual liberty, mutual respect and tolerance of those from all faiths, backgrounds and cultures. A rounded programme of assemblies and events promote children’s spiritual, moral, social and
cultural development, enabling them to develop their own moral and ethical compass to guide what is right and what is wrong.
To support and further develop our children’s strong sense of belonging, we introduce a core value every half term. Last year, our core values were: Friendship, Honesty, Kindness, Trust, Courage and Happiness.
This year, our 6 values are Moral conduct, Communication, Resilience, Cooperation, Independent learning and Self-esteem.
St Christopher’s Nursery was setup to bring families together to provide the richest indoor and outdoor learning environment for growth, progression and development. At St Christopher’s Nursery, we believe in facilitating your child’s learning journey through fun filled activities and we absolutely love what we do!
The brain begins to develop in the womb and is nearly complete by the age of four. It is in the early years of life that brain growth occurs most quickly with multitudes of new connections being made every day. At St Christopher’s Nursery, we understand the importance of early brain development and have created an ethos that promotes a holistic approach to childcare.
Outdoor learning is an integral part of our ethos at St Christopher’s Nursery. We believe that when children are immersed in nature they begin to develop a respectful relationship and learn to value our natural world.
At St Christopher’s Nursery, our children have the opportunity to spend much of their time outside and experience multiple learning opportunities in our outdoor classrooms and gardens.
At St Christopher’s Nursery, we strive to provide real experiences and multisensory opportunities for our children to access throughout the day. We, incorporate traditional shop-bought toys with real objects and open-ended resources to extend children’s thinking and creativity.
Here at St Christopher’s, we aim to ensure that every child’s start at Nursery is as calm and enjoyable as possible. To ensure this we offer a bespoke settling in package tailored to each individual child and family.
The Nursery and Reception team will work together in partnership with you so that your journey with us is positive from the start to the end.
At the first settling in session, we invite you to stay with your child so that they can familiarise themselves with the room they will be in and their keyworker who will care for them, whilst still having a familiar face nearby. As your child becomes more comfortable in the Nursery, you will be able to leave your child for short periods of time to build their confidence ready for a full session at Nursery.
During your settling in the visit, we will ensure that we understand your child’s current routine, how your child likes to be comforted if they have a special comforter, a favourite story or activity they like to do. Throughout your child’s time at Nursery, all adults will tailor activities to suit your child’s interests.
At St Christopher’s we encourage our pupils to be active members of the community and provide opportunities for them to develop their leadership and teamwork skills
Our School Council meets once every two weeks. Each class elects two representatives, one boy and one girl, who attend the meetings for that year.
Democratic values underpin the roles and responsibilities given to each child at St Christopher’s. Children who are about to begin Year 6 stand for election for posts of responsibility like Head Boy or Head Girl, House Captain, Charity Monitor or Conservation Prefect. They make an election speech to the whole school setting out their ideas and principles and are elected by a secret ballot.
Our House system offers the chance for children to work collaboratively across age groups. Likewise, we structure our break and lunch times so that older pupils are able to interact with younger children. This provides positive role models to our younger pupils, and importantly gives older members of the School an opportunity to be responsible.
High quality clubs and extra-curricular activities are an essential part of school life.
The school offers a wide variety of clubs including: Football, French, Arts & Crafts, Games, Book Club, Choir, Recorders, School Council, School Orchestra, Computing, Multi-sports Club and many more. These clubs change termly, giving children the opportunity to try something new each term.
Pupils of St Christopher’s School benefit from numerous enriching activities and visits. As the school is located close to Wembley Park Station we are able to access all the wonderful museums, concert halls, art galleries, historic sites, places of worship and educational attractions in Central London.
“Pupils achieve highly in external speech, drama and music examinations, with most entrants attaining distinctions. The choir has represented the school at St Pauls Cathedral and other notable venues.”Reported by ISI Independent Schools Inspectorate
Inspection Highlights
The Independent Schools Inspectorate praised the quality of care for the children’s wellbeing and academic success, highlighting it as a particular strength of the school, adding:
“Pupils demonstrate a delight in learning and a very strong desire to produce the best quality of work that they can.”
Our approach is to cherish the individual, to catch them being good and to build on their strengths while supporting them in overcoming areas in which they perform less well. We do this through our weekly ‘Star of the Week’ awards and in our friendly but competitive, House System.
At St Christopher’s school, we follow the Jigsaw PSHE Scheme of Work. Jigsaw PSHE is a comprehensive Scheme of Work for the whole School from Nursery through to Year 6. It brings together PSHE Education, emotional literacy, social skills and spiritual development in a comprehensive scheme of learning. SMSC (Spiritual, Moral Social and Cultural development) and Rights Respecting Schools (learning about United Nations Convention on the Rights of The Child) are also a key part of the scheme.
The timetable is similar for both age groups. At the end of the day, the pupils have the choice of going home at 3.30pm, staying for any available clubs or activities or staying on at school until as late as 6pm in Aftercare. The school provides a wide variety of free school clubs; with clubs run by external contractors charged as an additional cost.
Aftercare staff provide a wholesome snack and a myriad of games and activities. Older pupils are also able to finish their homework in Aftercare. If it is warm, children can play outside.
Our curriculum at St Christopher’s School is specifically geared towards preparing students for the 11+ exam. Our teaching in English and Maths is heavily influenced by the Independent Schools Examining Board curriculum, which we believe is more challenging and geared to 11+ exam criteria.
The 11+ system allows our students to gain multiple offers from different Senior Independent Schools and then make their choice. Unlike a large Independent School, we do not channel students to just one Senior School. Our students and our parents have choice. Furthermore, we challenge our students with an advanced curriculum which allows pupils to perform far in advance of age related expectations.
We also teach and practise exam skills through standardised tests and ISEB exams as well as verbal reasoning and non verbal reasoning tests. Finally our assessment system is based on standardised scores which track each student’s ability and indicate how they have exceeded the expected national standard. We expect most of our students to exceed the expected national standard.
Places offered by secondary schools:
• Merchant Taylor’s School (1 Sport Scholarship & 1 All round Scholarship)
• North London Collegiate
• City of London Girls
• Northwood College
• Aldenham (1 Sport Scholarship)
• Haileybury
• Belmont (1 DT Scholarship)
• John Lyon (1 Art scholarship, 2 Sport Scholarship)
• St Margaret’s (1 Music scholarship)
• St Helen’s
• St Augustine’s
• Islamia School for Girls
• Brondesbury
• Hendon
• Deansfield High
• William Perkins
• Ruislip High
• Al Zahra
• Alperton
stchristophersschool.org.uk
We trust that your experience at St. Christopher’s will be enjoyable. You might also wish to explore the option of enrolling your child in one of our senior schools following their time at St. Christopher’s.
Rookwood School information:
Acting Headteacher: Jennifer Jellard
Address: Weyhill Road, Andover, Hampshire, SP10 3AL
Website: rookwoodschool.org
Email: receptiondesk@rookwoodschool.org
Telephone: 01264 325900
Status: Day and Boarding School, co-educational Age: 3 to 18 years
Saint Felix School information:
Headteacher: Mr Matthew Oakman
Address: Halesworth Road, Reydon, Southwold, IP18 6SD
Website: stfelix.co.uk
Email: schooladmin@stfelix.co.uk
Telephone: 01502 722175
Status: Day and Boarding School, co-educational Age: 2 to 18 years
St Francis’ College information:
Headteacher: Mr James Nichols
Address: Broadway, Letchworth Garden City, Hertfordshire, SG6 3PJ
Website: st-francis.herts.sch.uk
Email: admissions@st-francis.herts.sch.uk
Telephone: 01462 670511
Status: Day and Boarding
Girls ages: 3 mths to 18 yrs
Boys ages: 3 mths to 7 yrs
Yateley Manor School information:
Acting Headteacher: Miss Laura Ball
Address: 51 Reading Road Yateley, Hampshire, GU46 7UQ
Website: yateleymanor.com
Email: office@yateleymanor.com
Telephone: 01252 405500
Status: Day School, co-educational Age: 2 to 16 years
To visit one of our senior schools or to book a place at an open day please visit the school website. We also run a bus service from each school, please call the school office to find out which services run near you.
St. Christopher’s School
71 Wembley Park Drive, Wembley, HA9 8HE
Telephone: 0208 902 5069
Email: admin@stchristophersschool.org.uk
Web: stchristophersschool.org.uk
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