Junior School

TES Prep School of the Year Finalist 2021 Star-listed in ‘The Good Schools Guide’ 2021

Welcome to Hymers College Junior School. We provide a safe, happy and caring environment where all pupils are encouraged to develop and learn. We believe at this young age it is vital we give pupils the opportunity to spread their wings, explore and develop a passion for learning. We foster this through our exceptional subject specific teachers, teaching in subject specific classrooms. We have outstanding facilities to offer our youngsters. A dedicated art room, science lab, library, design workshop to name but a few and all of this set in a huge green outdoor space for pupils to play and build friendships. Our pupils also regularly use the facilities we share with the Senior School such as the swimming pool and theatre with galas and performances respectively regularly peppering the school calendar. We offer young people the very best start in life and I look forward to welcoming you to the Hymers family.

Our CARE code lies at the heart of everything we do in the Junior School and is the reason it is such a friendly, supportive and happy learning environment. We are proud of our CARE code. It acts as a guide for all in the Junior School for how we conduct ourselves and how we interact with one another.

We believe these principles stand our pupils in good stead for life in the Senior School and beyond.

Show you care by being kind, considerate and wellmannered.

Understand why others think and behave differently.

Show respect towards others. Have selfrespect and always try to be truthful. Respect others’ belongings and the school environment.

Always try your best in everything you do.

Our curriculum is designed to provide a thorough grounding in the core skills which are required throughout education, along with offering pupils a broad range of subjects outside of the norm, which spark interest and challenge. All Junior School pupils are assigned to one of four houses which encourage pupils to foster friendships and work as a team. The houses compete in various activities encouraging teamwork and co-operation across the different year groups.

Music is highly regarded in the Junior School with pupils encouraged to take up an instrument and access one of the many ensembles including orchestra, wind band, string group and percussion group. There are regular concerts and performance opportunities, encouraging children to gain in confidence. The school has achieved national recognition for choral singing, having won the Barnardo’s National Choral Competition at the Royal Festival Hall, London, achieving second place at the Llangollen International Eisteddfod and Runners Up at the BBC Songs of Praise School Choir of the Year. A high proportion of the children in the school sing in one of the un-auditioned year group choirs and have ample opportunities to sing in the local community as well as to go on tour to Edinburgh. All children have regular drama lessons and have an opportunity to perform in a whole year group production. This fully inclusive approach aims to build self-esteem for all. Past productions include ‘Joseph and his Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat’, ‘Mystery at Magpie Manor’, ‘The Lion King Jnr’, ‘Peter Pan’ and ‘Hoodwinked’.

We believe it is important for our younger pupils to have the freedom to learn outside the classroom. We run a comprehensive series of activities and trips throughout the year ranging from Science day trips, to a cultural trip to Normandy and an outward bound activity week in the Lake District. We host a programme of in-school themed days and weeks, which encourages pupils to immerse themselves in a particular topic and to work collaboratively with each other. During our themed weeks, pupils are empowered to decide for themselves what they wish to concentrate on, culminating in a presentation or exhibition at the end of the week which is shared with parents and the rest of Hymers College. Our Junior School celebrates achievements in weekly Commendation Assemblies and with its own Speech Day which is held at the end of the academic year.

Each child within the Junior School will have the opportunity to participate in a variety of different sports. Our comprehensive programme of competitive fixtures against other schools ensures that every child represents Hymers College in Sport. The provision of sport in the Junior School caters for all ability ranges with the principle aim being to improve the children’s skills from whatever starting point in an enjoyable and inclusive way, boosting confidence and independence, whilst still achieving high performance. We have enjoyed plenty of recent successes. Our U11 boys have won the ISFA Boys’ Regional Football Championship in 2018 and 2019, qualifying for the Nationals at England’s training base at St George’s Park. They have also finished 1st and 2nd in the Hull Schools 5-a-side tournament in 2020 and are current North East HMC Champions. Our Athletics teams have had plenty of success at the HMC North East competition at Gateshead Stadium, finishing 2nd overall in 2019 with both the boys’ and girls’ teams respectively finishing 3rd overall. Our U11 swimmers have qualified for ESSA National Finals at Ponds Forge for the past eleven years and, in 2018, our dance group finished third in the National Finals of the ‘The Great Big Dance Off’ in Oxford. In 2019, our U10 and U11 boys rugby teams had an incredible experience of playing at the home of rugby, Twickenham, in a national rugby festival, before watching Fiji v Barbarians. Our U10 boys and girls get the chance to go on a one day sports tour to Newcastle before they move into Year 6, when the rugby, hockey and netball teams have the opportunity to travel to Worcester for a three day sports tour. We believe offering children experiences such as these will help to nurture and develop a lifelong love of playing sport.