Academic

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Art

Problem-solving and creative thinking are at the heart of our children’s Art and Design education at Monmouth Prep School.

Our pupils work with a variety of materials, mediums, techniques and equipment to develop a large skills’ set in their formative years.

We have outstanding art facilities, including a printing press, kiln and large, interactive screens that allow our boys and girls to enjoy digital design, graphic design, animation, stop motion, photography, editing and manipulation.

Pupils begin learning art and design in the Early Years settings through expressive art and design. The practical, hands-on approach to learning in Nursery and Reception helps to develop imagination, creativity and their ability to confidently use a range of materials and media. Subject specialist teaching takes place in Years 1 and 2 where children successfully develop their drawing, painting, sculpting skills and knowledge of famous artists and their works.

Our pupils learn basic skills, artistic terminology and the formal elements of art and design at Key Stage 2 before moving into project work in Years 4 to 6.

We stretch, challenge and encourage our children to follow their personal interests and equip them to learn digitally, pushing the boundaries further than the national curriculum.

Through project work, our pupils experiment with artforms, ranging from ceramics to printmaking, and make cross-curricular links with other subjects.

Every year, we run internal competitions, organise trips and workshops, while our children can take part in national art competitions and support local community events.

We run a weekly Art Club to support the dynamic and vigorous extra-curricular offering and it is clear that our children are enthusiastic, engaging and full of imagination.

Computing

We prepare our children for their future lives and 21st Century skills – with ICT embedded in many aspects of the curriculum at Monmouth Prep School.

Our pupils in Key Stage 2 have an opportunity to become Digital Leaders by completing an eight-module course through the online, Childnet website.

Our Computing curriculum focuses on three interconnected areas of computer science: information technology and digital literacy; and we aim to develop our pupils’ computational thinking.

We have interactive screens in every classroom and two Surface Go trolleys allows pupils the flexibility to use technology throughout the school. Some classrooms have Apple TV and children can use IPads to improve their knowledge and learning.

We also use Micro-bits, Bee Bots, Flip, Teams, OneNote, MyMaths, TT Rockstars, IHUB, Minecraft Education, Scratch, Tech soft, Podcasts and video to enhance, extend and support our pupils’ learning.

We use a range of teaching approaches to promote pupils’ knowledge and understanding in ICT, including:

  • Lead with concepts
  • Unplug, unpack, repack
  • Create projects
  • Challenge misconceptions
  • Structure lessons
  • Work together
  • Model everything
  • Add variety
  • Make concrete
  • Read and explore blocks of code first
  • Get hands-on
  • Foster programme comprehension
  • Tinkering
Drama

We teach Drama in weekly classes from Year 4 onwards and encourage all our pupils to push themselves within a safe, supportive and nourishing environment. 

We want our children to have fun in Drama and we provide them with the perfect platform in which to flourish and shine on and off the stage.  

Our girls and boys have confidence-building opportunities to perform before an audience several times a year in whole-school productions and smaller scale shows. 

We tailor our Drama classes specifically towards the maturity of each year group and our children.  

Our pupils enjoy a range of dynamic, exciting and challenging performance-related tasks and exercises covering numerous styles of performance; from group-devising to Shakespeare and Brecht; from masks, and mime to script-writing and melodrama.   

As a practising theatre performer and musician with more than 30 years’ experience in the industry, our Drama teacher brings a unique perspective to every class in the school. 

Languages

Annual trips to France, co-curricular clubs and subject-specialist teaching combine to inspire our children’s passions for learning languages.

Through our teaching of French, our girls and boys make substantial progress in the five key language skills: speaking, listening, reading, writing and grammar.

Pupils of all abilities will develop solid foundations in vital skills, preparing them for the next stage of their language learning journey.

We reinforce the curriculum with an annual trip to France in Year 6, Languages Days, providing co-curricular language clubs throughout Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2 and by giving pupils an opportunity to host a French pupil in their own home during KS2.

Our language-specialist teaches French to the whole class while, especially at KS1,we encourage class teachers to use basic language within the classroom.

We keep our pupils motivated and captivated from the beginning of every language lesson with clear, achievable objectives and using different learning styles.

We also explore the similarities and differences between foreign languages and English, and learn about cultures in other countries.

Based on the Welsh/English border, we encourage our children to be aware of the Welsh language, particularly through our whole-school celebration of St David’s Day.

MAT

We value all our children, provide a challenging curriculum and give them the same opportunity to reach their full potential in a caring and supportive environment.  

In addition, we give support to our More Able and Talented (MAT) girls and boys who may be exceptionally advanced in one or more areas of learning and help them to achieve the greatest possible progress. 

We understand the value and importance of identifying our MAT children and enjoy celebrating their achievements and successes.   
Our activities inside the classroom are pivotal to supporting and developing pupils whom we have identified as being more able. 

At Monmouth Prep School: 

  1. Our teachers have the highest expectations of all our pupils. 
  2. We plan lessons, tasks and activities to cater for the various levels of existing knowledge, skills and understanding. 
  3. Our teachers offer children further opportunities and open-ended tasks to stimulate and enrich their learning further. 
  4. Our teachers always encourage our pupils to learn independently outside of lessons. 

During lessons, we provide opportunities for more able pupils to work with children of a similar ability. We have a collaborative literacy group involving Year 6 pupils and senior pupils; Maths enrichment sessions and extra-curricular clubs that explore subjects and topics in a much greater depth. 

PSHE

Personal, Social, Health and Economic Education

We help our children at Monmouth Prep School stay healthy, safe and prepared for life and work, setting goals to achieve their personal best.

Every pupil at The Grange has one lesson of PSHE (Personal, Social, Health and Economic Education), which includes Relationships Education, each week with their Form Teacher. In addition, aspects of PSHE and Relationships Education can be covered during Form Time.

Our dedicated and inspirational staff share the philosophies and expectations of our PSHE scheme through all their interactions with pupils – not just during timetabled sessions, assemblies and Form Time.

We support our girls and boys to recognise and develop positive, healthy relationships and prepare them for the physical and emotional changes that take place as they grow, including those that happen during puberty.

We use PSHE Association planning documents, resources and recommendations to make sure that we give the latest, the most trusted and the most reliable guidance to our children; importantly, all our themes are consistent throughout our year groups.

We use specialist external sources such as It Happens to enhance our teaching, while our staff liaise closely with experienced RSHE specialists for sessions with our children in Years 5 and 6; this continues through Key Stages and into our senior school.

We make important links with Computing (E-Safety) and Science (growing and reproduction) and liaise closely with fellow members of staff who possess specialist knowledge and have an excellent awareness of the children in their care.

Science

Our children learn scientific skills, knowledge, concepts and personal qualities from Years One to Six, in our carefully-structured curriculum.

Allowing our girls and boys to tackle scientific and technological problems, helps develop young minds and increases their knowledge and understanding of the world.

We encourage our pupils to plan their own practical science experiments; allowing them to developer a deeper understanding of a topic, think more independently and use their imagination.

At Monmouth Prep School, we lay the foundation of a pupil’s life-long passion for science, acting as a springboard as they progress through our schools, eventually entering employment and higher education.

We ensure that our children are scientifically literate and develop critical thinking by helping them to understand important scientific methods and processes.

Indeed, we support our boys and girls fully because it’s essential they understand science if they are to become actively involved in an increasingly technological world.

Sport (PE/Swimming)

At Monmouth Prep School, we recognise the important role that sport and exercise plays in our children’s everyday lives.

Our subject-specialist PE staff deliver fun and engaging sessions from Nursery into Key Stage 1 through to Key Stage 2.

Using their skills and knowledge, our experienced PE staff teach our children fundamental movement and ball skills during PE lessons to build confidence and create agile, athletic sports people.

We have outstanding sports facilities at Haberdashers’ Monmouth Schools, including two indoor swimming pools.

As a result, our boys and girls swim weekly all year round from Nursery to Year 4, enabling them to swim safely, competently and competitively.

Competitive fixtures:

We believe in the benefits of team and competitive sport – and prepare our girls and boys for these exciting challenges throughout Years 3 and 4. Our pupils play their first competitive fixtures against other schools from Year 5 onwards.

We encourage every child in Years 5 and 6 to play regularly in our fixtures and it’s always a joy to see so many boys and girls representing Monmouth Prep School each week.

Our children always enjoy playing at home using our outstanding indoor or outdoor sports facilities and pitches, or travel away to enjoy the hospitality of schools within our vast and varied fixtures list.

There are opportunities for everyone. Our pupils can try their hand at team sports, including hockey, rugby, netball, football and cricket; swim competitively or compete at a high level in Cross-Country running.