Breadth and balance are just two features of a St Andrew’s education.
With the broad curriculum on offer we are able to create a strong blend of academic, artistic, dramatic, musical and sporting experiences for all children.
In Years 3 and 4 children are taught in their classes for English, Science, History, Geography, PSHE and TPR (Theology, Philosophy and Religion) with specialist teachers taking them for Art, Computing, Design Technology, French, Music, PE, Swimming and Games. They are taught Maths in sets based on ability from Year 3 upwards.
In Year 5, the children move around the school more as the majority of lessons are now taught by subject specialist teachers; they also begin Latin and Drama. Children still have a Tutor who will see them at the start of each day and at several other times during the week.
From Year 7 upwards, children are set by ability in English, Maths, French, Latin and Science. Other subjects are taught in these sets but this varies from year to year, for instance in Year 8 Geography and History are taught in English sets. PSHE, Drama and Computing are taught in mixed ability groups throughout the school.
From Year 5 upwards, children whose first language is not English attend specialist EAL lessons instead of studying French and/or Latin.
Children in Years 3 and 4 have a small amount of Maths and English homework. From Year 5 upwards children are set preps during the week and children can either choose to do their prep during the activity sessions or to complete it at home.
From September 2019, St Andrew’s Prep moved away from Common Entrance in favour of The Bridge Curriculum which is an exciting new initiative that aims to combine the best bits of the Common Entrance syllabus with the best bits of the National Curriculum and other programmes of study to create a pathway of learning that is exciting, dynamic and more effective in preparing pupils for the demands of GCSE and beyond.
The curriculum has been carefully coordinated with Heads of Subject at Eastbourne College to provide better progression between Years 7, 8 and 9 and to prevent duplication of topics. St Andrew’s pupils no longer sit Common Entrance exams; instead, we monitor children’s progress and maintain academic rigour through a variety of methods. Importantly, the Bridge Curriculum will be benchmarked against the Common Entrance Syllabus to ensure that it does not disadvantage anyone who does not wish to continue into Year 9 at Eastbourne College. Quite the opposite in fact. The Bridge Curriculum will enable us to give parents, children and future schools a much better idea of where the strengths and weaknesses of each child lie rather than just an end of year exam grade.
Assessment will be rigorous and, in some subjects, will not be too different from the Common Entrance exams. However, in subjects such as the Humanities, there will be much more opportunity for assessed project work, both collaborative and individual, as well as presentation and research skills.
For those children who will be sitting Academic Scholarships to senior schools, they will follow the Bridge Curriculum in Year 7 but then, in Year 8, they will move into a scholarship group where they will cover everything in the Bridge Curriculum for Year 8 alongside any additional scholarship work which is required.
For more information about The Bridge Curriculum, you can download a document here
