Lower Prep

At KES Prep we have a whole school climate that fosters self-expression, feeds children’s imaginations, and instils in them confidence, a natural motive for writing and a lasting love of reading, through whole school frameworks that are based on strong evidence based research. Our English curriculum is taught through a clear and systemic approach which is brought to life through exciting and engaging literature and immersive experience days. All English teaching staff are experts, through training, in the ability to provide precise instruction in writing, including grammar and spelling, whilst keeping lessons engaging and creative. Through our Public Speaking programme at KES Prep all our children are gently stretched outside of their comfort zones in a safe and supportive environment which is scaffolded appropriately so that by the time they reach Lower Prep all children can carefully prepare a talk which is presented within their year groups, with the potential to reach our Public Speaking final which is presented in front of a larger more formal audience. At KES PREP we teach them the power of informative and persuasive speaking to help raise bold, and expressive young leaders, entrepreneurs, and human beings who can speak out about their interests and views with confidence.

Science and Engineering is included in our curriculum from Year 3 to Year 6, with ‘Science and Engineering’ lessons taught by the class teachers. Engineering challenges children to create innovative solutions to problems using the knowledge and skills learnt in Science, Technology and Maths. It promotes the important life skills of problem-solving, resilience and collaboration - as most projects are tackled in groups. We believe Engineering is highly relevant to today’s challenges and help to develop our children’s sense of environmental and humanitarian responsibility. It’s also practical, engaging and great fun! 

In our Pre-Prep, our pupils develop strong and lasting foundations in Mathematics, practising and securing mental and written methods across the four operations to equip them for life. Pupils begin to calculate with fractions and to make connections to decimals and percentages. Our pupils continually practice and gradually learn by heart their timestables, becoming ever more efficient in their calculations and beginning to apply these to related facts involving multiples of 10, 100, 0.1 and beyond. Independence and maturity continue to grow along with our young learners, who explore concepts and ideas in a variety of different forms, from concrete, to pictorial, to abstract; our pupils use and draw upon a range of representations to help them establish a deeper and stronger understanding in Mathematics, one which encourages and develops connections between concepts, further solidifying ideas, knowledge and skills, through a curriculum rooted in the mastery approach. Our students are given opportunities to explore, tackle and solve a range of mathematical problems in different contexts, working collaboratively, engaging in discussion and thinking creatively. Through a positive, creative, exciting and supportive, yet challenging environment, they develop confidence in their own abilities, ready to begin the new challenges of Senior School and continue their learning journey as young mathematicians.

From Year 3, Discovery lessons combine the teaching of History, Geography and Religious Studies and support the children in developing a broad knowledge and understanding of the world around them. By teaching these subjects in a creative and cross-curricular way we encourage children’s higher order thinking skills and develop their understanding of how these subjects relate to each other.  

Our Discovery lessons allow our teachers to be even more creative, develop links between the existing curriculum topics and add new topics to further inspire our children.  

We believe that Music is for everyone to enjoy. Children are encouraged to sing and play, listen and compose, and class music making is at the forefront of this. Linking into class topics where we can, pupils learn songs and percussion patterns in our weekly lessons, and everyone is encouraged to create and perform. We also believe that singing is an important part of improving pitch and rhythm and all classes sing regularly. From Year 3 onwards, pupils also can learn instruments or singing with visiting teachers, on a one-to-one basis. Individual and ensemble performance opportunities are plentiful, creating confident, assured musicians.

Pupils are introduced to specialist teaching in the Lower Prep. Pupils access the Design and Technology Workshop from Year 3, where they are introduced to the foundations of designing and making, exploring projects using textiles, woodworking, electronics, food technology and more. These foundation skills are crucial for developing understanding of how to handle tools and allow more complex projects later on.

Pupils access the Art, Craft and Design Studio from Year 5 where they focus on foundation drawing skills, then open up to a wide array of materials and experience, including watercolours, mixed media sculpture, ink painting, charcoal, observational drawing and more. We aim to provide all pupils with an excellent foundation skill, while allowing a wide exploration of materials to prepare them for further development in Upper-Prep.

Computing and Digital Literacy’ is taught as a discrete subject by class teachers, in our age-appropriate computing suites, and then further embedded throughout the curriculum. We continuously support the development of pupils’ programming skills through the computing aspects of the curriculum, and the digital literacy aspects enable children to understand how technology can be used to enhance their learning across all curriculum areas.  

We have always been passionate advocates of The Arts and here at KES Prep, Music and Drama is specialist taught as ‘Performing Arts’ all the way through the school. This academic focus on music alongside creative drama and performance activities enthuses and inspires our children, developing their knowledge and skills, creating plenty of opportunities to build their self-esteem and confidence through performance.