The Upper School covers pupils from Years Three to Six. The children are grouped into two, mixed year-group classes, Les Aigles (Years Three and Four) and Les Rennes (Years Five and Six). In these classes the holistic, Montessori ethos is still the central guide; autonomous research work is encouraged and supported, as are numerous trips and visits off site. However, as the children move into the abstract, the need for Montessori equipment becomes less pronounced and a shift towards a more traditional timetable, with weekly spellings, timetables and reasoning takes place. In the Upper School, all children receive specialist French, music, science and games teaching and spend a mid-morning break in Grimaldi Park. Les Aigles
Building on the solid foundations developed in Lower School, we work on extending our students' natural and growing curiosity, challenging each individual appropriately so that they are stretched and motivated to achieve their full-potential. Our curriculum is broad, engaging and encouraging of the inquisitive mind. French, science, PE and music are all taught by specialist teachers. As Les Aigles begin the transition to Upper School, the students begin to move away from concrete materials and to think more in the abstract. Our English programme is rich and varied – broken down into writing (a variety of genres) grammar, reading and public speaking. Maths builds on the children’s understanding of the four operations, working on all strands and solving multi-step problems. Topic is extensive, our ‘Ancient Greek Day’ is always well received and a great way to enrich learning, as is our practical ‘Taste my World’ unit. Exciting learning opportunities take place both within and outside the classroom and we try to integrate learning opportunities wherever possible. Developing an inquisitive mind, encouraging the students to be forward thinking confident learners is at the core of our classroom. As responsibility increases in Upper School, we ensure that this remains manageable and does not overwhelm our students. When children leave Les Aigles they have the confidence to extend and enrich their learning further in the senior part of our school, Les Rennes.
Les Rennes
This is the class in which children build and consolidate their knowledge, whilst gradually preparing for the transition to Senior School. The curriculum develops their interests way beyond the National Curriculum and is intrinsically linked to their out of school visits. Projects, such as creating a school newspaper through workshops at ‘The Guardian’ extend their language and writing skills, whilst their Maths skills are nurtured though specialist workshops. There is an increasing accent on responsibility and leading though example in Les Rennes; all children spend some time as a House Captain and they ‘buddy read’ with the youngest children in the school once a week. In Les Rennes, assessments in spelling, times tables and verbal reasoning take place every Friday morning. Children are expected to remain abreast of current affairs and present weekly news items to their classmates, as well as completing weekly homework tasks.
P.E. and Games
Children in Upper School have as much opportunity as possible to refine and develop their skills, as well as picking up new ones. The children take part in two lessons of PE and one Games lesson a week. PE lessons last between 45 and 60 minutes and are held in Grimaldi Park. During these lessons, the majority of the skill based exercises occur; developing movement, co-ordination and the breakdown of specific skills. Games lessons last up to 90 minutes and are always at one of our off site sports venues. Here, children get the opportunity to participate in a sport or activity that uses the skills honed during PE lessons. These sessions allow children the opportunity to experience and a broad range of games and develop their sportsmanship; offering them the best opportunity to enjoy sport and lead an active healthy lifestyle.
Activities and visits
We are lucky enough to live in a superbly rich cultural city and we take full advantage of this. In Upper School, each class makes at least two visits per term to museums, historical sites and places of interest in London. Each of these visits is tied in to project work and provides our children with invaluable experiences and a new 'out of classroom' perspective. Recent visits have been to The National Gallery, The Science Museum, The Natural History Museum, The Canal Museum and V&A, amongst other. Visits are also made to the LSO at the Barbican at least twice a year to hear a concert.
In Upper School each child learns to play the recorder and is taught weekly in a small group by a visiting specialist. We offer one to one tuition for those wishing to learn the guitar, drums, piano and singing.