The Gower School - where little people matter

THE GOWER SCHOOL - Where little people matter

New School for Children to age 11

The Gower School is delighted to announce the opening of a new school in Barnsbury- this September 2007 for children aged 4 - 11.

Situated at 10, Cynthia Street, Barnsbury N1 9JF our new school building is found in a quiet cobbled mews area behind red brick buildings on Cynthia Street. The street is small and quiet, and a good place to drop off children - it is also easily accessible from nearby Angel and Kings Cross tube stations, as well as the many buses nearby on Pentonville Road. Virtual Tour, View Map1, View Map 2

The school
Our Montessori approach
Sports
Music
Out of school care
Home cooked food
Virtual Gallery

The School

The Gower School is a spirited, independent, co-educational day school for children that seeks to ignite the innate and life long joy of learning. It was established in 2000 by the Principal, Emma Gowers, a music graduate and experienced teacher, and follows principles of education developed from the research of Dr. Maria Montessori.

From September there will be up to 200 children of diverse backgrounds, from babies through to 11 year olds at our 2 centrally located schools sites in Islington – at North Road and Barnsbury. The school in Barnsbury is a new, purpose designed site, opening in September 2007 and will allow the primary children the best facilities and educational learning environment possible.

The school is a registered independent school and inspected by OfSTED and OfSTED Early Years, and is a member of the Montessori Schools Association.

The nursery at North Road offers multi-age group programmes for children from 3 months to 18 months, 18 months to 2 ½ years and 2 ½ to 5 years. The school in Barnsbury offers programmes for children from rising 4 to 5 years, from 6 years to 8 years and from 9 years to 11 years. Also, there is a comprehensive programme of pre and after school activities and exuberant Holiday Fun Clubs.

Our curriculum is enhanced on an age-appropriate basis by courses of study in music (including singing, listening, optional instrumental lessons, music history, performance, theatre and opera; plus creative movement and fitness, art, ICT, and world languages and cultures. Also, there is a variety of clubs for children to join; among those that have been offered are Choir, cookery, design & technology, action ball, environment, healthy living, tennis, knitting and sculpture.

High quality education and care is foremost at The Gower School, and we are proud to have been amongst the first in Islington to receive Investors in Children status for achieving high quality in our nursery environment.

As the school has developed and grown upwards from its start as a nursery, caring for the environment has played an important role in school life and the Principal has led the school to achieve many awards for its innovative and responsible approach to the environment. Back to Top

Our Montessori approach

Individualism, each child works on an individual programme, small groups, giving a child a love of learning, and a thirst for knowledge which goes hand in hand with building up the skills and motivation for independent research. Our self directed curriculum means that children negotiate their weekly workload with their teacher and agree a balanced variety of work that they will enjoy and which we know meets and exceeds the national curriculum and standards expected at each age. Well resourced, scientifically designed educational materials to enable a child to learn in a logical manner building up knowledge and confidence step by step. Real life experience approach – children learn about life in other countries and cultures, historically important people, can relate their learning to nature and the outdoor world, and can carry out scientific experiments. We have high expectations of good manners, good behaviour and developing social skills within our school community. Children learn skills like negotiating, finding solutions to conflict, and we find ways to help them develop their confidence and self esteem.
Key features of our school day are the 2 work cycles. These are an uninteruppted period of time where children work through a variety of focussed activities and exercises to encompass individual learning in language and literacy, mathematics, geography, history, sciences, ICT and PSHCE. Children work at their own pace, and are allowed to explore and further their learning without distraction. The teacher and child agree a programme of work that they negotiate together each week, and the teacher observes the children and tracks their learning. Implicit in this approach is differentiation in order that the most able children can be challenged and each child can reach their potential in every area. Our curriculum includes creative writing and poetry composition. Back to Top

Sports

A range of sports including swimming, tennis and football are taught by specialist teachers and facilities at Islington Tennis Centre, Cally Pool and elsewhere. Yoga, gymnastics and dance are taught in the school hall, and team sports and coaching provide a valuable part of school life.

Music – group singing and percussion classes each week and individual instrumental or choral lessons will be available during the school day in our purpose designed music teaching suite.
A full range of arts & crafts, dance, drama, poetry & creative writing are taught each week.

A purpose designed Science laboratory is equipped to enable children to experiment with the best facilities.

Every classroom has a library area, and there is a central school Library where children may share reference books and access the internet. Similarly, every classroom has computers, in addition there are computers in the library as well as a bank of laptops that children can use around the school.Back to Top

Out of school care

Outside the school day we offer an extensive range of after school clubs until 6pm each day. We also offer breakfast club from 8am each day for children arriving before the school day starts. During most of the traditional school holiday periods we operate our ever popular Holiday Fun Club, where children enjoy a variety of activities including sports, arts, cookery, music and outings to museums, galleries, theatres, cinema as well as local nature reserves, farms and parks. Whilst term time operates for 35 weeks of the year, children are able to attend the school 48 weeks of the year on a regular or ad hoc basis.

Home cooked food is offered every day with an attractive menu. All the food is made freshly each day by our personal chef, introducing children to different tastes from around the world. We use only organic milk, offer a full vegetarian menu, can cater for specialist diets, and our foods are additive and GM free. In the Barnsbury purpose designed kitchen children are able to work at child height work surfaces to help prepare their own meals and design menus.

Virtual Gallery

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