Prep

At Broomfield we aim to inspire the children to love to learn, to develop enquiring minds and be independent thinkers.  We want them to begin to think about what they enjoy and what motivates them in life.  A curious child will never be bored and we want to offer a stimulating environment to help children discover what interests them.  With this in mind, our Prep School curriculum is broad, covering the Creative Arts, Humanities, Computing,  Languages and Sports as well as the core curriculum of English, Maths and Science.

The school is structured into various learning stages, beginning with Early Years, transitioning into Year 1 before moving into Lower Prep (Years 2-4) and Senior Prep (Years 5-6).

Achieving potential

It is important to us that our pupils achieve their academic best and to do this we have created a warm and supportive environment in which children can thrive.  We are well-staffed, so that our children can receive the individual attention they need.  Lessons are highly differentiated so that every child is working at the level and pace that is right for them.  We do not ‘set’ the children but maintain a fluid approach, moving the children onto more challenging work as soon as they are ready.  This system, supported by our Individual Learning Enhancement (ILE) programme, invariably means that children progress through the curriculum more quickly than might otherwise be possible without creating a hothouse atmosphere.

Adding excitement

Thanks to the support of our wonderful PTA we are able to enhance the curriculum bringing colour, drama and challenge to the children’s learning through some extraordinary workshops organised by our Deputy Head (Academic).

We want children to enjoy their Maths and relish the challenge of solving problems.  In this spirit, we run an annual Maths day when children work together in teams on a stimulating variety of challenges encompassing all areas of the Maths curriculum.

Similarly recent Science workshops saw the children examining the micro-life found in our school pond even witnessing, under a microscope, the babies carried in the brood-sac of a waterflea –whose bodies are transparent!  In 2019 The Royal Institution came to Broomfield for a whacky series of workshops which included explosive food and the rather gruesome path of food through the human body.

To stimulate our children’s love of reading our recent English workshops have presented opportunities for collaborative learning as, in small groups, they navigate imaginary worlds using clues, anagrams and puzzles to escape from castles and avoid the machinations of evil Queens!  We are also delighted to invite visiting authors and poets to Broomfield.  In recent years we have welcomed Rob Biddulph, James Carter, Smriti Prasadam-Halls and Ellie Woollard and learned a lot about illustrating stories, cheeky poetry and brilliant rhymes, how editing your work will invariably improve it and how to create excitement and tension in your writing.