Eight year groups, ages three to eleven

Foundation 1 and 2, Reception, then Primary 1 to 5. One class and one teacher per year, all of it on the Cambridge Pathway.

Holistic development
Cambridge Pathway
Individual pace
Global citizenship

The two stages

Early Years, then Primary

Three years to learn how school works, then five years of the Cambridge Primary framework. What does not change between them is the long uninterrupted morning.

Two small children building together on the floor

Foundation 1
3 – 4 years
The first year of school. Half of it is learning that a room full of other children is a safe place to try something.
Foundation 2
4 – 5 years
Letters and sounds arrive, along with counting that means something. Still no bell, still no worksheets.
Reception
5 – 6 years
The bridging year. Writing, reading and number become daily work, and the day lengthens to match Primary. Ends with graduation.

3 – 6 years

Early Years

Cambridge Early Years

Three years to learn how school works before anyone asks them to sit an assessment. The room is low-shelved and the day is mostly chosen, but the ground being covered is the Cambridge Early Years framework: communication, early mathematics, and understanding the world.

Class: 18 children, 2 adults
Hours: 08:00 to 13:00 in Foundation 1, to 15:00 by Reception

Speaking and listening, constantly, and never tested
Number, shape and pattern through materials rather than worksheets
Practical life: pouring, cutting, sweeping, doing up buttons
Settling in gradually, with a parent nearby for as long as it takes

A boy building solids from coloured geometric construction pieces

Primary 1
6 – 7 years
The first year of the Cambridge Primary framework, and the first year of a full school day.
Primary 2
7 – 8 years
Reading stops being the work and starts being the tool. Written work lengthens.
Primary 3
8 – 9 years
Science becomes properly experimental, and mathematics moves from the concrete to the written.
Primary 4
9 – 10 years
Research projects run for weeks. Children begin organising their own field trips.
Primary 5
10 – 11 years
The final year. Real responsibility for a working part of the school, and preparation for secondary.

6 – 11 years

Primary

Cambridge Primary, stages 1 to 5

Five years on the Cambridge Primary framework: English, mathematics, science, global perspectives and digital literacy. One class, one teacher, and a long uninterrupted morning that does not get chopped into forty-minute lessons.

Class: 24 children, 1 teacher and 1 assistant
Hours: 08:00 to 15:30

English, mathematics and science, every day
Global perspectives and digital literacy from Primary 1
Long projects, chosen and finished by the child
Going out: field study planned, costed and booked by the class

Reception to Primary 1

They graduate before they go up

Reception ends with a graduation, and the children move up into Primary 1 in September. It is a real ceremony with a real audience, and it is the point at which a child stops being one of the little ones.

Eco-Bloom children in blue caps and gowns at last year's graduation

Clubs

Three clubs, in term time and in the holidays

All three run inside the school day during term, so nothing is missed and no separate pick-up is needed. In the holidays they run longer, and are open to children from outside the school.

Piano
One to one and in small groups, from Foundation 2 upwards. The school keeps the instruments, so nothing needs buying to start.
Term
Two afternoons a week, in the school day
Hols
Daily through the holidays
Robotics
Building and programming, from Primary 1 upwards. Cambridge Digital Literacy, done with motors and wheels rather than worksheets.
Term
One afternoon a week, in the school day
Hols
A full week each holiday
Karate
A graded club with a proper belt system, from Reception upwards. Taught by an external instructor, on site.
Term
Two afternoons a week, in the school day
Hols
Daily through the holidays