Prep School Introduction

There are many ways of measuring school performance, but the simplest is often the best: how happy is the school? Children are happy when they feel valued and sense that their interests and achievements are recognised. Families are happy when their aspirations are fulfilled and exceeded. Staff are happy when they work in a creative and innovative learning environment. In aiming, above all, to be a happy school, we are not trivialising our academic and professional values – we are putting them to the ultimate test.

For the youngest members of our school community, the educational adventure stretches ahead and our first task is to ensure that it is enjoyed in a setting of complete safety and security – emotional as well as physical security. The aim, even at this early stage, is to nurture the enthusiasm that will in time become a lifelong joy in learning. These skills and approaches will underpin each child’s confidence and self-worth, regardless of their absolute level of academic achievement. This in turn supports our focus on excellence – on excelling in the sense of going that little bit further. It’s all a part of growing up, but not one that can just be taken for granted.

Our school is very much focused on this idea of bringing out the best in everyone, so we welcome children with a wide range of abilities and provide the support they need to succeed. This applies not only in our formal learning, but also outdoors and in our very wide range of sporting and extra-curricula activities.  Creative development is also important to us all – whether through arts, crafts, writing, self-expression or music.

Obviously, the core task of a Prep School is to prepare children for the next stages in their education, and here we take a very open-minded view of the options. We have a co-educational Senior School in Bournemouth, complete with its own Sixth Form, and therefore encourage families to think of the merits of opting for a fully-integrated path through schooling. At the same time, though, we recognise that there are many other choices available at age 11, and we work equally enthusiastically to prepare children for these alternatives. The choice is yours, and it’s a choice that does not need to be made until Year 6.

BCS Prep School has a size that allows it to nurture and develop each individual, but it also looks outwards to the Dorset region and the wider world beyond. We focus on the daily concerns of our children, but also reflect on the bigger issues that will become important to them later. We care for our own environment, but act very practically to support a better global environment in the future – gardening and eco-conservation both figure high on our list of extra-curricula options! Day by day and year by year, our pupils grow both as individuals and as members of the caring community of the United Church Schools Trust. And as a sign that we are achieving our aims, they and we are happy in our school.

Kay Smith, Head of Prep School

 

CLICK HERE to download the School Prospectus