Academic Curriculum - Dulwich Prep & Senior Skip to footer Learning Pedagogy Academic Curriculum Creative Arts Sport Co-Curriculum Skills & Strategies Academic Curriculum Core Subjects We aim to open the minds of our pupils to a world enriched with literature. We want to share with them a variety of texts from the traditional to the contemporary, from poetry to plays, and to encourage curiosity and a lifelong love of reading, developing their imagination and creativity. Pupils are given regular lessons where they gain the skills to have a confident and well-mastered voice, both written and oral. With a spacious and well-stocked library at the centre of the school, our pupils know that reading is an integral part of their daily life. We offer abundant enriching literature-based activities, including school and national writing competitions, visiting authors, book week, family book club, Shakespeare workshops and speech competitions. Maths We foster a supportive and stimulating learning environment where pupils flourish and enjoy mathematics. Our Mathematics curriculum is predominantly based on the national curriculum for England, which is then thoughtfully tailored to meet our pupils’ needs. We encourage the playful exploration of mathematical ideas, allowing pupils to experiment, question, and deepen their mathematical understanding. Confidence and resilience are built through carefully selected resources, with problem-solving and mathematical thinking at the heart of our curriculum. Our teaching methods blend traditional techniques with modern innovations, recognising the significant role technology can play in enhancing learning when used effectively. Each lesson is dynamic, purposeful, and designed to foster a sense of enjoyment and curiosity. Science We aim to support pupils’ curiosity and creativity to become problem-solvers and lifelong learners keen to know more about the world around them. We engage and challenge pupils through the ISEB syllabus, tailoring the concepts to our pupils’ needs with a focus on investigative skills. We utilise many applications to supplement and improve the pupils’ learning, including iPads to record their experiments and upload videos. Pupils are treated to talks from scientists and trips to lectures and museums. Our pupils are encouraged to share their knowledge through a STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Mathematics) Day, where the pupils dress up as scientists and recreate experiments for their peers. They are also treated to live experiments from a visiting scientist, including rocket launches. Modern Languages Studying a foreign language at Dulwich Prep & Senior provides our pupils with an opening to other cultures. The Modern Foreign Languages curriculum intends to support the broader school curriculum through a cultural exploration of the Francophone and Hispanic world through the teaching of social topics as well as the language. We offer our children in Years 1 to 4 the opportunity to embrace two languages: Spanish and French. At the end of Year 4, pupils, with the guidance of their teachers, choose to deepen their knowledge in either French or Spanish. We use traditional methods, new strategies, and resources to ensure that our pupils are engaged and excited by their lessons. As pupils develop their listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills, they can begin to express themselves with increased confidence, independence, and creativity. Computing We aim to encourage pupils to become confident digital learners by utilising a curriculum that covers digital literacy, computer science, and information technology. Pupils use technology as a tool for learning across the curriculum. Through coding, they can develop their computational thinking and problem-solving skills. E-safety plays a vital role, and children understand how to be safe online. There are numerous opportunities to engage in computing-related competitions throughout the year. We loan our pupils iPads for use across the curriculum. Children share iPads in Nursery, Reception, Year 1, and Year 2. From Year 3 upwards, pupils have a device each. All pupils use learning platforms, such as SeeSaw and Showbie, which allow them to upload files and access resources both in and outside the school. Reasoning Reasoning is taught from an early age, starting with an integrated approach by including the discipline as part of the curriculum. As our pupils move to Year 3, ‘Thinking Skills’ become more embedded within the core subjects, English and Mathematics. Our pupils then progress to having one dedicated Verbal and Non-Verbal Reasoning lesson each week in Year 5 and the autumn term of Year 6. Some pupils in Year 8 also have a weekly Reasoning lesson in the autumn term. This provides valuable preparation for senior schools’ entrance examinations, which often require reasoning assessments or skills. Humanities Geography We aim to spark a critical understanding of the physical and human relationships that play both a constructive and destructive role on our planet. Our scheme of work is based on, but not exclusive to, the Common Entrance and scholarship examinations and thus covers the main themes required for these curriculums, including key geographical content such as global locations, map reading, and weather and climate. Geography lessons embrace vital geographical skills such as analysis, interpretation, comparisons and contrasts, and fieldwork. The department runs a biannual trip to Iceland. The trip covers a considerable amount of the curriculum, from tectonics and geomorphology to green energy and environmental impact. History History focuses on our shared humanity and school values. Through studying the past, we actively hone our social conscience to seek a more just world today and tomorrow. We nurture passionate and compassionate historians, exploring the diverse experiences of humans across time and place. We are critical and reflective thinkers, developing our conceptual history skills of chronology, cause and consequence, change and continuity, significance, interpretation, diversity, debate, analytical essay writing and questioning evidence such as ‘fake news’. Classics Latin is introduced at the beginning of Year 6, and most pupils continue with the subject until the end of Year 8. In addition to building a knowledge of the language, pupils are invited to recognise the significance of Latin and Ancient Rome in shaping modern European languages and cultures. We aim to build excitement and relevance around the subject whilst our pupils begin to learn aspects of the Latin language itself. We strive to get all pupils to Level 2 Common Entrance whilst the most ambitious may reach a standard equivalent to GCSE. Ancient Greek is also available to Years 7 and 8 as part of our enrichment and club provision. Philosophy Pupils are first introduced to Philosophy in Year 3 and continue to explore the subject through Years 4 and 5. Using a combination of the Philosophy for Children (P4C) and the Philosophy Circles programmes, we aim to increase purposeful communication and active listening while providing opportunities for pupils to be collaborative, creative and critical thinkers. Pupils are taught to agree and disagree with an argument productively and respectfully. They rehearse the skills of making their points of view understandable to others and building on one another’s ideas. They also learn to be comfortable grappling with a question that does not necessarily have a single, fixed answer. Religious Studies Religious Studies cover a breadth of faiths and worldviews. Pupils start their journey in the Early Years, understanding culture, faith and identity through assemblies and celebrations of religious festivals. This knowledge matures to include a deeper understanding of Christianity and world religions such as Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, and Sikhism. Throughout Years 7 and 8, the focus shifts to Philosophy and Ethics with an introduction to the likes of John Stuart Mill and Immanuel Kant and theories such as Utilitarianism and Deontology, among other topics such as Crime and Punishment. We encourage pupils to voice their opinion and share their beliefs respectfully whilst encouraging metacognition and critical thinking. In addition to learning about religion, pupils also learn from religion and apply worldviews to contemporary issues. Each part of the curriculum lends itself to Spiritual, Moral, Social and Cultural (SMSC) development, which is embedded throughout.