What to expect

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What to expect

Pre-Prep pupils at Maidwell Hall enjoy busy, fun-filled and stimulating days from the moment they arrive. Our carefully planned daily schedule ensures pupils experience a balance of academic learning, personal exploration, skill building and physical exercise, as well as time to relax and build friendships.

We teach the core subjects of mathematics and English every day, complemented by a varied programme of lessons covering history, geography, science and languages, arts and crafts, practical skills, outdoor activities, sports, music, dance and more.

A typical day at Maidwell Hall Pre-Prep:

08.05-08.25 – Pupils arrive and play outside.

08.30-08.45 – Prayers and assembly, with a different theme each day. We might focus on topical issues or world events. We have social well-being assemblies and singing assemblies. In our hugely popular Friday awards assembly, we recognise pupils for their achievements and announce the house tokens awarded that week.

08.45-10.00 – We begin the day with our literacy lessons, focusing on phonics, reading and writing. We use Read Write Inc for teaching phonics. We follow the excellent Think Write handwriting scheme, which encourages pupils to develop beautiful handwriting at an early age.

10.00-10.45 – ‘Grog’. This Maidwell tradition is essentially our break time, when children enjoy a healthy snack and drink. On Fridays they are treated to scrumptious school-baked cookies. This is followed by time to play, indoors or outdoors. We provide waterproof clothes at the start of break time so children can go out and get as messy as they like. Our fully equipped outdoor mud kitchen is always a popular resource.

10.45-11.50 – Time for our mathematics lessons. We follow Power Maths, Abacus Maths and Numicon schemes, but tailor the work for our pupils by creating our own lesson plans.

12.00-13.20 – Lunchtime. The whole of Pre-Prep goes together for lunch in the main school dining hall. Every day we enjoy delicious meals prepared in the school kitchen. Teachers serve the food to the children, creating a special family atmosphere at the dinner table. Then it’s time to go out and play some more.

13.20-15.15 – During the afternoons we provide a whole range of learning experiences in all subjects, following a carefully structured programme. Every day is different and could include lessons in history, geography, science, French, computing, music, art or design technology.

Children can explore the natural world and learn practical skills in our Forest School. We offer a variety of sports in our PE lessons, including swimming in our own pool and sports coaching from specialist teachers. There are extremely popular ballet lessons, delivered by professional dancers from the Northamptonshire School of Dance (NSD). Choral lessons are great fun, and we provide opportunities to learn a variety of musical instruments.

15.15 – The end of the school day, and the beginning of our optional after-school provision. Most of our Pre-Prep children stay until at least 16.00 to take advantage of the many exciting opportunities on offer.