Preparatory School
for boys aged 6-13
Day, Weekly & Full Boarding
Please contact the school office if you do not know your login details.
English
Boys learn to read accurately: to draw inferences, to evaluate information and attitude and to learn how opinion and point of view alter depending on language used. They learn to respond to poetry and become aware of the devices writers use to reveal their feelings in both prose and poetry. Boys learn to express themselves in a range of writing: discursive, narrative, descriptive and personal, and are taught to use correct spelling, layout, punctuation, grammar and syntax to accomplish this writing. They are given the techniques to aid them in the passing of Common Entrance and scholarship examinations.
Maths
Common Entrance (all papers)
Revise add, subtract, multiply and divide fractions and mixed numbers. Estimate numbers to 1 and 2 significant figures. Make estimates of calculations by using 1 and 2 significant figures. Ratio. Scale and bearing. Dealing with BIDMAS and particularly brackets and using any numbers and a calculator. Construction of triangles, kites and parallelograms with compass and protractor. Distance, speed and time calculations. Plotting of scatter diagrams, line of best fit, correlation and interpretation of scatter diagrams. Know names of regular polygons with up to 10 sides. Polygon formula for ext angle of regular polygon and sum of interior angles formula. Construction of pie charts. Enlargements. Probability.
Common Entrance (Level 3)
In addition to above: Pythagoras' Theorem. Solve more difficult equations. Inequalities. Solve quadratics by trial and improvement. Volume of prisms and cones. Find areas of composite shapes. Solving simultaneous equations by algebraic and graphical means. Sequences and n'th terms.
8C Maths would have completed most CE topics in Year 7. These boys will be prepared for their scholarship exams in either the Lent or Summer terms. It is hoped that they will have completed their programme of study by the end of Year 7. This allows the time in Year 8 to be used to familiarise the boys with the style and content of scholarship Maths problems. The boys are exposed to this wide variety of styles of papers in the Michaelmas term before focusing more closely on their future school's past papers in the final run-up to their scholarship.
Science
Reproduction, Respiration, Heating and cooling, Reactions of metals, Patterns of reactivity, Energy and electricity, Using chemistry, Environmental chemistry, Plants and photosynthesis, Plants for food, Fit and healthy, Ecological relationships, Inheritance and selection, Pressure and moments, Revision of Topics from Year 6, 7 and 8, Investigating Questions and Graph work, Past Papers.
8C Science Reproduction, Respiration, Using chemistry, Environmental chemistry, Ecological relationships, Inheritance and selection, Scholarship questions and practice papers
French
French (Level 2)
In Year 8 pupils revise the Common Entrance and Scholarship syllabuses. CE grammar includes the present tense of common irregular verbs, the Past tense of regular, irregular and reflexive verbs, the basic introduction to the imperfect and future tenses, sentence building, question asking and answering. Topic areas include CE topics House and Home, School Life, Personal Description and Free Time and Holiday Activities amongst others.
8C French: The boys revise the present (including all irregular verbs), the perfect, imperfect, conditional and both the future and imperative tenses. They also study ‘si’ clauses, direct and indirect object pronouns, negation, the pronouns ‘y’ and ‘en’ and idiomatic expressions with être, aller, avoir and faire. The boys also have considerable exposure to French current affairs, translation work, CAS, scholarship, GCSE papers as well as some A level grammar work and the extensive scholarship vocabulary list.
Latin
The bases of the Level II (see Year 7) and Level III syllabi, including 5th noun declension, relative pronouns, idem, ipse, all passive tenses, present and perfect participles, the imperfect subjunctive, time, place, cardinals 21-100, further manipulation of language. Constructions: purpose clauses, indirect commands, 330-390 words of vocabulary.
8C Latin All further constructions (including indirect statements/questions, result clauses, verbs of fearing, simple conditional clauses, subordinate clauses), prose composition (optional), considerable exposure to scholarship, GCSE and some AS Latin papers, extensive scholarship vocabulary list.
History
The boys taking Common Entrance study several aspects of the history of Britain between 1750 and 1900, focusing on the political, social and economic ramifications of the Industrial revolution. Amongst the most important of these topics are agriculture, transport, slavery, the 1832 Reform Act and the Chartist movement. Year 8 scholars cover some of these topics in a more analytical way but also study the role of Great individuals in history, why wars and revolutions begin and why we study
history. Following the completion of exams all year 8 boys embark on a project entitled 'experiences of war' which includes a trip to the First World War battlefields at the Somme.
Geography
8C Geography
Divinity
In Year 8 pupils revise the Common Entrance and Scholarship syllabuses. Regular written exercises take place both for preps and under exam conditions in class in which past exam questions are attempted.
Greek (8C only)
Contracted verbs, more 3rd declension adjectives, all participles (active and passive), further use of pronouns (relative, reflexive, interrogative, indefinite, demonstrative), genitive absolutes, indirect speech (statements/questions), final clauses, result clauses, basic introduction of subjunctive/optative moods, considerable exposure to scholarship and GCSE Greek papers, extensive scholarship vocabulary list.