Brambletye teaches a broad curriculum leading ultimately to the Common Entrance or academic scholarship examinations at 13+. In the pre-prep and junior parts of the school National Curriculum guidelines are followed although the aim is always to extend the pupils as far as possible academically. French is taught from Year 2 onwards and all pre-prep children are taught Games and Music by specialist subject staff. All children begin Latin in Year 5.
Pupils are mostly ‘class taught’ by a single teacher up to the end of Year 4 and taught by specialist subject teachers after that. From Year 5 onwards pupils are ‘streamed’ according to ability. The top set in each year group is then ‘accelerated’ with the intention of completing the Common Entrance syllabus by the end of Year 7. The most able of these pupils will be sitting practice scholarship papers by the end of Year 7. For most pupils there are examinations twice a year, normally in November and June. All ‘top set’ pupils sit a special ‘General Paper’ which aims to examine thinking and inferential skills. Academic scholarships have recently been won at Eton, Sevenoaks and Winchester.*
A number of pupils are given additional help with their studies through specialist one to one tuition. This follows a recommendation from an Educational Psychologist and is provided by our Learning Development department. Language and curriculum support are also offered to a small number of overseas pupils. All pupils are assessed annually in English, Maths and Verbal Reasoning by means of objective assessment tests.
The curriculum is supported by a wide variety of extra-curricular activities. These include major school productions such as Shakespeare’s ‘The Tempest’ and the Rice-Lloyd Webber musical ‘The Likes Of Us’, regular musical performances by our orchestra and our three choirs, our annual exhibition of the pupils’ art work and a range of educational visits to places as diverse as the Natural History Museum, Hever Castle and Lullingstone Roman Villa. Members of staff have also recently organised an expedition to Kenya and a week in a French chateau used as an education centre during which all the instructions were in French!
Our broad curriculum and our versatile staff aim to deliver a wide variety of activities that contribute to the flourishing academic life at the school.
Library
The school has a fully equipped library consisting of some 2000 fiction titles as well as non-fiction arranged by subject and overseen by subject Heads of Department. This, together with Internet access, provides an excellent facility for project work and general research. The Times and Telegraph newspapers are available for children to read daily. A weekly general knowledge quiz is run for all children in the upper part of the school in the Autumn and Spring terms. The Library also has additional ICT facilities which allow it to be used as a fully fledged teaching area.
Reading List
Click here to download our Reading List