In Junior House, phonics is taught from Nursery to Form II following the Read Write Inc. synthetic phonics scheme. This enables pupils to read the 44 sounds of the English language fluently and quickly. They are taught these sounds and gradually begin to read colour coded books to ensure steady progression and also develop their comprehension and writing skills in differentiated groups. Apart from the Read Write Inc scheme for language and literacy, pupils also read books from other reading schemes including the Oxford Reading Tree and Big Cat series. Spellings are taught and tested weekly, and pupils’ writing is enriched by the ideas of Ros Wilson, amongst others. Pupils are set termly writing targets based on a criterion scale linked to the National Curriculum Writing Levels. Pupils read daily in a group, to a teacher or teaching assistant until they have achieved fluency. They also choose books weekly from the Junior House Library. The annual Junior House Production and professional drama workshops develop pupils’ skills in this area.

In Senior House, pupils continue to read regularly, both with their teacher in a weekly class reading lesson or independently. They are also furnished with reading lists from which they choose texts from both the Class and Senior House Libraries. Pupils follow the Read Write Inc. spelling scheme for the new curriculum until Year VI when they concentrate on spellings involving similar prefixes or suffixes. Weekly writing lessons are preceded by fast-paced oracy lessons, involving improving pupils’ vocabulary, their use of conjunctions, varying sentence openers and using a wide range of punctuation. The English curriculum is based on the National Curriculum for English, where writing genres are explored, but is enhanced with regular grammar and comprehension skills lessons, backed up with homework activities. Pupils have the opportunity to take part in the annual Senior House Drama Production, visit the theatre every year and take part in a workshop production of a Shakespeare play performed by a professional “Theatre In Education” company.  Senior House pupils are encouraged to perform in the annual  Poetry Speaking competition. Pupils at Seaton House are prepared for 11+ entrance examinations in English and entry to a wide variety of Independent Schools from September to January in Form VI and for the S.A.Ts in May.

At Seaton House School our aim is to make mathematics fun, interactive, and practical. We make the most of weekly maths challenges to encourage participation and ensure our pupils are enthusiastic about achieving great results.

Mathematics is taught across Key Stage 1 and 2 and the school has its own programme of study based on the National Strategy for Mathematics, with some objectives taught to a year group from the year above. Work within lessons is differentiated according to the girls’ ability, with specialist Mathematics teachers providing lessons to Forms IV, V and VI.

Times Tables badges are awarded to girls from Form III upwards as they progress through their tables to mentally recall all the tables up to x12.

Girls begin preparing for the eleven plus exams towards the end of Form IV, with practice eleven plus papers given throughout Form V, as well as an 11+ summer revision course in the holidays before the exam.

Non-Verbal Reasoning is also taught as part of the Mathematics curriculum from Form IV onwards.

Seaton House participates in the Primary Maths Challenge and achieves great success with many candidates receiving Gold, Silver, or Bronze certificates.

Maths Enrichment Day is celebrated in school, whereby the younger girls work with the older girls carrying out problem solving and investigations. External companies are invited to provide mathematical workshops that help to further develop the girls’ enthusiasm for the subject.

Seaton House engages in community links with other local schools. In the past, Seaton House has hosted a Gifted and Talented Problem Solving Workshop with other schools in the Borough, as well as inviting other schools to join in with Maths Enrichment Days.

Seaton House subscribes to websites such as ‘Mymaths’ and ‘Timestables Rockstar’ which provides online tasks and games for all girls from Reception to Form VI, to use both at school and at home.  The older pupils also have access to the 11+ online programme, BOFA.

Overall Mathematics at Seaton House School aims to encourage the girls to question, develop investigative thinking, and apply their knowledge to real life problems.

At Seaton House, we have several aims in teaching Science. We want to prepare our girls for life in an increasingly scientific and technological world. We strive to teach Science in ways that are imaginative, purposeful, well managed and enjoyable. A priority is to foster concern about and actively care for our environment, helping our girls acquire a growing understanding of scientific ideas whilst developing and extending their scientific concept of their world.

In teaching Science, we hope to develop positive attitudes by building our girls’ natural curiosity and developing a scientific approach to problems by encouraging open-mindedness, self-assessment, perseverance and responsibility. By working independently, we hope to raise their self-confidence as well as developing their social skills to work cooperatively with others. We hope these experiences will inspire them to want to study Science further.

In teaching Science, we aim to develop skills by giving an understanding of scientific processes through acquiring practical scientific skills. Scientific skills we strive to extend are: observing, measuring, predicting, hypothesising, experimenting, communicating, interpreting, explaining and evaluating. Along with these, we also aim to develop the use of scientific language and recording, using ICT to do this wherever possible.

Science at Seaton House is a wonderful opportunity to create girls who are confident, self-motivated and with a curiosity to learn more about the world around them.

Music is a powerful, unique form of communication that can change the way pupils think, feel and act. It is a subject where children of all abilities can participate and enjoy the success of their work. At Seaton House we aim to provide opportunities for all our pupils to build their self esteem and confidence through regular musical performances throughout the year. We develop pupils’ abilities to make informed critical responses to their own work and that of others, using an appropriate musical vocabulary. Pupils learn to read conventional musical notation as they play the ocarina in Junior House and the recorder and keyboards in Senior House. They also learn about the musical elements and are encouraged to value the contribution made to the world by musicians and composers from other cultures and times.

Music is a foundation subject and appears in the “Creative Development” aspect of the Early Years Foundation Stage. From Form I, Seaton House bases its Music curriculum on the QCA scheme of work to ensure balance and maintain progression. Singing features in musical performances involving pupils of all ages throughout the school including the Christmas Production showcasing Nursery and Reception classes. Other musical events throughout the year include; Harvest Celebrations, Form Assemblies, the annual Junior House Production, Speech Day performances, individual and group performances at the annual Spring Concert and an exciting end of year Senior House Production. Most importantly of all, our pupils really enjoy music at Seaton House!

At Seaton House, every girl from Reception to Form VI is taught French because we believe that it gives our girls a good opportunity to acquire language learning skills from the earliest schooling age and learn about a different culture.

During the introductory stage in Junior House, the language is taught orally through songs, stories and games, with the emphasis being very much on fun-based activities. The Reception children learn topics such as numbers, colours, greetings, animals and food and drinks. In Form I we use the Jolie Ronde Scheme of Work along with a fun workbook to support the learning.

The Rising Stars Euro Stars French Scheme is introduced in Form II which carries on through to Forms III, IV and V.  The work is based around topics and includes French phonics, grammar and more complex phrases.  The girls also produce role-plays and scenes acted out in French.

Form VI follow the Allez scheme introducing them to more complex grammar, verbs and using the present and past tenses.  The girls have the opportunity to practice speaking, listening, reading and writing so that they are well prepared  for the next stage of their language learning at secondary school.

All the girls are encouraged to communicate in French during the lessons and the assessment of their oral performance is on-going along with a termly informal written or reading assessment in Senior House.

Merci d’avoir pris le temps de lire ceci. Bonne Journee.

Physical Education is unique in that it supports and enhances the rest of the school curriculum. At Seaton House we provide high quality PE and through encouragement and support we develop our pupils’ skills and talents. Students get introduced, taught and coached gradually into the major invasion games such as netball, football, tag rugby, handball, basketball and hockey.  Striking and fielding games are all covered in the PE curriculum along with tennis, badminton, swimming, athletics and outdoor adventurous activities such as orienteering. The girls also enjoy gymnastics and dance.  In these subjects the students learn to perform with increasing competence and also learn how to apply their skills and creative, compositional ideas.

We try to inspire and enrich our pupils by arranging trips to sporting events and workshops.  We also provide opportunities to take part in challenging and exciting activities including a full programme of inter-school matches and tournaments, swimming championships and inter-house competitions. Our five day outdoor residential activity week, for Forms V and VI is considered by the pupils to be one of the highlights of their time at Seaton House.

Through these opportunities our pupils learn to develop positive attitudes such as perseverance, self confidence, co-operation, respect for each other, rules and conventions and the ability to compete fairly. They learn to make informed choices about a healthy and active lifestyle and develop a love of physical activity so that it continues into adult life.

History lessons at Seaton House develop children’s love of history and develop a sense of identity through learning about the evolution of Britain, Europe and the world. Children also become acquainted with what is involved in understanding and interpreting the past.

Pupils at Seaton House first encounter historical concepts in the Foundation Stage, where history is not taught as a discrete subject, but is integrated across the Early Learning Goals. Children are encouraged to differentiate between past and present by finding out about their own lives and the lives of those around them.

In Key Stage 1, history is about the lives and lifestyles of famous people in the recent and more distant past, including those from British history. Being able to place events in chronological order, use common phrases relating to the passing of time, identify differences between ways of life at different times.  The girls will find out about the past from a range of sources and start their journey into more complex thinking ready for Key Stage 2.

In Key Stage 2, pupils study a number of significant periods in British history, starting with the Stone Age to Bronze, taking a stop during the Roman conquest of Britain moving along towards the Second World War. They will also have the opportunity to investigate other world civilisations, such as Ancient Greeks, The Romans, the Vikings and the Maya. As well as building on the skills acquired in Key Stage 1, pupils learn to recognise that the past is represented in different ways and begin to think about historical bias.  They look at historical events, the reasons behind such events and what impact and changes they have had on the passage of history.  Building links between different periods and societies studied, subsequently noticing the changes that have happened repeatedly throughout history.

Wherever possible links are made between the pupils’ studies in history and other subjects. For example Computing, Videoing and Editing alongside Music and Art may all link with the periods being studied at various times and all subject teachers take care to draw pupils’ attention to these links, fostering their interest in historical concepts. Pupils’ gain further insight into the lives of those who used to live in Britain through visits to museums and homes of significant historical figures.

Geography is concerned with the study of places, the human and physical processes which shape them and the people who live in them.

Pupils at Seaton House first encounter geographical concepts in the Foundation Stage, where geography is not taught as a discrete subject, but is integrated across the Early Learning Goals. Children have access to a wide range of resources and activities, including play mats and maps, stories and observation of their environment. These help them to develop the geographical skills that they will need in Key Stage 1.

Geography in Key Stage 1 is taught by form teachers through topics such as Weather, Our Local Area, the Seaside and so on. In Key Stage 2 it is taught by the geography teacher as a discrete subject. Many aspects of geography are covered including how landscapes are shaped, the features of desert, polar and tropical climates, a study of a less economically developed country and the problems of global pollution. Throughout both key stages, pupils develop the skills needed for geographical inquiry, such as map-reading, alongside their learning about geographical concepts.

In geography teaching at Seaton House there is a strong emphasis on the environment and our responsibility to minimise our impact on it. Environmental problems are discussed, but pupils are always encouraged to think positively about how they as individuals can make a difference to the world around them.  Their interest in that world is fostered through a variety of means including day trips to places of environmental significance and residential trips.

The core of computing is Computer Science and at the heart of this lies computational thinking. The girls are taught how computer systems work as well as how they are designed and programmed. It is a practical subject, encouraging creativity and resourcefulness using the wide variety of ICT equipment in the school.  The girls become familiar with the use of Google, Apple and Microsoft products alongside starting their journey into coding for a variety of purposes.

Throughout the school, an emphasis is put on using technology safely, ensuring all our pupils know where to go should they have any concerns.

Whilst we broadly follow the National Curriculum for this subject, we like to go beyond what is recommended and give our girls a much more varied and interesting experience of these subjects. The girls will work within many different media experiencing both 3D as well as 2D. Work is offered up for competitions and exhibitions as they arise and both subjects are highly regarded as part of a rounded educational experience. Both the girls and their parents enjoy seeing their work on display around the school and visitors are always impressed with the high standard of imaginative and creative craftsmanship.

Religious Education at Seaton House follows Government advice that it should “reflect the fact that the religious traditions in Great Britain are in the main Christian, while taking account of the teaching and practices of the other principal religions represented in Great Britain.” Girls at Seaton House come from a variety of religious backgrounds or none. In teaching girls about both Christianity and all the other major world religions which they are likely to come into contact with, we aim to promote religious understanding, tolerance and community cohesion.

In Key Stage 2 girls learn basic facts about each religion studied, such as how and when it was founded, terminology relating to beliefs and practices and the traditions of the religion are also covered. We also discuss in as much depth as is appropriate for the age of the pupils, the beliefs of each religion. They have many opportunities to ask questions and expressing their own opinions is encouraged, although always in a way that respects the varied beliefs of those around them. Religious Studies is followed for half of each school year during Key Stage 2 and one or two religions at most are studied per year group.

Discussion is a large part of the teaching of Religious Studies at Seaton House, but girls also frequently complete written work ranging from simply answering questions about religions studied to sometimes completing independent research on an aspect of the religion in question such as celebrating festivals or places of worship. From time to time girls may visit places of worship or a Form Group may have a visit from a follower of the religion they are studying.

Personal, Social and Health Education is studied by every year group from Reception to Form VI and covers many aspects of ‘life’ and is appropriately age related to each Form. Topics include friendships to bullying, diet, healthy eating to drugs and alcohol, protection against the sun, road safety awareness and personal safety when out and about. School examinations and moving on to senior school are topics which produce lively conversation and a sharing of information and ‘tips’ on how best to cope. Discussion and debate are encouraged with the girls learning both the art of speaking, forming constructive arguments as well as cultivating patience and the skill of listening to others with equally valid and often opposite points of view.

Our School Forum is made up of representatives from each Form and they meet regularly to discuss ways of implementing new initiatives and improving facilities in school. The Minutes of their meetings are written and then circulated to all girls and members of staff. Similarly the running of our country is discussed with opinions aired on the Government of the day and how they are implementing changes and making decisions on our behalf.

Every child has access to the school portal enabling them to enjoy a variety of mindfulness and wellbeing activities. This includes bespoke yoga sessions for each year group.

Verbal Reasoning is essentially code making and breaking using mathematics and language.  By teaching this as part of the curriculum, we help the girls become inquisitive problem solvers; gaining skills which will aid them in multiple disciplines.  They are introduced to the subject in Form IV and continue through into Form VI where they can use these skills specifically when making applications to numerous independent senior schools.