- Small class sizes ensure that teachers really get to know the pupils in their care, and can support their learning on a more individualised basis.
Year 7 Entry (Age 11+)
Year 7 entry is another point at which pupils may join Edge Grove, for the final two years at prep school in preparation for 13+ entry to senior schools. Year 7 and 8 at Edge Grove give our pupils a way to grow up and thrive in a close-knit, caring environment, where they are truly known. Academic rigour combines with pastoral care and opportunities for growth and leadership, ensuring that our Year 8 leavers move onto senior schools feeling confident, ready and full of excitement for the journey ahead.
Why join a prep school in Year 7?
At Edge Grove we believe that it is in Years 7 and 8 where a Prep school education really comes together. During these two years we prepare children for their senior school, teaching in small classes with more individual attention. We provide support to make up any knowledge shortfall in subjects such as languages; and prepare the children for pre-tests, exams and interview practice. Our Year 8 pupils achieve excellent results each year and a large proportion leave us with scholarships to their future schools.
Accelerated Academic Progress
Confidence and Maturity
Being the top of a prep school at age 12/13 as opposed to being the youngest members of the senior school community encourages maturity and independence, Being a ‘big fish in a smaller pond’ helps to further develop confidence and self-belief and the negates the feeling of needing to grow up too quickly
Year 7 and 8 pupils mature into well-rounded young people, more confident and socially aware, and better equipped at 13 to face the rigours and demands of senior schools, than they are at 11.
For a less self-assured child, remaining in the small and nurturing environment of a prep school for longer will help to build their confidence.
Years 7 and 8 offer the chance to grow up before the full impact of adolescence, two crucial years in which to live in a child’s world before being pulled into a world of young adults
Years 7 and 8 are when many children will face new challenges with regards to physical and emotional changes as a result of puberty. This journey can be made easier amongst friends and adults who you trust and who can devote time to guiding you through the challenges which you may face.
Leadership
During the last two years at prep school the pupils have the opportunity to take on roles of responsibility and leadership such as prefects, House captains or captain of sport. With the considerably larger size of senior schools in comparison, and being at the bottom of the ‘pecking order’, these opportunities are harder to come by.
Opportunity
Similar to the above, pupils at the top of the School have more opportunities for starring roles in productions, that in a senior school would usually go to older pupils.
Preserving Childhood
By educating our children in prep schools until they’re 13, we allow them to stay that bit younger for longer and secure without the influence of other teenagers.
When children move onto a senior school at age 11, part of their childhood ends; their role models become 18 year olds and their academic horizon is GCSE
Young people are under more pressure than perhaps ever before, so going through early years of puberty with the issues that this can involve, in a smaller and familiar environment can make this time easier and more enjoyable for children.
Family Connections
There is lots of focus on why prep schools are the best places for children in these last two years, but equally parents can benefit from them – parents do not have the same sense of belonging and involvement at senior schools – pupils themselves can make their parents less welcome in their lives, and senior school is something that is enjoyed (or otherwise) but pupils rather than by families – staying at prep school gives parents just that little bit longer to feel “part” of their child’s education
Year 7 Admissions Process
We will invite your child to spend a day with us in Year 6, following the form timetable so they are able to experience a breadth of subject across the day – and so they, and we, can assess if we are the right fit for each other.
We will assess in key subjects, to ensure that your child will be able to happily access our Year 7 curriculum – this may involve online or written tests, a creative writing exercise, or an interview with a member of the Senior Leadership Team.
We will also ask for copies of your child’s most recent school report, any test scores, and will request your permission to seek a confidential reference from their current school.
