We are now fully coeducational for boys and girls from 2 1/2 to 11 years old.  For the first time in our 75 year history boys are able to stay on from 7 to 11 years old.

There are a number of ways that we have further enhanced our excellent all-round education to accommodate boys from Year 3 upwards, and these include the following:

New Activities

With the exciting change to coeducation in our Upper School (7-11 year olds) at Oaklands, we have a number of new activities.

PE & Games
All pupils in the Upper School join Normanhurst Pupils for a weekly visit to the Peter May Sports Centre where they have access to indoor and outdoor sports facilities throughout the year. In addition boys continue to learn to play football and we have introduced tag rugby, basketball and cricket. Boys and girls join together for hockey, athletics, cross country, swimming, gymnastics and fitness training and girls will continue to play netball and rounders.

We combine with Normanhurst School for some of the sports to enter joint teams in local tournaments for sports such as football, netball and athletics.

Music
Drum and bass guitar tuition is available in addition to the musical instruments already available, which include recorder, flute, clarinet, violin, cello, double bass, guitar and piano. All Upper School pupils have the opportunity to join our thriving choir and orchestra. We have recently established a group called Boys Noise - to encourage boys to take part in singing and choral performances.

Clubs
New clubs for Upper School boys are Chess, Design Technology, Explorers and Cricket. The Explorers club use the school grounds to explore nature, camp craft and photography. The ever popular Football Club continues to run twice a week.

Curriculum Changes

• We have extended our classroom resources to enthuse older boys.
• Our reading schemes and resources have been updated to include boy-specific materials.
• Design Technology curriculum has changed to include more practical tasks.
• PSHE schemes of work now includes issues that relate directly to boys.
• There are more outward bound trips available in Years 3-6, such as trips to outdoor centres.

Breakfast, Homework and Tea Time Clubs

Another new club introduced this year is Homework Club which is available after school for pupils in Years 2-6 until 4.15pm. This is in addition to our Tea Time Club which is  extended to 6pm.  Our popular Breakfast Club will continue as usual.