Life in the Prep Department

'The school offers a breadth of opportunity in academic, creative, physical, technological and cultural activities. The balanced curriculum promotes good attainment, progress and behaviour for all pupils' - ISI

'Numerous educational outings enhance the curriculum, including those to theatres, museums, science parks and adventure centres' - ISI

We believe that Bilton Grange offers an exceptionally wide range of subjects, sports and activities and we are proud of the balanced working week that the children are exposed to. Whilst academic excellence is of paramount importance, Bilton Grange is not academically selective and so we are happy to respond to a wide range of abilities in most year groups. We "set" the children by ability in Maths from year 3 or year 4, according to the needs of the children, and there is further setting by ability in English, Science and languages as the children proceed to the senior end of the school. This is a system that enables us to focus on individual children’s strengths and weaknesses and is something that works very well at Bilton Grange. Children are prepared for Common Entrance and Scholarship exams and other entrance exams as required by senior schools.

One of the many strengths of Bilton Grange is its ability to offer children opportunities in Design Technology, Art, Music and Drama that a smaller school might not be able to do. Computer Technology is used right across the range of subjects and every classroom at Bilton Grange, in both halves of the school, is fully equipped with interactive whiteboards, projector and computer. We wish the children to acquire important life skills of organisation, attention to detail, patience and team work and we are also committed to encouraging creativity and imagination. Music forms a very important part of school life and a high proportion of children learns at least one musical instrument and there is an impressive array of ensembles, including choirs and bands. Similarly, children have many opportunities to perform in drama and this is considered to be a real strength of the all round curriculum.

The importance of fresh air and healthy exercise means that games and sporting activities of all kinds play a daily part in the lives of children at Bilton Grange. Team membership is considered an essential part of childhood and we are fortunate in the splendid facilities that we can offer children together with high quality coaching. Our facilities include extensive grounds, a large indoor sports centre with two squash courts as well as a modern, 25 metre, indoor swimming pool. There is an extensive, all weather surface which accommodates hockey and netball in winter and eight tennis courts in summer. The range of sports on offer to the children is extensive and includes rugby, netball, hockey, rounders and cricket as the major games and children also have opportunities to take part in swimming, tennis, athletics, soccer, cross country running, squash, riding, polo, badminton, table tennis and snooker. There is also a very popular nine-hole golf course in the school grounds and an indoor rifle range. Clay pigeon shooting is available in the summer months just to add to the list!

One must not underestimate the importance of the outward bound nature of our regular weekend trips to the hills or our popular summer holiday trip to Ru'a Fiola, a group of islands off the north-west coast of Scotland. We are ambitious in the range of holiday trips that we organise and recent examples include a sports tour to Sri Lanka, classics tours to Italy and Chapel Choir tours to New York and Paris. This summer the cricket and rounders teams are heading to Barbados to play various fixtures there.

Senior school Headmasters often comment that Bilton Grange children adapt particularly well to the challenges of their new senior schools. We believe that this is because they have unique opportunities at Bilton Grange to grow in confidence and independence, developing into well rounded and interesting young people. Our senior boys and girls are articulate, well informed, sensible and good fun and leave us fully prepared to meet with enthusiasm the new challenges that lie ahead.