Independent Schools March 2019

Thursday, March 21, 2019

Newbury Weekly News

Thorngrove School

THORNGROVE School is a thriving co-educational day preparatory school for children aged two-and-a-half to 13 years old. Founded in 1988, the school is situated in the village of Highclere, just four miles south of Newbury. It is set in 25 acres of Hampshire countryside and includes its own woodland. At Thorngrove, the children’s natural curiosity is encouraged, teaching in a practical way and allowing them to develop and nurture their sense of wonder and enthusiasm for STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths), both inside and outside of the classroom. A sound and thorough knowledge of the world of science is crucial in helping our children understand their life and responsibilities in the 21st century as well as the world’s future prosperity. Through building up a body of key foundational knowledge and concepts, pupils begin to develop how science can be used to explain what is occurring, predict how things will behave and to analyse causes. They are able to develop these skills further in the oversub- scribed weekly Science Club where they gain hands on experience of explosions, slime and ‘potions’ that they crave. ICT and computing is very excit- ing for students at Thorngrove. A new curriculum focused on project-based learning and real life ICT and computing applica- tion is proving to be engaging and enjoyable and pupil progress is taking huge leaps forward.

technology and engineering. Enabling pupils to enjoy and be curious about maths helps them to think analytically and have better reasoning ability. This is important for their future as it helps them to solve problems and look for solutions in a diverse environment. There are strong links with the science department and there is cross-curricular work completed. Maths and science days build links and show how the subjects strategies and interactive games such as Kahoot – pupils race one another to beat the clock. The use of maths games creates a sense of enjoyment and curiosity about the subject, such as building and strengthening mental and tables ability using the DoodleMaths and TTRockstars programmes. Pupils also take part in maths competitions such as Quiz Club, the Dauntsey’s Dodecahedron and the school is a member of the United Kingdom Mathematics Trust, participating in their challenges. The school invites you to come and visit to find out how a Thorngrove education could benefit your child. The next Open Morning is Satur- day, May 18, from 10am to noon. To book a place or to arrange an appointment on a day that suits you, please contact the registrar, Bev O’Brien, by emailing bobrien@thorngroveschool.co.uk or phone the school office on (01635) 253172. are interdependent. The department uses various

memes to help remind the whole school of ways to protect themselves online. Design and technology is taught in a separate and well-resourced D&T centre. The pupils are able to discover the different stages of the design process and the various tools (including bandsaws, pillar drills and circular saws), materi- als and techniques to turn their dreams and ideas into reality. There is hardly anything more fulfilling for a pupil than to produce a quality item with their own imagination and their own hands: a rewarding tangible

programming and marketing their own computer games and using HTML code to create their own websites. There is some wonderful logical thinking, debugging and prob- lem solving happening across the computing curriculum. There is a strong focus on Digital Citizenship and staying safe online, which arguably is the most important learning for modern pupils. This year some of the older pupils ran workshops for the younger pupils teaching them the key E-safety guidelines. Together they produced leaflets and

three-dimensional proof of their ability. Tools are introduced carefully and every pupil has a chance to practise before embarking on the use of expensive materials for their main projects. Recent projects have included slotted toys, acrylic clocks and maze games. The maths department at Thorngrove endeavours to foster a love of mathematics and a strong desire to learn more about the subject. It is important for pupils to realise that mathematics is essential and critical to science,

In ICT some of the pupils recently created spreadsheets and graphs about world weather. They then used their data to write a weather report and read it out in front of a green screen, making it look like they were in a professional news studio. Other children are using digital cameras to capture pictures of things they consider beautiful around the school site, some of which they will Photoshop. They will use the images to create an impactful presentation about real and fake beauty. In computing, children are programming robots,

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The Mount, Highclere, Newbury, RG20 9PS, UK | Tel: +44 (0) 1635 253172