Description
Dame Catherine Harpur's School is Independent Primary school in Derbyshire for kids aged 3 to 11 (Gender - Mixed )
They are a small independent school and nursery offering affordable education with a child-centred and stress-free approach. They believe that every child should have a positive learning experience and so encourage parents to work in partnership with them to develop what works best for them – whether that’s by taking advantage of the unique offer of part time attendance models (flexi-schooling or home-school sessions) or by contributing to the engaging, creative curriculum full-time in school. The school ethos extends to the nursery setting providing a safe and nourishing early years environment.
Facilities
Pre School and Nursery
The nursery group, part of pre-school provision, is set within the school and caters for a small group of around eight children, aged 3–4 years. This group is known as squirrels.It provides a caring, warm and friendly environment in which the children feel safe, secure, confident and happy. This encourages all-round development at each child’s own pace.Children learn through carefully structured play, covering a wide variety of experiences in line with national guidelines for learning in the Early Years. They make their own choices and decisions through the provision of free playtimes, and we also encourage children to work in small-group and whole-group activities, promoting language development and interaction with others.
Curriculum
At Dame Catherine’s they have developed the own curriculum. They listen to ideas suggested by the children and families in developing the curriculum, ensuring that they provide engaging activities which capture the interest of our children. For example by asking the children what knowledge, understanding and skills they already have around a theme or question, asking for their ideas about what they would like to learn and asking for ways in which parents might support, they can build on prior learning, share strengths and develop a real sense of ownership for the children.
Features
Things to note
The facilities include 4 teaching rooms, incorporating our library and resource area and a music / activity room, cloakrooms, an office and kitchen as well as the nursery area. They make full use of the adjacent village hall for PE, which also supports us in offering a variety of extra-curricular activities and after school sessions, whether this be music lessons, multi-sports, dance or cooking. They are always responding to needs and new ideas.
As well as a spacious playground, there is also a large garden, incorporating wildlife areas, gardening plots, a muddy kitchen as well as brand new play equipment funded from a lottery grant. The garden and wider surroundings are used on a daily basis, not only in the forest school sessions, but also to promote learning, from history and art to science – outdoor learning is a speciality of the at Dame Catherine’s.
Extra Curricular
Please check the school website link for details.
3.96 miles
