Pre-Preparatory Department. Reception and Key stage 1.

Pre-Prep Department (4 to 7+ years)
Hilden Oaks is co-educational up to the age of seven with parallel classes, which are not streamed in any way. The Pre-Prep Department comprises Reception and Years 1 and 2. Here, children are starting full-time school life and build the foundations for success as they progress.

Reception
In the Pre-Prep Department, the Foundation Stage continues in Reception. This prepares the children for Key Stage One of the National Curriculum which follows in Years 1 and 2. The Reception children start school full-time and are gradually introduced to a structured day.

The Foundation Stage curriculum is organised into six areas of learning: - Personal, social and emotional development - Communication, language and literacy - Mathematical development - Knowledge and understanding of the world - Physical development - Creative development These early learning goals have 'stepping stones' of progress to guide the children at their own pace. The goals are in line with the objectives in the framework for teaching literacy and maths so that the children have a solid foundation for progression to Year 1

Key Stage 1

In Key Stage 1 of the Pre-Prep Department, the friendly but disciplined environment enables the children to develop reading, writing and number skills in a practical, visual yet formal manner. The importance of presentation of work is emphasised so that it becomes a natural way of working. Emphasis is on individual tuition, and the forms are kept small to achieve this objective. All children are encouraged to discipline themselves to work independently.

Everyone is taught to read fluently. Basic sentence construction is emphasised so that this can progress into story writing. The four rules of number, investigatory maths and multiplication tables are included in the syllabus. Science, art, music, physical education, computing and drama are taught both by the form teachers and by additional specialist staff.

The children's experiences are widened throughout the school year in many ways. These include educational visits, visitors to school and special activities within school such as Art Day, Science Day and Book Week.