Lower School Life 2022

Lower School Life 2022

The Lower School at Dulwich College

Introduction

I am delighted that we have been able to offer your son a place in the Lower School for this coming September. I hope that this booklet gives you a flavour of what life is like in the Lower School, and that it serves to confirm and enhance your experience of the College. We strive to deliver a demanding yet interesting curriculum, which gives pupils a chance to think deeply about the world that surrounds them. We help pupils to develop outside the classroom, encouraging them to partake fully in the wide variety of co-curricular activities on offer at the College. But most importantly, we make sure that every pupil feels safe, secure and supported, so that he can learn to the very best of his ability. As Head of the Lower School, it is my privilege to oversee the academic, pastoral and co-curricular experience of all of our pupils, to see them grow in confidence and to see them well- prepared for life further up in the College and beyond.

Helping Boys Settle

All boys study Religion and Theology; Geography; History; Wellbeing; Mathematics; English; Science; Music; Drama; ICT; Art and DT. In addition to these subjects, boys study three languages in Year 7 (Latin and Chinese in addition to either French or Spanish) but two languages in Year 8 (either Chinese or Latin or German in addition to either French or Spanish). These classes are all taught by subject specialists, who will teach pupils from Year 7 up to Year 13. They enthuse and inspire boys to think creatively and deeply about subjects that may be entirely new to them. We believe strongly in the concept of ‘Free Learning’, and actively encourage members of staff to teach beyond the textbook, to take boys out of the classroom, to show them that learning can take place at any moment in time and in any situation. We take advantage of our unique position in London to take Lower School pupils on outings to the Royal Observatory, Hampton Court Palace, Kew Gardens, Science Museum, Royal Academy, Dulwich Picture Gallery, Box Hill, Lullingstone Villa and the London Synagogue. We also run a weekly Lower School Scholars’ Programme, open to all pupils in the Lower School, which exposes boys to matters of ethical or philosophical interest. This popular programme helps develop boys’ thinking skills and is good preparation for the Academic Scholarship Paper which is sat by the top academic performers at the end of Year 8. Boys are also encouraged to enter national competitions, including the Junior Maths Challenge, the Linguistics Olympiad, Lego Mindstorms and the BEBRAS Programming Challenge.

When boys arrive in Year 7, we do all we can to make sure that they settle in quickly, forge strong friendships and enjoy being at their new school. To achieve this we:

“I appreciate being able to talk to lots of different people about how I’m feeling, my Form Teacher and my Head of Year - everyone is so friendly..”

• mix the 70 or so new boys who join the College with the 55 boys who come up from our Junior School; • place the pupils into one of six Forms, each made up of approximately 20-22 boys; • ensure that boys see their Form Tutor, Head of Year and me every day during their two years in the Lower School; • invite all new joiners to the College to a Welcome Evening in the summer before the long break so that boys can meet their new Form Tutor and some of their new classmates before the start of term; • hold an Induction Day on the day before the first day of term, when only Year 7 boys are in the Lower School. This gives the time to get to know their Form Tutor and other members of their form. Boys also take part in team-building activities where they are split into small groups, and compete against each other to solve both physical and mental challenges; • give every Form the experience of travelling to Wales for a full week of activities at the College’s Outdoor Centre in the Brecon Beacons. This trip helps develop self-confidence, perseverance and tenacity when faced with challenges – life skills that are just as important as the academic skills learned in the classroom.

Curriculum and Scholarship

We are not bound by an externally set curriculum in the Lower School and therefore we are free to deliver an intellectually stimulating yet accessible curriculum that sparks endeavour and interest in all the subjects that the boys study .

“  The highlight of my first year was Wales – it was brilliant. I made lots of new friends and had grest fun whilst caving.”

Clubs, Societies and Co-curricular activities

Charities

These are important for developing friendships, discovering new interests (often for life), building team and leadership skills as well as for maintaining the necessary balance with academic work in the classroom. • Opportunities in Drama, Music and Sport are many and varied (team and individual sports, orchestras, bands, choir groups, theatre productions) in addition to other activities run by either teachers or our Mentors from the Upper School. • Here is just a sample of some of the clubs and societies that boys could choose from during a typical Michaelmas Term:

It is a great privilege to be a member of the College community, but with this privilege comes the important responsibility of considering the wider community in which we live, both on a national and international scale. To this end, we encourage boys to run events to raise money for a wide range of charities and causes that are close to their hearts. Past events have ranged from Bake Off competitions, the Golden Patball Tournament, to sponsored races (completed whilst dressed as Harry Potter characters). We have supported national charities such as Save the Children, but also local charities in Southwark and environmental causes which the boys feel strongly about. Service and empathy are an important part of our ethos as a College and it is very pleasing to see boys so willing to think about charitable giving and how they can best serve their wider community with such maturity.

Debating Rugby kicking clinic Warhammer Young Entrepreneurs Dulwich Despatch Beginners’ Arabic Football Debating Society Theoretical Physics

Creative Writing Coding Board Games Concert Choir Aviation Society

Chess Swimming Water Polo Comparative Mythology Fencing Badminton Basketball

House system

Ties 

Each boy is allocated to one of eight Day Houses, becoming a member ‘for life’ under the guidance of their Housemaster. Brothers, sons and grandsons follow each other into the same House, a tradition which encourages a fierce but healthy loyalty. The House system also supports the pastoral care of the boys by ensuring that each of them identifies with a smaller ‘vertical’ community, made up of pupils from every Year group from Year 3 to Year 13, within the wider College community. There are inter-House competitions in numerous sporting and cultural activities including: Music, Art, Photography, Poetry Recitation, Art, Chess, Debating, General Knowledge, Drama, Cross Country, Athletics, Football, Hockey, Cricket, Rugby and Patball. Lower School House colours are awarded to a boy for an outstanding contribution to the House during his time in the Lower School.

The College colours are black and blue, and these are used on the standard College tie. Boys, however, can be awarded ties for contributions to activities, such as sport, music or drama, as well as being awarded a tie by the various societies in the College. Collecting a range of such ties is very popular with many boys (there are 89 different ties!) and they are worn with pride.

Law Society Eco Warriors Film Club

Cycling Pottery Woodwork

Geo Explorers Lower School Scholars’ Society

“One of my favourite things is the number of ties on offer; this allows boys to express themselves and show what they enjoy doing.”

Foundation Schools’ Coach Service

 While the College occupies beautiful historic buildings set in 70 acres of green, open space, we are only 12 minutes from Central London by train. Boys can also take advantage of the Foundation Schools’ Coach Service which provides a safe, convenient and environmentally friendly means of travel to and from school and also for children taking part in after school activities. A large number of routes are offered within Central, Greater and Outer London, and further details are available on our website: www.dulwich.org.uk/coaches

“What I like best is being in a school where I have teachers that I can talk to whenever I want.”

Co-educational opportunities

Creative Arts

We use our links with local girls’ schools such as JAGS and Sydenham High to provide bespoke co- educational activities where boys and girls work together on a given project and often make lifelong friendships along the way. In the Lower School, we run workshops together with JAGS as part of our Free Learning programme, and further up the school there are also co-educational opportunities in CCF, Drama, Music and via fully integrated Liberal Studies courses in the Upper School.

Creative thinking runs through the Dulwich DNA. Art at Dulwich College aims to develop the visual literacy of all pupils, to enliven the academic life of the College in ways that exist beyond the art studios. Drama is offered within the curriculum to the end of Year 9 and thereafter at GCSE and Advanced level. Our purpose-built theatre, sees some 50 or more theatrical events a year with Lower School boys seizing every opportunity to get involved in productions. Dance is also now embedded in Year 7 and 8 curriculum, led by our Dancer in Residence, where both taught choreography and boys’ own creative work are encouraged. The Music department follows a broad and comprehensive programme of musical experience with class lessons in Year 7 to 9 including a wide range of activity-based projects featuring both traditional musical study and skill-based training in score writing and sequencing using Sibelius 7, Garageband, and Logic Pro X.

“Devising, scripting, rehearsing and then

performing the plays over two days was hard work, but enormous fun. It was undoubtedly one of my highlights of year 7.” Year 8 pupil

The Campus

The Lower School is one of the five schools that make up the College. Many of the boys’ lessons take place in their Form Rooms in the dedicated Lower School building, though they move for lessons in specialist buildings for Art, Science, Design and Technology and Drama, all equipped with state of the art facilities. The fact that they do not have to navigate the entire College campus during their time in the Lower School helps them to settle in quickly. Nonetheless, the size and openness of the College and its grounds allows the boys to grow in independence and maturity as they progress to the Middle School and finally the Upper School. The Laboratory, where Lower School boys will enjoy their Science lessons, was the winner of the RIBA London Award 2017. Our iconic Grade II* listed Barry Buildings (1870) have been recently refurbished, and where Lower School boys can look forward to continuing to in Year 9.

Sport

All boys play Rugby, Football and Cricket in Year 7. All these sports run multiple teams (often A-E teams) and enjoy weekly fixtures against other competitive local schools. There is also the chance to become involved in Cross Country, Fencing, Table Tennis, Tennis, Squash, Badminton, Hockey, Swimming, Water Polo, Athletics, and even Track Cycling at the local Herne Hill velodrome.

“The arts define our culture our identity and our national conversation” Sir Peter Bazalgette OA

The Dulwich College Educational Experience

We provide a stimulating and stretching academic challenge inside the classroom, where boys nurture their intellectual curiosity and develop an intrinsic love of learning. We offer a broad range of co-curricular activities outside the classroom, and excellent pastoral care from people with the boys’ best interests at heart. This all takes place in a wonderfully diverse socio-economic and cultural community, adding up to an educational experience that is second to none. If you have any further questions about life at Dulwich, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Miss Fran Cooke Head of the Lower School

DULWICH COLLEGE Dulwich Common, London, SE21 7LD Telephone: 020 8299 9283 Email: [email protected] Web: www.dulwich.org.uk Registered Charity No 1150064