Year 7 & 8 Curriculum
A BESPOKE JOURNEY
Year 7 & 8 (age 11-13) is a significant new stage in the Monkton education journey
They have the best of both worlds! They are free from the pressure of growing up too quickly, but have huge opportunities for development through our leadership, electives and excellence programmes, alongside rigorous and inspiring academic teaching that focuses on preparation for the next stages of education. A significant number of pupils join us at this point, and the transition from Monkton Prep to Senior is seamless.
Pupils regularly visit Monkton Senior for events, sports fixtures and our Heads of Sport oversee their development from Year 5 upwards. The vast majority of our pupils head to Monkton Senior, which blends new and exciting opportunities with the familiarity of friends and staff, so the change is exciting rather than overwhelming. Our teachers work closely with Monkton Senior to ensure the curriculum flows smoothly from Year 8 to Year 9 and beyond, and pupils are fully prepared for their next steps. Our senior school teaching staff see elevated maturity, confidence and willingness to extend themselves in pupils who have come through our Year 7 & 8 programme.
EXCELLENCE
Intentionally developing high performance
The Excellence Programme is part of Monkton’s whole-school approach to developing talent and passion, providing those already on our scholarship programme and aspiring scholars with enrichment and extension, as they prepare for Monkton Senior and the opportunity to apply for scholarships in Year 9 and beyond.
Year 7s & 8s can apply to join one of the excellence strands: Academic; Art & Design; Performing Arts; including Music; Drama and Dance; Sport & Monktonian (growing excellence in leadership). Each strand offers bespoke development sessions and fully-funded trips to inspire and stretch, from acting workshops led by a West End actor to visits to Oxford University, Bath Rugby and many more.
ELECTIVES
Choice & Possibility in Learning
This is one of the highlights of the Year 7-8 curriculum. Continuing our commitment to pupil choice and ownership of their learning, each pupil has two lessons per week in a choice of subjects as diverse as:
- Copyright & Marketing
- Theology
- Mechanical Engineering
- Pre-Senior Project Qualification
- Coaching
- Dance
- Computer Engineering
- Classics
- Philosophy
- Politics
They could be building a desktop computer, discovering how four-stroke engines work, creating a dance performance to take to the Great Big Dance Off National competition or choosing and pursuing their own research project. 80% of our pupils put this in their top three subjects and it is easy to see why.
LEADERSHIP
Growing Future Leaders Today
Leadership development is something Monkton sees as a vital key to future success and we see it as a process.
In Year 6 we begin teaching the foundational skills of leadership.
Year 7s have the chance to mentor younger pupils and help in running the library.
In Year 8 we appoint different teams based around various areas of the school - prefects, wild monkton, tech team, mentoring, sports, music and drama captains, house captains and boarding in Hatton.
Each team is supported by a senior leader in the school, and we provide training and support to help them grow as leaders over the year. This journey in leadership continues at Monkton Senior in a variety of ways.
TECHNOLOGY
Amazing tool - terrible master!
We fully grasp the delicate balance between allowing our pupils to focus on life in the real world, enjoying their childhood and preparing them to be masters of today's technology (rather than its slaves).
We therefore develop use of technology at an age-appropriate pace. During the school day phones are not permitted, giving our pupils space and time to build friendships in real time, and preventing them becoming sucked into scrolling, at least while they are at school. This is continued at our senior school to enable our pupils to build strong neural pathways that do not rely on social media.
We want to focus on how technology can enhance the teaching and learning experience of our pupils, ensuring that everybody leaves the school digitally confident and equipped for senior school and beyond. As part of this programme, each of our Year 8 pupils are provided with a Chromebook which they bring to lessons, for a termly rental charge. Controlled by the school, there are strict limits on apps and programmes, giving parents peace of mind. As the Google Suite expands, so do the learning opportunities and the ways we can enhance the children’s academic lives.
The Chromebook is a slim laptop which runs the Google Chrome operating system, including Google Drive, Google Documents and much more.
