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. Through our values of Equity and Respect for all, and Service Engagement of all, we seek to encourage creativity, compassion and open-mindedness, resilience and integrity, a collaborative outlook and an appreciation of how we all benefit from living in a diverse and inclusive society. 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.
Independent School of the Year 2022 for Contribution to Social Mobility
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 Free Learning, both within lessons, where teachers take every opportunity to teach beyond the curriculum, and have a number of tailor-made days off timetable in subjects such as Art, Science, Design and Technology and Maths, to enhance pupils’ learning experience. We take advantage of our unique position in London to take Lower School pupils on outings to local historical and cultural sites, as well as theatre trips in the West End. We also run a weekly Lower School Scholars’ Programme, open to all pupils in the Lower School, which covers 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. Pupils are also encouraged to enter national competitions, including the Junior Maths Challenge, the Trinity Schools Book Shadowing Awards, the STEM Challenge and the BEBRAS Programming Challenge.
When pupils 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 80 or so new pupils who join the College with the 55 who come up from our Junior School; • place the pupils into one of six Forms, each made up of approximately 20-22 pupils; • ensure that pupils 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 pupils 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 pupils are in the Lower School. This gives them time to get to know their Form Tutor and other members of their Form. Pupils 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 in their first term. 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 pupils study and is very much reflective of the 21st century.
“The highlight of my first year was Wales – it was brilliant. I made lots of new friends and had great fun whilst caving.”
Clubs, Societies and Co-curricular activities
Charity and Service
These are important for developing friendships, discovering new lifelong interests, 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, many of them established by pupils, that boys could choose from during a typical Michaelmas term: Maths Extension Chess
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, all pupils are encouraged to run events to raise money for a wide range of causes and get involved in charitable activities. For the past two years, we have supported The Ugandan Schools Project (TUSP) where our charity reps have also had a chance to do a cultural exchange with pupils in Uganda. Charity events have included penalty shoot outs, watching live World Cup matches, a sponsored ‘no homework’ day, and many more creative ideas which raise funds and get large numbers of boys involved. We also have a day each year which is wholly dedicated to service which involves all Senior School pupils helping in the community such as clearing areas of local parks, litter picking or volunteering in primary schools. Service and empathy are an important part of our ethos and it is very pleasing to see pupils so willing to think about charitable giving and how they can best serve their wider community with such maturity.
House system
Ties
Programming Board Games Concert Choir Aviation Society Warhammer Club Knit Soc Dungeons and Dragons Rugby kickers Beginners’ Arabic Geo Explorers Lower School History Society Lower School Scholars Young Entrepreneurs Society Debating
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 pupils (there are 89 different ties!) and they are worn with pride.
Swimming Water Polo Classics and Comparative Mythology Fencing Badminton Table Tennis Basketball Cycling Pottery Wordsmiths Creative Writing VR and 3D Printing Club
“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.”
Creative Arts
Sport
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.
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
Co-educational opportunities
We use our links with local girls’ schools such as James Allen’s Girls’ School and Sydenham High to organise bespoke co-educational activities where boys and girls work together on a given project in small, mixed teams. In the Lower School, we run scientific and creative workshops with JAGS as part of our Free Learning programme. Further up the school there are also co-educational opportunities in the Combined Cadet Force (CCF), Drama, Music and via fully integrated Liberal Studies courses in the Upper School.
“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. 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.
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 professionals 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
The Lower School Library From Summer 2024, the new Lower School Library and Robotics Centre will be open for use, housing some 8000 books and featuring state of the art technological spaces for Informatics on the top floor. This building was designed with contributions from Lower School pupils and has been built to Net Zero specifications. It will be a wonderful space for reading, academic study and all other activities supported by our fantastic team of librarians. Right next to the playground, the Library is at the very heart of the Lower School and will be integral to our pupils’ lives at the College.
DULWICH COLLEGE Dulwich Common, London, SE21 7LD Telephone: 020 8299 9283 Email: cookefa@dulwich.org.uk Web: www.dulwich.org.uk Registered Charity No 1150064
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