Welcome
60+
I hope this booklet gives you a flavour of what life is like in the Lower School, and that it serves to
150 Visiting Speakers to the College every year
Languages spoken at the College
confirm and enhance your experience of the College.
Through our values of purpose, joy and kindness, 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. If you have any further questions about life at Dulwich, please do not hesitate to contact me.
20+ Nationalities in the boarding community
70+
Clubs and Societies representing enthusiasm, innovation and diversity
22 Average class size
Fran Cooke Head of Lower School
19 Sports on offer in the Middle School
700+ Individual music lessons taught each week
Why Dulwich film: Pupils of all ages tell us what they love about their school
Pastoral Care and Wellbeing We are very proud of the pastoral care which we show all of the pupils who come to Dulwich, especially during the often daunting transition to Senior School. Form Tutor, Heads of Year, and the Head of School are instrumental here, as well as the librarian team, Housemasters and all of the teaching staff who put the boys’ wellbeing first. We run an Anti-Bullying week in the first term, led by Sixth Form prefects, which focuses on helping boys to continue to make new friendships, and also reassures pupils that any concerns can be raised, that they will be listened to and acted upon. We also have the Yelcho Room, a wellbeing space with trained staff members and open every breaktime and lunchtime, where pupils can drop in for a warm drink, play a game or just to chat. Our friendly Counselling Team is well-resourced and boys can self-refer if they feel like they are struggling. Finally, the Learning Support Hub is based in the Lower School, which is a welcoming space for all our pupils, and particularly those with neuro-diverse needs. All pupils will also get to know their Sixth Form Mentors, who meet with their classes once a week, and are a familiar and reassuring presence around the campus throughout their time in the Lower School. Wellbeing lessons in the Lower School focus on making friendships, celebrating character strengths, healthy living, healthy relationships, and safety within the online world of social media. Having these discussions in a single-sex environment is a powerful and meaningful process, where we can help boys to develop their emotional vocabulary in a safe place, and give them the tools to deal with the pressures of early adolescence. “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.”
Helping Pupils Settle 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: • 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.
“The highlight of my first year was Wales – it was brilliant. I made lots of new friends and had great fun whilst caving.”
Lower School Wales Trip film
Academic Life: Curriculum and Scholarship
We believe strongly in academic enrichment 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 Classics, 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.
and inspire boys to think creatively and deeply about subjects that may be entirely new to them. This year, 44% of GCSE grades achieved were at the highest level (Grade 9) and 91% of grades were Grade 7 and above. 63 pupils achieved all 9 or 8 grades. 31% of the A level exams sat by our pupils were awarded A* grades and 63% A*/A grades, with 80 pupils achieving all A or A* grades and 26 who achieved three, four or five A* grades. Over 86% of papers sat by Dulwich College’s pupils were awarded grades of A*/A/B. In addition to our core responsibility to guide pupils through the qualifications they need for beyond Dulwich, we encourage Alleynians to be conscientious, capable, self-motivated and collaborative learners who are able to read broadly, research accurately and communicate clearly.
Dulwich pupils are characterised by their enthusiasm for learning and are able to work diligently, understanding that performance does not come purely from natural talent, but as much by hard work and commitment. 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. 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
Our teachers talk about what makes a Dulwich Education
Clubs, Societies and Co-curricular activities 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:
Knit Soc Dungeons and Dragons Rugby Kickers Beginners’ Arabic Geo Explorers Lower School History Society Lower School Scholars Young Entrepreneurs Society Debating
Cycling Pottery Wordsmiths Creative Writing VR and 3D Printing Club
Maths Extension Chess
Swimming Water Polo Mythology Fencing Badminton Table Tennis Basketball
Programming Board Games Concert Choir Aviation Society Warhammer Club
Sport On entering the College, pupils will find they are at the heart of the Games and PE programmes. Our aim is to unlock every pupil’s potential through exposure to a range of experiences and opportunities, and increase their understanding of why physical activity plays such an important role in their development as people. In Year 7 and 8, there are two weekly Games sessions and sports on offer include football, rugby, hockey and cricket which run multiple teams (often A-E teams) and pupils can enjoy weekly fixtures against other competitive local schools. PE is on timetable every fortnight and includes swimming in our on-site pool. There is also the chance for pupils 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. We recognise that sport has a positive impact on our pupils’ wellbeing, provides opportunities to develop socially, and can be a welcome change in focus from academic endeavours. Our goal is to provide a high-quality sporting experience leading to a lifetime of involvement in some form of physical activity. Sport film: Pupils are at the heart of our outstanding sports provision
“The clubs are one of my favourite things about the College.”
Hear from the pupils about the range of clubs and societies on offer at the College
House system 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. “What I like best is being in a school where I have teachers that I can talk to whenever I want.”
Charity and Service 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.
Ties
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 over 80 different ties!) and they are worn with pride. “One of my favourite things is the number of ties on offer; this allows boys to express themselves and show what they enjoy doing.”
Co-educational Opportunities
At the College, pupils enjoy all the benefits of a single-sex education, with the additional opportunity of learning in a co-educational environment. We use our links with local girls’ schools such as James Allen’s Girls’ School (JAGS) and Sydenham High School GDST to organise bespoke co-educational activities where boys and girls work together on a given project in small, mixed teams. In the Lower and Middle School, we run regular scientific and creative collaboration days with JAGS and there are a wide range of co-educational opportunities available with joint drama productions and musical performances. The Combined Cadet Force (CCF) is run jointly between the College and JAGS, and the Union of Societies and charitable fundraising ventures have a number of events organized by the prefect teams from each school. Moreover, the Young Enterprise Programme enables pupils to work in partnership with students at Sydenham High School, developing entrepreneurial skills and working as a team to set up a small business; girls at Sydenham and at JAGS also have joint rowing training sessions at the College during the week and on the Thames at weekends. In the Sixth Form, pupils choose Liberal Studies courses and Advanced Electives, weekly academically enriching courses which are not found on A level curricula run in mixed groups of pupils from the College and JAGS spread across the two schools. A diverse range of year-round events, across a range of disciplines, is also offered with our partner schools as part of SSLP (Southwark Schools’ Learning Partnership): this also affords our pupils many opportunities to meet other young people across the borough and beyond. All of these ventures are underpinned by a strong pastoral emphasis, where there is a focus on the positive interactions between the pupils from both schools, and the friendships which ensue.
Creative Arts and Design 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. “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.”
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. Recent Lower School productions have included Matilda and The Red Shoes , and Lower School House Drama has celebrated West End Musicals. Dance is also now embedded in the Year 7 and 8 curriculum, led by our Dancer in Residence, with both taught choreography and boys’ own creative work 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. Art and Design and Technology (DT) are very popular subjects in the Lower School as boys learn how to use a range of materials alongside state of the art technology such as our suite of Apple iMacs and 3D printers. Through our various co-curricular clubs (which could see pupils tinkering away on go-karts), young artists and engineering enthusiasts alike really find their home in the Art and DT departments.
“The arts define our culture our identity and our national conversation.” Sir Peter Bazalgette OA
Creative Arts film: Art, Drama, DT and Music highlights
The Campus Our leafy grounds with over 1,000 trees give pupils the opportunity to connect with nature at breaktime and lunch, and inspire our teachers to take boys for lessons outside of the classroom. We have a Wildflower Walk which is a perfect space for boosting wellbeing and pupils can also enjoy tranquil spaces such as the Memorial Garden and the new, award-winning Spirit of Partnership Garden. The fact that pupils 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 enjoy their Science lessons, was the winner of the RIBA London Award 2017 and our iconic Grade II* listed Barry Buildings (1870) are where they can look forward to continuing their studies in Year 9.
The Lower School 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, Music and Drama. A brand new wing of the Lower School includes the Raymond Chandler Library, with Fiction and Non-Fiction collections specially curated for our pupils, and IT and Robotics suites at the top. It is 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 is integral to our pupils’ lives at the College.
Enjoy a tour of the Raymond Chandler Library
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
Watch our aerial film
To find out more about life in the Lower School, please contact: Fran Cooke, Head of Lower School Telephone: 020 8299 9283 Email: cookefa@dulwich.org.uk
For enquiries regarding admission, please contact: Mrs Alison Williams and Mrs Polly Twisk, Registrars Telephone: 020 8299 9263 Email: the.registrar@dulwich.org.uk
Dulwich College. A school underpinned by purpose, joy and kindness.
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