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Some
believe a school is best located in the countryside, others
that it should be close to a town – to
communications and the real world of commerce and industry.
Caterham
is both. Though less than a kilometre from the town centre,
and five minutes from Junction 6 of the
M25, neither is visible – or audible. Screened by beech woods
and protected from urban sprawl, the School’s 80 acre campus
sits at the head of the lovely Harestone Valley, which winds
up from the town to the ancient North Downs Way. London
lies to the north – close but not too
close – making rewarding cultural visits, or sports fixtures,
easy to reach.
More than
60 years ago Caterham was at the cutting edge of integrating
junior education into the independent school
system. The addition of a Pre-Prep in 1995 again showed the
School’s awareness of trends and needs. Today Caterham offers
parents of all school-going children the priceless benefit
of progressive, uninterrupted education from 3 to 18.
The Preparatory
School – Pre-Prep and Prep – is
housed in its own buildings at the far end of the valley campus,
in a lovely wooded setting with easy access to the Senior School’s
Sport and Music facilities. It has its own structure, staff
and Head, who is a member of the Incorporated Association of
Preparatory Schools. Entry can be at 3 (Nursery), 4 (Reception)
or 7 (Year 3), although places do arise from time to time in
other age groups.
As boys and girls move through the School from
4 to 11, they find their programme increasingly developing
and challenging. National Curriculum subjects are studied together
with French from the age of 4. In Music, pupils are encouraged
to develop skills and play a variety of instruments before
specialising, while Sport features strongly in the curriculum
with opportunities for athletics, cricket, football, rugby,
netball, lacrosse, rounders, and swimming.
There are
over 80 fully networked computers in the school with multimedia
PC’s in every classroom, a suite
of 20 PC’s in a dedicated ICT room, and additional CD-ROM provision
in the Library. The installation of interactive whiteboards
in every classroom ensures that ICT is integral to the learning
process from the outset and reflects the school’s commitment
to the future.
No less important
is the Christian emphasis stemming from Caterham’s foundation
which is embodied in the daily assembly and classroom programme
of Religious Studies and reflected
in the care of pupils. The School sees education as a partnership
with parents in which regular reports are complemented by parent
evenings and frequent informal contact with Head and staff.
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