Lower School (Years 6-8)

Free from the constraints of teaching for Common Entrance or National Curriculum assessment, we are able to offer an exceptional and distinctive curriculum in the Lower School, following the acclaimed International Baccalaureate Middle Years Programme (IB MYP).

Benefiting greatly from the resources and teaching expertise of the wider School, pupils are taught in small teaching groups, allowing scope for plenty of one-to-one attention and pupil-teacher interaction. Our innovative approach encourages links between different subjects, showing our pupils how to see beyond the narrow requirements of a particular exam and transfer their learning skills to new situations.

Overarching this is the IB Learner Profile, which helps students to develop as people, and to become responsible and reflective global citizens with an international outlook. Throughout the year Lower School pupils take part in regular IB MYP Community Days, which see them take a day off-timetable to focus on ways that they can help their local community and the wider environment.

Most pupils join Oakham in Form 1, but some choose to join Oakham in Lower One (10+). This is the equivalent of the final year of primary school and particularly suits pupils who would benefit from an early introduction to Oakham School life. They follow a timetable that is grounded in primary teaching – with a primary specialist class teacher and a classroom base where they are taught their lessons – but they also benefit from being taught by subject specialists for French, Science, the Creative and Performing Arts subjects, and Physical Education (PE). Lower 1 pupils also enjoy learning beyond the classroom by participating in a range of trips and activities that include welcoming Vikings to Oakham School, visiting a coal mine, and going on a residential trip in the Peak District.
Pupils begin their IB MYP journey with a two-day introduction to conceptual ways of thinking and learning and how to relate them to their own experiences. On the first day pupils go on a trip to the National Space Centre in Leicester, where they explore deep, conceptual and debatable questions about life, the universe, and our place within it, as well as marvelling at the exhibits and enjoying a bonding experience with the rest of their year group. They follow this on the second day by looking at global issues faced by many communities around the world, including their own, and considering how individually and collectively they can make a difference to solve these issues.

This sets the tone for how pupils will learn throughout Forms 1 and 2. Pupils still learn the subjects one would expect, but see the links between them to enable them to forge new ideas and use what they learn in less familiar situations.

Subject specialists teach Form 1 in a dedicated suite of classrooms on the Jerwoods campus, with pupils benefiting from the wider facilities of the School for the Creative and Performing Arts subjects, PE, and Science. In preparation for the transition to Middle School, Form 2 pupils have all their lessons in the wider School campus.

Our aim is to nurture great learning in all of our Lower School pupils, and to equip them with long-lasting knowledge and skills that will serve them well as they move into the Middle School and beyond.

James Cure, Head of Lower School