Children lead full and busy lives at Gresham’s Prep. The school day is long however sport and curriculum based music, performing arts and dance all take place within the normal school day. Supervised Prep also takes place within the school day. Children are not set homework; life is incredibly busy at Gresham’s Prep and we believe that children should be able to relax in the evenings once the formal school day is over; the children may want to carry out revision and research tasks in the evenings, but there is no formal homework set.
We are extremely proud of the standard of our pastoral care and previous inspection reports have commented very favourably on this aspect of the school. (ISI Inspection report 2023 and ISI Inspection report 2016). The welfare and happiness of every child is of huge importance to us and we constantly strive to ensure that all children are happy and carefully and sensitively guided.
We encourage children to be open and honest and to discuss problems and issues with each other and with staff. In addition to dedicated house parents and matrons every child has a tutor with whom they meet regularly. There is a diverse range of children in the School and we want every child whatever their strengths and weaknesses, to feel valued and cared for. This lies at the core of our purpose.
The School values tolerance, kindness and good manners very highly and there is a strong moral code that pervades the School.
Discipline is based on common sense and there is a system of merits and demerits which encourages children to behave in the right way and make the right choices.
All children whether boarders or day children are members of a House, Kenwyn (boys) or Crossways (girls). The houses are the physical base for children at school and have recreational and leisure facilities. Children are welcome to return to the houses in break times.
“Every pupil is known as an individual”
PREP, PRE-PREP AND NURSERY SCHOOL – ISI INSPECTION REPORT 2023
Phase leaders
Our dedicated Phase Leaders have broad responsibility for the pastoral care of all children within their house phase (Lower Juniors – Year 3 & 4, Upper Juniors – Year 5 & 6 and Seniors – Year 7 & 8) and with the child’s tutor will deal with any issues or problems that may arise. Phase Leaders meet with all children in their phase at least once a week in an Assembly. Our Primary First Aiders, who are available to all children, deal with medical issues as they arise and also give vital pastoral support.
Competition and taking responsiBility
There are three competitive houses: Borrow, Reith and Woodforde. Every child has the chance to contribute to their house in some way during the School year and house competitions encompass many areas of school life.
There is robust but healthy competition between the houses; children take great pride in their own house, whilst learning to respect the other houses successes.
Tutors
Every child at Gresham’s Prep will be assigned to a Tutor whose role it is to help every child in their care with the everyday problems of school life as well as monitoring academic progress and acting as a first point of contact over most matters for parents of day children.
Children meet with their tutor regularly through the week providing an opportunity for both the teacher and pupil to get to know each other and create opportunities to discuss any issues or problems. The tutor also plays an important role in the day to day pastoral care of the children in their care. The tutor is responsible for recording merit and demerit points and will raise concerns over issues that may arise. The tutor will get in touch with the parents of their tutees at the start of the school year to introduce themselves.
Chapel
Within the Christian tradition, Gresham’s School has a full-time Chaplain.
There is a weekly Saturday service which is attended by all pupils in the Prep school where parents, family and friends are warmly invited to attend and who regularly do.
Although the School is a Christian foundation and we expect all pupils to attend Saturday Chapel, there is no attempt made to evangelise.