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Academic Life

At Alleyn’s Hampstead Nursery & Junior School, our approach to teaching and learning is designed to spark curiosity, nurture creativity, and build problem-solving skills from the earliest stages. Every child is supported and challenged in equal measure, with learning tailored to their strengths and interests, so that they experience a genuine sense of progress and achievement.

Curriculum

Our curriculum is designed to ignite curiosity, nurture a love of learning, and empower children to explore their individual strengths. We believe that the foundation of a lifelong learner is built through joyful discovery, purposeful exploration, and meaningful experiences that encourage pupils to ask questions, think critically, and engage deeply with the world around them.

EYFS

Children in Nursery (open to children from the day they turn two years old) through to Reception follow a significantly enhanced EYFS (Early Years Foundation Stage) curriculum at Alleyn’s Hampstead.

Class teachers and learning assistants deliver the Early Years Foundation Stage Framework continuously tracking progress through informal observation and assessment. Depending on the stage of their time with us, children also benefit from subject specialists in Drama, Dance, Music and Gym, ensuring a rich and engaging curriculum from the very start. Pre-Reception and Reception pupils enjoy twice-weekly lessons in both French and Spanish, alongside regular trips to Forest School throughout the year – offering a broad range of experiences and opportunities to develop personal interests.

With active learning at the forefront, the EYFS curriculum is hands-on and exciting for every child, enabling them to learn through their own investigations and discoveries, and promoting a deep curiosity for knowledge.

At its core, our Reception class is focused on the direct teaching of reading, writing and mathematics, embedding key vocabulary, listening comprehension, spoken language and problem-solving into all areas of learning. Each half term is centred around a specific topic, allowing for a fully integrated and holistic approach to both academic and personal development.

Key Stage 1

In Years 1 and 2, the curriculum introduces a greater range of discrete disciplines, with an increased focus on depth of understanding and the application of knowledge. This prepares children for a confident transition into Key Stage 2 at the age of seven.

Throughout Reception and Key Stage 1, children’s progress and development are carefully tracked to ensure that each child is equipped to access the increasingly broad and knowledge-rich curriculum in readiness for transition to Y3.

Key Stage 2

From Years 3 to 6 (ages 7–11), our teachers deliver a wide-ranging academic and co-curricular experience, providing significant breadth of opportunity while supporting and challenging every child as an individual.

Our knowledge-rich curriculum is designed to prepare pupils for a broad range of senior school destinations, with a model that teaches content to be remembered, not just encountered. Humanities subjects such as Geography and History are taught as discrete disciplines, encouraging depth and clarity of understanding. General knowledge is developed into a wider, cross-curricular appreciation of ideas and theories.

As pupils move from Years 3–4 into Years 5–6, the curriculum broadens and deepens, with some subjects increasingly taught by specialists to support greater challenge and prepare children for Senior School. Pupils also take part in General Studies, which broadens cultural, political and global awareness through modules in Art History, Film Studies, and Politics, Philosophy and Economics.

A breadth of linguistic study, strong musicality and instrumental teaching, and opportunities to compete in national competitions such as the UKMT Challenge, all contribute to a dynamic and enriched academic experience. Creative and technical skills, such as 3D printing, are integrated into the curriculum, and pupils benefit from individual devices to support their learning across subjects using the latest educational technology.

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Learning at Alleyn’s Hampstead is underpinned by the seven learning dispositions of responsibility, resilience, reflection, empathy and humility, thoroughness and focus, courage and self-belief and imagination. We see these as forming the basis for children in ‘how we learn’ and they are woven through teaching across all subjects during each child’s time with us, so that children become resilient, independent, resourceful and collaborative learners.

We have high expectations for all our pupils who benefit from a range of extension opportunities, including through our Aspiring Minds programme. Where we have gifted and talented pupils, we believe that they thrive best in a learning environment that provides challenge while allowing our children to enjoy learning alongside their peers.  Classroom differentiation is an important factor in ensuring the progress of these pupils. Our most able pupils will often have their work differentiated by task and will be encouraged to move on to more challenging activities. Learning activities planned for gifted and talented learners combine acceleration, enrichment and extension and they will be involved in a variety of open-ended and investigative tasks.

We are committed to identifying and supporting children with specific learning differences, ensuring they have access to the full breadth of our curriculum and the opportunity to achieve their potential in a supportive and inclusive environment.

Homework is an important part of independent learning. At Alleyn’s Hampstead, it is designed to support classroom learning in a purposeful and age-appropriate way. In Years 1 and 2, this typically includes reading, core maths activities and occasional research questions to encourage discussion at home.

Assessments at Alleyn’s Hampstead are one of the ways we use to track children’s progress, helping to identify those who are gifted and talented and those needing extra support, as well as providing a broader template to plan the pace and depth of learning across the classroom. Assessments are usually carried out in a relaxed and normal classroom environment, with the exception of some of our preparation for 11+. From the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) through to Year 6, we utilise standardised assessments, including those provided by GL Assessment, to gain insights into pupils' development in core areas such as English and Mathematics. These assessments offer age-standardised scores, enabling us to benchmark progress against national expectations and tailor our teaching accordingly. In EYFS, baseline assessments help us understand each child's starting point, allowing for personalised learning experiences. As pupils advance, regular assessments are conducted in a supportive and familiar environment, ensuring that the process is both informative and non-intrusive. This approach ensures that all learners are appropriately challenged and supported throughout their time at Alleyn's Hampstead.

Alleyn’s Hampstead is a through school, which means all Year 6 pupils will *automatically move up to Alleyn’s Hampstead Senior School in Year 7. *On rare occasions when Alleyn’s Hampstead is not the right setting, the Headteacher will always have early conversations with families to find the school where your child will thrive.

Welcome to Nursery & Junior School
Welcome to Senior School
Welcome to Sixth Form
Admissions Process
Alleyn’s Hampstead is a co-educational day school in North London educating children aged 2 to 18.