At Wandsworth Preparatory School, we strongly believe that a happy child is a learning child. Exceptional pastoral care is at the heart of what we do and we place great importance on creating an environment where every child feels safe, valued, included and ready to thrive.
A Nurturing Environment
Our small class sizes mean that every child is known as an individual. This allows our teachers to carefully nurture each child, developing strong relationships and ensuring that children feel secure, supported and confident within our school community. We take the time to understand each child, celebrating their individuality and supporting them as they grow both personally and academically.
Our close-knit staff team work together to ensure that every child is well supported throughout their time at Wandsworth Prep. We place particular importance on strong transitions between year groups, ensuring that children are known, understood and prepared for the year ahead. Through effective communication and careful planning, we aim to ensure that every child starts each academic year feeling confident, settled and ready to learn.
Strong Partnerships with Parents
We believe in strong communication between our class teachers and parents. By working closely with families our children receive the support and guidance they need. Open and regular communication allows us to respond promptly to any concerns, celebrate successes and work together to ensure that each child’s individual needs are understood and met throughout their journey at Wandsworth Prep.
Our Values
Our values are at the heart of life at Wandsworth Prep. Through our five values, Compassion, Curiosity, Courage, Collaboration and Creativity, we encourage children to develop the character and skills they need to flourish. Our values are woven throughout school life, from classroom lessons, to weekly assemblies, PSHE sessions and leadership opportunities. We encourage our children to put them into action every day and highlight when they are.
Our Houses
At Wandsworth Prep, our House System brings children together from across the whole school and helps to foster a strong sense of belonging, teamwork and community. Our three houses, Willow, Pine and Sycamore, provide opportunities for children of different ages to work together and build friendships with their peers.
Throughout the year, children can earn House Points for effort, positive behaviour and achievements. Children from each House come together for special activities, competitions, House lunches and events such as Sports Day, creating opportunities for pupils to develop collaboration and a sense of team spirit.
At the end of the year, the winning House earns its place on our ‘House Shield’ – a special opportunity for children to celebrate their collective achievements and the contribution they have made to school life.
Pupil Voice and Leadership
We believe that children should have an active voice in their school community. Our School Council provides an important opportunity for pupils to share their ideas, opinions and experiences.
School Council representatives meet regularly with the Headteacher to discuss issues that are important to pupils and to consider ways in which school life can be improved. Our School Council also works alongside the PTA to help plan and organise fundraising and charity events, giving children meaningful opportunities to contribute to the wider school community.
In addition to this our Year 6 children are given a range of opportunities to take on leadership roles across the school such as Head Boy and Head Girl, House Captains, and Arts and Sports Captains.
Our pupil leaders help to lead events and support new initiatives, while also working with younger pupils and helping to engage children in improving aspects of school life. These opportunities allow our oldest pupils to develop their confidence, independence and sense of responsibility while making a positive contribution to our school community, skills which they will draw upon as they take their next steps into secondary school.
PSHE
Our PSHE programme provides children with the knowledge, understanding and skills they need to navigate life both within and beyond school. We follow the Jigsaw PSHE programme across the school, from Pre-Prep through to Year 6.
Each half-term, the whole school explores a shared focus, which is then developed through weekly in-class lessons. These lessons give children opportunities to explore important themes, develop their emotional literacy, understand themselves and others and build the confidence to articulate their thoughts and feelings. Our PSHE programme helps prepare children for the opportunities, responsibilities and challenges they will encounter as they grow.
Developing a Growth Mindset
At Wandsworth Prep, we encourage children to develop a growth mindset. We help pupils understand that learning takes effort, practice and perseverance.
Mistakes are viewed as an important part of the learning journey rather than something to be feared. Children are encouraged to see challenges as opportunities to learn, to persevere when something feels difficult and to reflect on how they can improve. This approach supports children in developing confidence, resilience and a positive attitude towards their learning.
Understanding Our Children
We regularly check in with pupils about their attitudes towards school and themselves through a dedicated online pupil questionnaire. This provides our staff with valuable information about how children are feeling and how they experience school.
Staff use this information proactively to identify individual needs, recognise emerging trends and understand whether particular cohorts may benefit from additional support. It forms one part of our wider pastoral approach and helps us to ensure that our provision continues to respond to the needs of our pupils.
Where children have specific challenges or would benefit from additional support, we can provide small-group or individualised interventions, including programmes such as Lego-therapy and Drawing and Talking. These provide children with additional opportunities to develop their emotional wellbeing, communication and self-expression in a safe and supportive environment.
Supporting Every Child
We are committed to ensuring that every child is able to access the support they need to flourish. Our dedicated SENCO works closely with children, families and staff, providing advice, guidance and support where additional needs are identified.
We work in partnership with families to understand each child’s individual strengths and needs and, where appropriate, put additional support in place. Our aim is to ensure that every child feels understood, included and supported throughout their time at Wandsworth Prep.
