People do some mad things. I received an email from a BPS mum recently drawing my attention to someone who is doing a particularly mad thing and suggesting that we might invite him to visit the school. Shocked by the news that a close friend had been diagnosed as having terminal prostate cancer, Nick Butter…
Hello! It’s Miles again – here with my second blog. I will be writing about two major events that have taken place over the last couple of days: Harvest Festival and Remembrance Day. Firstly, last Tuesday, Father Richard came in to lead our annual Harvest Festival. On display was all the food that parents had…
One of the core aims of any educational establishment must be to inspire those it educates to love learning. We live in an exam obsessed society and age which has lost sight of this bigger picture. An over-emphasis on passing exams narrows children’s educational experience and can extinguish enquiry and a love of learning. Exams…
Hello again Bickley Park! We have come to the end of this half-term and the start of our autumn holiday. I think it is safe to say that the past 6 ½ weeks have been filled with interesting and exciting events. Today, I decided to write my blog about Expeditions Day, when the school became…
Year 3-8 boys enjoyed going on a termly ‘Expeditions Day’ this week. What a fantastic experience! Year 3 and 4 celebrated their ‘Storms and Shipwrecks’ topic with an adventure aboard The Cutty Sark, whilst Y5 enjoyed a role play day learning all about life in World War II. Y6 and 7 immersed themselves in a…
The Academic Quadrant enables intellectual potential to be realised whilst inculcating a love of learning, so valuable in ensuring a fulfilling and successful life in adulthood.
The school recognises its duty to maintain its fine tradition of academic excellence. In May 2015, the schools’ inspectorate judged the attainment of Bickley Park School pupils to be excellent. Boys go on to some of the U.K.’s leading senior schools, often with scholarships.
Boys work towards gold standard exams at 13+ which push GCSE standard. In fact, some boys have sat GCSEs: A*s have been achieved by several 12 and 13 year old boys in Spanish in recent years; regional and national competitions have been won. We equally believe that learning should be presented in a way that broadens horizons and engages boys’ interest, instilling a passion to discover.
The Arts Quadrant develops the key skills of communication and confidence through its strong emphasis on self-expression and performance from a young age. Through drama, concerts, public speaking and debate, children can have fun whilst being challenged to communicate confidently with others.
Every boy between 5 and 13 enters the annual public speaking or debating competition, with the finalists speaking in well-known public venues such as Speakers’ Corner and St Bride’s Church, Fleet Street.
Interesting performance opportunities include music tours to Paris, New York, Venice and Verona. The school offers excellent specialist provision in Art, Drama and Design Technology. Boys work towards exciting outcomes, including the annual art exhibition and design fair in which they make and sell products. They loved the Spanish and Art trip to Barcelona and opportunities to join in cultural activities at concert halls and galleries in London. The quality of the arts at Bickley Park was judged to be high in the 2015 inspection.
Those who live the longest, most fulfilling lives belong to, and actively serve, a community. B.P.S. boys are taught what constitutes a successful community, be it a family, a school, or a wider community. They are helped to understand that some people live very different, often challenging lives.
An understanding of other cultures is developed through activities like ‘Our World Week’ and ‘World Culture’ lessons in which children prepare for the inter-connected world they will enter by learning basic language skills and about the culture of China, India, Germany, Russia and Arabic speaking countries.
A sense of social justice is developed in which boys are encouraged to come up with ideas for how they can serve the school and wider community. They are then encouraged to translate ideas into action. Initiative and a sense of responsibility are developed though the Community Quadrant. The inspectors judged pupils’ social, moral, spiritual and cultural development to be excellent in the most recent inspection.
Bickley Park has a strong sporting pedigree. A wide range of quality opportunities are offered in curriculum time, including rugby, football, cricket, athletics, tennis, hockey, badminton, basketball, squash, climbing and cross country.
Every child from 5-13 has a weekly swimming lesson in the school’s own heated indoor pool. Sporting opportunities extend to the extra-curriculum programme with, amongst other things, fencing, taekwondo, go karting, golf and triathlon on offer. High standards are attained in the many competitive matches that are played, while important life lessons are learnt: how to win and lose in the right spirit; how to lead effectively and how to play as a team.
A boy-friendly outdoor education programme aims to foster team and leadership skills, whilst developing independence, resilience and the ability to manage risk. It includes regular Forest School for younger pupils in local woodland; bee keeping in the Prep Department; Wilderness School in Y3 and Adventure School in Years 4-8. Adventure School focuses on progressively more challenging survival skills delivered through residential field trips, building up to a significant challenge for Y8, which has recently included walking 176 miles along Offa’s Dyke and completing the Three Peaks challenge. Boys regularly climb on the school’s outstanding climbing wall.