| Then
and Now Highgate
Junior School was established in 1889
by the then Head Master of Highgate,
the Reverend Charles McDowell. Realising
that the needs of younger boys were quite
different from those of their older brothers,
he had the vision to create a separate
Preparatory School. Its first home was
Cholmeley House, now the Senior School
English Department; and it was here in
1916, when first "summoned by bells" that
young John Betjeman was taught English
by T.S. Eliot.
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| Today the Junior
School is particularly fortunate in its location.
In 1938 the new Cholmeley House was built
in Bishopswood Road, a tree-lined crescent
which separates two of the School's major
playing fields, some four hundred metres
to the west of the Senior School, which still
occupies its original village site. Cholmeley
House, Field House and Ingleholme are the
principal buildings and the Richards Music
Centre, the new Art, Design and Technology
Centre and the Mallinson Sports Centre are
nearby. The Junior School offers an outstandingly
good environment for teaching and learning.
In addition to the playing fields, the Art,
Design and Technology Centre and the Sports
Centre, the Junior School shares other facilities
with the Senior School, for example the Chapel,
the Dining Hall and Cerrig Pryfaid, the School's
Field Studies Centre in the Snowdonia National
Park. Across Hampstead Lane, which bounds
the School's grounds to the south, lies the
extensive parkland of Hampstead Heath and
Kenwood.
The Junior School has very close links
with the Senior School, to which boys,
and in the near future girls, transfer
at thirteen (transfer will be at 11 from
2008 and thereafter), thus providing
a secure continuity of education. The
Junior School does not prepare students
directly for other senior independent
schools. The Principal, is a member of
the Incorporated Association of Preparatory
Schools (IAPS).
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Structure
and Facilities
There are
about 140 children in Field House which
is a separate unit for those in Years 3
and 4. There are four forms in each of
the two year groups and a form tutor provides
the pastoral care aided by the Year 3 and
4 coordinator.
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Years
5 and 6 are based in Cholmeley House where there are, at present,
four forms in each year. Each
form has a tutor and there is a coordinator
for Years 5 and 6.
The school is served
by the Principal, two deputies and about
thirty fully qualified teachers. In addition
there are a number of part-time teachers
who help with music and other subjects,
two Learning Support staff and in Field
House there are classroom assistants.
The
Junior School has two Information Technology
and Communications Centres and its own
Music Centre. Art and Design Technology
are taught in the Foundation’s excellent
new Art, Design and Technology Centre.
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| Morning
Assembly and Chapel
Because it is the occasion when the fellowship
of the School is nurtured, all children,
no matter what their faith, are expected
to attend morning assembly. After a hymn,
reading or talk and a prayer, successes
and collective failures are discussed and
announcements made. All are also expected
to attend Religious Education lessons,
this being taught as an academic subject,
as well as attending the Carol Service,
which is held in St Michael's Church. An
Easter service in Chapel marks the end
of the Lent term. Harvest Festival in the
Michaelmas term is a voluntary service. |
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