Preparing for Secondary School

At Hunter Hall, the children are taught by subject specialists as soon as they enter Upper School in Year 3. Moving around the school for their lessons, the children gradually begin to become more independent, taking responsibility for making sure that they have everything they need for their lessons. This is, of course, excellent preparation for secondary school where they will be following the same model. As the children move into Year 5, the children are also encouraged to take increasingly responsibility for their own learning, developing strategies to enable them to work with greater independence, again helping them to prepare for the challenges ahead.

In Year 5, Reasoning is taught as a timetabled subject within the school day. Non-verbal and verbal reasoning are core components of the QEGS entrance test, and we work with all of the children to ensure they are familiar with the different types of questions they will encounter if they opt to sit the test. As well as explicit teaching of non-verbal and verbal reasoning skills, we also work with the children on exam technique and provide them with opportunities to practise these techniques under exam conditions before they sit the tests in the September of Year 6.

At Hunter Hall, we understand that preparation for secondary school goes much further than preparing children to sit a test. We want the children to begin secondary school confident, articulate young people, able to take responsibility for themselves and eager to take on new challenges and new experiences. To this end, every child in Year 6 has a position of responsibility within the school, and roles include everything from Head of School to Games Captain, Librarian to House Captain.

We also provide opportunities for the children to develop as leaders through our Outdoor Ed programme, and one of the highlights for every Year 6 is the wild mountain camp the children complete towards the end of their final year at Hunter Hall.