WELCOME TO OUR SCHOOL!

Dorchester Prep is privately owned as a company by White Swallow Education Limited. One proprietor is the headteacher and the other, his wife, is a teacher in the modern foreign languages department.

The school is housed in what were originally two adjoining four-storey residences and has since been extended to the rear. The building is set behind its own front garden about 10 metres back from a busy road in a residential area close to Dorchester town centre. The extensive rear gardens of the original buildings provide a hard surface playground down the right-hand side, and down the left-hand side a garden that is being reconstructed by parents. This new area will provide a nature resource for teaching, a quiet area and a space for the use of play equipment by the younger pupils. Sports facilities are located elsewhere and hired by the school. Sports coaching and access to local clubs provide opportunities for the physical education of pupils.

The aim of the school is to meet the individual needs of the pupil, whatever their age, aptitudes, abilities and interests. The school also aims to provide a holistic approach which fosters and develops a caring community where everyone feels respected and valued and pupils are happy, and, in addition, to adapt the curriculum to flexibly serve the needs of each pupil and to work for pupils to become independent and confident learners by an age and at a level appropriate to the individual.

We provide full-time education from age 2 years 9 months to 13 in the preparatory school and on to 18 in our senior school. A love of learning is important to us, so we strive to help children to enjoy school and study. In our school, we want children to integrate well across the ages. We see this as boosting children’s confidence and self-esteem.

We follow the National Curriculum, but vary it where we feel that it is in the best interests of the children to do so.

We start French in Year 1 and give pupils the opportunity to study Spanish and German when they are ready and willing to do so. We also try to give varied opportunities in Music and Physical Education. By Year 10, the education is becoming more individualised, with some children taking examinations early in some subjects, some later than usual, and others in less usual combinations of subjects. Even by Year 2, the allocation of children to class groups depends not only on age, but, in consulatation with parents, a consideration of what is best for an individual child. While we have had children who performed at an international level in areas such as poetry and gymnastics, we also provide for those who have some difficulties in learning.

The acquisition of skills in speaking and listening, literacy and numeracy are developed throughout the school across the curriculum from age 3 until pupils sit GCSEs and A-levels.

The children are able to develop through experiencing a range of activities, such as visits, including overseas and residential, a wide range of physical activities and performance in concerts.