Saturday morning school is an important feature in Blocks 1 and 2 (Years 7 and 8) at Bedales Prep. All Block 1 and 2 students are expected to attend school on Saturday morning from 8.45am to 1.10pm.
From Block 1 (Year 7), students have more lessons to fit into their timetables than in the Groups (Years 4-6):
- Science becomes three separate subjects - Physics, Biology and Chemistry.
- Humanities becomes three distinct subjects - Geography, History, and Philosophy, Religion and Ethics (PRE).
- Latin is introduced.
One of the key benefits of spreading the Blocks’ timetable over five and a half days is that we also introduce self-study periods known as ‘Greens’. As well as using them to complete prep, students can use Greens for additional one-to-one lessons such as academic support, LAMDA, dance, music and tennis, enabling them to tailor their academic and co-curricular programmes to suit their particular interests and needs. Greens have proved be an excellent way to develop students’ independence within an overarching structure; it also prepares them for the additional level of self-management and self-motivation required at senior school.
The majority of sports fixtures are scheduled on Wednesday afternoons. Find out more about Wednesday afternoons here.
We are sometimes asked why we have school on a Saturday morning. We consider it to be an important contributor to delivering the special ethos at Bedales Prep. Without it we would have to reduce or eliminate Greens; increase the length of the school day or term; schedule one-to-one lessons during teaching time; prep would need to be completed in the evenings; and the overall development of student self-motivation and independence would be reduced.