children running

The Early Years

Bedstone’s provision for the youngest students is an integral part of Bedstone College, a co-educational, independent day and boarding school, set in a beautiful, safe, rural location in south Shropshire. The school day runs from 9am-3.40pm, Monday to Friday during term time, with wrap around care available from 8.15 until 17.00, to help working families. There are also free daily buses across the region.

We occupy the entire ground floor of our purpose-built junior school, tucked away next to the woods. On entering the classrooms, visitors are always impressed by the happy, confident and articulate children who greet them. Our young people are taught to explore their own ideas and are guided towards independent and challenging learning in an inspiring and safe environment.

The children aged 4 to 7 have two main rooms; a quiet classroom where more focused learning takes place and a child-initiated classroom. We also have immediate access to an ICT suite, toilets, and free-flow out on to our own playground with wooded area and a garden. In addition to these we also have access to senior school facilities such as the outdoor heated swimming pool, sports hall, music rooms, dance studio, games fields and courts, and the Forest School site. There are acres for us to explore, learn and play in.

The lead teacher is Miss Samantha Preece who is responsible for the planning and implementation of the curriculum. Mrs Louise Meredith also works full time within our classroom and supports all of the children.

Places are available in Reception and Year 1

please email admissions@bedstone.org or call our admissions team on 01547 530961 for more details and a no-obligation visit.

Reception 

4 to 5 years

  • There is plenty of time for play – and learning through play – as the children take their first steps into school.
  • Our environment is created to support children’s learning through a range of direct experiences covering the Early Years Foundation Stage curriculum.
  • We place a strong emphasis on the personal, social and emotional development of the children in our care.
  • We have a Forest School site where the children can take full advantage of outdoor learning. We make use of the main school sports facilities and extensive grounds.
  • Wrap-around care is available before and after school sessions, plus lunch and fruit for snack time are provided by our on-site catering team. PS – our lunches are delicious and we get to eat before anyone else in the school!

Year 1 and 2

5 to 7 years

We have a mixed year group class with a broad curriculum involving a rolling programme of topics. Within this, Literacy is taught on a two-year rolling programme and Maths on a one-year rolling programme. Differentiation takes place in all lessons for both year groups. The small class numbers offer extra teacher-student time for learning support, be it for higher or lower abilities. Each can truly work at their own pace and be stretched to their ability: something that is simply not possible in larger classes. Reading books are sent home each day. Spellings are sent home once a week. It is advantageous to your child to assist them with practising their spellings and hearing them read. In our small classes, teachers are able to hear the children read every day.

Specialist senior college staff teach PE and music. Depending on the weather, children have swimming lessons on site with a specialist PE teacher in our very warm outdoor heated pool. Children may study a musical instrument, lessons are taught by peripatetic teachers. There is an additional cost for this tutoring.