Inspiring Strategies to Unlock Our Boys' Full Potential
Providing a holistic education is critical if we are to elicit the very best from our learners. By enjoying a breadth of activities in class and out, our boys have the opportunity to gain key competencies – from teamwork and leadership skills to confidence, critical reasoning and emotional literacy – and develop into happy, considerate, well-rounded individuals.
Our school offers a range of stimulating extracurriculars to inspire boys and foster development in different areas, including sports, the arts and academia. Children of all ability levels are supported and encouraged to reach their full potential: by delivering a wealth of rich opportunities, we help our students to explore new interests, develop existing ones, and empower them with varied, valuable skills for later life.
At Wetherby School, we aim to instil core values in our boys from an early age, furthering their growth into caring, respectful and responsible individuals. Our curriculum promotes fundamental British values, good behaviours and attitudes, and other attributes that enable our boys to excel in both school and the wider world. We encourage boys to engage positively with the school community; by doing so, and by taking on additional responsibilities, they emerge capable, independent and with a strong sense of accountability.
School Council
Our Vision
Our school is a welcoming community dedicated to giving boys valuable opportunities to demonstrate their skills and thrive as well-rounded young learners who actively seek to improve their learning environment. The School Council ensures boys are able to contribute towards the continuous improvement of teaching and learning. By meeting with senior leadership and discussing pertinent issues, elected student representatives create a more harmonious and positive community for all.
Aims
The School Council aims to:
• Make a positive contribution to the school environment and ethos;
• Develop and promote boys’ self-confidence, social skills and their responsibilities towards each other, teachers and adult members of staff;
• Develop the boys’ knowledge, skills and understanding of how to contribute to society as a whole and what it means to be an active citizen;
• Develop boys’ speaking and listening skills;
• Allow the boys to have a voice and to share their ideas and opinions with others;
• Develop the boys’ recognition of themselves as worthwhile individuals with a right to be heard;
• Allow the boys to become more responsible and actively involved in the decision-making process of the school;
• Develop important life skills that promote positive mental health and social welfare, emotional literacy, critical and moral reasoning, self-esteem, self-awareness, communication skills, relationship skills and assertiveness; and
• Increase self-esteem and self-confidence.
A school is a community. Our Pupil Parliament helps to make Wetherby School Kensington a more harmonious, inclusive, and empowering place to learn. It is a platform through which pupils actively contribute to school improvement and take part in shaping the school’s future.
• To make a positive contribution to the school environment and ethos.
• To develop and promote pupils’ self-confidence, social skills, and sense of responsibility.
• To empower pupils to understand how they can positively contribute to society and become active citizens.
• To develop pupils’ speaking, listening, and critical thinking skills.
• To ensure all pupils have a meaningful voice in school life and to share their ideas and opinions with others.
• To foster recognition of every child as a valued individual with the right to be heard.
• To encourage responsibility, collaboration, and participation in decision-making.
• To promote life skills that support emotional literacy, mental health, and social well being.
• To increase self-esteem and personal motivation through purposeful leadership roles.
Wetherby Ambassador
The Wetherby Ambassador Rules are the foundation of the school's behaviour management policy. These rules outline the conduct that is expected from each learner in addition to forming the basis of our weekly whole-school targets. At the beginning of the school year, boys are reminded of these rules, and they are referred to across all year levels, especially during Learning for Life lessons. When a rule has been broken, teachers use the opportunity to discuss the importance of good behaviour.
The Wetherby Ambassador Rules are:
Each week in assembly, one boy from each year group is given an award for being an exemplary Wetherby Ambassador. His photograph is also taken and displayed on the Wetherby Ambassador noticeboard to commemorate his achievements.
We are delighted to deliver a wide variety of engaging and creative activities that enrich the lives of boys beyond the classroom. Our co-curricular provision is comprehensive and includes both lunchtime and after-school clubs. Boys may choose to participate in additional academic courses, receive sports coaching or gain art and music tuition. All activities offer an exciting opportunity for our curious learners to have fun, make new friends and explore their talents in a range of contexts.
During term time, we run an extensive after-school activities programme that includes the following clubs:
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Choir
There are four choirs at Wetherby School, and boys may join in Years 1, 2 or 3, subject to a successful audition. The choir is led by the Head of Music and rehearsals are held weekly for each year group in the music room or hall.
Trips are a vital part of a boy’s pre-prep education. They complement in-class learning and enhance pupils' understanding of the school curriculum. Each year, staff organise numerous outings for all year groups, ensuring children benefit from the wealth of cultural and historical places of interest located conveniently close to our school. Parents will receive details of school trips well beforehand.
Residential Trip
In Year 3, all boys take part in a residential trip for three days and two nights.
After spending time with their friends immersed in nature, our boys gain an increased sense of independence, crucial life skills, confidence in their teamwork and leadership abilities, and many amazing stories! At the Parent Information Evening in the autumn term of Year 3, parents and guardians will receive further details regarding the residential trip.
We encourage each boy to excel across the curriculum as a whole. Class and specialist teachers are responsible for identifying children with exceptional ability in a particular subject/s or area. We aim to identify able children as early as possible so that we can monitor and support their progress effectively.
• Inquisitive, curious, alert and responsive to new ideas
• Quick or agile thinker
• High self-motivation/initiative; can work well independently
• Socially adept
• Leadership qualities
• Good/unusual sense of humour
• Sensitive nature, or sensitivity and empathy with others
• Socially immature or isolated; may prefer computers to people
• Learns new ideas and concepts quickly, easily and readily
• Good at reasoning and demonstrates logical or analytical thinking skills
• Good at dealing with abstractions or abstract thinking
• Ability to identify relationships between things; can generalise from specific facts
• Good at understanding concepts; offers unusual insights
• Ability to memorise information quickly and easily
• Follows complex directions easily
• Keen powers of observation
• Has advanced vocabulary, is verbally fluent and is self-expressive
• Early reading ability, often before school age and demonstrates rapid reading
• Good attention span and can concentrate; can persevere for long periods if interested
Learning Styles
• Dislikes closed tasks and learning concepts repetitively; may get bored easily
• Informed of, or may show interest in, ideas and concepts beyond their years
• Creative and imaginative; demonstrates original problem-solving ideas; artistic or musical talent
• Inclined to choose unusual but effective methods of working, perhaps by using a different line of logic or by jumping steps
• Many interests or hobbies; reads across a wide range of subjects
• May prefer verbal expression
• May resent imposed timetable restrictions if interested in a task
• Perfectionists
The Learning for Life programme is part of the Personal, Social, Health and Economic Education (PSHEE) curriculum. This programme, taught from Reception to Year 3, aims to reinforce good attitudes and behaviours and develop key skills and attributes such as self-esteem, risk management, resilience, teamwork and critical thinking. It does so in the context of learning grouped into four core themes: health and wellbeing, relationships, digital safety and living in the wider world (including economic wellbeing and aspects of career education). In addition, PSHEE lessons seek to help boys understand attributes essential to overall happiness, such as cooperation and respect for property, the environment and, above all, each other.
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Learn more about the rewarding opportunities we can offer your son to nurture his potential and lead him towards success in the classroom and beyond.
Roles & Responsibilities
There are many daily responsibilities that boys may carry out in their classrooms. Roles include snack monitor and cloakroom monitor. There are also several roles and responsibilities that boys can take on outside of the classroom, giving them the chance to develop confidence, leadership skills and teamwork abilities. Boys who choose to take on additional responsibility are given a badge to show the title of their role.
Student roles include:
• Charity Ambassador
• Eco-Warrior
• School Council Representative
• Library Monitor
