Dragon School has announced that it is expanding its boarding provision and introducing a new Saturday morning enrichment programme called Dragon QUEST.
From its foundation more than 140 years ago, the school has been renowned as a forward thinking and progressive school. Following a survey of parents, staff and pupils last year, and with unanimous Governor support, it is broadening its boarding options and evolving its Saturday morning programme.
Expansion of boarding options
Boarding is very much at the heart of the school and it has one of the largest populations of full boarders of any UK co-educational prep school. Boarding offers pupils a wide range of curricular and extra-curricular opportunities, overseen by a dedicated team of House Parents and boarding staff, with our 10 boarding houses providing a home from home environment. The experience of boarding can also prepare pupils for their move to senior schools. From September 2019, the school will be expanding its boarding provision. As well as offering its established full and day boarding (one or more fixed nights each week, booked a term in advance) options for children aged between 8 and 13, the school will introduce a flexible boarding option, where at shorter notice, families can book between 1 and 4 nights of boarding on a flexible basis for children in Year 4 and above. This new and additional arrangement is intended to support the needs of modern families, as well as to allow children to gain an experience of all that boarding can offer.
Introducing Dragon QUEST
Dragon School is also excited to be launching Dragon QUEST – a bespoke Saturday morning enrichment programme offering a wide variety of inspiring activities. Starting in September 2020 for Years 4 and 5, and expanding to include Years 4 to 8 in September 2021, Dragon QUEST will replace formal Saturday morning lessons. Dragon QUEST will give children opportunities to discover new talents, develop new skills and embrace an appealing range of challenges. A diverse choice of activities will be on offer, with examples ranging from Archaeology and Anthropology to Zoology and from Mindfulness to Sports Skills. All boarders in school on Saturday mornings will participate in Dragon QUEST and all day children in Years 4 to 8 will be warmly invited to take part on a voluntary basis. In addition the school is committed to promoting its impressive reputation for sporting excellence and pupil inclusion. Therefore, Saturday sports fixtures, with compulsory attendance for those children selected for teams, will continue to complement weekday fixtures.
Alongside the introduction of Dragon QUEST, the school continues to place keen emphasis on teaching excellence and academic rigour. True to our founding values, we will continue to foster the stimulating, challenging and nurturing educational environment for which the Dragon is recognised locally, nationally and internationally. Careful timetable arrangements will ensure that the school’s change to Saturday mornings will be achieved with no loss of academic teaching time, whilst still enabling children to participate in sports, activities and clubs on offer during the week. Indeed, Dragon School is confident that its new arrangement will benefit children’s academic performance by avoiding the fatigue that can result from a 6-day teaching timetable for prep school children.
Headmaster Dr. Crispin Hyde-Dunn said: “These changes are being introduced to meet the diverse and evolving needs of modern Dragon families, making this an exciting time in the history of the Dragon. The expansion of our boarding options will enable more children to gain experience of boarding during their time with us. In addition, changing our Saturday provision will allow a focus on academic rigour on weekdays whilst still ensuring vibrant and exciting provision for those children in school at weekends.”