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Approach to Learning

We want children to take delight in exploring the new and unknown.

Children are most receptive to learn when they are happy. Dunannie's activities are always designed to be fun so that information is received with rapt expressions, lapped up unconsciously amidst excitement and curiosity.

By the time they leave at 8+, the aim is for children to be fluent readers, spontaneous and literate writers, sound mathematicians and able to apply rigorous creative imaginations to any practical and theoretical challenges.

We have created a structured yet flexible curriculum for all years, including the Nursery, and we give equal value to intellectual, creative and emotional development. Children are encouraged to enquire about the deeper how and why of everything from an early age. Using taste, touch and smell, for example, we teach the children about different cultures. Here, Chinese vegetables are discussed, touched, smelt and chopped before being thrown into a wok and sprinkled with soy sauce. Investigations then follow into how wide mouths can open and how well the two-hands-on-one chopstick approach works!

The performing and creative arts are important at Dunannie – notably music, drama and dance – and we have access to specialist teachers as well as Dunhurst's excellent music school resources. We encourage children to take individual music lessons. Pupils benefit from being part of the Bedales family: there are close links with Dunhurst and Bedales, academically and in areas such as sport. All three schools share facilities, e.g. the swimming pool and sports fields and the Olivier Theatre.

We believe that to learn the lesson, you should live it. School trips are frequent as we want to inspire the children to learn through first-hand experiences. Just as discovering something exciting in a pond may produce a future scientist, climbing aboard HMS Victory as a member of Lord Nelson's crew may spark a love of history.

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