March 22nd 2025
Years 7 and 8 are such pivotal, formative years for children. Fostering a secure and supportive environment for every child requires close management and care, while at the same time offering plentiful opportunities for challenge and personal growth.
At Moulsford we take this responsibility incredibly seriously and we have therefore created a new role specifically to focus on the delivery of the Year 7 & 8 experience. I am delighted that Jaimie Noble, who is also Director of Activities, will be leading in this regard, working very closely with our Heads of Years 7 & 8, Paul Dunsby and Richard Martin respectively. I have asked Jaimie to expand on his new role and plans below:
We view the character and confidence of our Year 8 leavers as being vital benchmarks for all that they gain in the senior part of the school. It is always so exciting to see so many former pupils as Heads of Senior Schools in Year 13, with Old Moles being elected as Heads of School at Abingdon, Wellington, Marlborough, Pangbourne and Eton in recent years.
Equally, it was wonderful to host the recent ‘Class of 2020’ Old Moles versus staff football match, and see the genuine pride and delight in our former pupils at returning to their Prep School, in most cases for the first time since they left age 13. Their pride was entirely matched by staff members, who gained huge satisfaction from seeing what charming, interesting and engaging young adults have emerged, at least in part, from an education at Moulsford.
Likewise, to receive such consistently high praise from the senior schools to which we feed, about the character, as well as the skills that Moulsford boys take with them, when they transition to senior schools, is testament to the rounded, confident children who leave Moulsford at the end of Year 8.
To name a few of the key benefits of the Year 7 and 8 Moulsford experience which lead to this outcome, we see the following as crucial in enabling the children to thrive in the final two years of their Moulsford careers:
- Personal development and growth in confidence at the top of the school
- Leadership opportunities as figureheads within the community
- Enhanced Enrichment and Extracurricular opportunities
- Academic growth:
- Skills-based learning throughout the curriculum, preparing children for senior school and adult life
- Development of soft skills and human skills, relevant to all aspects of future life
- Exam based experience through Common Entrance and Scholarship preparation, gaining significant advantage over those not experiencing exams in Year 8
- Tackling the challenging transition to teenage years from a position of strength and security, whilst being allowed to enjoy what remains of childhood in a safe, familiar, but stretching environment
There has been so much to celebrate with our Year 7 and 8 pupils of late. This week’s school play - the junior version of Oliver! (the musical), which was open to any child in Years 7 and 8, wonderfully demonstrates so many aspects of school life. Our pupils are fortunate to benefit from the quality of the Drama and Music provisions, so ably led by Ash Edwards and Karen Braden. The standards reached through senior productions always seem to surpass expectations, especially when you consider the age of the children. Fostering the school’s ethos of inclusivity, every child who wants to participate has the opportunity to do so. Perhaps most crucially, they gain so much experience: independence, resilience, teamwork and so importantly, a great deal of joy and fun!
Further examples of the enrichment opportunities in the senior part of the school include our Year 8 boys being visited by the James Shone ‘I Can and I am’ bus this week, with inspiring workshops based around the themes of self-belief and resilience, culminating in some much appreciated homemade pizza production. This Tuesday also saw the final ‘High Performance Lunchtime’ (HPL) talk, with former British Army and Special Forces Colonel Jack Felix speaking to the boys about his professional and life experiences. Mr Weeks’ HPL talks provide incredible insights into the lives and professional experiences of such a broad range of people, from remarkable Old Moles, to Guinness World record holders. There is simply so much for the boys to learn through the HPL programme, about life beyond Moulsford and some of the tangible aspects of the wider world that awaits them.
Finally, we recently talked to a group of Year 7 boys, to ask them their thoughts on Moulsford and what they enjoy about life at school, which has been edited into a short video which you can view here. To hear what they’re looking forward to in Year 8, click here.
