Overview of King Alfreds Lower School

The Lower School includes all our 4-11 year olds. The classes range from Reception up to Year 6.
Each September we take in 40 four-year-olds into our two Reception classes and this is the main point of entry into the Lower School. Occasionally other places become available in other classes due to families moving to a new location. The Reception and Year 1 classes are on our Ivy Wood site, on the opposite side of the road from the main school site which is called Manor Wood. Years 2-6 classes are all found within the Lower School area in Manor Wood.
Each year group consists of two parallel classes which are equally balanced with boys and girls. The Reception and Year 1 classes consist of 20 children and increase to a maximum of 22 from Year 2 upwards.
In Ivy Wood there are four main classrooms and extensive play areas for the children. It was in fact the garden belonging to Anna Pavlova and her house is currently in use as the London Jewish Cultural Centre. Also on this site is the new CDT centre which is used by Middle and Upper School students. The Reception and Year 1 children have their CDT lessons there too.
On the Manor Wood site, the Lower School has, as well as its classrooms, a Hall, music room, art room, library, modern languages room and learning support rooms. The staffroom is centrally situated so that the children have easy access to the staff. They also have access to CDT and ICT facilities in the Middle School building, drama facilities in Upper School and they eat lunch in the main school hall.
The Year 2 classes have their own playground which they remain in throughout their first year on the Manor Wood site. In the summer term they are able to use the school field at lunchtimes. The rest of the Lower School children have free access to the field, camps area and climbing frames every break time. They can also use their classrooms.
In the next two years we are going to have a new building constructed on the site of the old Year 3 classroom. This will house a new staffroom, library, learning support rooms, ICT facilities and an auditorium. All this will enhance the teaching
spaces for the children.