Lower School - Years 7-8
Senior
Welcome to Westwood House
Westwood House is the daily base for our Lower School day and boarding pupils across Years 7 and 8, providing the perfect space to offer a nurturing and supportive environment for pupils in the younger years of the Senior School.
Head of Lower School, Mr Steve Pentreath, along with Assistant Head of Lower School Mrs Nic Curtis, ensure that each pupil thrives throughout the different areas of School life. A key part of their responsibility is to help pupils transition from their previous schools, whether that be Kingswood Prep or one of the many local and further afield schools that pupils join us from in Year 7.
Westwood House provides the physical space for this step up to Senior school, with its dedicated library and prep room, chill out spaces and games rooms, as well as the ever-popular Westwood Woods.
Westwood for Life
Throughout Years 7 and 8, we use our ‘Westwood For Life’ programme as the framework for these important years. Westwood for Life helps us to support our pupils’ mental health, looking at four key pillars for this:
| Awareness | Developing our capacity to focus our attention moment by moment. |
|---|---|
| Connection | Cultivating harmonious interpersonal relationships with oneself and each other. |
| Insight | Understanding the narrative about ourselves. |
| Purpose | The sense that our lives will move in a particular direction, and the understanding that effort and purpose leads to a greater satisfaction in life. |
In addition, we have 18 handpicked tutors who meet with small groups of pupils every morning. The tutors get to know these pupils well, are the first port of call for any academic concerns and draft reports on their tutees’ progress, attitude and behaviour as well as ensuring that every child has a full, varied, and balanced activity programme. Our Westwood prefects - 20 Lower Sixth girls and boys - act as role models and buddies for the pupils, support the tutors and provide weekend support for the boarders.
In our Lower School, we have the responsibility of helping our pupils transition from their previous schools into our community at Kingswood. Having Westwood House as our base provides the safe space needed for our pupils to adjust and grow in their first two years at Kingswood.
To find out more about boarding in Years 7 and 8 in our dedicated Lower School House, Beaconfield, visit our Boarding Life Page.