Prep children can arrive at their Year Group Hub from 8am ready to start their day at 8.20am. Their Head of Year will be there to welcome your child each morning. Before school care from 8am is included within your fees.
Available 7.30 – 8am Monday to Friday
For Reception to Year 6Â
£3 per day
Breakfast Club vouchers must be purchased in advance from Reception. Reception does not open until 8am so Breakfast Club cannot be booked on the day.
The School day finishes at 4.05pm for Prep, however, for busy and working parents, the Year Group Hubs are open until 5.45pm or there is a wide range of co-curricular clubs every evening to choose from.
The Year Group Hubs have been recently renovated. Each one is specifically designed to be age-appropriate to that year group.Â
Each Hub has a games room, a craft room / iPad bar, a TV area, a reading area, a kitchen for after school snacks and plenty of space for socialising with friends.Â
The Year Group Hubs offer a home away from home, and a designated space for them to relax, socialise and distinguish from their time in the classroom.Â
After school care for Prep children in the Year Group Hubs is included in the fees, however, children also have the opportunity to join in with a wide range of co-curricular clubs after School.
The Blue Coat School is unique in the range of expert-led co-curricular activities. Each club is led by experienced teachers or practitioners, whether that is Aston Villa FC coaches or highly experienced LAMDA teachers.
Run by Mezzo Dance Company, we are offering Acrobatic Gymnastics sessions across both Pre-Prep and Prep in 2024/25. This is an exciting floor based gymnastic programme for boys and girls delivered by a company with over 40 years experience in teaching dance and gymnastics, and training children of all ages and abilities.
Working with our own Art Technician, Mr Ramsell, in our fantastic Creative Arts Studio, Prep children will be invited to take part in a broad range of creative activities using traditional and digital media. A fun way to improve hand-eye coordination, problem-solving, and self-expression.
We are delighted that coaches from the Aston Villa Foundation will be delivering football sessions for boys and girls across Pre-Prep and Prep in 2024/25. These sessions are aimed at improving core football skills in a fun and enjoyable way, and there will be lots of opportunity for match play within each session.
Miss Huang, our EAL Specialist, is looking forward to running the Mandarin activity that was established this year at The Blue Coat School for children in Year 1 and Year 2. Sessions have also been added for Year 3 and Year 4 children in the 2024/25 programme. These sessions are aimed at beginners to learn the Chinese language and explore Chinese culture.
Mr Fallowfield, an Accredited Coach of the English Chess Federation has run chess at the school for a number of years, giving some their first experience of the game as well as challenging our most accomplished chess players. The children also have the opportunity to participate in the largest chess tournament in the world: The UK Chess Challenge. This activity is now available for children from Year 1 to Year 6 and sessions are now available 5 days per week due to the growing popularity of these clubs.
Mr Hill, The Director of Digital Innovation at The Blue Coat School, will be running a coding activity for pupils in Year 2. This activity has only been running for a year now and the children who have participated have enjoyed it immensely. With the introduction of BCS Digital Learning into the Prep School, the children in Pre-Prep will explore some of the amazing coding applications that BCS have subscribed to.
As boys and girls cricket continues to grow and develop at the School, we are delighted that our long running partnership with Complete Cricket continues into 2024/25. Sessions are offered to Year 1 and Year 2, and these are open to both boys and girls. Sessions take place in the School Hall.
Journeys of exploration, discovery, and development unlock ideas through fun, hands-on arts and craft activities designed to attract, engage and delight all ages. This is the message from the Creation Station who deliver creative arts activity sessions to boys and girls in Pre-Prep, Year 3 and Year 4.
Drama remains a popular activity at The Blue Coat School for boys and girls in both Pre-Prep and Prep. Drama Club aims to build confidence, listening skills and concentration. Through role play and fun games, they can let their imagination run wild and have fun whilst learning. The children listen to poems and stories to create their own short pieces of work.
We are delighted to be starting our Prep Steps Ballet programme once more with with Elmhurst Ballet School for pupils in Year 1, Year 2, Year 3 and Year 4. Sessions are led by Mary Walsh on a Friday evening, who provides the highest level of tuition. Parents are required to drop off and collect Pre-Prep children involved in this activity but BCS staff will be able to drop Prep children to these sessions. All children must be collected promptly by parents at the end of each session. Further details re:clothing and hair requirements will be issued to those who sign up. For this activity, if requests exceed the number of places available, Elmhurst may want to engage with all interested participants prior to allocating places on the activity. Parents will be communicated with as necessary.
For the 2024/25 academic year, we welcome back Mr Roger Simmonds, from Birmingham Fencing Club, who will be delivering early morning fencing sessions to pupils across Prep. This year saw our first ever BCS gold medallist in the IAPS U11 fencing competition at Millfield School so we are eager to build on this momentum and develop our fencing provision at BCS. All equipment is provided but breakfast is not provided at the end of the session.
Once the new Atrium is completed in the heart of the Viney Building, a brand new Food Technology classroom will be established next to that space. Our catering team, Holroyd Howe, will be introducing short cookery/baking courses (i.e. 3 sessions over the course of a half term) for children and their parents to sign up to. More information will follow in the Michaelmas Term.
As we continue to build on recent developments in the sport at BCS, boys and girls in Year 2, Year 5 and Year 6 have the opportunity to join a weekly after-school hockey session. These will provide the appropriate balance between skill based activity and game play. Our team of qualified England Hockey coaches put the children through their paces on our School AstroTurf helping children develop in a sport that is increasingly played by many senior schools.
Mrs Foley, having taught LAMDA since 2005, will continue offering sessions for boys and girls in both Pre-Prep and Prep. These take place both before school and after school. Not only will the children develop an ability to be confident and expressive (exploring their talents through poetry), they will also learn conversational and listening skills, and develop an ability to be descriptive as well as measured and calm under pressure. A total of 112 distinctions were achieved this year in LAMDA examinations! Mrs Foley certainly gets results! Breakfast is not provided for the early morning sessions.
Miss Li, one of our Year 4 Form Tutors, will be bringing together a group of budding reporters who will work collaboratively to produce a termly BCS School Newspaper.
Separate sessions will take place for Year 3/Year 4 and Year 5/Year 6 but the articles produced by both teams will make up the final newspaper.
We are very excited to be offering Science Club to boys and girls in Years 3 – 6 delivered by Femtinos. Termly themes include NASA’s development and contribution to STEM, exploring the range of elements on the Periodic Table and empowering the children to learn more about how their bodies work and function. The cost reflects all equipment and materials which are provided and each session will be well staffed to ensure the best outcomes for the children.
These sessions are delivered by Lucy Abraham from the specialist language organisation BilinguaSing. The importance of the Spanish language is undeniable. Spanish is the official language of 21 countries and is spoken by over 420,000,000 native speakers. Boys and girls from Nursery to Year 6 will have the opportunity to learn the language in weekly after-school clubs.Â
Our BCS staff are excited to be hosting table tennis sessions for this academic year. These early morning sessions in the Sports Hall are available for boys and girls from Year 3 to Year 6. This is intended to be a fun activity that the children can enjoy before school. Breakfast is not provided.
In addition to the other clubs available, your child may get selected for one of the sport squads.
Selection will not be made until the start of an academic year.
Before and after school care in the Year Group Hubs is included within fees and no booking is required.
Bookings for after school clubs and activities is done at the start of each academic year. All parents will receive a full overview of the upcoming year’s activity timetable, associated costs and access to the booking form. Activities are allocated on a first come, first served basis. The pupil will then have a space on that activity for one term.Â
We recommend that pupils only participare in one activity per day.Â