Welcome to The Abbey Senior School
This is an exciting stage for our students. A time of transformation, discovery, rising to new challenges and building new friendships. It’s also a time of challenge as children become young adults and begin to step into a complex and competitive world as individuals.
At The Abbey Senior School, our team of dedicated experts is here to nurture, inspire and support students and families at every step of the way. From the moment each young person arrives through our doors, we want them to feel at home, making the transition from Junior to Senior School as comforting as it is stimulating and wondrous. Our ethos is one of inclusivity and care, both for each other and the world around us.
Academic excellence is a part of who we are – but not the most important part. Our students achieve outstanding academic results, but they do so as a consequence of our focus on building happy, free-thinking, confident learners throughout every aspect of school life – and beyond.
We encourage students to take ownership of their learning, fostering independence and growing their self-awareness. We seek to provide real-world opportunities that go beyond the classroom, allowing students to explore, identify and cultivate their passions. Every individual arrives at our school with a rich palette of her own unique colours – our task is to recognise, value and embrace them in all their glory. Whatever your daughter’s enthusiasm, there will be an activity just right for her and lots of new things to try.
As our students reach the Sixth Form, they will have become independent, self-aware young women prepared to follow their own path, who possess the skills and resilience to cope with the curveballs that life will inevitably throw.
Above all, The Abbey is about creating happy, balanced students who treasure their school days.
An open door and a warm welcome await you.
Dr Sarah Tullis, Head
“Achievement becomes a natural process of growth and curiosity. Seeing it happen is magical.”
School day
There is no typical school day at the Senior School: every single day will bring fun and variety and challenge!
Timings, however, do remain consistent. Students are in forms to register at 8.30am. Many may have been at school already, taking part in an activity, having breakfast or just spending some time with friends before the school day begins.
Pastoral time in the morning, from 8.30am to 9.00am, is one of the most important parts of the day. We have two assemblies a week: one to reflect, which is a moment of stillness, peace and thought, and one to celebrate, which often features high-energy student performances and celebration of all the wonderful things students have been up to!
The rest of the day has four lesson blocks, starting at 9.00 and finishing at 3.45pm. Students may have two single lessons within one double block, or focus on one subject for the double-period. Between each block there are breaks: morning break at 10.15am, lunch at 11.50am, afternoon break at 2.15pm.
Lunchtime is another highlight. We have two spacious dining halls and a Sixth Form cafe, so everyone can get their lunch quickly and have time to enjoy it with friends. Most students will also have a lunchtime club or activity. If they don’t, they might be in the library or outside. There are no phones at school from Upper III (Year 7) to Lower V (Year 10), and every day sees students just… playing, chatting, laughing, enjoying each others’ company.
After school there are more activities. Many students take a bus in the morning and after-school, but on some days will have a fixture or activity before heading home. And students are always welcome to stay on and complete their homework or some reading in the library until 5.45pm if that’s more convenient for them and for families.
Lower School (Years 7-9)
The first three years of Senior School are some of the best on offer! There’s no pressure of public examination and students are free to explore their interests, working out who they are and who they want to be.
Our students start Upper III (Year 7) coming from such a wide range of backgrounds. Just under half the year group are from the Junior School, but they are starting afresh, just like everyone else. The Upper III bonding day in September is an annual highlight, with everyone working in House teams on a day of full challenges and games. That continues with pyjama parties, excursions, dances, and a host of events throughout their first three years at school (with parents often invited to have slightly more sedate parties of their own in a very different part of the school!).
Our curriculum in Lower School is sector-leading, developing all the skills, independence and initiative students will need in their futures. Whether it is teaching cognitive psychology to every student in Upper IV (Year 9) or taking students off-timetable to work in mixed-age groups on exciting projects, there is so much going on and so much to look forward to.
Students keep track of all the opportunities around them via iPortfolios: records of all they are learning, discovering and exploring. This leads to exhibitions showcasing all they’ve done as they graduate on to Upper School.
There are so many clubs for Lower School students too, as well as opportunities to get involved in whole-school trips and activities through the house system and make connections with older students.
Upper School (Years 10-11)
A new uniform and a new start! At The Abbey Upper School is known as the ‘black jumper’ years, with extra privileges and responsibilities alongside the new dress code.
This is when students start really to own their learning. All students study six core GCSEs: two English qualifications, Maths and three sciences. Alongside that they choose four subjects of their own from our extensive list.
In all areas of life they also learn to become leaders. They mentor younger students and help to organise activities. They take more of a leading role in clubs. They will often take leading positions in orchestras, drama groups, teams and workshops. There are more career opportunities, from seminars to working lunches.
Alongside this they have a new area of the school that becomes their own and Upper V (Year 11) have their own Common Room and a full programme of engagement with Sixth Form. And hot chocolate in breaks!
