Thomas' schools - academic curriculum

[NunsOnTheRun]

I'm interested in the Thomas' schools but was wondering if any one knows whether the curriculum they teach is a year ahead of the actual year? For example, in year 2 do they teach year 3 material? I know that some of the academically selective prep schools teach a year ahead, so am wondering if Thomas' do this.

Absolutely all preps say that.

And the top sets might really be doing that.

Thomas group is academically sound, I wouldn't worry about standards.

These top London private schools are usually not full-on teaching the year group above's curriculum, just going deeper and teaching at a higher level as the cohort is academically able. Less time is spent on recapping or getting the absolute basics as generally between the school and involved parents, content is well-retained and taught to a greater depth.

For example, they won't teach how to add fractions a year before the national curriculum says to. But they will go into more detail in fractions and the children will have all got it to a much more solid level. They will be able to do puzzles with fractions and explain them. In science they might go into more depth in topics and do more complicated experiments, they may do more complicated puzzle problems in maths more regularly, teach how to write more and to a higher standard in English earlier.

This might change in Year 4 where schools start thinking ahead to 11+ and will bring some content forward. Especially in higher sets where children will be aiming for very top schools or scholarships. Same with pre-preps preparing for 7 or 8+ ...but there are few of those now.

Thomas's is academic but it does have a decent range of abilities, especially compared to many other London privates. So I imagine while it does push children on, it isn't to the same extent of some of the more old fashioned and traditional preps or super-selectives.

The expectations are higher and the general working level of the class is higher - but with some children at the tail end which is when it might not be the right place.