Prep School - Junior Primary to Grade 4
The Prep School is a special place where children are challenged to try new things, to discover and to learn in a secure, supportive environment. Students enter the Prep School in Junior Primary and proceed to Grade 4 in our own unique version of a Junior School. It’s all about great beginnings, talented faculty, and the individual attention the children receive to guide them through these important formative years.
Junior Primary (Ages Three and Four)
Our Junior Primary class follows the Emergent Curriculum model, with a team approach to teaching and learning. We have staffed the Junior Primary with an 8 to 1 ratio, consistent with Nova Scotia Community and Family Services regulations. These faculty members are Early Childhood Education (ECE) Specialists.
Academics
The nurturing academic development begins with our Junior Primary teachers. Students are encouraged to ask questions and to explore newly discovered ideas. In a warm, supportive Prep School environment, the children receive the individual attention they need to journey confidently through the Prep School.
Students receive a strong foundation in literacy, numeracy, science, and French, with teachers who differentiate the curriculum to appropriately support each student. Our Prep School course descriptions can be found online.
Students receive a strong foundation in literacy, numeracy, science, and French, with teachers who differentiate the curriculum to appropriately support each student. Our Prep School course descriptions can be found online.
Arts
Students explore their creative talents through visual art, music, and drama, beginning in Junior Primary. Highlights include Grade One's Monet Picnic at Point Pleasant Park - a celebration of their study of Impressionist masters. In Grade Two, Picasso, Kandinsky and Mondrian come alive as the students try their hand at Cubism and Abstract Expressionist projects.
In music, students begin with the basics and progress to reading and writing music, using the recorder, in Grade Four. All students in Grades Three and Four are members of the Prep School Choir, which performs at school events, as well as in the community.
Drama is an important part of the Prep School, beginning with our youngest students. Great traditions include Senior Primary's Peter Rabbit, Grade Two's Medieval Feast, and the Grade Four's musical production of children's favourites, such as Treasure Island, The Wizard of Oz, and Robin Hood.
Athletics
Daily physical education classes allow students to develop coordination and skill as team players. They have a lot of fun at the same time. Extra-curricular sports include running club, sports club, swimming, cross-country, and badminton.
Altruism
At Grammar, Prep School students begin to see themselves as part of a larger community. They participate in traditional initiatives such as the Terry Fox Run, and Unicef, but also forge links to their own community. Students support local families during the holiday season and perform for seniors at nearby nursing homes.
Beginning in Grade Two, Prep students act as reading buddies with their friends in Junior Primary and continue this mentoring relationship as they progress through the grade levels.
Prep students learn from older students as well, with the "Snuggle Up and Read" program, in which Senior School students work on building reading skills with the little ones. School-wide spirit building activities such as "Goofy Games" days are a wonderful way for our youngest students to connect with students across the grades.
Halifax Grammar School is the leading independent, co-educational day school in Atlantic Canada. From Junior Primary through Grade 12, the Halifax Grammar School is an environment where passionate teachers challenge students to develop confidence through independence, where coaches and advisors encourage students to pursue excellence through effort, and where a community fosters in students a lasting commitment to helping others.