From the acres of playing fields to the warmth and liberating atmosphere of the Art, Design Technology and Engineering building, Howe Green House School has a rich and surprising variety of facilities, creative indoor and outdoor spaces and beautiful buildings at its disposal.
Each classroom is bright and spacious, with breakout areas for individual or small group work in the pre-prep with purpose built environments blending seamlessly with the charm of period buildings to create a unique ‘campus’ where children feel safe and inspired.
Little Oaks Lodge houses Little Oaks Nursery. Free flow from inside to out enables the children to make the most of their spacious all weather play areas and generous gardens. Imagination and creativity abound as they work and play joyfully in these safe environments.
The historic main school building, known as Chestnut House is home to the administration ‘business’ end of the School. Here you will find the school offices, including the Senior Deputy Head – Academic and Deputy Head – Pastoral, as well as the Bursar and her team.
It also accommodates the main Music Room, where the children are taught by a subject specialist right from Reception all the way to Year 6 and is where the three school choirs (& the Parents’ Choir) rehearse each week. Individual music lessons take place around the school, including the Mozart Room and even in the high tech ‘Drum Truck’! In addition the Library and Science Rooms are also housed in this building.
September 2020 saw the opening of our fabulous new oak framed building known as Mulberry Lodge a replacement to our original portakabin building. Mulberry Lodge is completely self contained and accommodates the Reception class children.
The lively and industrious classrooms of Year 1 and Year 2 are housed in The Hornbeams, a building located centrally within the site.
Breakfast club and after school care are currently accommodated in Little Oaks Lodge , a generously sized space with its own kitchen and bathroom facilities as well as a separate large and secure garden for outdoor play.
A substantial and well-resourced library allows for a plethora of research and reading for pleasure with something to suit all tastes and abilities. Networked PC’s as well as a bank of iPads and laptops – enabling both the teaching of discrete computing skills such as coding, spreadsheets, research and word processing as well as utilising constantly evolving educational Apps to support each curriculum area’s work across the school. Our IT support is on hand to provide support from here, for both the children and for the smooth running of the school’s systems.
The outdoor play areas, used for playtimes, consist of both grassy, tree filled areas – within which the school pond nestles – and play equipment such as the wooden adventure playground, Pirate Ship, and vast sandpit are all widely used.
A hard court area is available for ball games such as basketball, football and netball as well as the occasional bout of traditional playground games such as hopscotch and skipping.
The Bayford Hall is a beautiful, vaulted, beamed building – where a myriad of activities occur. From providing the location for Celebration and Class Assemblies, through ballet, gymnastics and basketball, via lunch, orchestra and the location of ‘Little Oaklets’ our parent and toddler group – it is the central point of the school in more ways than one. It is a hive of activity at all times – and has been the venue for many Christmas Fayres and quiz nights organised by the Parents and Friends of Howe Green House.
A drama studio is housed above the Bayford Hall, and is used principally by a drama specialist teacher who teaches throughout the prep school and who produces, alongside the Head of Music and class teachers, the annual summer school production and pre-prep Nativity play.
The Cedar Wall building is a fabulous, purpose built, eco-classroom block designed to accommodate the Prep Department. All children in Years 3-6 receive the bulk of their lessons in these classrooms and all their personal equipment is stored in the ample locker rooms within. Designed to be cool in the summer and warm in the winter, this sedum roofed and cedar clad building contrasts pleasingly with the more traditional and historic areas surrounding it.
Sport at Howe Green House is a vital part of school life. Specialist PE teachers and coaches can be found on the netball and tennis court, in the Bayford Hall, or on one of the three fields where the pitches and athletics areas are located. The largest of these fields, Ladywell Field, is a spacious 7 acre ground where multi-school tournaments are often hosted and cross country practice and events are held.
Sometimes it is the most unusual spaces which demonstrate the strongest elements of life at Howe Green House School. Two of these are the Wilderness Space, a nature area equipped with rustic seating areas and wild plants and mini-beasts to discover and study and the Howe Green House Orchard. A place with heavily laden apple trees, whose fruit is collected by the children and transformed into apple juice which is sold to raise money for the Head Pupils nominated charity.
