- 08 December, 2023
- Kingscast, Tudor House, Year In Review
Welcome to Tudor House
The King’s School, Tudor House is the Southern Highlands campus of The King’s School, catering for 250 girls and boys from Pre-Kindergarten to Year 6. Standing proudly on a foundation of more than 120 years of outstanding primary school education, our unique regional setting provides a holistic education focusing on care, curriculum and communication, nurturing children to become lifelong learners and global citizens.
With superbly-resourced indoor and outdoor learning environments, our co-educational environment offers an education with a difference for the inquiring young learner, in a setting that both engages and inspires. In 2022 Tudor House celebrated 125 years of educational excellence.
Co-education
The King’s School, Tudor House provides education for boys and girls from Pre-Kindergarten to Year 6.
Our inclusive community encourages the development of students with inquiring minds and compassionate hearts.
Our inclusive community encourages the development of students with inquiring minds and compassionate hearts.
Co-education
The King’s School, Tudor House provides education for boys and girls from Pre-Kindergarten to Year 6.
Our inclusive community encourages the development of students with inquiring minds and compassionate hearts.
Our inclusive community encourages the development of students with inquiring minds and compassionate hearts.
Meet the head of Tudor House
Mr Adam Larby
BA (USYD), MTeach (USYD), MEd Lead (UNSW)
Mr Adam Larby was appointed Head of Tudor House, effective 1 January 2022. His commencement year was significant as the School celebrated 125 years since its foundation.
Before joining The King’s School, Adam served as Deputy Head of the Preparatory School at Shore’s North Sydney Campus for six years. Followed by Acting Head of Shore’s Preparatory, covering the long service leave of the Head of the Preparatory School.
Prior to Shore, Adam was employed at Claremont College for over seven years. During his time there he undertook a number of roles starting as a Music teacher, then classroom teacher and later joining the Senior Executive team at Claremont.
Throughout his career, Adam has contributed significantly through the development and co-creation of many new initiatives.
Adam joined the Tudor House community with his wife Lyndel and their four children, Stella, Alexis, Florence and James.
Academic Approach
The challenges today’s students will face as tomorrow’s leaders involve working more closely across geographic borders, with people who have different backgrounds, beliefs and experiences.
Diversity and global citizenship are our common future.
At Tudor House, our teaching and learning programmes nurture and develop children as caring, active participants in a lifelong journey of learning.
The School is an authorised International Baccalaureate Primary Years Programme (PYP) School.
Delivering inquiry-led, transdisciplinary learning experiences, our students are challenged to think for themselves and take responsibility for their learning with the Primary Years Programme framework. Guided by six transdisciplinary themes of global significance, students deepen their learning by developing their conceptual understandings; strengthening their knowledge and skills across and beyond subject areas.
Tudor House students explore local and global issues and investigate opportunities in real-life contexts. PYP students take control of their learning, collaborating with each other and their teachers to deepen student learning and increase their confidence and self-motivation. We develop students’ academic, social and Academic emotional wellbeing, focusing on international-mindedness and the School’s values.
Our wonderful school community partners with our students in learning, actively contributing to a holistic educational experience.
Our students benefit from rich learning experiences in addition to their regular classroom activities. They participate in specialist classes in Music, Visual and Performing Arts, a language in addition to English (French), Physical Education, Sport, Woodwork, STEM and our renowned Outdoor Education program, Kahiba.
Fostering an inclusive environment and with a comprehensive, whole-school approach to supporting all students, The King’s School, Tudor House, provides evidence-based, best-practice learning opportunities to support learners with additional needs. Multiple methods are used to identify students. Support for students is developed at the whole school, class, small group and individual level, in response to need.
The Education Support Services (ESS) team works closely with class teachers to maximise learning across all areas. Valuing family partnerships, and with strong links to community support services, the School works collaboratively to enhance every student’s unique learning needs.
Valuing diversity, the School encourages all learners to work towards their potential. The School supports Gagné’s Differentiated Model of Giftedness and Talent. A comprehensive assessment program supports the identification of students requiring extension and enrichment, in addition to teacher feedback, parent information and formal reports.
The School’s teaching and learning model is designed to enhance learning at all levels. Within the Inquiry model, class teachers programme for differentiation using the principles of Universal Design for Learning.
Extensive opportunities for development also occur through co-curricular activities in a range of academic, sporting and creative domains.
Our Pre-Kindergarten class warmly welcomes boys and girls five days a week from Monday to Friday, 8.30am to 3.30pm.
Learning through the characteristics of play and collaboration is at the heart of teaching our smallest learners.
To help children adapt, integrate and transition to Kindergarten, we provide them with hands-on experience in the classrooms of our older students, with the assistance of support teachers. In our outdoor space, Pre-Kindergarten students explore and try new activities encouraging the development of enquiring minds.
The Paddock to Plate program is a highlight of the Pre-K experience with students growing and harvesting produce, including apples in our orchards, watermelons, pears and berries. ‘Chicken Duty’ is eagerly anticipated with the opportunity to feed the chooks and collect eggs. The lovingly grown produce is then shared and celebrated with other students in the Dining Room.
The Pre-Kindergarten classroom in the Lower Primary Precinct, allows students from Pre-Kindergarten to Year 2 to interact positively with each other in a safe space. This provides the opportunity for the youngest Tudorians to learn by example as older students role model traits of leadership.
The Pre-Kindergarten program focuses on Phonological Awareness, Literature and Mathematics. Specialist classes include Music, French, Woodwork, Art, PE and Biblical Studies. The completion of the five day per week Pre-Kindergarten Program promotes a smooth transition into Kindergarten. Tudor House offers 20 places in Pre-Kindergarten for boys and girls, who have had their fourth birthday by 30 April of their entry year.
Character Development
Co-curricular activities enable students to build emotional and social skills such as resilience, persistence and cooperation. The King’s School, Tudor House offers an extensive co-curricular program encompassing both sporting opportunities and a wide range of creative and performing arts activities.
The health and wellbeing of our students is supported with a range of sports including Soccer, Rugby, Cross Country, Athletics, Swimming, Triathlon, Softball, Cricket, Water Polo and Snowsports.
The annual Triathlon (3-6), Billy Cart Derby (PK-6), Ashes Cricket (Boarders vs Day Students), Rugby and Cricket Tours are much anticipated events on the School’s annual calendar.
One of the most popular activities at Tudor House is our renowned Kahiba program. With origins in the Cub Scouts movement, outdoor education has been a long-standing tradition of the School and provides students with the opportunity to build resilience, resourcefulness and character.
Linked to the curriculum outcomes, Kahiba challenges students physically and intellectually as they navigate outdoor life skills.
The meaning of Kahiba originates from the Aboriginal word for ‘young’. With this in mind, our teachers deliver a program of activities across the School and in residential camps.
Our own 169 acres of bushland provides students with the weekly opportunity to enjoy Kahiba where they participate in activities ranging from canoeing, archery, base building, fire building and management, fishing, first aid, knot tying, tree climbing, orienteering, or competing on the 32 modules of the low ropes course. Years 5 and 6 cook their own lunch in preparation for the privilege of weekend camping on the grounds afforded to Year 6 students.
Students also participate in the maintenance of our farm through the Paddock to Plate program, where they learn to plant, grow and nurture vegetables, fruit and animals. The resultant bounty is then used in our Dining Hall where we can all enjoy the products of the children’s hard work.
Tudor House students have a wide range of opportunities that enables them to participate in performing. Whether it is a recital showcasing individual musical talent, singing with the Choristers, competing against their peers in poetry recitals, ‘spelling bees’ public speaking, or performing in the annual Talent Show, our students become engaged and confident in front of an audience.
Each year the Year 6 students perform in a musical. Directed by teachers and supported by the Music Department staff, these performances are an extravaganza.
Professional sound technicians are engaged to ensure all students are seen and heard at their ‘performance best’ with everyone including parents and friends joining in to build magnificent sets and outstanding costumes.
In addition to the wide range of activities on offer every day, we also have a number of extra-curricular activities held both on and off-site in which our children participate. The program includes tennis coaching, swimming lessons and squads, an equestrian program at nearby Rosthwaite Farm, Soccer, Rugby and Cricket clinics, Chess Club, Lego League, Dance, Debating and Snowsport lessons and training during the winter months in the Snowy Mountains.
All of these activities contribute to forming stronger friendships between students and help to continually build on skills they will continue to use throughout life.
Community
At The King’s School, Tudor House, the focus is on our students. We recognise that each individual is special and has their own unique set of strengths and areas for growth. We aspire to celebrate and command each student for progress in their personal endeavours, scaffolding them to succeed and overcome challenges.
The dedicated staff provide exceptional pastoral care across Home Rooms, Colour Families and Boarding, ensuring students have multiple pathways of support during their journey at school.
The King’s School is one of Australia’s largest boarding schools with The King’s School, Tudor House catering for our youngest boarders from Year 3-6.
The wellbeing of each student is paramount at Tudor House. Each member of staff is carefully selected for their experience and devotion to helping students reach their full potential as they grow as lifelong learners.
Students belong to Colour Houses: Red, White or Blue, for the duration of their time at Tudor House.
Colour Families are smaller groups formed from each Colour House. These families are vertically grouped and designed to foster the essential development of peer-support networks within the School.
Each Colour House has a Housemaster who provides pastoral support and encouragement.
Students from Pre-Kindergarten to Year 6 are allocated to a Colour House in which they compete at sporting events and weekly activities. Colour Families and a member of staff meet as a group fortnightly to help each other and connect and play with children of different age groups.
Boarding students enjoy a strong network of residential staff, which ensures a family environment exists where pastoral care and attention are available, day and night.
Each new student at Tudor House is assigned a ‘buddy’ from the same year group providing crucial peer support for social and emotional wellbeing for new students.
Pre-Kindergarten and Kindergarten students are assigned a Year 5 and Year 6 buddy respectively to ensure a smooth transition to School and particularly life in the playground.
All buddies display the qualities of empathy, kindness and tolerance which are embedded into the values of our School.
Senior School Transition
Boys at Tudor House enjoy preferred entry to The King’s School Senior campus for Year 7. This makes for a seamless transition as boys join the Senior School with an established friendship group.
During the years spent at Tudor House, cross-campus activities promote the development of a sense of belonging to the broader King’s boarding community.
After School Care:
We appreciate that many of our families work longer hours than the regular school day.
To support them, we offer after school care for Pre-K until 5.00pm and for Kindergarten to Year 6, children can stay for prep (homework time) and even dinner with pick up at 6.30pm.
To support them, we offer after school care for Pre-K until 5.00pm and for Kindergarten to Year 6, children can stay for prep (homework time) and even dinner with pick up at 6.30pm.
Facilities
Set on 169 acres, Tudor House offers exceptional indoor and outdoor learning facilities that provide space for children to learn through active investigation and exploration.
A blend of historic buildings, modern classrooms, a welcoming boarding house, bush trails, campsites and excellent sporting facilities provide children with a unique environment in which to learn and grow.
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