Curriculum

What is a Cognitive Curriculum?

NHP’s cognitive curriculum combines academic learning with the explicit teaching of thinking skills. Our admitted pupils build an awareness of themselves as learners from their earliest days at the school, using a toolbox that includes:

• Thinking Maps
• De Bono’s Six Thinking Hats
• Philosophy for Children (P4C)
• NHP Habits and Values

Rather than treating mistakes as failures, the approach encourages pupils to learn and develop by trying, getting things wrong, and trying again. By building resilience alongside academic knowledge, pupils are gifted with a 21st-century education that reflects the wide-ranging and fluid needs of modern life.

Our dedicated Thinking School drive team continually reviews our cognitive curriculum and applies new pedagogical strategies across the school to ensure all teaching is relevant for leavers’ destinations.

Independent Learning

Instilling a love for learning also means cultivating self-reliance and a sense of autonomy. We celebrate our pupil’s curiosity during lessons and encourage them to ask questions and utilise their own thinking to arrive at answers.

Our fully outfitted library offers a haven for children who wish to advance their learning in their own time, with a large selection of both fiction and non-fiction books appropriate for ages 4-13.

Critical Problem Solving

Thinking Maps are visual learning tools that use patterns to link thought processes, helping turn abstract thought into a concrete image and unlocking our pupils’ critical thinking skills.

Students can break down topics and see the patterns between subjects and topics more clearly, building cognitive skills and enabling critical examination of topics or concepts.

Reflective Learning

De Bono’s Six Hats is a simple framework that provides examples of the different ways we think and, once learnt, gives students an independent learning tool they will use for life.

Here is a breakdown of the six hats:

Metacognition

Philosophy 4 Children, or P4C, is taught to every year group from Reception, using a discussion-based approach in which pupils develop and explore philosophical questions together.

Thinking about thinking, or metacognition, is an important aspect about NHP. It has been proven to build communication skills and independent reasoning and links closely to our existing PSHE and Humanities lessons.

Collaborative Learning

These cognitive curriculum skills do not exist in a vacuum; our students need to ensure they can collaborate with one another and foster a pleasant, communicative environment.

You can see for yourself at our open days how our Rabbits with the Habits are placed around the school, promoting a code of ethics and behaviour that teaches our students to make good personal choices and be considerate members of the community.

Learn about our Philosophy

Preparation for senior school entrance begins well before the exams themselves. From Year 5, English and Maths teaching incorporate focused preparation for 11+ and 13+ pre-tests, so pupils are familiar with question styles and expectations ahead of formal assessment.

In Years 7 and 8, pupils follow the Common Entrance syllabus, which allows continued breadth of teaching while meeting senior schools’ entry requirements.

As part of the Dukes Education family, fees-paying NHP pupils may also be offered priority entry to other Dukes senior schools at 11+ or 13+ – subject to meeting each school’s own entrance criteria – which can reduce some of the uncertainty of the process.

Discover Senior School Outcomes

Thinking School Methodology

NHP is the first and only independent prep school in England to be awarded Advanced Thinking School status and remains one of only two schools nationally to hold this accreditation within the primary category. NHP has been a Thinking School since 2014, achieved Advanced Thinking School accreditation from the Cognitive Education Development Unit at the University of Exeter in 2021, and was reaccredited in March 2024.

This approach shapes teaching throughout the school: pupils build resilience and flexible thinking through a culture that treats mistakes as part of the learning process, so that when exams and assessments arrive, pupils are equipped to approach them with confidence rather than anxiety.

We hold regular Open Mornings throughout the year, and admissions staff are happy to arrange an individual tour for families who can’t make a scheduled date:

Book an open morning Arrange a private tour Contact admissions

95 Lancaster Road,

London

W11 1QQ

020 7221 0727

admin@nottinghillprep.com