Girls can join us from the term they turn 4 years old into our Rising Fives programme.  The Rising Fives programme is only open to those families who have already accepted a place for their daughter into our Reception class.

We take great care in helping girls make a seamless move to our junior school.  All pupils joining Reception are invited in for weekly settling in sessions from the May half term to help familiarise them with our teachers, classrooms and wider grounds.  This is also a wonderful way for them to start to build friendships with their new classmates.

For pupils joining year 1 and above, we offer taster days and a special moving up day in the summer term where they will spent time with the other pupils in their year and their class teacher.

We work closely with parents to support their daughter  emotionally as well as academically. We believe that girls do better when they feel better. Parents are given regular opportunities to share and celebrate every step of their daughter’s school journey.

Our CLIMB pastoral programme ensures that there are layers of support around our girls.  From form teachers, our junior leadership team and school nurse to our Reception staff, minibus drivers and catering team, we are all here for the girls.  Our “Speak Up” initiative gives all junior girls the chance to let us know every day, how they are feeling and if there is a particular member of staff they would like to speak to.

In Reception – Y2 students get a taster in a variety of languages throughout the year to expose them to different alphabets, ways of writing and a variety of cultures. Spanish, Hindi, Mandarin and Arabic. 1 hour per week

In Years 3 – 6 students study French for 1 hour per week, allowing them to get to know a language in greater depth.

Every class has two music lessons each week with our music teachers. Many pupils are of Grade 1 standard or above and are members of the Training Orchestra.

In years 5 – 6 every pupil takes part in our “Every child learns” programme with instruments given to pupils for a taster term (Y5 violin, Y6 trumpet). This is being expanded to include Y4 learning to play the clarinet.  These pupils have a term of lessons on these instruments, hoping to inspire a long-lasting love of playing.   Individual music lessons are available at school from Year 1. Over 88% of pupils in KS2 are learning a musical instrument with the majority of these lessons taking place in the Shrewsbury High School Music House.

Sport is inclusive and accessible to all. There are in house competitions and competitive matches and competitions against other schools at all levels, including against our sister GDST schools. We also enjoy an annual Sports Day. Camaraderie and team spirit are at the heart of our sporting ethos.

We have tennis and netball courts as well as indoor sports facilities. Reception -Year 2 develop coordination, balance and agility through multi-skill activities, regular ball skills practice, mini tennis, team games, gymnastics, and dance. Years 3-6 have games afternoons playing cricket, netball, hockey, tennis, and rounders. KS2 move on to develop skills in athletics, football, gymnastics, sports acrobatics, and dance. Weekly swimming lessons take place in Years 1-6 at the Quarry Swimming Pool.

A child’s worldview and social skills are shaped at a young age.  The recent GDST Girls’ Futures report, a nationwide survey on girls from state, independent and GDST schools showed the power of a GDST education in boosting a girl’s confidence and resilience, for example aged 9 GDST girls are as confident as boys at taking risks, both at 69%, compared to less than half of non-GDST girls.  GDST junior school pupils are more like than their non-GDST peers to say school prepares them to communicate well with others, feel prepared to make a difference in the world, be creative and make decisions by themselves.

To see the full report, visit The GDST Difference – Girls’ Day School Trust

From our established junior gardens, to the magical walled orchard, forest school, outdoor classroom and sports field, our junior girls have the beautiful outdoor spaces of our historic Town Walls site to enjoy.

Based on the riverside and next to the beautiful Quarry Park in the centre of Shrewsbury, our junior girls also make the most of our location to take nature walks, move science lessons out into the outdoors along the riverbank and run around the park in their co-curricular cross country club.

All classes have a weekly computing lesson. Computing is an integral tool within the curriculum with an emphasis on computer science, information technology and e-safety. All pupils have access to their own iPads and technology is fully integrated throughout the junior school in our bright and airy classrooms.

We offer a full and varied range of educational outings, as well as on-site visits by speakers, workshops leaders, and authors.  Junior pupils also take part in a number of GDST events throughout the year, from GDST English Workshops at the Globe Theatre to the GDST Junior Science Conference at the Royal Institution.  Regular GDST sports rallies also see our junior girls competing against sister GDST schools across the country.

Residential trips are offered to Years 5, and 6.

Children can arrive between 8am and 8.25am

The academic day finishes at 3.45pm but junior girls are welcome to stay with us until 6pm, either taking part in an after-school club or as part of our after-school care.

We offer free wrap-around care from 8am until 6pm – to help support our busy parents, children do not have to be booked into this afterschool care so if a meeting is running over, or you are stuck in traffic, you can be reassured that your daughter will be taken to our after school club.

We offer around 35 junior clubs during the week, before school, during lunchtime and after school, from Dance, LAMDA and Football, to Eco Club, Junior Rockband and Craft and Create.

We offer over 8 bus routes bringing pupils into school from all around the County – from Bridgnorth and Church Stretton, Ellesmere and Market Drayton.  Your daughter will have the same minibus driver every day and our drivers walk our junior pupils in and out of school every morning and afternoon.

We are very proud of our ‘one school’ ethos and the vast majority of our Junior School pupils do move through to the Senior School. To make this transition as smooth as possible, we organise a number of events during year 6 and our Sixth Formers work with our year 6 pupils as part of the “Six and Sixth Programme” to help girls make the move up to senior school with confidence.

Whilst our year 6 pupils can choose to sit the senior school entrance exam and scholarship assessments, they don’t have to – their place has already been secured in our senior school.

We do not offer financial assistance in the Junior School but there are scholarships and bursaries available into the Senior School.

We are extremely fortunate to have a supportive and collaborative parent body and we welcome parents’ involvement in all aspects of school life.  Parents will regularly be invited into school to see their daughters perform or lead a class assembly.  Every term we hold SLT Parent Breakfasts for parents to come into school and have an informal coffee and pastry with other parents and members of our Senior Leadership Team. The Friends of Shrewsbury High School help to organise charity and community work within school and run some fantastic parent events throughout the year from the annual school Quiz and Ceilidh to the spectacular Summer Ball.

You should register your interest in joining the school via the Admissions page of our website. We recommend registering in the autumn of the year preceding entry. Your daughter will then be invited to attend taster days ahead of her joining the school.  We are happy to receive mid-year applications and the admissions process is simple and straightforward.