Digital Literacy & Bridewell AI in Prep

Our digital literacy programming, including our Bridewell AI for older pupils, plays an important part within our delivery of an age-appropriate curriculum, catalysing pupils’ learning, particularly by developing critical thinking and deepening knowledge.

At Barrow Hills, our Computing and Digital Literacy curriculum encompasses coding, web and app design, robotics, and AI, with digital literacy acquisition equipping pupils to use technology effectively, responsibly, and ethically. Each and every classroom is supported by large and accessible smart screens to bring visuals and concepts to life.

We work innovatively across the Bridewell schools and in partnership with the Universities of Surrey and Royal Holloway, University of London. Together, our pupils, teachers, and research partners have co-designed a local, safe, and bespoke AI system, built to scaffold children’s achievement around our curriculum and our core values of inclusion and excellence. Maintaining the ‘human in the loop’ is central to our approaches when applying cutting-edge technology, ensuring our pupils are equipped with the skills and ethical understanding to thrive in the future.

In an era where the allure of screen time can detract from the wonders of childhood, we ensure that our use of technology is considered, meaningful, and designed to raise the bar for academic outcomes.

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Take a look at our older children developing our Bridewell AI with the Universities of Surrey and Royal Holloway in 2025

Embracing the positive in Prep

By the time pupils reach Year 4 and beyond, a laptop—alongside traditional text and exercise books—accompanies them from lesson to lesson, serving as a transformational learning aid.

In Prep, key benefits of our curriculum include the use of data loggers in Science, allowing pupils to access real-time feedback on experiments and draw evidence-based conclusions from investigations. Across the wider curriculum, augmented reality headsets enrich topics such as ancient history, while 3D printers bring creativity to life through art and design projects. Our fully equipped Mac studio enhances the Music curriculum, giving pupils the tools to develop their understanding and creativity in music composition.

Each and every classroom is supported by large and accessible, networked smart screens to bring visuals and concepts to life.

As a Bridewell School, we engage in research-based innovation, collaborating with universities and specialist technology partners to drive bold developments that benefit all our pupils. Our older pupils harness Bridewell AI to enhance their learning across subjects from English Literature to History.

Our Bridewell AI aims to be ‘AI for Good’ and keeps the teacher at the centre, with technology serving to strengthen critical thinking and deepen subject knowledge and understanding. We operate our own closed-system AI, supported by the infrastructure at our sister school, King Edward’s. Built around our curriculum, our ethics, and our design principles, it provides an advanced and secure tool for learning.

Our teaching incorporates the best of academic and creative practice and is delivered using state of the art technology.

Our role as educators is to treat each child as an individual and provide support as they pursue their journey towards independence.

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Forest School and Ecology in Pre-Prep

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