All About Prince George’s Upcoming School Curriculum (It Reads Like a College Graduate Program!)
When 6-year-old Prince George steps into his Year 2 classroom at Thomas’s Battersea on September 5, he will be embarking on a demanding new school year.
The future King’s year-long curriculum includes core subjects such as math, English, science, history and geography. He will also be taught religious studies, French, computing, art/design technology, music, drama, P.E. and ballet.
“The curriculum presented in Year 2 reflects the increased ability of the children, both academically and socially,” Helen Haslem, Head of Lower School, says on the school’s website. “It sees the completion of the basic skills in literacy and numeracy in Key Stage 1. Individual strengths and talents begin to emerge, which you will undoubtedly begin to see.”
“The children are asked to become more responsible in Year 2; this may start with the children recording their own homework in their diaries,” Haslem continues. “This increasing independence allows for a smooth transition to the Prep School.”
George’s parents, Kate Middleton and Prince William, will be in charge of keeping George on task when it comes to his daily homework. He will be sent back to the palace with 10 minutes of reading homework every night. In addition, a spelling rule will also be sent home each week. Twenty minutes of another task may be set on occasion — number bonds, times tables, a short written activity or a creative, research or practical activity.
George will also be developing his language skills through poetry reciting, telling stories and reading aloud to a group. And he will be perfecting his writing, including learning cursive.
He’ll also attend a 35-minute French class once a week. In addition to learning the language, students will learn about the French way of life. A 40-minute weekly drama class will then aim to teach communication skills, self-expression and empathy.
George will attend a music class twice a week that will include teachings from Mozart, Beethoven, Haydn and the Classical era. George will also continue to work on his dance skills with a 35-minute ballet lesson each week. (Each class is accompanied by a live pianist!) The curriculum follows the Royal Academy of Dance Pre-Primary in Dance syllabus and will develop students’ physical skills, stamina, creative, expression and musicality. Prince William says George “loves” his ballet classes, which he started taking in Year 1.
The $23,000-a-year establishment, which is about four miles south of the royal family’s Kensington Palace home, is “a big, busy, slightly chaotic school for cosmopolitan parents who want their children to have the best English education money can buy,” The Good Schools Guide says. “That is what they want and, to a large degree, that is what they get.”
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A source previously told PEOPLE that the royal is “very happy” at his school, where he is known as George Cambridge. And younger sister Princess Charlotte, 4, is gearing up to join her big brother for the first time at school this year. “She can’t wait to be with George at big school” an insider says. “She’s so excited about it all.”
