Isa schools Volume 10

ISA Schools in action News from the regions

Also inside...

Working towards resilience Teaching British values and tackling extremism Confessions of a drama queen Skills build – forward thinking careers education www.isaschools.org.uk ISSUE 10

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Welcome to the tenth issue of ISA’s magazine for Member schools

“January is here, with eyes that keenly glow, a frost-mailed warrior striding a shadowy steed of snow.”

Edgar Fawcett.

Well, it’s now February but the frost-mailed warrior is still firmly with us in the form of the latest iteration of the ISSRs. And it’s interesting to see how much of the general burden is being placed on schools through the latest revisions. The Government has a problem with radicalisation, so they expect schools to police this for them. If you don’t quite yet see the link, please check out the article on tackling extremism and fundamental British values in this edition of the ISA Journal. It’s apposite, I feel, given that the Counter-Terrorism and Security Bill is just clearing its final hurdles in Parliament. While not necessarily concerning themselves

with radicalisation, staffrooms across the country have been buzzing with talk of FBV, with tolerance, cynicism and resilience in the face of England’s recent World Cup record all featuring (I suspect).

To rekindle the spirit, the photos of events at ISA schools across the country are always recommended.

Despite financial and legislative pressures, ISA schools are remarkable in providing wonderful opportunities for pupils to explore their own talents, and our Sporting Times update provides a further snapshot. We also feature a selection of entries from the National Art Competition (check out the “hand”) as well as the Membership Officer’s take on the importance of drama in our schools (Carey isn’t really the drama queen that she makes out).

There’s a fascinating and personal update on Careers Education, as well as a self-indulgent exploration of selection in ISA schools, taken from a future Civitas publication.

With very best wishes from all of us at ISA – please get in contact if ever we can help.

Neil Roskilly CEO, ISA

Managing Editor Neil Roskilly

Marketing & Communications Officer Angie Shatford

Editor Caroline Scoular

Publisher Sean Ferris

News Leigh-Anne Ogilvie

Circulation Jon Hardy

The Independent Schools Association (ISA) exists to provide professional support to Headteachers of independent nursery, prep and secondary schools, and sixth form colleges. t: 01799 523619 f: 01799 524892 Independent Schools Association 1 Boys’ British School, East Street, Saffron Walden, Essex CB10 1LS

ISA Journal is published by ALCHEMY CONTRACT PUBLISHING LTD, Gainsborough House, 59/60 Thames Street, Windsor, SL4 1TX For editorial, publishing and sales enquiries: e: info@alchemycontractpublishing.co.uk t: 01753 272022 f: 01753 272021 www.alchemycontractpublishing.co.uk www.isajournal.co.uk

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THE ISA JOURNAL THE MAGAZINE FOR INDEPENDENT SCHOOLS

welcome

Meet the Team

THE ISA JOURNAL THE MAGAZINE FOR INDEPENDENT SCHOOLS

Moyles Court

contents 6

News from the ISA areas From helicopter heroes to authors and adventurers – ISA schools are as busy as ever!

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Contacts How to reach ISA’s Area Committees.

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ISA Awards: spotlight on winning schools Claires Court in Berkshire was the winner of ISA’s first ever Community Award at the inaugural ISA Awards.

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Skills build – forward thinking careers education Careers Coach Amy Rowson explains how schools can help students to identify and present their skills to potential employers.

Gaining with training ISA’s latest news on courses, conferences and training programmes.

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Teaching British values and tackling extremism Teresa Hughes explains why schools are now at the frontline of tackling radicalisation and extremism.

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Learning that works Over 120 Heads and Senior Leaders from schools across the UK attended ISA’s Autumn Study Conference in Leicestershire at the end of last term.

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Working towards resilience Juliette Fardon, Head of Curriculum Support at King Alfred School, discusses how teachers can motivate the disengaged student who may have a learning difficulty.

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News bulletin ISA Annual Conference to be held in Manchester (30 April - 2 May 2015), ISA Awards date announced and watch out for new controversial baseline assessment tests.

Selection for dummies ISA’s CEO Neil Roskilly takes an indepth look at selection in independent schools.

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Confessions of a drama queen Carey Dickinson, ISA’s New Membership Officer, explains the importance of drama in the independent curriculum.

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Artists in the making It proved to be another year of outstanding talent at the 2014 ISA National Art Competition.

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Wonders of the web Do you know your cookies from your breadcrumbs? Read this helpful glossary to make sure you’re up to speed with techno-speak!

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The art of productivity Increasing productivity is a golden chalice. But contrary to popular belief, just checking tasks off a to-do list isn’t necessarily the answer, explains Ilya Pozin from Ciplex.

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Web trends in 2015 Here we look into some exciting web trends that will feature in 2015 and consider how schools can prepare for and benefit from them.

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Sporting Times Spotlight on Bredon School, ISA National Swimming Finals (and the journey to the Olympic Pool!) plus an ISA Sports Roundup .

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THE ISA JOURNAL THE MAGAZINE FOR INDEPENDENT SCHOOLS

s a e r A A S I e th m o fr s New

Nativity scene School in Gosfield St Margaret’s Prep ional tment to the tradit mi showed their com ry eve one g by holdin school nativity play to Christmas. day in the run up

Bah humbug!

Pupils at LVS Ascot School marked the start of the festive season by staging an adaptation of Charles Dickens' classic book A Christmas Carol. A talented cast was headed by Louis Richards, 16, who took the title role of Ebenezer Scrooge.

troubles Pack up your th Form Senior and Six t ur Co es air Cl rousing d an ic a nostalg pupils staged vely War’ at Lo a at Wh ‘Oh performance of uction term. The prod the end of last r in a wa of s tie ali re e reflected on th serious way. humorous yet

Diplomats Adcote Sixth Formers particip ated as delegates in a Model United Nati ons Conference at Manchester Univ ersity in November. Each pupil represen ted a different country, and role−pl ayed as UN diplomats and delegates.

Viva L’Espana Year 9 pupils from Ditcham Park School enjoyed a cultural visit to Spain. The students visited Madrid, Avila and Salamanca as part of their week−long tour.

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THE ISA JOURNAL THE MAGAZINE FOR INDEPENDENT SCHOOLS

People Who Help Us ro held a ‘People Who Help Us Polwhele House School in Tru of the local community. bers Day’ to celebrate helpful mem ‘flying’ visit from the Royal Pupils enjoyed a very special King helicopter and met Sea Navy’s Search and Rescue medics. and e polic I, RNL l with the loca

Young adventur ers Reception pupi ls from Alton Convent School in Hampshire ha d a day of advent ure at their loc al Field Studies Ce ntre. The visit included a trek along the gravel bed of a river.

Children also learned how to mould clay mud .

were Catering award Modern School am at Bedford n’s tio cia The Catering Te so il As awarded The So ly. delighted to be ing Mark recent ter Ca fe Li r fo Bronze Food

Kinniya King Alfred King Alfred School in North London raised over £3,000 in a special Christmas Appeal to support the Kinniya King Alf red Pre−School in Sri Lanka.

The Pre School was founded by King Alf red School 10 years ago following the 2004 Tsunami.

Emilia’s got The Voice! lme Grammar Emilia Cooper from Hipperho ointed Head app been has ax Halif in School l. The Year 10 edra Cath d Chorister at Bradfor cathedral the with ing sing been has pupil hted to delig was and s, choir for many year . role us tigio pres this ed be offer

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THE ISA JOURNAL THE MAGAZINE FOR INDEPENDENT SCHOOLS Cole, Steve Cole Steve Cole, author of the new Young Bond novel, Shoot to Kill, visited pupils at Leehurst Swan School in Salisbury recently.

Steve thrilled students with a talk on the history of espionage and a gripping reading from his new book.

Soccer in No Man’s Land ball School in Ringwood held a foot Students from Moyles Court 1 War ld Wor the of y enar cent the match in December to mark ers emb Rem ball Foot was part of the Christmas Truce. The match FA. The and ncil project led by The British Cou

Christmas Jumpers Students and staff at The Webber Independent School don ned their festive woollies to rai se money for Save the Children’s Christmas Jumper Day. The mo ney raised will help save children’s lives around the world, from Syria to Liberia and Brazil to Bangladesh.

Target Two Point Zero A Level Econ omics students fr om Sackville scho ol in Hildenborough won the regional heat of a competition organised

by The Bank of England and The Times newspaper last term.

The Target Tw o Point Zero Interest Rate Challenge sa w teams of students analyse economic da ta in competition with schools loca lly.

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THE ISA JOURNAL THE MAGAZINE FOR INDEPENDENT SCHOOLS

CONTACTS FOR ISA AREA COMMITTEES EAST ANGLIA Area Coordinator thehead@saintnicholasschool.net President lindsay@greenblade.plus.com Chairman barbaraharding@woodlandswarley.co.uk Secretary ph@woodlandsschools.co.uk Treasurer stuartn@ccss.co.uk Sports Coordinator rturner@thorpehall.southend.sch.uk Sports Rep Head admin@stmargaretsprep.com Arts Coordinator richards@ccss.co.uk LONDON NORTH Area Coordinator headmistress@lyonsdownschool.co.uk Chairman cosborn@normanhurstschool.co.uk Secretary klovejoy@coopersalehallschool.co.uk Treasurer head@francishouseschool.co.uk Sports Coordinator tendaihuntley@hotmail.com Sports Rep Head d.berkin@groveindependentschool.co.uk Arts Coordinator mimc@hotmail.co.uk LONDON SOUTH Area Coordinator office@vfps.org Assistant Area Coordinator head@steephill.co.uk Chairman head@oakhyrstgrangeschool.co.uk Vice Chairman head@westlodge.org.uk Secretary jane.beales@hernehillschool.co.uk Treasurer stdavids@dial.pipex.com Sports Coordinator manola@bishopchallonerschool.com Sports Rep Head peter.kelly@cumnorhouse.com Arts Coordinator head@sacredheartwadhurst.org.uk

LONDON WEST Area Coordinator principal@hurstlodgesch.co.uk Assistant Area Coordinator headmaster@lyndhurstschool.co.uk Chairman headmaster@lyndhurstschool.co.uk Secretary carolinegoodsman@gmail.com Treasurer jtw@clairescourt.net

Keith Knight Paul Spendlove Barbara Harding Paula Hobbs Stuart Nicholson Richard Turner Elaine Powling Richard Swift

Lynn Maggs-Wellings Claire Osborn Kaye Lovejoy Helen Stanton-Tonner Tendai Huntley Deborah Birkin Mim Clark

Meg Baines Caroline Birtwell Alex Gear Susan Webb Jane Beales Ann Wagstaff Manola Toschi-Restivo Peter Kelly Hilary Blake

Vicky Smit Andrew Rudkin Andrew Rudkin Caroline Goodsman James Wilding

Sports Coordinator daniel.winch@ballardschool.co.uk Sports Rep Head headmaster@lyndhurstschool.co.uk Arts Rep principal@hurstlodgesch.co.uk

Daniel Winch Andrew Rudkin Vicky Smit

MIDLANDS Area Coordinator hm@oldvicarageschool.co.uk Assistant Area Coordinator head@knollschool.co.uk Chairman head@heathfieldschool.co.uk Vice Chairman rmw@castlehouseschool.co.uk Secretary headmaster@stedwardsjunior.co.uk Treasurer headmaster@dagfaschool.notts.sch.uk Sports Coordinator lhovland@stdominicsschool.co.uk Sports Rep Head headmaster@bowbrookhouseschool.co.uk Arts Coordinator head@ruckleigh.co.uk NORTH Area Coordinator sj@qe.org Assistant Area Coordinators margaret.denton@btinternet.com Chairman headmistress@greenbankschool.co.uk Vice Chairman martinlloyd@avalon-school.co.uk Secretary nairnj@bwslive.co.uk Treasurer headteacher@forestschool.sch.uk Sports Coordinator angela.davis@hullcollegiateschool.co.uk Sports Rep Head info@beechhouseschool.co.uk Arts Coordinator info@beechhouseschool.co.uk SOUTH WEST Area Coordinator hm@hatheropcastle.co.uk Assistant Area Coordinator headmaster@polwhelehouseschool.co.uk Chairman headmaster@trinityschool.co.uk Secretary thehead@parkschool.com Treasurer bursar@trinityschool.co.uk Sports Coordinator sam.matthews@stjosephscornwall.co.uk Sports Rep Head headteacher@stjosephscornwall.co.uk Arts Coordinator cairnsp@trinityschool.co.uk INSET Coordinator headmaster@moylescourt.co.uk

Matthew Adshead Nigel Humphreys Roger Brierly Richard Walden Stephen McKernan Peter Woodroffe Louise Hovland Chris Allen Barbara Forster

Steven Jandrell Margaret Denton Janet Lowe Martin Lloyd Judy Nairn Rick Hyde Angela Davis Kevin Sartain Kevin Sartain

Paul Easterbrook Alex McCullough Tim Waters Jane Huntington Shaun Dyer Sam Matthews Sue Rowe Pat Cairns Gregory Meakin

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THE ISA JOURNAL THE MAGAZINE FOR INDEPENDENT SCHOOLS

GAINING WITH TRAINING ISA COURSES ISA’s Professional Development Programme is growing, and this year includes over 40 courses for ISA schools. The programme aims to keep Heads and staff up to date with the latest educational thinking and practice, equipping schools to deal with everything from inspections and tracking to SEN and safeguarding.

New courses for this academic year include The Can Do SENCO, which offers practical advice on the most effective strategies for the management of whole school SEND provision,

and CEM Assessment and Tracking, which looks at how monitoring and assessment systems can benefit schools.

ISA schools preparing for inspection can now choose from four different courses including the invaluable Preparing Your Inspection Documentation and Inspections The Regulatory Requirements – which highlights the most recent changes in compliance.

For more information on how ISA courses can benefit your school contact ISA’s Professional Development and Training Officer Alice Jeffries: alice.jeffries@isaschools.org.uk.

MARCH

APRIL

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EYFS COURSE Venue: Alderley Edge School for Girls, Wilmslow Road, Alderley Edge, Cheshire

CURRICULUM PLANNING Venue: Cranage Hall Hotel, Holmes Chapel, Cheshire

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APPRAISAL AND PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT Venue: Cranage Hall Hotel, Byley Lane, Holmes Chapel, Cheshire

PRIMARY CEM ASSESSMENT AND TRACKING Venue: Cranage Hall Hotel, Holmes Chapel, Cheshire

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HEADS’ PAS AND SCHOOL ADMINISTRATORS’ COURSE Venue: Lady Barn House School , Schools Hill, Cheadle, Cheshire

SECONDARY CEM ASSESSMENT AND TRACKING Venue: Cranage Hall Hotel, Holmes Chapel, Cheshire

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30 April-2 May

PRIMARY CEM ASSESSMENT AND TRACKING COURSE Venue: CCSS, Kirby Building, 59 St Barnabas Road, Cambridge

ANNUAL CONFERENCE Venue: The Midland Hotel, Peter Street, Manchester

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MAY

SECONDARY CEM ASSESSMENT AND TRACKING COURSE Venue: CCSS, Kirby Building, 59 St Barnabas Road, Cambridge

20 THE CAN-DO SENCO: A COMMON SENSE APPROACH TO MANAGING TODAY’S SEND PROVISION Venue: Waltham Abbey Marriott Hotel, Waltham Abbey, Essex

JUNE 4 EYFS Venue: Pitsford School, Northampton

9 SCHOOL DEVELOPMENT PLANNING – WRITING WORKSHOP Venue: ISA House, Great Chesterford, Essex

11 APPRAISAL AND PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT Venue: ISA House, Great Chesterford, Essex

16 12 INSPECTIONS - PREPARING YOUR DOCUMENTATION Venue: tbc

DEVELOPING INSPECTOR SKILLS TO RAISE STANDARDS Venue: ISA House, Great Chesterford, Essex

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ADDRESSING LEARNING DIFFICULTIES THROUGH THE INSTITUTE FOR NEUROPHYSIOLOGICAL PSYCHOLOGY (INPP) SCHOOL MOVEMENT PROGRAMME Venue: LVS Ascot, Berkshire

INSPECTIONS – THE REGULATORY REQUIREMENTS Venue: ISA House, Great Chesterford, Essex

24 USING ICT TO INFORM THE SECONDARY CURRICULUM Venue: King Alfred School, Manor Wood, London

24 DEPUTY/ASSISTANT HEADS’ CONFERENCE Venue: St James Junior Schools, London

Further information and online booking can be found on our website.

Visit: www.isaschools.org.uk 10

• www.isaschools.org.uk

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TEACHING BRITISH VALUES AND TACKLING EXTREMISM Teresa Hughes explains why schools are now at the frontline of tackling radicalisation and extremism.

One of London’s top comprehensive schools and the war in Syria don’t have much in common. That is until last year when two former students of the school went to fight for ISIS. Mohammed el-Araj and Mohammed Nasser, both in their early 20s, travelled to the Middle East in 2013, not long after graduating from the Holland Park School. Both were killed on the battlefield.

Speaking about Nasser, his teacher commented to the Sunday Express newspaper: “I am just surprised in some ways it was him above all people, in that he had such a big heart. That just goes to show the power of the radicalising message that even the loveliest ones can make terrible mistakes.”

That Araj was radicalised was less surprising to the teacher. “I would not have been surprised if I had found out that he had got into a gang or into crime because like so many of his peers he was searching for meaning and a community and the school was not able to give it to them.”

Araj and Nasser are not the only Britisheducated young people who have been radicalised in the UK and then gone to fight – and die – for ISIS. Extremists promoting radical messages to young people, with methods remarkably similar to those that sexual predators use to groom their victims, have spread their message across the UK. However, Nasser and Araj’s story highlights the difficulties that schools face in identifying and managing radicalisation and extremism.

The recent attacks in Paris – and the attackers’ reported isolation, radicalisation, and history of teenage criminality1 – once again highlighted the urgency of the task facing British schools, as it is young people in particular who are at most at risk of encountering extremist ideologies.

Government guidance Despite the scale of the challenge, the Government has shown that it believes schools should play a key role in tackling this threat. New measures proposed under the new Counter-Terrorism and Security Bill will place a statutory duty on educational 12

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Teresa Hughes

“New measures proposed under the new CounterTerrorism and Security Bill will place a statutory duty on educational institutions to prevent the radicalisation of their students and staff.” institutions to prevent the radicalisation of their students and staff. Increasingly, educational institutions will be on the front line of its counter-terror efforts, expected to both protect students from radicalisation and to give young people the skills needed to resist extremist influences.

Islamic extremism isn’t the only radical ideology that the government is committed to defeating, according to Home Secretary Theresa May. “There are threats from around the world and threats originating at home... Threats that relate not just to Islamist extremism – although that is by far the most dangerous – but from the far right, Northern Irelandrelated terrorism, and others. Plots that aim to kill hundreds and even thousands of people, and plots that target specific victims because of who they are and what they stand for. Plots that try to wreak enormous damage on our economy. Cyber threats

from hostile foreign states and from terrorist organisations. Radicalisation taking place behind closed doors in mosques, homes and community centres, but also in schools, universities and prisons,”2 she said in a November speech detailing the proposed counter-terrorism bill.

In an attempt to head off extremism before it begins, the Government recently introduced new guidelines for schools to actively promote British values. Coming on the heels of the “Trojan Horse” scandal in Birmingham, the guidelines state that schools must have a clear strategy for teaching British values and must show how it has been effective. The new Independent School Standards Regulations re-inforce this, and clearly state that schools must not undermine fundamental British values through their teaching.3 “We want every school to promote the basic British values of democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty, and mutual respect and tolerance for those of different faiths and beliefs. This ensures young people understand the importance of respect and leave school fully prepared for life in modern Britain,” said Lord John Nash, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Schools, in a statement in November.4

Who is at risk?

While radicalisation and extremism may appear to be in a frightening league of their own, the process of manipulation and exploitation can be closely compared to sexual grooming, particularly where the internet is involved. Extremists seeking recruits use similar tactics, including establishing a rapport and building trust before asking followers to act.5 They share compelling but distorted information with their targets and – because this information is online, unchallenged and without context – it is more likely to resonate. Other methods, such as displays of affection and prizes, are similar to those that cults use to attract new members.6 Reassuringly, the tools that schools need to fight radicalisation and extremism are no different than the ones currently in use to

Resources for schools There is support at hand for schools both in terms of how to educate students about extremism and how to identify and prevent it from taking hold.

Prevent, the UK’s counter-terror strategy, emphasises the role that schools must play in tackling extremism and radicalisation. It

“Islamic extremism isn’t the only radical ideology that the government is committed to defeating, according to Home Secretary Theresa May.”

Theresa May

equates safeguarding children from extremism with the many other threats that schools address.

“Schools can help to protect children from extremist and violent views in the same ways that they help to safeguard children from drugs, gang violence or alcohol... The purpose must be to protect children from harm and to ensure that they are taught in a way that is consistent with the law and our values,” reads the Prevent strategy.8 It also emphasises the scope for “positive intervention in the radicalisation process before a law enforcement response is required.”9 “Taking early action to protect people from radicalisation is not the same as surveillance or intelligence gathering. It is intended to preempt not to facilitate law enforcement action.”

To support the guidelines laid out in the strategy, the government developed the early intervention, multi-agency programme Channel to protect vulnerable people from being drawn into terrorism. It works to identify, assess and support individuals at risk.

Since its inception in 2007, nearly 4,000 people have been referred to the scheme.

Between 2007 and July 2013, more than 750 were school age children, according to the Daily Telegraph.10 There are also a host of online resources for head teachers and school staff looking for strategies to prevent radicalisation and to promote British values. For example, Prevent for Schools has information and resources available on its website: www.preventforschools.org.

In addition, e-safeguarding software such as Securus Education can help alert schools to indicators of extremism and radicalisation that occur electronically. It also flags any instances of bullying, inappropriate language, explicit images, sexual exploitation, indicators

of emotional distress or searches for harmful websites. These are captured by its intelligent monitor and staff are alerted to take appropriate action. This early intervention can be crucial in identifying, and subsequently correcting, the behaviour of the students involved. It also helps schools to shape the behaviours needed for a safe life online.

It is key to recognise that fighting radicalisation and extremism is a process, not a one-time offering: “As the pace of globalisation and technological change accelerates, young people are exposed to a variety of opinions, beliefs and cultures like never before.

Extremists are using this change to their advantage, adapting and finding ever more creative ways to spread their message and promote violence,” said Charlotte Keenan, Chief Executive of the Tony Blair Faith Foundation.

“Education remains by far the most powerful tool to puncture extremist narrative and influences. The impact on a school child of educating them and exposing them to the concept of diversity, difference and mutual respect cannot be underestimated. It is the key to achieving the tolerant and openminded societies of the future.”11 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

The Guardian,12 January 2015 Home Secretary Theresa May, 24 Nov 2014 Independent School Standards Regulations Jan 2015 ibid www.pri.org - 14 Jan 2015 ibid Youth Justice Board - Process Evaluation of Preventing Violent Extremism Programmes for Young People Prevent - www.gov.uk ibid The Telegraph - 22 July 2013 Tony Blair Faith Foundation – The Role of Education in Countering Extremism

Teresa Hughes is Head of Strategy at Securus Software (www.securussoftware.com) and Director of Girling Hughes Associates. A former police detective with extensive experience in child protection and online safety for young people, Teresa regularly delivers training and safeguarding advice to staff, parents and students.

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THE ISA JOURNAL THE MAGAZINE FOR INDEPENDENT SCHOOLS

safeguard children from online grooming other threats. Young people who go on to commit acts of terror don’t decide to do so in one day. It is almost always a gradual process, meaning that there is time for schools to identify worrying signs of radicalisation.

What can schools do to identify students who may be particularly at risk?

The Youth Justice Board, in a report evaluating violent extremism programmes for young people7, identified some of the characteristics that mark those susceptible to involvement in extremism. Although the report deals with one particular type of extremism, some of its points can be broadened to apply to children at risk of any type of radicalisation.

• An ‘emotional vulnerability’ or being in some state of distress (with feelings of anger, alienation or disenfranchisement).

This can be linked to feelings of being culturally uprooted, displaced or being socially and spiritually alienated and marginalised. It can also include searching for spiritual guidance.

• A sense of dissatisfaction or disillusionment with mainstream political or social protest as a method to produce political change.

• In the case of Islamic extremism, an identification with the suffering of Muslim victims globally or experience of personal victimisation, including racism.

• Conviction that violence against the state and its symbols can be morally justified (and such a conviction can be ‘finely tuned’ by a religious figure).

• Gaining rewards from membership of the group/movement (friendship, a sense of belonging, status, respect, authority over other members).

• The perception of personal marginalisation combined with the perception of Western double standards in foreign policy.

• A number of other ‘non-religious’ behaviours and attitudes, including coming into conflict with existing mosque authorities concerning the theological legitimacy of violence or an interest in literature about what one can or cannot do to ‘kafir’ (unbelievers).

THE ISA JOURNAL THE MAGAZINE FOR INDEPENDENT SCHOOLS

WORKING TOWARDS

RESILIENCE

Juliette Fardon, Head of Curriculum Support at King Alfred School, discusses how teachers can motivate the disengaged student who may have a learning difficulty and may have developed significant and effective barriers to learning.

There is thoughtful and considered research on what qualities a “successful and enlivened” student might embody but there is a lack of information about the steps a disinclined and disempowered student might take in order to engage more. How can we nurture the essential elements we want our young people to develop such as perseverance, resilience and resourcefulness? By developing their resilience, we can help students become more independent and remain curious in order to engage with problem solving, and help them develop a sense of optimism and connect socially.

In my experience it is possible to help a student to develop the ability to be reflective, to pause and review what and how they are learning and consider their behaviour. This way, the student changes their unproductive behaviour and they can develop and apply new skills. If they are not aware of their own purpose and intention of being at school, they will be shaped by external factors and are less likely to feel connected and engaged.

Students need to develop an awareness of how they operate in the school context and they need our support to actively manage and influence their own behaviour and to engage with their own creativity and sense of self-worth. By encouraging students to change the way they talk to themselves, providing small achievable tasks and helping them take risks with their learning, they increase in confidence. When students begin to feel relaxed, supported and valued, they are more able to respond to the high 14

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expectations and challenges made of them.

Case study At King Alfred School, we encourage resilience through role modelling, challenging with care, listening and supporting.

A Year 8 student was of concern to staff.

He was distracted in lessons, frequently calling out, playing the class clown and more interested in impressing classmates than the teacher. His homework was limited and rarely handed in on time. He would arrive late to lessons and would be challenging towards staff. He was often the first to rush out of the class whenever possible. He seemed to be inappropriate in his responses in class discussions, so his teachers were concerned that his level of understanding was weak. He was also experiencing problems at home.

This student was proud and did not see the point of coming to support lessons.

He would say such things as “I’m not stupid” and “I don’t need to come, there’s nothing wrong”.

He had successfully built up strategies to cover his difficulties and distract the teacher from the real issues he was experiencing. My first task was to help him feel comfortable with coming to my lessons. I did this by building on my

Juliette Fardon

experience of his natural curiosity and sense of humour. He was a sporty and popular member of the class, so drawing on his interest in football it was possible to sustain his interest and build his confidence.

He was a child who was pushing the boundaries at home and at school so I tried to find ways to help him feel contained: for example, it was important that I let him know that I was in regular and frequent contact with his teachers and that they were giving me feedback about tasks I had set him. He couldn’t wriggle out of things; a habit he had also developed. So setting up small manageable aims for him each week such as putting up his hand in certain lessons,

“In my experience it is possible to help a student develop the ability to be reflective, to pause and review what and how they are learning and consider their behaviour.”

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which he agreed to, was one of the ways to help him move forward. For the first time in a while he began to get some sense of achievement. However, he still resisted coming and his written work was so poorly punctuated and structured that it was hard for anyone to read. He also would not read any book or text books, didn’t see the point of it and found it difficult. At that time he rushed all of his work to get it over with as quickly as possible. He certainly didn’t see the point of school.

Encouraging a sense of responsibility Gaining acknowledgement for his behaviour was an important aspect of our discussions. I asked if he was aware just how often he distracted others in class and did he do it because he didn’t understand the task? We talked about his calling out and the teacher’s response and whether he felt he was told off for calling

out even though his answer was correct.

He began to acknowledge his behaviour and we worked out strategies for him to behave less impulsively. We also tackled homework, as this was often left to be completed at the last moment before handing in or not done. We reviewed how he worked, where he worked, what time he had, when he had the most energy and how long it took him to get down to anything. As with most other children (and adults), he left everything until the last moment. This gave him no chance to come back and ask for help at school and left him no possibility of doing a piece well.

Barriers to learning We used metaphors to explore his difficulties. He described sitting down to do his homework as like ‘looking at a brick wall.’ So he drew this wall in detail and wrote single words on the bricks to indicate his fury. He then told me what he

wanted to say to this wall and what was stopping him from working, until the wall had metaphorically shrunk in its dimensions and he could see over the top of it and around it. This work helped him feel less overwhelmed and he found a way of managing his own anxiety about his block of sitting down to work.

As metaphors had been useful before, and I felt he was a visual learner who related well to symbols and pictures, I asked him what it would feel like to go on a mountaineering trip with his friends and then discover he had gone up a different mountain from them, without the right equipment while the weather began to change. He was now looking across at all his friends who were waving at him from the other mountain. This analogy worked for him. It dawned on him that his rushing in one direction without pausing to consider the path ahead didn’t sustain him. We found pictures of a mountain range that he liked www.isaschools.org.uk

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and copied it into his homework diary to remind him of what he needed to do.

This is when the biggest shift happened.

He no longer rushed. He took the time to write down his homework correctly. If he didn’t understand, he began to ask teachers before he went home for the evening. He came and showed me his work before handing it in. A significant shift was made.

Support structures Then we examined his organisational skills. He began to work out a structure with me that was unique to him: unusually he worked best in the morning, so we put structures in place to help him do what he said he would do every morning. Having the experience of committing to something and fulfilling it, was also important. I held him very firmly accountable for his actions. If he reneged, then he lost out on the satisfaction of doing something he said he would. Slowly he began to have a different view of himself. He was beginning to have a sense of empowerment; his homework began to be given in on time, he no longer called out in lessons nor was he late. Alongside all of these shifts were his significant issues with literacy. We began to find reading material that interested him and we planned out when he could do his reading during the week, a time that didn’t interfere with his “free” time.

Even now at the beginning of Year 10 he is reading nearly a book a week. Despite this progress, he was still keen not to be known as a student needing to come for support and wanted to stop. This was difficult: his teachers knew he still had significant weaknesses in understanding and writing skills, even though his focus 16

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Barriers to learning: • Tell me – what are you aware of as you enter into the classroom? (thoughts, feelings, emotions) • What is it like for you being in that particular class?

• What do you know about what gets you down? Irritates you? Makes you lose motivation?

• What do you know about when you “zone out”? How long does it go on for?

How do you bring yourself back into the lesson?

• What stops you from sharing your ideas or engaging in the lesson?

• What’s the impact on you of handing homework in late? Can you think of any advantages of doing the homework the day you receive it?

• If you could change one thing within your control – what would it be?

• What small steps do you need to take to make a difference?

Juliet Farndon is Head of Curriculum Support at King Alfred School in North London.

and concentration had improved and his attitude was positive in class. So we made a pact - he could stop coming if he continued to use the strategies he had begun to develop, that he was always to ask for help when he needed it and that he was to put more effort into the work in class. His determination and hard work, commitment and energy carried him through the next term independently. He proved to himself what he could do.

While he still has issues with literacy, which are not going to disappear miraculously, he has now developed the skills which will help him overcome his difficulties rather than allowing these difficulties to overcome him.

Accepting help is to acknowledge one’s own vulnerability which any selfrespecting teenager may not be willing to admit. Our role is to guide the student, working with their learning difficulties and personal strengths, so they are clear about their own purpose and intent and thus can more willingly engage with their learning.

Support structures: • What do you think are your strengths?

• What strategies do you use at the moment which are effective?

• What support can I give you that might be helpful?

• Before you enter the classroom pause and think - how do I want to be in this lesson today?

• In which lesson can you take a risk to put your hand up and engage, even if you are not sure of the answer?

• What qualities do you have which help you move forward? Where do you already demonstrate these qualities?

• What sustains you? What do you find nurturing?

Self-talk: • I have noticed you say “I can’t”. What happens when you add “yet” to “I can’t?” Does that open up more possibility? “I can’t, yet” or “I don’t know how to, yet”?

• I have heard you add the word “but” a few times – what happens when you exchange the word “but” for “and”?

This might allow both things to be possible.

Questioning and interaction When working with students, the question I often ask myself is ‘How can I improve the quality of my questioning and interaction to empower the student sitting in front of me?’ Below are examples of questions that prompt thoughtful discussion:

King Alfred School is an informal independent day school in Hampstead, North London. www.kingalfred.org.uk

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SELECTION FOR DUMMIES ISA’s CEO Neil Roskilly explores selection in ISA Schools as part of a new Civitas publication.

Browsing the shelves at my local Waterstone’s the other day, I came across Catholic High School Entrance Exams for Dummies. As well as containing six fulllength admissions tests, it’s full of helpful if rather obvious advice such as, ‘don’t pay attention to other test takers’, and, ‘don’t waste your time on hard questions’. I think I know what it means.

You would have guessed by now that Catholic High School Entrance Examinations for Dummies is targeted at the North American market, where I am sure it remains a best-seller. Yet given the number of revision guides and practice books available on Amazon’s UK site, I suspect that we are not far from seeing, ‘Common Entrance for Dummies’. This wouldn’t be surprising, given that parents crave all the help they can get when swamped in the mire of private school entrance procedures.

In addition to this burgeoning sector of the publishing industry, parents are regularly bombarded by specialist tutors and agencies who promise to provide the necessary edge in return for hard-earned cash - a multimillion pound business in itself. As Gregory Ratoff said, ‘You’re a parasite for sore eyes’.

On the face of it the choice seems simple enough for parents. If you’re happy with competitive selection and see it as a prerequisite for the future success of your progeny, you target a selective school and pitch your child into its formal admissions processes, most commonly at the age of 11 or 13. A child’s current school may already be assisting of course, with a curriculum devoted to competitive entry, often through ISEB Common Entrance (CE) or other admissions examinations specific to senior schools. CE is a traditional approach favoured by preparatory schools who may be tied to a single senior institution or, more commonly, furnish children on a best-fit basis to a range of senior schools with varying entry demands. Parents often select a feeder school on their preconceptions of its success in this capacity, even when resulting in a child “over-reaching” and struggling later. In turn, Junior/Prep. schools commonly employ prescribed formal entrance examinations and interviews from the age of seven, with lessformal ‘entrance screening’ based on 18

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Neil Roskilly

assessments of socialisation for the 0-5s.

Yet traditional entry routes are under pressure and examinations like Common Entrance (CE) are becoming Less Common Entrance. Some senior schools now accept results of a prep school Baccalaureate (PSB) aimed at assessing a wider array of knowledge, understanding and skills than features under CE. Others are employing new approaches collectively described as ‘pre-testing’, which may include bespoke or nationally benchmarked assessments in fields such as maths, English and verbal/non-verbal reasoning, perhaps even part of a taster or selection day (or longer) at a senior school. Success at such pretesting may initiate the offer of a place, conditional or not on subsequent CE success. Also increasingly common is the chance to circumvent senior competitive selection entirely by signing up a term or even a year earlier than customary, an offer occasionally accompanied by the promise of fee remissions to cover any contractual ‘in lieu’ arrangements. As you can imagine, this annoys prep and junior schools considerably.

Many independent schools moved away from rigid entrance procedures as a result of having their selective fingers burnt on more than one occasion in the last twentyfive years. The 1991 UK recession brought high interest rates, falling house prices and an overvalued exchange rate. For all but the highly selective, adhering rigidly to an

established entrance formula resulted in what many saw as falling standards, as schools tried to counteract diminishing demand by lowering their entrance thresholds. However, schools combatting the recession by lowering their ticket price experienced a double-whammy when the impact of declining entry demands hit the league tables five or seven years later. These influential lists are important for pupil (and even teacher) recruitment in selective independents. Suddenly discovering that you have sunk to the lower divisions rather torpedoes a selective marketing strategy i.e. reputation - carefully constructed over many years. Many private schools ‘reevaluated’ and converted to the benefits of a more flexible entry policy in areas such as mid-year transfers, early entry and (for boarding schools) weekly and flexiarrangements. From now, keeping to a rigid selective approach was a luxury fewer could afford.

Following their chastening experiences of the 1990s, the UK’s private schools were generally better prepared for the Great Recession that followed the banking crisis in 2008. Yet the timing of this could not have been more difficult. Pressures of increasing bursary provision to justify public benefit for charitable trust schools combined with rising household debt, erosion of ‘grey pound’ pensions that often pay school fees, structural unemployment in key independent school constituencies and limited forward growth prospects. Some of the recent bursary expansions, now estimated to be worth £780 million annually within ISC schools, can be attributed to negotiated fee discounts. If they hadn’t done so before, schools rushed to reach out to ‘new purchasers’, many of whom assume that rigorous selection comes hand-in-hand with their purchase choice, which in turn proved to be an impediment to further market penetration.

Some felt the need to advertise for the first time, even adding expensive marketing functions that created further tensions within the sector. Others looked overseas.

Yet escalating competition wasn’t the only issue schools have faced since 2008.

Underlying the squeeze on numbers was the real cost of private education. Among

Academic admissions

Tim Lello, Babington House School

other consequences, this created a relatively new phenomenon: a significant parental faction targeting specific key stages for independent education, with the chosen point of entry dependent upon the local variability of alternative high-quality state education. For these parents, it’s the perception of what constitutes a good school in addition to affordability that matters, not whether it’s private or maintained.

So schools have had to adapt their entrance procedures accordingly. Yet selection is further complicated by parents in catchments for one of the 164 statefunded fully selective schools in England, many of whom see independent schools as a form of insurance offer. They regard entrance tests, whether for local grammars or for private schools, as simply part of the same process, often engaging their children in both. For these parents, it’s a ‘good’ school that matters but the psychology underpinning this is equally important: highly competitive entry is a given, whether for the state or private systems, and there’s social cachet to be gained through engagement in any selective system.

Selective schools of all persuasions use such positive associations as effective marketing,

albeit for the most part subliminal.

Of course, it would be wrong to imply that the experiences of private schools since the 1990s have destroyed all notions of selection. Highly-selective admissions mechanisms are still prevalent and schools adopting this traditional approach go on to apply streaming and setting rather than mixed ability approaches in the classroom.

(Indeed, multiple-form entry non-selective

Private schools appreciate that highlyacademic selection procedures are attractive to many parents. Tim Lello is the young head who runs the enormously popular ISA School Babington House in leafy Chislehurst. Outstanding in every category at its last Independent Schools Inspectorate (ISI) inspection, Babington is a typical allthrough (3-18) girls’ secondary with co-educational junior and senior sections.

The school has recently initiated academic admissions after previously being marketed as non-selective. ‘I wanted to raise the aspirations of the children in our Prep School,’ Lello explains. ‘I wanted the pupils to want to get into the senior school. I wanted to encourage them to work hard to secure this place and be proud if they were successful.’ Yet practicalities also underpin this aspirant effect. Babington is now oversubscribed in most Year groups and Lello ‘needed to select on the basis of something. Effectively we have in the past had “first-come, first-served” selection which didn’t seem to leave us with much control. For a school to claim it has an academic focus, it must be honest to parents whose children are unlikely to gain passes in English and Maths at GCSE. To select on academic ability enables you to be more transparent and honest about the reasons for de-selection’. Not that turning pupils away sits easily with Tim Lello. ‘The difficult conversations I have with parents of children I turn down – and I always do it face to face – are more constructive if I can

Claires Court

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schools often employ similar structures in core curriculum subjects.)

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explain it clearly in these terms. It also helps me advise them about other schools which might be more appropriate.’

And for every independent school that claims that rigorous selection through formal entrance examinations is a necessity, you’ll find another that takes a sharp intake of breath whenever the subject is broached.

To these schools, selection breeds a host of potential psychological problems, often evidenced by pupils that have been unsuccessful and perhaps even broken by less humane experiences than those employed by Tim Lello. To these schools, selection at 11 or 13 can only be a crude snapshot of prior achievement and holds little relation to future potential. Selection cannot measure the wide range of attributes that are truly important, including the soft skills and competencies that will govern success in an unpredictable and increasingly agile future.

James Wilding’s view typifies this contention. The school he runs with his brother outside Maidenhead is one of the largest and most successful proprietary schools in the country. As Wilding passionately explains: “The vast majority of the children who apply to Claires Court are suited for a broad ability, multi-skills education. With time, most will become highly successful in the areas of interest they develop, and be leaders of their age cohort on entry to university or employment. What amazes me is just how selection tests focus on narrow areas of ability, with no long-term correlation to life-time achievement.”

And Wilding is clear on the damage that academic selection can cause: ‘This vanity of small differences perpetuates the myth that only the “most able” are capable of an academic education.’ He designates this as, ‘a major corrupting influence both on social mobility and the long term development of all children, who are after all are our greatest asset for the future.’

What enables academically non-selective schools such as Claires Court to compete is a holistic approach to their provision, specifically valuing pastoral care and a wider extra-curricular programme that isn’t just a bolt-on. Narrow academic selection processes won’t predict if a pupil will thrive within such an environment and league tables aren’t a prime consideration for these schools. They frequently play the role of life coach and mentor for pupils who have tried their selective fortunes elsewhere. ‘We often pick up the pieces of those who have got 20

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Gosfield School athletics medal winners

into the “hot house” schools and who have buckled under the pressure,’ clarifies Vicky Smit, the dynamic proprietor at Hurst Lodge, which occupies twenty acres of Berkshire parkland. This 3-18 boarding and day school emphasises a supportive and wide curriculum that includes a forest school and strong parental links described by inspectors as ‘outstanding’. Smit is as passionately opposed to academic selection as James Wilding: ‘Our students, who have arrived having been discounted by schools who consider themselves elite, often leave us with between eight and 12 good GCSEs or with 4 A levels.’

An inclusive approach The head at Gosfield School outside Braintree takes a similar line. In the process of building a new prep and pre-prep building, this thriving 4-18 school’s recent success lies in welcoming children of all abilities. Dr. Sarah Welch explains that, ‘We conduct no entrance examinations, nor do we insist on specified levels of achievement for our applicants’. Dr. Welch is clear on the reasoning behind this: ‘At a school where children’s individuality is encouraged and embraced, such selection is anathema. We invite applicants to spend one or more days with us, experiencing the normal routine of lessons and activities. If the children have been happy and engaged and we are confident we can help them achieve their social, creative and physical as well as

academic potential, they are invited to join the school.’ It’s about a ‘good fit’ according to Welch.

There are clearly recurrent themes here and they aren’t limited to senior schools.

Matthew Adshead is the ebullient head at the 3-13 Old Vicarage School in Derby and successfully feeds pupils to Cheltenham Ladies College, Repton, Shrewsbury, Harrow and Uppingham. Adshead is a vociferous advocate of mixed-ability education. ‘I have continually seen children develop academically at different rates. The brain is an amazing thing, so I am never prepared to write any child off as not able.’

While the Old Vicarage does not stream formally, academic selection is left for when a pupil has already joined the school.

‘Streaming at our school takes place on a daily basis,’ reveals Adshead intriguingly.

‘Children may have certain aptitudes, but who is to say a child who is excellent at division of fractions will be excellent at working out angles? Therefore, we stream children via means of pre-testing before a topic begins and placing them in appropriate groups for learning.’ Despite the recession, the school has grown by around 4 per cent in the past five years, with fees akin to the average per-pupil funding received by state schools.

So, given the polarisation of views, who is right? However you measure it, the jury must still be out. The Independent Schools Council represents 1257 private schools in

Informal selection Yet the private school case studies above may perhaps give weight to the argument that they all exercise some form of selection, even where this might be relatively informal.

When asked to unpick what she means by ‘good fit’, with the suggestion that this might be a form of ‘unwritten selection’, Sarah Welch at Gosfield amplified the process. “ Yes, we ask teachers to give us feedback on how our trialists got on. They compile a folder of work the pupils have undertaken in their classes which I review with them.

Of course, we also look at school reports and interview the parents and children to get to know them as much as possible in advance. We also take into account, to an extent, how our own pupils reacted - they are good sounding boards!”

Perhaps this is selection Jim, as Bones

Pupils from Gosfield School

might have said in Star Trek, but not as we know it. Of course, die-hard critics of the private school system in the UK will argue that all independents exercise a form of social selection, though as pollsters Populus reported in 2011, only a quarter of parents say they would not send their child to an independent school if they could afford to, a proportion which has steadily decreased over time.

Even if parents seem increasingly willing to educate their children privately, the vast majority of private schools in the UK must continually review their selection procedures if they are to flourish. The driving reason is the mounting burden of fees that once more dominates parents’ decision-making. As the Daily Telegraph’s Education Editor Graeme Paton reported in September 2013, one-in-10 parents have ‘real doubts’ that their children will be able to complete their studies at fee-paying schools due to concerns over costs. Though private school day fees today average £12,700 per year, the variation is enormous both geographically and by range, from less than £3,000 per annum to over £24,000.

Parents are increasingly shopping around for best value, committing later and breeding more uncertainty in the sector.

Elsewhere, a narrowing band of elite schools have become ‘a luxury brand’, as Nick Fraser’s 2006 book, The Importance of Being Eton, described them. Fees act in selfselection, just as with the purchase of a house, car or holiday. With a narrowing of the fees pyramid at its peak, high-charging schools tend to be more academically selective, with parents equating both to eventual success. Yet the educational outcomes of children, at least as measured by university entrance and academic results,

aren’t necessarily better. The sector has yet to fully embrace meaningful value-added measures in this area, a clear Key Performance Indicator if ever it was needed.

Of course, such discernment isn’t limited to the private sector. Higher mortgage and house prices in catchments with strong schools provide yet another economic filter for selection, with premiums over average house prices of up to 42 per cent. In 2012 the OECD reported that Britain’s school system was one of the most socially segregated in the developed world as a result of such factors. The Sutton Trust’s Sir Peter Lampl described this as a form of social selection - perhaps no different from the selective effect of private school fees.

Interestingly, aggregated lifetime mortgage costs outstrip fees at many independent schools, though parents in an appreciating market argue that they will see a greater financial return from their bricks and mortar. That said, a 2010 Centre for Economics for Education research paper concluded that the average lifetime net return to investment in a private school education in 1980 was 7 percent for boarders and 13 per cent for day students, though recent above inflation fee rises, as highlighted above, may well have eroded those gains.

There’s no doubt that for many, competitive selection remains the only real choice, teaching children the most important lesson for an increasingly cutthroat and internationalised world. For others, selection at 11 or 13 (or anytime, for that matter) is badly timed and often poorly handled, destroying confidence and writing children off as unfit for learning. If anything, the economic and social pressures facing private schools since 1991 have served to further polarise opinion, with views bordering on zealotry on both sides.

There’s little middle-ground and if it does exist, it is marginalised and uncelebrated, fostered by the media’s fascination with factionalism in the UK education sector.

Meanwhile, private school headteachers, whether leading highly selective schools or their non-selective counterparts, continue to do the best they can, with the most successful genuinely focussing on the needs of individual pupils, an act of moral imperative that rather transcends any notions of superiority.

• Taken from The Ins and Outs of Selective Secondary Schools: A Debate, to be published by Civitas later this year. www.isaschools.org.uk

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the UK and a majority of its schools would be generally classed as non-selective, at least academically, acknowledging the selective effect of fees. However, it does not keep data on relative performance. Indeed, studies of comparative outcomes are sparse and conclusions from attainment regression analyses aren’t conclusive. A 2004 study by Fernando Galindo-Rueda and Anna Vignoles concluded that the difference in outcomes for selective versus non-selective schools was relatively small. While the most able pupils in a selective school system did do better than those of similar ability in a mixed ability school system, the effect was minor and only applied to the brightest, with no evidence of significant negative effects of selection for low or middle ability pupils. In 2000 York University’s Professor David Jesson concluded otherwise, finding no evidence for the superiority of either grammar schools or selective systems of provision in terms of GCSE value-added performance. Indeed, Jesson stated that, ‘any advantages appear to lie with those schools and systems organised on nonselective lines’. Claire Crawford, Assistant Professor of Economics at the University of Warwick, is similarly circumspect about any causal relationship between selection and results. In a well-publicised study looking at higher education participation and outcomes, Crawford concluded that those from non-selective school backgrounds may even do better. However, being mainly driven by data from the maintained sector, it’s clear that these studies cannot be easily applied to private school outcomes, where more research is required.

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ISA AWARDS: SPOTLIGHT ON WINNING SCHOOLS

CLAIRES COURT IN THE COMMUNITY Claires Court in Berkshire was the winner of ISA’s first ever Community Award at the inaugural ISA Awards last year. The school, which has over 1000 pupils, has placed itself at the very centre of its local community, and pupils are engaged in a whole range of outreach activities. At a time when independent schools are under increasing pressure to reach out to the wider community, Claires Court is a shining example of how it can be done. Principal James Wilding explains.

I was delighted that we were successful in our application for the ISA Community Award 2014. Much of what follows has happened since our application, I hope testament to our commitment to be fully embedded with our local community, as defined by the postcode – SL6.

Throughout the development of Claires Court, we have not enjoyed the best of relationships with the town in which we are to be found. Maidenhead is far too big for there to be a Town v Gown effect, and anyway, though we have three sites that straddle the Borough and 1000+ pupils, we disappear without trace in the hurly burly of daily life in what is both a dormitory town and a growing centre of commerce in its own right. The diggers are all over the area as I write – Crossrail is coming to the Thames Valley, our stations are being enlarged, the overhead electrification lines being installed and a major depot with sidings established for the new rolling stock

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to be completed for 2017. Elsewhere in the neighbourhood, the signs of rejuvenation include replacing office blocks with residential premises, as well as building a central lagoon to bring the riverside into the heart of the town centre. In short, Maidenhead’s the kind of ‘dame’ that cracks on and gets things done, Although Claires Court is not constituted as a charity, it is nevertheless a very English Independent School, educating its pupils in every way to be modern successful citizens in a global world. And we can’t do that unless Maidenhead values our presence, gives us respect for what we can achieve in the very widest of senses. Back in 2007, we set out by way of our School Development Plan to become an integral part of our town. The next steps were to spread our attention fairly across a wide and diverse set of institutions and organisations. At the heart of that effort was to visit every primary and

secondary school in the town and see what we had in common. Despite our best efforts, some schools regarded us with suspicion.

Sporting partnerships So we turned our attention to three major areas of local activity that engage and unite the community, the first being SPORT – one that we had been developing links though for rather longer, but where we have now been a lot braver in sharing our hand. As a result, we now share facilities, players and/or coaches with four of our most notable sports clubs. By hosting our dinghy sailing at Maidenhead Sailing Club, and by ‘joining’ all of our sailors to the Club’s junior section, employing key Club staff as coaches, the great spin-off is that the Club now has a growing band of enthusiastic young ‘Club’ sailors at the weekend, ready and willing to work with other members to crew their boats. Our Head of Sailing, Paul Robson supports their regattas and major events, and now has permission to host Claires Court’s outdoor learning at the Club too, assisting us in providing team building rafting, kayaking and expedition activities throughout the year.

Similarly, our major rowing and sculling work is based at Maidenhead Rowing Club, where our relationship over many years enabled the Club to win lottery money in the 1990s to build a wonderful new club house. This relationship works both ways, with the Rowing Club able to use our sports hall, ergo and weights rooms during the winter, when the river itself is almost always unusable, being in flood. The club house makes an ideal venue for our ‘Boat Club’ fund raising events, essential these days when the equipment we need requires loads of dosh to keep it up to the mark.

We have now based our top three rugby squads to train and play on an immaculate

our own Junior Girls, his girls-only sessions have helped dozens of girls try and enjoy cricket. Several of the girls are now playing for their Berkshire County age team. The boys’ senior cricket sides play at Maidenhead & Bray Cricket Club, which provides an impressive number of new pupils for the School each year. We have developed our own playing fields in Taplow in conjunction with a smaller more local Rugby and Cricket Club, Phoenix, where we both share 50% of the costs for surfaces and equipment. It is here that we host an annual cricket match for a local country house estate, Dorney Court, and in return are able to hold memorable events ourselves within its very medieval walls.

Working with charities The second area of focus has been to bond with local charities. Rotary International have found it increasingly difficult to get school involvement in recent years, and working with two of our local Rotary groups, we have been stalwart in our support of their activities for young people, be it through hosting Public Speaking, applying for their Youth Camps or winning

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3G pitch in front of an impressive stadium at Maidenhead Rugby Club, providing them with much needed annual revenue, and us a guarantee of full contact rugby throughout the year. We hope to hold two major events at the Rugby Club each year.

Our latest development has been to support a community tennis partner, Living Tennis, to win their bid in Spring 2014 to develop a professional tennis academy at Bisham Abbey. Our role is to provide secondary and sixth form academic teaching based in our School for 50% of each player’s working week – the other 50% being tennis and fitness related developments based at Bisham. The previous tennis academy went bankrupt in 2013; the facilities at Bisham for tennis are stunning, with four courts indoors, four outdoor hard courts and four clay courts too. Living Tennis now provides us with an elite coach to develop tennis at each of our School sites, and access to those amazing facilities when we want for our developing players after school.

The biggest prize this year in our partnership work has been won by our Head of Cricket, Huw Buckle, main role being Head of Boys Year 11 and Teacher of Business Studies. Huw was rewarded for his work in promoting girls’ cricket with an award at the Chance to Shine Annual Awards at the Kia Oval last autumn. Huw, a lead coach at Maidenhead and Bray Cricket Club, received the Special Recognition Award from England’s Jonathan Bairstow. The judges highlighted how Mr Buckle had set up and established a thriving girls’ section at the Club.

Through working with local schools and

the right to be one of their European Ambassadors. This year, pupils at Claires Court were invited to enter a Young Writers Competition organised by Rotary International. Josh Petrook’s entry in the Intermediate Section – a short story entitled “What Difference it Made to My Life” – was awarded third place nationally we are extremely proud of his achievement.

In very different ways, we have become just as fully involved with Maidenhead Lions, a specific focus for Sixth Form engagement. The Lions use our facilities and Sixth Formers for their Christmas hamper distribution, an extraordinary operation in its own right every December.

Immediately after the Christmas holidays, our Sixth Formers help out at their annual Swimathon, and as often as not provide internal competition between Year 12 and Year 13 as well as fund raising for the Lions.

Their Fundrun is the third major date in the calendar, involving students and staff alike in a not-so serious jog around the track. Sixth Form BTEC students are required to organise an event as part of their course, and this March, Year 12 BTEC ran a football tournament for all of the local primary schools, known as the Sainsbury’s games. 16 teams from schools in and around Maidenhead and Ascot competed to be crowned the ‘Winners of Level 2 Sainsbury’s School Games’, giving them a free pass to play in the Level 3 Tournament, representing Ascot and Maidenhead. Most Sixth Forms also engage in Young Enterprise and Duke of Edinburgh’s Award activities, so our extensive commitment here is not news, but of course it serves to have us showcase our capabilities and certainly builds both resilience and confidence in the boys and girls who commit long term to such activities, which do form part of the weft and weave of teenage life in our locality.

Year 12 student Muhammed Ali found another route to contribute to the local community when he was elected last term to be a Youth Ambassador for the Borough.

This was a great honour and one of his duties was to be the compère for the Royal Borough’s Youth Achievement Awards Ceremony in January. Muhammed was responsible for welcoming the full capacity audience to the ceremony, including the Mayor and the regional head of the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award scheme. Muhammed performed his duties with confidence and charm and was a real credit to Claires Court and the youth of the Royal Borough.

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Opportunities like these allow our young people to learn how to face challenges and make a difference, and in doing so provide the best advert we could ask of pupils from our School – independent, engaging, committed and articulate contributing young adults in our town.

3 for 3 charity work Each year in March Claires Court holds a Charity Fundraising Week, when we support local charities nominated by our school councils. Over the years, we have managed to raise close to £5K for each of the three charities, last year’s beneficiaries being Kids in Sport, the Alexander Devine Children’s Hospice Service and Thames Valley Adventure Playground.

With charity work, the success here arises from our consistent use of the School councils to reflect on our successes and to promote important causes that may not be about ‘cash’ but ‘goods’ in kind. Each winter our school reception areas become a repository for old clothing, for ferrying up to night shelters, and hampers for local families. And the incredible support from our PTA groups means that we have something going on for our own community throughout the year, to which the local community are invited and attend in numbers. The Annual Autumn Fireworks and Summer Fetes are our two major events that attract thousands, though it must be said the Easter Egg Hunt at the Junior Boys site is scaling up quite nicely. This academic year, we have also held wine tastings, quiz nights and sporting dinners – yes they all act as fund raisers, but the emphasis is very much on the FUN and celebratory aspects of the event.

Sharing technology Through our innovative use of technologies (most notably Chromebooks, tablets and Google Classroom and Apps for Education), we now work with hundreds of other schools, in the UK and Europe, to assist them in developing their use of digital services in the classroom. In January 2014, we welcomed 150 headteachers and digital leaders from Sweden to see at first hand our use of these technologies, and by committing to share what we do freely, we have won the respect of some serious technology companies, notably Google, Samsung and Discovery. We have worked with local primary schools, in the post GCSE period for Year 11, to introduce them to cloud-based learning, and recently 24

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Maidenhead PRU and with disabled adults from Manor Green Special School, assisting both themselves and those they worked with achieve the Arts Award at Bronze Level.

Community events presented our work on this to the BETT technology show in London.

Sponsoring the Arts Some community activities don’t need money; what’s needed is the get up and go of enthusiastic adults, children, either on their own or on groups, lending a hand and putting on a show. Claires Court is the school supporter of Maidenhead’s major artistic open air event – Art on the Street – an award winning social enterprise committed to providing opportunities for local artists. This does not just mean cash but organisational people-power and jawdropping, show-stopping performances from our Actors (Mime), Musicians, Singers and Artists – the latter running workshops for much younger children in closed high street units we re-open especially for the event.

Separate to our work in the Town Centre, we are now one of the most active partners for the local Norden Farm Centre for the Arts, where we host at least one Staff CPD event in the main theatre each year, use the more intimate Studio for Sixth Form A Level productions, and with our secondary school artists pursue the Arts Award and Bronze and Silver level to encourage further the development of real artists in the School. Our current Silver Award cohort now in Year 10 have worked for a week with young offenders from the

We host a whole variety of additional artistic events for our Community including Orchestra Day for local schools , public speaking events and dramatic productions. Most recently we have taken over the Town Hall for our senior school production of ‘Oh What a Lovely War’ in commemoration of the 100 years anniversary of World War 1. The School Drama Company, Claires Court Shed Theatre are looking to go one step further after attending the Edinburgh Fringe, by taking over the Leicester Square Theatre in August with our own production based on the life of van Gogh. As the group’s title suggests, our facilities for drama might be quite modest, but that does not hold back our aspirations to engage and entertain, to collaborate with purpose and to truly make a difference.

As we move towards creating a new campus for our School in Green Belt towards the west of Maidenhead, it seems we must continue to do just that, because planning permission is no done deal.

Through our continued consistent belief that full involvement in Maidenhead validates our educational mission, we have won very many friends now in the local community who want to see us succeed.

And if nothing else, the evidence above highlights why!

James Wilding is Academic Principal of Claires Court in Berkshire.

Organiser and Sponsor of the

THE ISA JOURNAL THE MAGAZINE FOR INDEPENDENT SCHOOLS

SKILLS BUILD – FORWARD THINKING CAREERS EDUCATION

The Regulatory Requirements now include specific points on Careers Education – and a requirement for schools to encourage pupils to know their own strengths and weaknesses. Careers Coach Amy Rowson works with a number of independent schools in providing careers coaching. Here she explains how schools can help students to identify and present their skills to potential employers.

On a glorious summer’s day in June, I delivered a CV writing workshop to a group of Year 12 students at one of England’s leading public schools. The brief was to introduce the students to the CV by explaining why they needed one, what ‘good’ looked like and how best to structure and build its content to differentiate them from other applicants. I’d done my homework on the school. It offered the broadest and most exciting range of opportunities for the ‘whole’ child that I had ever seen in education. This should be straightforward I thought to myself. These students will have an abundance of interesting, varying and challenging experiences and loads of evidence of relevant skills. Their difficulty may lie in what to leave out.

But I was wrong. Yes, every one of them had taken part in the many development opportunities the school provided both on campus and overseas, but every student struggled to grasp not only the concept of ‘achievement’ beyond gaining A*s in their

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exams and captaining the 1st XI, but more importantly, the skills they had developed and used during their experiences. I asked one Year 12 student who had just been appointed Head of House what skills did she think she would need for the role? She looked at me blankly. “Skills? I’ve no idea!”

The brief had put the cart before the horse. It wasn’t how to write a CV these students needed to know about. They needed to grasp the meaning of ‘skills’ and know how to build their database of evidence for each attribute. The structure of a CV could come later. When I asked the staff member who had organised the workshop about opportunities for pupils to reflect upon and record their achievements, he said that, as part of the end of term report, pupils were asked to list their achievements. It seemed to me that this was only half of what was needed. A ‘list’ of

achievements is only valuable when accompanied by genuine reflection of how a goal was reached and what skills were deployed. It was clear from my interactions with the students during the workshop that they had never gone beyond a superficial evaluation of these items.

The struggle to identify achievements and quantify the skills used is not limited to Year 12 students. The majority of my clients have difficulty extracting achievements from their day to day living and working, and many are several years into their working life! Nonetheless, the ability to reflect and evaluate is hugely advantageous in the world of work, from the moment you put your foot on the first rung of the career ladder.

In today’s highly competitive graduate careers market, the ability to sell oneself well becomes even more critical to future financial independence and security. To sell oneself well, the applicant must know what they are good at and why. And the answer to ‘why’ lies in naming and demonstrating compelling evidence of the skills they have.

Universities have woken up to the cry from employers about graduates’ lack of ‘employability’ skills. Across all courses, students are required to work in teams, frequently and intentionally grouped with peers they don’t know and whose first language may not be English. I’m not wholly convinced by the employers’ argument that many graduates lack employability skills. In my experience as a recruiter it is more often the case that applicants simply don’t know how to evaluate the achievements they do have and therefore cannot communicate their successes effectively in interview or on paper.

This is where schools come in. Schools

their end of term report, highlighting one single achievement of which they are most proud, explaining why, and what they learned about themselves. Avoid a list of successes. Value comes in understanding how you achieved the success.

The following is a 3 step guide to enable your pupils to name and build their own skills evidence:

1. What are the core skills?

Naming the core skills employers most commonly look for is the first step.

Students should build their evidence using the same language as employers so they understand early on what recruiters need to hear and see from new recruits. Employers, of course, must be made aware of an applicant’s achievements but at the heart of their success, and the employer’s questions, will be ‘how’. How did the applicant reach their goal? (Sub question: what skills did they use?)

The most sought after skills are these: • Communication (written and oral) • Teamwork • Planning and organisation (of self and others) • Adaptability • Analytical ability (to analyse a situation or problem and provide a solution) • Leadership

2. Name the achievement To encourage the flow of thoughts around achievements, the following questions may help pupils select an example: 1. Think of an achievement you are most proud of.

2. What did you have to do to succeed?

3. What skills did you employ? (Use the list of 6 given here to start with) 4. How was it challenging for you? What did you find most difficult?

5.What was the outcome?

It’s essential that pupils do not focus on academic achievements exclusively.

Employers are looking to recruit the ‘whole’ person so examples of extra curricular achievements, perhaps where individuals have gone outside their comfort zone, are a must.

3. Write the achievement The final step is to frame this single achievement into a story which engages the listener and reader. If you’ve ever visited the TED website or can recall an excellent presentation you’ve sat through, I guarantee those speeches were littered with stories which underpinned the crux of their argument whilst holding the audience’s attention.

The simplest way to tell the story of a key achievement is to use the S.T.A.R method.

1. Situation (set the scene in no more than three sentences) 2. Task (describe briefly what you had to do - max. two sentences) 3. Action (this is the body of your answer describe in 3 or 4 bullet points what action YOU personally took) 4. Result (briefly explain the positive impact of your actions) It often helps to write about the achievement in some detail and then cut it back to the main points. The example can be used for completing application forms and answering interview questions. Be prepared to explain your example much more fully in an interview though.

Amy Rowson is a career coach, with a particular interest in helping graduates and school leavers identify and realise their career goals. For further details visit www.swcareercoach.com

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provide the perfect learning and nurturing environment for young people to practice self-reflection and evaluation. A pupil should feel safe to record an achievement that may not even be a major one when compared to peers, but it is significant in their own development and learning. For example, a pupil who has difficulty with extended writing topics manages to exceed their usual output over the course of a week. What did the child do differently on this occasion? Which skills did they utilise?

How did they organise and plan their preparation time? The earlier students can practice this way of thinking the more natural it becomes to look back on an achievement (or a challenging nonachievement) and ask ‘what went well?’ and ‘what didn’t work quite so well?’

At a deeper level, regular self-reflection and evaluation of achievements builds selfesteem. At a time when the mental health of young people is a growing concern across society, schools are best placed to nurture the often brittle growth of teenage confidence. As students build a deeper understanding of their key strengths, they are better equipped to take on new experiences, join new groups and contribute effectively early on. They are then rewarded with feeling valued, and belonging, thereby fulfilling two levels of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. Additionally, the naming of skills through evaluation means the student’s strengths (and efforts) become explicit and this should encourage respect and recognition from others, further building the student’s self-esteem.

Evaluating achievements need not be difficult nor cumbersome for students.

There are so many different ways reflection can be built into a project or assignment.

Allow ten minutes at the end of a task to review what went well and what didn’t.

Encourage pupils to write a short piece for

Over 120 Heads and Senior Leaders from schools across the UK attended ISA’s Autumn Study Conference in Leicestershire at the end of last term. The event – which keeps ISA Members up to date on the latest pedagogy – was a huge success.

In what was ISA’s biggest Autumn Study Conference to date, Heads and Senior Leaders enjoyed a packed programme of stimulating speakers and break-out sessions, focusing on a range of topics – from safeguarding to the effective use of primary and secondary data.

Opened by ISA Chair Andrew Hampton (pictured left), the two day programme began with a keynote from Professor Angela McFarlane, Chief Executive of The College of Teachers. Professor McFarlane gave a fascinating insight into Learning That Works – the theme of this year’s Autumn Study event.

Successful delivery of world languages was the focus of the second keynote, led by Professor Pat Preedy, and Barbara King - a lecturer in Modern Foreign Languages from The University of Reading.

In addition to the programme of speakers, delegates also had the opportunity to attend a number of breakout sessions during the event.

Enough Abuse Founder Marilyn Hawes led a challenging session on safeguarding, in which she encouraged Heads to identify the sometimes subtle signs of childhood abuse, and suggested a number of ways to help

schools manage the complex reporting process.

EYFS was the focus of a further break out session, led by Education Consultant Elizabeth Jarman – who underlined the importance of creating enabling environments for learners in the EYFS stage.

The final session of the conference was led by clinician and broadcaster Professor Tanya Byron, who followed up her keynote at ISA’s 2014 Annual Conference with a session entitled The Thinking Adolescent.

Beginning her journey in childhood, Professor Byron suggested that children today are effectively brought up in captivity- unable to play freely outdoors or take risks that are essential for their development. Professor Byron warned that many children will grow up lacking

Professor Tanya Byron and Saran Welsh

emotional resilience, because parents – and to some extent schools – are increasingly risk averse.

Highlighting the marked increase in mental health issues among young people, Professor Byron revealed that psychologists are seeing an increasing number of young people from top performing independent schools, and cautioned against putting too much pressure on children to succeed academically. She also underlined how schools might be more alert to the warning signs – particularly in high achieving pupils.

Self harming, and eating disorders were just two of the difficult subjects discussed in Professor Byron’s lively and engaging session – which generated considerable debate and discussion amongst those present.

Speaking at the end of the Conference, ISA Chair Neil Roskilly said: “ISA’s 2014 Autumn Study Conference was our biggest to date, and the high quality programme – which focused on the latest educational thinking and best practice – generated really positive feedback from our members.

We are putting the finishing touches to the programme for our 2015 Annual Conference, which promises an exciting and inspiring mix of speakers and presenters, and look forward to welcoming our members to Manchester for this popular event.” www.isaschools.org.uk

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LEARNING THAT WORKS

THE ISA JOURNAL THE MAGAZINE FOR INDEPENDENT SCHOOLS

ISA NEWS REVIEW ISA Annual Conference 2015

Booking is now open for this year’s ISA Annual Conference, which will be held at the iconic Midland Hotel in the centre of Manchester, from 30 April to 2 May 2015. The event is the highlight of the Association’s year, and now attracts over 120 Heads from ISA schools across the UK. With a theme of: “No Boundaries, Exploring All Possibilities”, the conference promises a packed programme of high profile speakers, and the opportunity to network and socialise with colleagues from ISA schools and other organisations. The event also features an exhibition of the very latest in school supplies and technology.

Book online now to secure your place at this popular event.

ISA Awards 2015 This year’s ISA Awards – recognising success and achievement in ISA schools – will take place at our Autumn Study Conference on Friday November 13th. Full details of this year’s categories, and information on how to enter, will be sent to schools later in the Spring Term. Look out for the latest updates in the next issue of The ISA Journal.

ISA Courses and Tutors ISA’s new Professional Development Programme offers a growing number of courses for ISA Heads and teachers – covering a range of classroom and leadership based themes. Many of the day courses we run are tutored by Headteachers or other senior leaders who have experience in a particular area of school leadership. As the programme expands we are keen to recruit new tutors from within our membership. If you, or a member of your staff, would like to add a new course, or perhaps bring a fresh perspective to one of our existing courses, we would love to hear from you. We are also keen to hear from schools that would like to host an ISA course. This can be an excellent opportunity to showcase your school to other members and build links locally. If you would like to express an interest in either tutoring or hosting please email ISA’s Professional Development and Training Officer Alice Jeffries : alice.jeffries@isaschools.org.uk.

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ISA SPORT FOR COMIC RELIEF On Friday 13th March Red Nose Day fever will spread across the UK and ISA is delighted to be working with Comic Relief again this year.

ISA Sport is setting a challenge for schools, with the opportunity to win a visit from a Comic Relief celebrity. In keeping with the Red Nose Day theme “Make your Face Funny for Money”, we are asking schools to enter a funny photo in one of three categories: 1. Funniest individual face 2. Most funny faces within one photo at school 3. Most teacher funny faces ISA Sport and Comic Relief will judge the pictures and choose a winning school to receive a visit from a celebrity. Entries open on Monday 23 February and will close on Friday 20 March, and schools can submit a maximum of three entries.

Email your entries to: isa@rednoseday.com For more information contact Fran Hide: fran.hide@isaschools.org.uk

In the year of the selfie, it’s time to get creative – happy snapping!

ISC MANIFESTO 2015 ISC’s 2015 manifesto was launched earlier this month with the message: “It is time to reset the relationship with independent schools.”

In an accompanying press release, ISC said that it wanted to challenge the outdated stereotypes of private schooling in the UK, and allow independent schools to be seen for what they really are.

This message will strike a particular chord with ISA schools – many of which differ greatly from the archetypal grand public school image. Launching the manifesto Charlotte Vere, Acting General Secretary of ISC said: “It is time to reset the relationship with independent schools in the UK. It is time to throw out old fashioned prejudices about independent schools and bring the debate

up to date. Old fashioned stereotypes about toffs and top hats help no one.

Independent schools are not one trick, very posh, ponies.

This is 2015 after all and our schools are very diverse, with an extraordinary mix of pupils. Many independent schools are small and best known by their local communities.

Over 55% of our schools have fewer than 350 pupils, many of whom are from families where both parents work extremely hard so that they can choose an independent education for their children.”

The manifesto sets out ISC’s goals for the coming year, with a clear emphasis on preserving independence and excellence, and increasing partnerships and social mobility. Visit www.isc.co.uk for more details.

INCREASE IN STEM A-LEVEL ENTRIES DFE figures released last month show that the number of A level entries in facilitating subjects has increased considerably since 2010. More pupils are now taking all of the science and maths subjects, with maths exam entries increasing by over 10% in the last four years. Maths is now the most popular A level of all, accounting for 10.6% of all entries – the highest

percentage since records began in 1996. The number of girls taking physics and maths has also increased.

Education Secretary Nicky Morgan said: “It is particularly pleasing to see more young people taking the crucial STEM subjects at A level and I want to continue this trend which has seen a record number of girls taking subjects like physics.”

UNIVERSITY APPLICATIONS AT RECORD HIGH University applications have reached record levels, according to UCAS. Figures released at the end of January showed that nearly 600,000 students had applied for full time courses starting in Autumn 2015 – a 2% increase on last year. The figures also show that

applications from students in England from the most disadvantaged backgrounds have increased from 18 per cent in 2010 to 21 per cent. Business Secretary Vince Cable said that the data showed the progress made “to break down barriers to higher education.”

Science needs to have a higher cultural and political profile if the UK is to really capitalise on its world leading position, according to Professor Brian Cox OBE, the Royal Society’s newly appointed Professor for Public Engagement in Science at The University of Manchester.

In his new post Professor Brian Cox will be looking at how the Royal Society can help to provide inspiration for teachers and students and to give them a flavour of the fun that can be had in bringing science to life. As part of the programme he will be looking to work with partners from across science and with organisations such as the BBC. “In my new position at the Royal Society, I want to help change the perception of science. I want to see our great cultural and scientific institutions – the universities, the learned societies, museums, schools, the BBC - work together to raise the cultural and political profile of science, research and education,” he said. “I want to see our investment in science, and particularly in young scientists, rise to levels at or beyond our competitors. I passionately believe that science can be a vehicle for the redistribution of opportunity in our society as well as a driver for economic growth.”

The UK currently has 1% of the world’s population, 3% of the investment in science and produces 14% of the highest impact research papers.

Paul Nurse, President of the Royal Society said: “The UK is very good at science but it is seen as something difficult and perhaps removed from ordinary people. We have high levels of trust and surveys show that scientists are seen as creative, interesting and open-minded people but how many of us encourage our children to be a scientist?

“We are seeing signs of a recovery with the numbers of young people studying science creeping up but we really need to see a bigger change and that requires more radical action. The Royal Academy of Engineering estimate that by 2020 we will need over a million new science, engineering and technology professionals. Britain was built by science and engineering during the industrial revolution and we need to rediscover that passion for innovation in all parts of society.” www.isaschools.org.uk

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WHY THE UK MUST ASPIRE TO BE A WORLD LEADER IN SCIENCE

SPECALIST

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MIND YOUR LANGUAGE!

Now is an excellent moment to celebrate language in all its glory, says ISA Membership Manager Carey Dickinson, warning that educators should also guard against its misuse.

We had an interesting Christmas Day in our household this year, involving much word play, from banter and bad jokes round the table to a fiercely competitive game of Scrabble. Some of this I hasten to say was less than pleasant; my son, in the process of cooking the lunch, swore profusely and colourfully at the turkey and the ether, evoking the shade of Gordon Ramsey rather than the spirit of my own preferred kitchen goddess, Delia Smith, which almost spoilt my Christmas bonhomie.

Swearing grates on the sinews of my educational make-up for many reasonschief among them a profound sense that words are sacred, should be revered for their power and used with intelligence. In the educational environment, misuse of language is a serious issue with farreaching implications. The effect of a positive word placed appositely can be literally life-changing. I can remember several children with low self-esteem whose school careers “took off ” thanks to a timely and well-placed word of encouragement. In contrast, the effect of verbal bullying is arguably more devastating than that of the physical type.

Just over a year ago, I sat in a meeting

where the Chair of Governors of a prestigious institution asked her audience to “please excuse my spastic handwriting”.

After the audible intake of breath, little of the substance of the rest of the meeting was digested mentally. It is a long time since I have heard that word used at all, let alone in an educational forum; common culture, having evolved from a “Carry On” mentality, has binned it, along with poof, nigger and cow.

As independent schools, we should surely be guardians of good language; I

was delighted to note that the importance of avoiding prejudice based language is specifically mentioned in paragraph 125 of the new ISI handbook for the inspection of schools.

As I felt that “spastic handwriting” was hardly conducive to the culture of respect which all schools are required to foster, I wrote a letter of complaint and was told, firmly, that as the person involved had a medically spastic hand, the use of language was appropriate. Surely therefore the misuse of language was several degrees worse; it is intellectual arrogance of the worst kind to use such a word in its strictly correct sense to a mixed audience whose common cultural background would suggest that the word “spastic” is completely unacceptable. The word is intrinsically offensive in a setting where you should be “minding your language”, not to mention suspect under the terms of the 2010 Equality Act. “But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart”.

Misuse of language is I believe the complement to misuse of people; a manner of management and mistreatment can be encapsulated in a word. It is a stark truth: words reverberate through time.

Events in Paris this New Year have highlighted both the power and the value of the word in an explosive fashion. Now is an excellent moment for us as educators to celebrate language in all its glory, both by using it with precision and flair and by making sure that it reflects timeless and placeless values: les mots justes ici sont vraiment liberte, egalite, fraternite.

CONTACT DETAILS Independent Schools Association 1 Boys’ British School East Street Saffron Walden Essex CB10 1LS t. 01799 581694 m. 07599 038762 e. carey.dickinson@isaschools.org.uk

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NEWS SPECIAL

THE ISA JOURNAL THE MAGAZINE FOR INDEPENDENT SCHOOLS

CONFESSIONS OF A

DRAMA QUEEN Carey Dickinson, ISA’s New Membership Officer, explains the importance of drama in the independent curriculum.

I have recently left the classroom after 30 years at the chalk face- quite a shock! My most treasured leaving gift was a sketch by the Head of Art of me resplendently clothed in a tutu and a pair of wellies, casting fairy dust all over my colleagues in the annual staff pantomime, performed for the children in the somnolent lull after Christmas lunch.

To me this picture – and all the memories wrapped up with it – encapsulates all that is fine and unquantifiable in independent schooling: individuality, creativity, team work and humour (not to mention the ability to send oneself up while maintaining the requisite control-a fine art).

This leads me to my abiding passion as an educationalist. Over many years of working with children of all abilities, I have found that Drama is “the way in” for children who would otherwise find school a complete mystery. Boys who hate writing (we all know these) suddenly find that they are DESPERATE to tell their story after reenacting the Greek myths or, even better, creating their own myth(complete with classic archetypal monsters and heroes) with

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props and costumes in the theatre; children who hate History discover the joys of historical enquiry after re-enacting the Boudiccan Rebellion or a Civil War battle; the Bible becomes alive and relevant after the experience of creating contemporary versions of the parables... I have an endless fund of magical tales of Drama literally transforming the educational experience of children of all shades of character, personality and academic prowess.

The highlight of my teaching career was participating in the Shakespeare Schools Festival with my intrepid band of Year 5s.

The initial grumblings of “Shakespeare’s boring” and “Why can’t I play rugby?” evaporated when, caught up in our vision of “hippy peace chick” fairies at a rock festival and whimsical workmen in onesies , the children suddenly “got it”; Shakespeare is hilarious, utterly relevant to modern life and, crucially, everyone can have ownership of his beautiful and entirely comprehensible language. Wonderful. It’s hard to describe the joy of witnessing my troupe (the youngest in our section of the festival by

several years) receive a standing ovation for their committed performance. This was without doubt the single most exhilarating and rewarding experience of my entire teaching career and it has left 33 ten year olds (and one initially reluctant PE teacher) with an abiding love of Shakespeare. Surely an enormous benefit as they transfer to secondary school, where Shakespeare is thankfully still valued.

I am sure colleagues have their own inspirational stories to tell of the empowering nature of Drama; I would love to hear them!

But how can those of us who instinctively know the value of Drama prove its worth in the current educational climate?

The wider implications of the erosion of Drama’s position in education since the last election are, I believe, of fundamental importance and throw into sharp relief the critical role of the independent sector in championing the Arts in general and Drama in particular.

There are now many disincentives to Drama teaching in the secondary sector, from the requirements of EBACC to Attainment 8. Speaking at the launch of the “Your Life” campaign which has set itself a target of aiming for a 50 per cent increase in the number of teenagers opting for Maths

significance of Drama was explored in depth, highlighting the role of the independent sector in its very survival. Here it was argued (on the basis of research by The Independent) that it is clear from an employer’s point of view that, next to law, a drama degree provides the best set of skills for the workplace. Britain’s creative sector are employing far more than our financial sector (somewhere in the region of 2 million).What better choice than Drama to open the gates to this market?

Professor Sally Mackey, Professor in Applied Theatre and Performance at Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, made the point that in a survey of Postgraduate taught experience (covering 14 different MAs in Drama related subjects), 70 per cent gave positive responses to the question: to what extent did this degree help you get another job? According to Professor Dan Rabello of Royal Holloway University, for every one pound spent on the Arts, £4 is generated for the economy. These are surely powerful economic arguments.

There is no question that Drama is hugely significant from an ideological and cultural point of view; as Professor Rabello also reminded us, Drama and the Theatre involve 2000 years of history across all world cultures. Even the brave new Goveian World recognises the worth of the Bard.

But for me it was the testimony of Rory Kinnear, whose Olivier winning performance of Iago chilled my very soul, which was most moving and relevant.

Kinnear credits his own drama classes with helping him cope with his father’s death when he was just a 10-year-old boy. As he has explained, “(Acting was) more useful than anything in understanding and coming to terms with the loss of my father. Drama aids self-discovery like nothing else. In

removing it from our schools we remove the inestimable benefits of it from our society.

No amount of studying oxbow lakes was ever going to help me emotionally through the death of my father.”

We neglect the social and emotional development of our children at our peril; mounting evidence of the crisis in children’s mental health testifies to this. There is no way that we can quantify the effects of Drama in this domain but Drama teachers can see the positive impact of it every dayand it is here that I have to come back to the personal. My own children ‘s rich experience of Drama in their broadthinking independent school has given them, I believe, the inner resources to cope with the most traumatic of family circumstances. And in truth, if this really is a confession, I have to admit that the process of practical story-telling with children of 6 to 11 was very much part of my own healing.

A subject which is liberating and lifeaffirming for teachers and students alike: how can that NOT be integral to what we do as professionals?

Resilience, joy, creativity, self-reflection, cooperation, collaboration, initiative, selfbelief....To me, the “spin-offs” from Drama are endless. All the world’s a stage; let’s give our children the opportunity to rehearse unfettered in the security of our independent school spaces before launching out into the harsh glare of the spotlight. www.isaschools.org.uk

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and Physics within the next three years, Nicky Morgan has recently undermined creative subjects further: “Of course, we know now .....that the subjects that keep young people’s options open and unlock the door to all sorts of careers are the STEM subjects (science, technology, engineering and maths).”

The devastating impact of the utilitarian drive in educational thinking on secondary education and examinations is of course a matter of enormous concern, but to me as a primary practitioner, the devaluing of the role of Drama from 3-11 is close to criminal.

Sir Jim Rose’s ill-fated draft primary curriculum was full of promise which sadly evaporated even before the last election.

Drama was at last clearly signposted in “understanding the arts” as one of the four main art subjects (Art, Music, Drama and Dance), all of which were considered to be of equal status. The Conservatives and Liberal Democrats united, even then, to vote against this well-rounded, child-friendly curriculum that most primary teachers had welcomed.

Darren Henley’s report on cultural education gave some renewed hope .This followed his earlier report on music education which recommended that Drama and Dance should be given equal arts status as curriculum subjects in their own right – the All Our Futures report had also recommended this in 1999.

Yet the new National Curriculum for Primary Schools marginalises Drama to the outer edges of English, leaving most children without experience which is demonstrably integral to their development and, to satisfy the utilitarian voice in education, provably of economic benefit.

In 2013, I was privileged to attend the NISDA Conference at St Paul’s Girls’ School in Hammersmith, where the future and

THE ISA JOURNAL THE MAGAZINE FOR INDEPENDENT SCHOOLS

ARTISTS IN THE MAKING It proved to be another year of outstanding talent at the 2014 ISA National Art Competition.

Angie Shatford reports.

Over 2,100 pieces of art were entered into the 2014 National ISA Art Competition which was judged at the ISA Autumn Study Conference in Leicestershire in November.

Vicky Smit, Chair of ISA’s Art Committee, said that quality of work was outstanding, and the exhibition of finalists was yet again a highlight of the Autumn Study event.

The competition was judged by local artists Jane French and Diane Hall, who praised the quality and range of work on display and the talent shown by some of our youngest artists.

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“I was very impressed with the quality of the work, and I loved the honesty and immediacy of some of the pieces – particularly in Key Stages 1 and 2,” said Jane.

This year the number of categories was bigger than ever, covering 2 and 3D art along with textiles, computer-aided design, sketchbook photography and fashion. The judges had an immense task in producing a list of final winners.

“The use of materials in the 3D art category was particularly innovative,”said Jane. “ Photography was also a very strong category with some outstanding winners.”

The ISA Journal is delighted to picture some of the standout entries from this year’s competition, and would like to congratulate all of the young artists who took part.

ISA’s Art Competition is a fantastic opportunity for schools to showcase their work and for pupils to gain recognition. Do consider entering your school into our 2015 event – full details can be found on our website.

THE ISA JOURNAL THE MAGAZINE FOR INDEPENDENT SCHOOLS

From 3D and computer-aided design to textiles and fashion, entries to the 2014 ISA National Art Competition were described as impressive, innovative and outstanding.

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ASK THE EXPERTS JARGON BUSTER

WONDERS OF THE WEB

Do you know your Cookies from your Breadcrumbs? Your CMS from your CSS? Read this helpful glossary to make sure you’re up to speed with techno-speak!

• Accessibility – Accessibility refers to the usability of a website in the context of users with disabilities or impairments. It covers a range of matters: the visuals being clear to people with colour blindness; correctly ordering the HTML so that visually impaired users can use screen readers effectively; or making the buttons and link hit zones big enough that users with impaired motor skills can successfully click where they intend.

• Bandwidth – Bandwidth is used to measure the speed of your internet connection. It refers to the amount of data that can be transferred at any given time (usually measured in kilobits and megabits per second). A broadband internet connection is therefore a high speed connection, usually offering a minimum of 256 kb/s. A dial-up internet connection – the predecessor to broadband (remember 38

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that loveable screeching ringtone?) – is only capable of 56 kb/s.

• Blog – Abridgement of “Web Log”. Your blog is a section of your website (or can be a site in itself) where you can regularly publish news, comment, diary entries – almost anything you want your users to read. It’s different from a news page in that it can be written with a personal voice. Corporate blogs have become popular for being able to give a company a more accessible, personal tone.

• Breadcrumbs – Breadcrumbs, or breadcrumb trails, are navigation features of a website that improves its usability. They allow the user to see the structure of the site as they progress through it, and retrace their steps if they find themselves lost in its murky recesses. For example, an online store might display breadcrumbs at the top of its page as follows:

Home > Music and Videos > CDs > Jazz In fact, you can find a breadcrumb trail at the top of this Approved Index web page.

• Browser – Your web browser is the software that allows you to view web pages.

The most common browsers are Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox.

• CMS – Abbreviation of Content Management System. CMS software allows the owners of a website to easily organise and edit its content (text, images, media files) without having to delve into a site’s code. It’s also useful for allowing staff to update the site from different locations.

• Cookies – Web cookies are little bits of text sent between a server and your browser.

When you visit a website again, these pieces of text are sent back to the server so it can recognise who you are. When a site

• CSS – Abbreviation of Cascading Style Sheets. CSS is a language that allows you to shape the style and appearance of a web page. While HTML (or a similar mark up language) is used to create the content of a page, CSS determines its presentation (colours, fonts, layout, skins etc.)

• Domain – Your domain name is the name that appears before the extension (.co.uk, .com, .net) of your web address. It is basically an IP address that is easier to read and remember, identifying your computer, or your host’s computer, on the web. So in the same way that your friend’s phone number is 07123 456 789, but you have them in your mobile as Phil Mob, your website’s IP address might be 123.456.78.910, but your domain name is www.phil.com.

• Ecommerce – Ecommerce is the practice of selling goods and services online. Simple as that. An ecommerce site is a site with the functionality to display a catalogue of items and accept payment for them (with credit cards, PayPal etc) online.

• Favicon – A favicon (“favourite icon”) is a small thumbnail image that acts like a website’s logo, appearing at the beginning of the URL, at the top of tabs and on your favourites list. Approved Index’s favicon, for example, is the white and blue tick you can probably see above.

• Flash – Adobe Flash (formerly Macromedia Flash) is a type of software used for creating and viewing animation and videos on a web page. While you have to pay to get the Flash Authoring Tool, Flash Player is free to download (anyone with the player can view sites containing Flash). A “Flash site” is a web site composed predominantly of animated and interactive components.

• Functionality – The functionality of a website is simply the number and type of technical functions it is able to perform e.g. having the ability to take online payments, or to perform a “search” on stored data or content. Not to be confused with usability (see below).

• Hosting – All websites need to be hosted.

Hosting a website means storing all its component files on a server (a computer permanently connected to the internet).

Web hosting companies have huge banks of servers where you can host your site in a secure environment.

• HTML – Stands for Hyper Text Markup Language. HTML is the language used to write and structure text and links on a webpage.

• Hyperlink – Usually just called “links”, hyperlinks can connect any piece of information to any other piece of information on the internet. The most common form type of hyperlink is the embedded link (usually underlined) – you will have clicked on an embedded link to get to this glossary.

• IP address – Your IP (Internet Protocol) address is a set of 4 numbers that identifies your computer. If you’re hosting your website through a hosting company, your site’s IP address will be the IP of that company’s server. Every site also has a unique domain name that matches up to your IP address.

• Keywords – Keywords and key phrases are the terms that users type into search engines.

These are the words that should appear in the titles and content of your website so search engines know that it’s relevant.

• Metatags – A metatag is a piece of HTML code that allows search engines to more accurately determine the content of a webpage. Metatags aren’t actually visible on a webpage, but do appear in the search engine results as a description of what the page is about. They can also be a list of keywords visible only to search engines, although this type of metatag is generally no longer used.

• Navigation – Web navigation is simply the process of finding your way around a website or around the internet. The navigation bar is the bar at the top of your browser containing the “Back”, Forward”, “Stop” and “Home” buttons.

• Organic Search – Organic search results are all the pages that are indexed by search engines purely on the content of the page.

Non organic (or paid) search results are the sponsored links you see in the yellow box and down the right hand side of the Google results page.

• Permalink – A permalink (“permanent link”) is a hyperlink that is used like a bookmark. They are usually used for linking to a specific blog post so you can keep track of it when the blog is updated.

• PPC – PPC (Pay Per Click) advertising is a type of online marketing that makes use of search engines. A PPC campaign involves paying search engines to show a link to your site when users search for a product or service that you provide. Whenever a user clicks on your ad, you pay a fee to the search engine. The sponsored links you see in the yellow box and down the right hand side of Google are all PPC ads. They also appear on web pages that search engines deem relevant to what the advert is offering. So if you’re reading a page that has something to do with saxophones, you might see PPC ads offering discount brass instruments.

• SEO – Stands for Search Engine Optimisation. This is the practice of improving the relevance and value of your website to achieve higher organic search positions. This is done through improving content (e.g. by adding keywords), and most importantly through link building (getting related sites to link you and hence make your site seem more relevant).

• Server – Your server is the computer on which your website is hosted. Servers store data and allow it to be accessed and shared at all times over the web.

• URL – Stands for Uniform Resource Locator. A webpage’s URL is its full address, e.g. http://www.approved index.co.uk/WebDesigners/ • Usability – A website’s usability is a measure of how easy it is for visitors to understand a website, find their way around it and successfully achieve their goals. Not to be confused with accessibility or functionality.

• Web Design vs Web Development – Technically web design and web development are two different areas of expertise (although “web development” is often used to refer to the whole process).

Web designers are responsible for creating the front end of your website (everything you can see when you go to the site, and the way the information is organised and interrelated), while web developers work behind the scenes on the nuts and bolts of the site’s functionality and coding. www.isaschools.org.uk

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remembers your password, preferences or the items in your shopping basket, this is all thanks to cookies. They also allow pages you revisit to load faster.

ASK THE EXPERTS PRODUCTIVITY FOCUS

GETTING IT DONE – THE ART OF PRODUCTIVITY Increasing productivity at the club is a golden chalice. But contrary to popular belief, just checking tasks off a to-do list isn’t necessarily the answer, explains Ilya Pozin from Ciplex.

Truly productive people aren’t focused on doing more things; this is actually the opposite of productivity. If you really want to be productive, you’ve got to make a point to do fewer things.

1. Create a smaller to-do list. Getting things accomplished during your workday shouldn’t be about doing as much as possible in the sanctioned hours. It may be hard to swallow, but there’s nothing productive about piling together a slew of tasks in the form of a checklist. Take a lessis-more approach to your to-do list by only focusing on accomplishing things that matter.

2. Take breaks. You know that ache that fills your brain when you’ve been powering through tasks for several hours? This is due to your brain using up glucose. Too many people mistake this for a good feeling, rather than a signal to take a break. Take a walk, grab something to eat, workout, or meditate – give your brain some resting time. Achieve more productivity during your workday by making a point to regularly clear your head. You’ll come back recharged and ready to achieve greater efficiency.

3. Follow the 80/20 rule. Did you know that only 20 percent of what you do each day produces 80 percent of your results?

Eliminate the things that don’t matter during your workday: they have a minimal effect on your overall productivity. For example, on a project, systematically remove tasks until you end up with the 20 percent that gets the 80 percent of results.

4. Start your day by focusing on yourself. If you begin your morning by checking your email, it allows others to dictate what you accomplish. Set yourself in the right direction by ignoring your emails and taking the morning to focus on yourself, eat 40

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“A number of time-saving methods – take meetings and emails for example – are actually just ways to get out of doing real work.” a good breakfast, meditate, or read the news.

5. Take on harder tasks earlier in the day.

Knock out your most challenging work when your brain is most fresh. Save your busy work – if you have any – for when your afternoon slump rolls in.

6. Pick up the phone. The digital world has created poor communication habits. Email is a productivity killer and usually a distraction from tasks that actually matter.

For example, people often copy multiple people on emails to get it off their plate – don’t be a victim of this action. This distracts everyone else by creating noise against the tasks they’re trying to accomplish and is a sign of laziness. If your email chain goes beyond two replies, it’s time to pick up the phone. Increase your productivity by scheduling a call.

7. Create a system. If you know certain things are ruining your daily productivity, create a system for managing them. Do you check your emails throughout the day? Plan a morning, afternoon, and evening time slot for managing your email. Otherwise, you’ll get distracted from accomplishing more important goals throughout the day.

8. Don’t confuse productivity with laziness. While no one likes admitting it, sheer laziness is the No. 1 contributor to lost productivity. In fact, a number of time-saving methods – take meetings and emails for example – are actually just ways to get out of doing real work. Place your focus on doing the things that matter most as efficiently and effectively as possible. Remember, less is more when it comes to being productive during the workday.

WEB TRENDS IN 2015

AND HOW TO CAPITALISE ON THEM Lawrence Hardcastle looks into some exciting web trends that will feature in 2015 and considers how schools can prepare for – and benefit from – them.

Creating a Culture of Content In the last edition of the ISA Journal we mentioned that it takes little time and effort to increase a school’s digital footprint and gain a marketing advantage from it. In 2015 and beyond, video as a mode of communication is set to see an increase in use on the web.

This is partly due to social media sites being geared towards video consumption and making it easier for people to upload content, but mostly due to the age we live in, where people have the ability to shoot HD video with the smartphones that are on hand in their pockets. It also highlights a general preference amongst users for video over text when comparing the same content.

Schools need to be aware of data protection and safeguarding issues when taking photos and video, but shouldn’t shy away from it. Encouraging a culture of producing content – pictures, video snippets and blog articles, from staff will give parents extra insight into your school, and make it look like an attractive option for their children. This ultimately means sharing the burden of your marketing efforts across your organisation, though it would still be wise to have a position allocated (whether paid or voluntary) to oversee this process. To make it easier for everyone to contribute, creating a one page guideline which, amongst other things, sets out the tone of voice your school wishes to be consistent with is helpful.

• Tip: To quickly produce presentable graphics for sharing on social media you don’t need to train your staff on Photoshop. Simply ask them to sign up for a free web application called ‘Canva’, which allows complete beginners to intuitively manipulate images and add text onto hundreds of ready-made layouts.

Personal Assistants powered by Search Engines ‘Hey Siri’, ‘Hey Cortana’, ‘Ok Google’ - these are the trigger phrases for personal assistants across the main mobile operating systems. In the past they have been seen as a bit of a novelty. However improvements in the technology behind them mean that they have more practical use in everyday life. As more people utilise them there will be a corresponding increase in use of search engines. Making sure your school is set up to be best displayed in search results is a wise move to make.

Consider prospective parents trying to find out the options for schools in their area. They would type in to Google (for example) ‘independent schools in [your location]’ and one of the first things they would see at the top of the search result page would be an aggregated list and map of all independent schools in that area.

Click on a school and it will provide more information and links to your website. This is your school’s public ‘Google Business’ page, and (if you haven’t already) you

should make sure it is set up with up-todate information. Going one step further by selecting some images from your website and uploading them to the page will also make for better first impressions.

It’s also important to note that much like sites such as TripAdvisor, people can write a review of your school on this page. It is unlikely that this will open up a can of worms, but it is certainly worth monitoring the page for misleading reviews which you can flag up to Google as inappropriate.

• Tip: Go to google.co.uk/business to find your school and manage information on the page.

CONTACT DETAILS If you’re looking to redesign your website get in touch with the Larrytech team on 0800 093 7471 or visit their website www.larrytech.com/schools.

ISA schools can enjoy an exclusive 15% discount on their services.

www.isaschools.org.uk

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ASK THE EXPERTS

THE ISA JOURNAL THE MAGAZINE FOR INDEPENDENT SCHOOLS

SPORTING TIMES SPOTLIGHT ON SPORT IN ISA SCHOOLS

BREDON SCHOOL, TEWKESBURY Bredon School is pretty unique. Its motto is ‘Come Alive and Thrive’, which applies not only to students but to the whole school. Sarah Lea, Bredon’s Director of Sport, explains.

Here at Bredon, we have a cohort of students that have a range of individual learning needs and we are totally committed to making sure that everyone, regardless of any such barriers to learning, can get the most out of the experiences they encounter.

Sport is no different. I realised a couple of years ago that I am not teaching students who will be Daily Mail Cup winners, but I am teaching amazing individuals who have the capacity to succeed in their own right.

My personal philosophy is that sport should be enjoyable for everyone. At Bredon, not one student makes excuses to avoid participating. We have a bespoke PE and Sports curriculum that provides opportunities for students to engage with traditional team games through to preparing for canoe endurance races and national clay pigeon shooting competitions.

Through our focus on individual sports, we achieve the best with our students. We currently have a number of individuals climbing the ranks in their respective sports.

Year 8’s Sophie Rees is a County tennis player at U12, U14 and U16 level. She is ranked 260th in the country at U12, and her current tennis ranking is a 6-2. Sophie also attends Bath University High Performance Centre for tennis training, having been spotted as a talent of the future.

Maia Hawkins, Year 11, is the U16 ISA National Cross Country Champion, as well as a South West of England tri-athlete, having secured her own personal sponsorship deal. She has also achieved regional and county swim qualification times.

Year 12’s James Lewis is the current Schools Challenge national clay pigeon shooting champion, and we have several 42

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David Hird

Maia Hawkins

county and regional athletes in track and field.

We have cyclists (David Hird, Year 8, took up cycling just two years ago yet finished 6th in the National Cyclo cross Championship in 2014), water polo players, wind surfers, sailors, and equestrian prize winners too.

However, we do not measure success through medals and trophies alone. It is just as rewarding to see a student complete a cross country run without stopping, or to walk along the length of a balance beam without falling off.

About 60% of our students have core strength, balance and bilateral coordination problems. To overcome this, we have added occupational therapy (OT) principles to our PE lessons and it’s working - I never thought I would see some of our students playing hockey but they all do, and they play well.

We have two OTs on site and an external OT who conducts assessments of the

students’ progress. In PE, we provide opportunities for individuals to complete exercises relevant to their needs and we provide one to one specialist support where we can. We select activities to promote mastery of motor skills. The result is that we have more confident, capable students than we would have if we’d just continued with a more traditional approach to PE. We are even about to invest in iPads to use in PE to help students with visual feedback and individual exercise programmes.

As a recent Year 7 joiner said, “I didn’t like sport in my last school because I never got picked. Now, I love it!”

As a small school - 232 students, aged 318 years – with a small PE department, we do punch above our weight. We have a full competitive fixture calendar, we offer cycling, climbing, canoeing and clay shooting as alternative sports on games afternoons.

The Barbados 2013 tour hockey team

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Left to right: Sarah Lea, Sophie Rees, Maia Hawkins, James Lewis

We take teams on tour; 2014 saw a mixed hockey team tour to Barbados and the basketball team going to York for the ISA tournament. We’re hoping to send our football team to Holland, the basketball team to Boston, the climbing team to Italy and the rugby team to Cardiff for preseason training.

Our grounds – all 80 acres – are shared between the school farm, outdoor education and sports departments. There are limitless cross country courses, multiple sports pitches, a hard court playing area, outdoor pool and even a private canoe launch on the river! Indoors, we have a sports hall, a multi gym and a dedicated sports classroom.

Academically in Sport, we offer the Cambridge Technical suite of qualifications as these best fit with our style of learners.

Last year’s Year 13s, all of whom were dyslexic students, achieved grade A and A* A-level equivalent grades which took them on to the Universities and careers of their choice. We also offer sports leaders qualifications – very relevant for students who lack the sporting skills but have the knowledge and understanding to lead and motivate younger students.

So, we do things differently here. But given that we still have county, regional and national sporting successes, a wide range of sports to go at and a broad fixture programme, we achieve great grades academically and all our students enjoy sport – different is obviously good!

THE ISA JOURNAL THE MAGAZINE FOR INDEPENDENT SCHOOLS

ISA NATIONAL SWIMMING FINALS 2015:

JOURNEY TO THE OLYMPIC POOL Hundreds of pupils from ISA schools took part in January’s National ISA Swimming Finals – moved for the first time from their Coventry home to the iconic London Olympic Pool. ISA’s National Sport Assistant Fran Hide recounts the journey.

I have experienced three National Swimming Galas whilst working for ISA; two at Coventry Pool and one recently at the London Olympic Pool. The London event held on 24 January was a huge success – but it wasn’t always plain swimming up until the day.

Coventry Swimming Pool was the home of ISA’s National Swimming Finals for 10 years, organised by Gwil Price, ISA’s former Director of Sport. Every February ISA pupils from across the UK would make the journey to the Midlands to represent their Area. Hundreds of swimmers, team managers and officials would all cram onto the narrow poolside, hoping that they wouldn’t become the first person of the day to fall in!

With a schedule of eighty races and presentations, everything needed to run smoothly. In 2014 the electronic timing equipment broke – resulting in manual timing, huge amounts of paperwork and very delayed presentations. Shortly afterwards we received the news that Coventry Pool was to close. It was time to move venues!

I did a lot of research searching for 50m pools in the country, however none of them suited our criteria quite like the London Olympic Pool. Bristol was fully booked, Sheffield was too far north for our South West schools, and Crystal Palace didn’t have enough spectator seating. The London Olympic Pool was perfect, but the cost of hiring it stopped us in our tracks.

Whilst we knew the cost of hiring this brand new, prestigious Olympic venue would be extortionate, we weren’t quite prepared for the price they initially quoted us. Let’s just say it was 5 times more than what we previously paid to hire Coventry pool. What followed was 6 months of negotiating with the pool on the following points: 44

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• ISA is a charity.

• ISA Sport organises sports events for school children right across the country to participate in.

• This event would attract 500 swimmers and up to 2500 spectators to the venue and Olympic Park.

• The “Olympic Legacy” should be enabling/encouraging more events to be held at these prestigious venues rather than restricting participation due to the cost.

Six months later, I received an email from the venue, with a revised cost. They had taken my points on board and more than halved the original quote. We were given the go ahead from ISA, fully supported by

the Executive Committee and Finance Committee to move the National Swimming Gala to this prestigious venue.

London – here we come!

Nine months of meticulous planning ensued liaising with the venue, booking security and first aid, arranging catering and hospitality packages for guests, ordering medals, certificates, hats, t-shirts and equipment, arranging all 25 ASA swimming officials, managing sponsors, coordinating Team Managers and their Area teams and finding enough volunteers to help run the event. At times I was worried we had taken on too much and we wouldn’t pull it off. This event became all I talked and thought about in the day and even dreamt about at night!

In the run up to the event I had hundreds of emails from teachers, parents, even competitors asking for more information about getting to the venue, watching the event and even where to stay beforehand. It was suddenly dawning on us how popular this event was going to be.

Paul Dimmock, ISA’s Director of Sport, and I arrived extremely early to the venue on the day and ensured everything was set up and ready for the Officials, Team Managers, Volunteers and Sponsors who all arrived for 11am. We were even treated with a display from Tom Daley who was training in the morning on the diving boards whilst we were setting up – it was a shame he couldn’t stick around to present some medals for us though!

At 11.30 am, when the security and first aiders were in place, the Welcome Zone doors were opened and spectators and competitors allowed in. There was a rush from spectators to make it through to the seating to ensure that they secured the best seats for the day, whilst the competitors signed in with their Team Managers and made their way down to

the changing rooms all wanting to be first on poolside. At 12.00pm the warm ups began; girls in first for 15mins followed by the boys. Roger Brierly opened the Gala at 12.25pm welcoming everyone and wishing a successful afternoon to all competitors before the Gala started at 12.30pm.

One of the most important things at a large event is the PA system to make announcements and commentate on the event throughout the day. At the best pool in the country we expected everything to work immaculately, however the PA system decided to blow up right before the event started! This caused a 20 minute delay to the start of the races but the pool were very quick to act and get an alternative PA system rigged up and in place. This was far from ideal but at least the Gala could commence.

Previously at Coventry Pool the Gala has run straight through from 12.30-4pm without a break. This year we built in a break between two sessions which was required for the ASA officials to rest and refuel. The first session from 12.30-3pm had all Individual Medley, Breaststroke, Backstroke and Medley Relay races. The second session from 3.30-6pm had all Freestyle, Butterfly and Freestyle Relay races. The presentations this year were made by ISA’s guests, Headteachers and sponsors at designated times throughout the event; whereas at Coventry Pool they had always happened alongside the swimming races, this year we wanted the competitors to experience their moment on the rostrum with all eyes on them,

basking in their success for a few seconds.

Due to the delay at the start with the PA system, half way through the first session we had to resort to doing the presentations alongside the races, to ensure the first session finished on time.

In future years we hope to continue with this new way of presenting medals.

There was a fantastic buzz throughout

Congratulations to the Midlands team who won both the Junior and Senior Overall titles at this event.

The final race of the day was completed at 5.30pm – the officials were now glad to retire to their official room and relax.

Final presentations were made to relay teams before Neil Roskilly closed the Gala and thanked everyone for supporting the event. The venue emptied quickly with competitors changing and rushing to find their parents, hoping not to get lost in the crowds outside the changing rooms.

Families, reunited with their swimmers, headed out of the venue towards Westfield Shopping Centre for celebratory meals or to catch their train home. There was suddenly an eerie silence within the venue and an empty hole where the excitement and noise from only 30 minutes previously had filled the pool.

After clearing up, saying thank you and goodbye to all of our volunteers, officials, team managers, sponsors and the venue, we were able to reflect on how successful the day had been. I certainly wasn’t able to fully enjoy the event at the time for fear I would relax and something would go wrong! It took 9 months of hard work and planning but ultimately it was all worth it. ISA Sport gave 500 children the opportunity to swim in an Olympic Venue. I hope that all of the children who competed enjoyed their experience in the Olympic Pool and who knows, there may even be children who go onto compete at the Olympics in years to come and reflect on ISA’ National Finals as one of their motivations to succeed.

ISA Sport would like to thank everyone who helped to make this event a huge success; the sponsors (SPDB, Fitmedia Fitness and TS USA), the officials, team managers, volunteers and parents and spectators for supporting the event.

See you all same time same place next year! www.isaschools.org.uk

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the whole day from the crowd cheering on their Area teams. ISA Areas displayed some exceptional swimming including new national records in six of our seven Area teams: • Emma Trotman (LW, IM), • Olivia Herron (N, Breaststroke), • William Pestnall (EA, Breaststroke), • Mackensie Cannon (LS, Breaststroke), • Emily Haimes (LN, Butterfly), • Ben Colclough (M, Butterfly) to name just a few.

THE ISA JOURNAL THE MAGAZINE FOR INDEPENDENT SCHOOLS

SPORTS ROUNDUP Last term saw another packed programme of events for ISA Sport. Here is a round-up of all the main competitions since our last issue.

U14/U16 Girls Hockey ISA’s U14/U16 Girls Hockey tournament was hosted by Alex Kenyon at St Edward’s School on Saturday 20 September. Although this tournament is very early in the start of term, many schools find it extremely useful to try out their new teams and to prepare their girls for upcoming fixtures in the Autumn Term. Six schools competed in the U14 tournament and four in the U16 tournament; excellent competitive hockey was displayed in all matches throughout the day. St Edward’s were crowned U14 Champions and Malvern St James U16 Champions.

Thanks to Alex Kenyon and St Edward’s School for hosting a great tournament to start ISA’s national calendar of sports events this academic year.

3rd Queen Ethelburga’s 4th St Edwards

East Triathlon ISA’s first triathlon of the year was held at Woodlands School, Great Warley, hosted

by Barbara Fitch and

U14 RESULTS: 1st St Edwards 2nd Hull Collegiate 3rd Ditcham Park 4th Malvern St James 5th Alderley Edge School for Girls 6th Queen Ethelburga’s U16 RESULTS: 1st Malvern St James 2nd Hull Collegiate 46

• www.isaschools.org.uk

Madeline Raymond, on Thursday 3 October. Fifteen schools entered with 156 children competing across years 4, 5 and 6; this was more than double the entries in last year’s event. Unlike last year, it was a gloriously sunny day, enabling schools to sit outside and enjoy their packed lunches after competing, watching other schools who were completing their laps on the bikes and running. The individual girls’ title was won

by Claudia King and the individual boys’ title by Brandon Baldacci, both from St Nicholas School. St Nicholas School also won the girls’ team competition and Alleyn Court the boys’ team.

Thanks to Barbara, Madeline and both Woodlands Schools for organising yet another fantastic Triathlon for ISA Sport. For full results, see our website.

U11 Rugby ISA’s inaugural U11 Rugby tournament was held at Bedford Swifts RFC, hosted by Sam Richbell and Rushmoor School on Thursday 13 November. Ten schools travelled to Bedford to compete in this tournament which was sponsored by rugby

tour providers Sweet Chariot.

A round robin pool structure started the tournament followed by a Cup and Plate knockout to determine the winners. Sam Richbell was extremely pleased with the standard of rugby and sportsmanship that was displayed throughout the day.

Sweet Chariot gave a short presentation to all teams before Chris Bell, London Wasps Captain, presented medals to the teams. Pitsford School were Plate runners up, narrowly missing out in the final to Loyola Prep - now U11 Plate Winners. Crackley Hall were Cup runners up with Littlegarth School being crowned U11 Cup Champions. Littlegarth displayed an exceptional warm up at the start of the tournament which Sam Richbell said would have helped to give them an edge over all other teams. Thank you to all of the teams who entered this tournament, to Chris Bell for presenting prizes and signing autographs for the competitors and finally to Sam Richbell and Rushmoor School for hosting ISA’s inaugural U11 Rugby tournament. For full results, see our website.