Insight 8

No.8

Dukes is a family of schools, teachers, learners, parents and partners connected by our pursuit of an extraordinary life for every member of our community.

We believe that education is a journey to be enjoyed and shared at every stage of life. Insight is testament to this ongoing commitment to learning: a termly publication of articles written by some of the extraordinary educationalists in our schools and organisations. dukeseducation.com

No.8

Contents

Annabel Coaker, Marketing Manager at Eaton Square Schools, discusses how to convey high-quality messages in the independent education sector.

Growing young minds Trish Watt, Head of Eaton Square Preparatory School A well-planned school trip can broaden pupil’s horizons, encourage teamwork, develop resilience and promote leadership skills.

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Up close and personal Kirsty Gardiner, SENDCo at Earlscliffe in Kent The key to quality SEND provision is about truly knowing your students’ needs.

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Making a mark Chris Kenny, Head of Art at Hampstead Fine Arts A quality art education is less about learning the right techniques and more about finding your own voice.

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On brand 29 Annabel Coaker, Marketing Manager at Eaton Square Schools How do we convey high-quality messages in the independent education sector?

Execution is everything Claire Little, Director of People at Dukes A successful diversity and inclusion strategy is more than just another policy.

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Aim high but stay grounded Hayley Bendle, Head of Higher Education and careers at Cardiff Sixth Form College Good career counselling is about being supportive but straight talking.

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Doing it well 44 Alistair Brownlow, Principal of Rochester Independent College Quality matters in education but how is it measured and what does it look like at this distinctive independent school?

Curious Learners | Independent Thinkers | Happy Children

Eat your heart out 51 Amanda Constance, Director of Communications at Dukes Education School chefs at Dukes Education are improving school lunches with remarkable results.

At Broomfield House we are academically ambitious for your children. We aim to unlock every child’s potential, foster their independence and encourage them to love learning, and confidently articulate their own opinions.

Beyond bricks and mortar 57 Andrew Coulter, Knightsbridge School Good school facilities — what does this mean post-pandemic?

Come and visit us in the heart of Kew to find out more.

The last word Wit and wisdom from the world’s great thinkers.

www.broomfieldhouse.com

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Tim Fish Editor’s letter

Bringing Insight to a coffee table near you…

Tim Fish, editor of Insight, is Managing Director for Dukes Education’s colleges, and founded Earlscliffe, a co-ed, international boarding school for students aged 15-19, in Folkestone, Kent.

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hat does quality look like?

With material purchases we believe we know what good quality looks like, feels like, and even smells like. In buying clothing, toiletries and white goods there is an obvious transactional arrangement, which should make it reasonably simple when confronted with the age-old dilemma, ‘Do we go for the Miele this time…?’.

Given that most UK parents do little else socially for the first 13 years of parenthood other than discuss schools, exams and league tables, one would have thought that most of us would be able to identify the chief characteristics of a high-quality education.

The buzzwords include results, facilities, curriculum, enrichment, sports, teaching, leadership, and behaviour.

Insight N˚8 offers vignettes from our experts on what constitutes high quality in some of the above but also

Insight No.8

in nutrition, well-being, fine art, careers counselling and campus development.

We should also ponder what human qualities are most important to us. The Nepalese writer Santosh Kalmar states that ‘trust starts with truth and ends with truth’. Children must be able to trust teachers, other staff and friends to develop without too much anxiety or fear, and parents, teachers and leaders benefit from the mutual trust that open communication fosters. Meaningful purpose provides the strongest of platforms for success: everyone must know what they need to do, how to do it and why they’re doing it, including our children. The best way to start a lesson has always been to tell children what they are going to learn and why they are doing so.

We all need collaboration, very few of us achieve anything of note without it. I am fond of the African proverb, ‘If you want to go

faster, go alone, but if you want to go far, go together.’

Social memory and nostalgia push me to enjoy the naïve ‘matchstick men’ of fellow Lancastrian, L.S. Lowry, but there’s something more exotic and exciting about Magritte’s The Son of Man (1964), when all he did was place a bright green apple on the face of a bowler-hatted man, and suddenly he was a Surrealist genius — with just a little imagination! Other crucial human qualities that should be on show in schools are resilience, compassion, and an ability to effect lasting change. If you can identify some of these across the community, then it’s likely that education of a high quality is thriving. Relax and enjoy the sagest of observations in this issue of Insight, hopefully on a terrace with increasingly longer evenings.

Tim Fish Editor 5

Growing young minds A well-planned school trip can broaden pupil’s horizons, encourage teamwork, develop resilience and promote leadership skills, says Trish Watt, Head of Eaton Square Preparatory School

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hen schools reopened after the first major lockdown in March 2020, the first thing I asked staff to do was to plan an offsite adventure day at Battersea Park for all pupils and teachers. The team set about creating a scavenger hunt, sporting activities and some all-round collaborative fun for our young community. I was adamant that this took place in the first week back. Why? Whilst lockdown enabled us to become adept at delivering slick online curricula, becoming ever more sophisticated in our approach and even progressing to breakout spaces for our children to work in groups, nothing can replace the experience of working together in person, nor the unforgettable activity of coming together in the spirit of enquiry. Since then, I haven’t spoken to a single teaching professional who has not noticed the impact lockdowns have had on the social skills, confidence and general wellbeing of at least some their pupils. There was one purpose and one purpose alone for that adventure day: rekindling teamwork.

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‘ Right from the start we build exploration into our curriculum’ 7

‘ Our residential trips’ programme not only enhances the children’s classroom experience, but also builds memories and bonds that will last a lifetime’

Whether our pupils become politicians or painters, scientists or solicitors, tech-wizards or teachers, one thing’s for sure — leadership is key. Good leadership cultivates teamwork.

A teamwork-focused culture promotes an environment that nurtures friendship and loyalty. These close-knit relationships motivate staff and pupils alike, inspiring them to work harder, cooperate and be supportive of one another. Our pupils possess a whole plethora of talents and skills, strengths and weaknesses; when an environment doesn’t encourage them to work together, it can pose many challenges towards achieving success for all. Pupils become focused on promoting their own achievements and competing against their peers. When teamwork thrives, 8

the whole team is motivated and working towards the same goal. So, how do we cultivate teamwork? Learning is always an adventure at Eaton Square, but nothing brings it to life in quite the same ways as a memorable learning experience in the great outdoors. That is why Eaton Square Prep prides itself on providing extensive opportunities to participate in overnight residential trips for pupils from as young as 6 years of age. Full of adventure and activity, our residential trips’ programme not only enhances the children’s classroom experience, but also builds memories and bonds that will last a lifetime.

Right from the start, we build exploration into our curriculum; our three to five-year-olds enjoy the great outdoors with regular Forest

School visits and termly trips. By the time the children reach six years of age, they enjoy an overnight stay at Gaveston Hall in rural Sussex. This builds up to two nights away in Year 3; then four nights away sailing in the Norfolk Broads in Year 4. As such, once the children are in Years 5 and 6, they are ready for a full week of adventure in Italy, skiing (Year 5) and soaking in the culture of Rome and Pompeii (Year 6).

We all know that new environments can provide challenges to children, allowing for more individual learning and building upon their previous successes. Our residential programme is geared towards pushing our pupils beyond their limits. Take our sailing trip, for example. These children are eight

or nine years old and are being exposed to essential teamwork and leadership; they are completely taken outside of their comfort zone. They learn to tie knots and develop many other practical skills. They are exposed to changeable wind conditions. Change is the one constant on a sailing boat and this is certainly true about life. Aside from our residential trips provision, and with cultural treasures such as the Natural History Museum and the Science Museum right on our doorstep, we do not hold back on taking the children on day trips throughout the academic year too.

These provide wonderful extensions to our classrooms further bringing the learning experience alive and imparting new skills and knowledge in an unforgettable way. n 9

Eaton Square Schools

Senior & Sixth Form

Up close and personal The key to quality SEND provision at KS5 is the same as all other stages, says Kirsty Gardiner, SENDCo at Earlscliffe in Kent. It’s about truly knowing your students’ needs

A Preparation for Life.

By popular demand, Eaton Square Schools are expanding.

Eaton Square Senior School’s new Sixth Form unites academic excellence, unrivalled university preparation and a pioneering Preparation for Life programme.

Set in an innovative educational framework in central London, pupils are fully equipped to make their mark in our ever-changing world.

Discover more at www.eatonsquareschools.com

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s a vehement advocate for SEND, I recently embarked on a new venture, leaving my role as a Deputy Head in a mainstream primary school to take up a new role in an independent Sixth Form college as their first SENDCo and ultimately back to the role that has always inspired me most. The question I wanted to answer; what does high-quality provision look like at KS5?

When I spoke to friends and colleagues in anticipation of my new role in KS5, the common thread was access arrangements. Exam Access Arrangements — EAAs — are the reasonable adjustments that can be made for an exam candidate and might include things like extra time to complete an exam paper, permission to use assistive technology, or provision of rest breaks. They can only

be granted if they are a candidate’s ‘normal way of working’ and the candidate has a history of need.

Was this the key to highquality provision in KS5? With this in mind, I quickly signed up to undertake the Award for Proficiency for Access Arrangements; a 30-hour course with assignments which would be a sure way to know all that there is to know about access arrangements.

One of my first tasks was talking to staff and looking at those students who may require additional support with their examinations. After all, as an advocate for SEND, I know too well the importance of removing barriers so that all students have equal access to education.

With supportive staff, who were quick to share with me the students that were finding their learning more challenging, we identified 11

‘ How could it be personalised if we did not know the specific needs of the students?’

a number of students who would also need support to access their exams successfully. One of these was a young man sitting his A-levels this summer, who had been identified as having dyslexia in his home country.

Colleagues were quick to share that his writing was often illegible; he also wrote slowly and it appeared he had too much to focus on.

Staff had observed his mind wandered in reading and writing but he could sit and listen for longer periods in comparison. They had also noted that he was slow at copying off the board and was much better verbally. He was sociable and had lots of friends and was much more confident seeking support from his friends than asking a teacher. Assessments were undertaken to ascertain this student’s profile of need.

As a result, due to his below average working memory, phonological memory and awareness and his visual processing speed, we were able to identify the need for 25% additional time for tests/examinations and recommendations for a laptop for extended writing.

The student was relieved when he was given the additional time. Furthermore, these assessment scores were useful in explaining his difficulties to staff; weakness in memory will affect his ability to hold and manipulate information in his mind, which can affect many areas of learning — organising thoughts in writing and reading for meaning, difficulty in processing

information, following instructions, sequencing and planning. It also allowed us to improve our provision, using writing frames and planners when organising essays and using tangible aids in Maths for example.

I recognised that whilst we needed to ensure access arrangements were right, this was only a small part of ensuring high-quality SEND provision and ultimately, provision begins in the classroom. Moreover, I quickly realised that before I could fully tackle the access arrangements, I needed to know who these students were and what their needs were. How could I remove barriers and furthermore implement successful strategies without the knowledge of their strengths and difficulties? After all, the SEND Code of Practice states: ‘High quality teaching that is differentiated and personalised will meet the individual needs of the majority of children and young people.’ How could it be personalised if we did not know the specific needs of the students? How many students had autism, attention deficit disorder, social, emotional and mental health, cognition and learning or specific learning difficulties, such as dyslexia?

Knowing the needs of the students also led to the question of which diagnostic tools would be useful in ascertaining the difficulties; not just for evidence for access arrangements but so that the student could be fully integrated and 13

‘ When I became a KS5 SENDCo the common thread were questions about access arrangements’

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understood in the classroom by all practitioners. This led to the seeking of support from external agencies. One thing was clear from my new environment, my colleagues knew the students well; as I began to write pupil passports with each of the students and asked for feedback from the staff, they were able to share many of the strengths and difficulties of the students that they taught, from the young man who was most motivated

by Formula 1 to the young lady who often had a fiveminute break to play a game of word scrabble, so that she could refocus on the lesson. My role quickly developed into accumulating this information from house managers and teaching staff so that this knowledge could be shared holistically.

Staff were enthusiastic and eager to know more about how to support their student with dyslexia or how to ensure that provision was right for their student with a hearing impairment.

We have previously had support from the specialist teaching learning service (STLS) for students. A female student with hearing impairments, who was well known in the school, had provision based on the relationships she had developed with staff. When her hearing was tested by the STLS, it was clear that we could do more to enable her learning in the classroom.

The student’s hearing scores for recalling sentences was 86% with good voice levels and quiet background noise,

when lipreading was removed this dropped to 53%. These assessments highlighted a number of recommendations and strategies that we could put in place to ensure that our provision was tailored to meet her needs. For this student, good quality provision became about ensuring we had good voice levels and the speaker’s face was visible; thinking about the lighting so she could always read lips and not moving around with our backs to her or talking whilst writing on the board.

Quality provision involved getting the other students to talk one at a time, providing written handouts and visuals to support so that she did not need to take notes or write at the same time as lipreading, and breaking activities up as listening can be hard. Perhaps for me, the recommendation that I found most effective is repeating other students’ contributions as often the students are quieter than the teachers or they didn’t directly face the student with the hearing impairments; this has been particularly important with the recent government guidelines on masks. This inspiring young woman taught me many things, including that quality provision is much more than access arrangements and as professionals we are always learning of better ways to facilitate learning for the best outcomes.

High-quality provision includes training and upskilling ourselves as practitioners; adding to our toolkits and learning 15

new strategies knowing that the bonus of good SEND provision is that providing for our SEND students will also benefit the other students in the classroom. Knowledge of need, and knowledge of our learners, leads to better understanding and more tailored support. For example, understanding that the student with autism, who likes to blend into the background, stayed up at night completing her homework but would rather receive a detention than walk up to the front of the class and offer it when not asked.

Or understanding that the student who appears to have an inability to attend to and carry out simple instructions, has shown below average phonological processing combined with English as an additional language, and this difficulty in remembering spoken language may have manifested itself in as an apparent inability to follow instructions.

Having a full term to now reflect on, I can confidently say that quality SEND provision at KS5 is the same as quality provision across all settings, whether it be at KS1, KS4 or EYFS. The skills that I developed in my 13 years in a primary setting are invaluable in my new school despite the fact that I am working with students who are at least six years older. Access arrangements are an integral part of KS5 and ensure that any substantial disadvantage is removed but ultimately it is the identification of needs that leads to the knowledge and subsequent 16

personalisation of provision that enables learning and improve outcomes. Knowing our students, developing relationships, upskilling ourselves in areas that we are less familiar with and regularly reflecting on our practice are critical.

Without this provision in the classroom, our students will not make it to the exam and whilst it is paramount that they receive the arrangements that they are entitled to, without the foundations of the classroom, there will be nothing to assess in an exam.

With each key stage comes the removal of different barriers and different tasks but high-quality provision looks the same at any key stage when you are flying the SEND flag and as practitioners, our role is to identify the need, facilitate, motivate and inspire our students and our colleagues, to make a difference to all whom we teach through our knowledge and understanding of our young people so that our practice is personalised, reflective and responsive to their needs. n

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Making a mark Chris Kenny, the Head of Art at Hampstead Fine Arts, says a quality art education is less about learning the right techniques and more about finding your own voice

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he least important and least interesting thing about taking a qualification in art is the qualification. More important is the portfolio of work produced during the course that acts as a passport to the next stage of one’s art education. And more important than that is the finding of one’s ‘voice’ and the creative momentum that flows through it.

Definitions of art are legion and most contain some truth — an important lesson for students is recognising the wide range of possibilities open to them, tested or untested.

It is tempting to emulate some established or popular art encountered in the media, especially social media, without realising that this is somebody else’s experience of the world. To say something worthwhile it is necessary to prioritise one’s own direct, unmediated experience. By standing in front of the motif, be it animal, mineral or vegetable, one is doing something timeless and outside of fashion or ‘style’.

We are bombarded by slick, finessed images everywhere we go. The process of evolution that lies behind such images is rarely visible

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The Thames Canvas, wood, paint, ink, paper, plaster By a Hampstead Fine Arts A-level student

‘ At every age, people have something valuable to say and should be listened to’ 19

Branches, Roots, Nerves Ink, watercolour, pastel From the sketchbook page of a Fine Arts A-level student

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and so one can wrongly assume their genesis was swift and smooth. It is necessary to appreciate how much research and rehearsal supports each finished product. The success of the final artwork is likely to be preceded by many failures. These failures are not pointless at all but are the building blocks of the final work.

This is why sketchbooks are so important to practical subjects; they hold the rough workings, collecting and rationalising the chaos of the process. Rather than wrong turnings being regretted and dismissed, they hang around so that their value may be recognised further down the road. Of course, to tolerate these ‘mistakes’ requires some confidence and a rejection of the curse of perfectionism. To offer a simple analogy, if while dancing, we falter every time a ‘move’ is less than perfect then we are likely to be stiff, awkward, and unexpressive before retreating from the dance floor altogether.

The acquisition of skills is obviously important to all the arts but should not delay an attempt to make an artistic statement. It is not necessary to be fluent before speaking in an unfamiliar language, otherwise we may be waiting so long to express a feeling or opinion that the authentic moment is lost.

At every age, people have something valuable to say and should be listened to — although of course the message may become clearer and more persuasive as the language is refined.

This process of refining any craft requires determination and critical resilience and it is likely that a student will need the impartial judgement and moral rigour of a guide, someone who has travelled the road before.

Deciding on the appropriate medium and technique entails a parallel process of discovery and experiment. The materials and the actions of the artist often carry as much meaning as the subjects and symbols — from unadorned drawing, translating thought into simple lines, to complex, technologically sophisticated projects. The experiments will sometimes be very fast, perhaps bypassing the conscious mind, and sometimes very slow, involving a sustained meditation upon a motif.

Art needs to say something but should value quiet voices as much as loud ones.

Very slight ideas can evolve into important, 21

‘ In a shared art studio, young artists encounter the art of their peers, and this can have a profound effect’

affecting works of art; so there needs to be an openness to subtle and unexpected messages and meanings. Part of one’s education is recognising the worth of one’s opinions — again this may initially require recognition by a mentor, especially when the student carries a legacy of feeling unnoticed and unheard.

The history of art is very supportive — it is rich with examples of the apparently insignificant acquiring great cultural significance — a scrawny, chippy Dutchman painting his muddy boots or his wobbly chair and eventually reaching an appreciative audience of millions. The internet puts the world past and present within easy reach but makes everything flat and undifferentiated.

There is no substitute for encountering art of all forms, face to face; this way its materiality shares our space and demands our emotional attention.

In a large, shared art studio, young artists encounter on a daily basis the art of their peers, and this can have a profound effect.

Picasso described his relationship with Braque in the heady days of Cubist discovery, as being like that of two mountaineers tied together reliant on one another, taking turns in going ahead. A whole cohort of climbers then can share not only technical know-how but also the elation of reaching new heights.

Most important to any ambition for originality, is the interrogation of accepted facts and conventional opinions. Each generation has an opportunity to update values and truths. In the words of James Baldwin, “The purpose of art is to lay bare the questions that have been hidden by the answers.” n 22

The Poet’s Room Mixed media construction in a cardboard box By a Fine Arts A-level student

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A Bassett House School student works on a mixed media artwork

High Art The art created by students in the Dukes family is outstanding. Here is a selection of images from recent work

An A-level Textiles piece

by Gigi Tang, a Year 13 student at Rochester Independent College

Using syringes to create art at Bassett House School

Bubble of Prosperity Coloured pencil

By Coco Lam, Year 13 at Cardiff Sixth Form College

What Makes us Human?

Ink and bleach drawing

By Coco Lam, Year 13 at Cardiff Sixth Form College Mixed media piece

By Ngoc Minh Thu, a student at St Andrew’s College, Cambridge 24

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A photography artwork by Bonnie-Rose Dairaine-Bonardi in Year 13 at Earlscliffe.

An artwork by Ketong, a student at St Andrew’s College, Cambridge

Coat for the Homeless By an Art student at Hampstead Fine Arts College

Sad Girl in the Forest By an Art student at Hampstead Fine Arts College

Jester

By Catrina Lupu, a Year 12 Fine Art student at Rochester Independent College 26

Screenshot from Over Thinker 3D animation project in Blender

By Niko Koblov, a Year 14 student at Rochester Independent College 27

On brand

Annabel Coaker, Marketing Manager at Eaton Square Schools, on how to convey high-quality messages in the independent education sector

‘ For many, the principle of quality in relation to brand reputation is simple: deliver an excellent product or service and an excellent reputation will follow’

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hen applied to the independent education sector, our ‘product or service’ spans everything from instilling lifelong skills in children to providing watertight university preparation for today’s teenagers. The quality and outcome of any one of these directly affects brand reputation. As Milton Hershey, founder of Hershey’s Chocolate, aptly said: “Give them quality, that is the best kind of advertising.” While loathe to compare any educational establishment to confectionery, Hershey has a point: a brand conveys highquality messages simply by delivering a highquality product or service.

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The quality of a brand’s marketing initiatives also influences brand reputation.

Adverts (be they in print or online, on the back of a bus or distributed to a particular area), social media campaigns, promotional events and website content are all popular marketing conduits. Each is a form of communication to your prospective audience and as such must be slick, accurate and impressive in order to contribute to a high-quality brand reputation.

How can your brand message truly stand out, however, when your competitors are delivering equally exceptional products and services?

This is where the importance of relevance, recurrence and results in brand messaging come into play. It is not solely a case of what you say about your brand, but when you say it, where you say it and for what intended result.

Results A high-quality brand reputation is two-fold; it yields the results that you as a brand want as well as those of your consumer.

To ensure highly effective brand messaging, you should first identify the results you want your messaging to achieve. The more specific, the better. ‘Promote the brand’ is not enough.

Is it to generate registrations for a particular entry year? Is it to boost awareness of a new launch — perhaps a new science lab or course?

Or perhaps you wish to improve the diversity of your student body?

Only once you have clarified a target result can you truly assess whether the messaging to get there was of high quality.

Relevance High quality and high relevance go hand in hand; to ensure high-quality brand messaging, your message must be relevant to your audience. Timing, location and demographic are key.

As such, can a high-quality brand reputation for a day school in Devon be of merit to families in Finland? Is the messaging of a university consultancy service to a network of first-time expectant mothers of lesser quality than that of a nursery?

Similarly, publicising a new bursary offering to a database of high net-worth families is somewhat nonsensical. Always ensure your 30

‘ High quality and high relevance go hand in hand’

brand messaging is relevant to who you are appealing to and get the timing right.

At Eaton Square Prep and Nursery Schools, the envisaged result of our brand messaging last spring was to secure prospective parent registrations for our March 2021 Virtual Open Morning. As an independent day school for children aged 2-11, our target audience is chiefly families of AB demographic, living locally and with younger children. At the time, the unavoidable topic was Covid-19 and, specifically to parents in Spring 2021, the re-opening of schools after lockdown.

We therefore assessed how to make Eaton Square relevant to families during this difficult and unfamiliar time.

Our messaging could have talked about our exceptional 2021 11+ results, our strong extra-curricular offering or our acclaimed pastoral care. Instead, we centred the initial brand-messaging in the run up to our event on our expertise with ‘How To Ease Pupils Back Into The Classroom’ — an insight-led article exploring how Eaton Square would be ensuring the smooth transition of pupils back into school life. By answering a question that concerned so many families at the time, the piece was immediately relevant to our audience. Only once this relevant focus was established did we mention the credentials of an Eaton Square education and our upcoming event. The piece featured in online education magazines, the blogs of local luxury children’s brands and email campaigns to those with direct access to our target audience, such as education agents, lifestyle concierge companies and relocation agents.

This resulted in record sign-ups.

In short, we delivered high-quality brand messaging by being 100% relevant in our topic, timing and audience.

The concept of ‘relevance’ can be applied to more positive themes. For example, on promoting a later 2021 Open Morning, Eaton Square Prep School used the 150th anniversary of the Royal Albert Hall as a hook for showcasing the school’s phenomenal strengths in performance: specifically in drama, public speaking and debating. The piece, again closing with an invitation to Eaton Square’s upcoming Open Morning, featured in the education sections of the websites and social 31

‘ We delivered high-quality brand messaging by being 100% relevant in our topic, timing and audience’

media channels of local parenting networks and London lifestyle magazines. Strong signups were again generated; further exemplifying how high-quality brand messaging is achieved by promoting a relevant message to a relevant audience at a relevant time.

Recurrence The phrase ‘multiple customer touchpoints’ is one bandied around by marketeers in many industries. Though it may sound like marketing jargon, it is crucial to effective brand messaging.

For those not familiar with the phrase, these ‘touchpoints’ simply refer to opportunities in which your prospective consumer may experience your brand. For example, the ‘touchpoints’ of a new vegetarian food shop could include a mention in a local magazine, a feature in a national cookery website, a flyer to homes and businesses nearby, an endorsement from a famous vegetarian and an event with other likeminded brands. Any one of these messaging outlets can prove effective in developing a high-quality reputation. However, the highestquality result is often that secured by all these avenues. In other words, the higher the recurrence of the message, the more effective it is. Aside from being a clear reminder to those experiencing all touchpoints (and in doing so 32

implicitly building trust around the brand), recurrent messaging ensures that no potential leads ‘slip through the cracks’. For example, while a prospective consumer may not read their local magazine or flyer, they may well take heed of a national website inclusion or word of mouth surrounding a popular event.

We applied this to Eaton Square when opening two new nursery schools in September 2021. Our ‘multiple customer touchpoints’ included social media campaigns directed at prospective families, email promotion to target networks, news pieces on our website, editorial in London parenting magazines, advertising in independent education magazines and a launch event with prominent businesswoman Anya Hindmarch, attended by current Eaton Square parents and generating much positive word of mouth in our local area. Aside from the outstanding quality of our new nursery schools, this high volume of initial customer touch points no doubt played a factor in why these nursery schools are now fully subscribed and we already plan to open a third. So, while a high-quality product or service is essential to achieving high-quality brand messaging, recurrence, relevance and envisioned results of any marketing initiative likewise play a vital part in a brand’s success. n

‘ So, while a high-quality product or service is essential to achieving high-quality brand messaging, recurrence, relevance and envisioned results of any marketing initiative likewise play a vital part in a brand’s success.’

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E Execution ACADEMIC AND CREATIVE SUBJECTS AT GCSE AND A-LEVEL, YEARS 9-13

is everything A successful diversity and inclusion strategy must be truly embedded within a workforce to be more than just another policy, says Claire Little, Director of People at Dukes

HAMPSTEAD FINE ARTS COLLEGE HAS A DISTINCTIVE EDUCATIONAL PHILOSOPHY WHICH PLACES EQUAL IMPORTANCE ON THE ACADEMIC AND CREATIVE AND ENCOURAGES THE HIGHEST ACHIEVEMENT IN BOTH AREAS

020 7586 0312

mail@hampsteadfinearts.com

www.hampsteadfinearts.com

I

t is broadly accepted that organisations benefit from a diverse and inclusive workforce and culture. Most organisations have Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) policies or statements of intent published on websites, particularly following MeToo and Black Lives Matter.

The number of companies offering EDI training is flourishing, conferences,

books, lectures and workshops abound and yet the steps forward seem small. We seem to be scrapping the surface.

What will it take to transform good intentions into reality?

What does high quality diversity and inclusion practice look like? The following are five key steps to ensure good quality practice within schools and organisations.

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1

The Inclusive Leader Leaders set the tone of the culture of an organisation.

In a recent EDI survey by Rework Work in the US only 4% of respondents were able to respond positively to the question, ‘Our leadership is aligned and committed to diversity and inclusion in the organisation.’ Intellectually, we recognise that leaders need to be front and centre remodelling the change but this needs to be authentic — leaders need to ensure that there is action and change that employees can see and feel not just a policy on a website. Research undertaken by academics Andrea Titus and Juliet Bourke identified six key behavioural elements of an inclusive leader: ȅ Visible commitment: They talk authentically about their commitment to diversity, challenge the status quo when need be, hold others accountable and make diversity and inclusion a personal priority. ȅ Humility: They are modest about capabilities, admit mistakes, and create the space for others to contribute.

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ȅ Awareness of bias: They show awareness of their Leadership Development not own personal blind spots as well as flaws in the system and Training Initiatives If we accept that inclusive work hard to address these. leaders demonstrate key behaviours that enable a ȅ Curiosity about others: diverse organisation, then They demonstrate an open we should embed inclusive mindset and deep curiosity behavioural development about others, listen without into our leadership and judgment, and seek with management programmes empathy to understand those and coaching. It is well around them. recognised that initiatives ȅ Cultural intelligence: such as unconscious bias They are attentive to others’ training, while raising cultures and adapt as awareness, do little to required. ensure long-term change within an organisation; or ȅ Effective collaboration: worse, leave delegates with They empower others, pay anxiety or cynicism around attention to diversity of ‘getting it wrong’. Too little thinking and psychological time is spent on how to safety, and focus on team engage and understand cohesion. others’ perspectives, to share These elements reflect stories and life experiences. many aspects of good EDI consultant Ruchika leadership but the inclusive Tulshyan in her book Inclusion leader has diversity and on Purpose suggests six inclusion at the forefront of strategies for leaders — be all they do and importantly uncomfortable, reflect on that is seen and heard by what you don’t know, invite employees. feedback, limit defensiveness, grow from your mistakes and expect change to take time.

Inviting feedback is key, being open to making mistakes and learning from them is visible and therefore powerful.

‘ A good leader demonstrates an open mindset and deep curiosity about others’ 36

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Embedded into Strategy EDI should not be a separate stream of activity running alongside core business objectives but should be integrated into the goals of an organisation. Alex Gorsky, chair and CEO of Johnson & Johnson has put EDI at the heart of its strategy to gain competitive advantage in their product market. “The best innovation can only come if our people reflect the world’s full diversity of individual, opinions and approaches.” He recognised that he would only achieve organisational success by ensuring diversity and inclusion was an active part of its strategy. In education, a diverse and inclusive curriculum, co-curriculum and staff body, enables pupils to understand a broader society than their own community, to share others experience and to understand how they want to contribute to that society. Achieving this goes beyond an HR initiative to attract and engage a diverse workforce, although this is an important part, but should touch every part of a pupil’s educational lifecycle. This can only be achieved if EDI is embedded in the School Development Plan (SDP) to achieve the school or organisation’s goals.

‘ Telling each other our stories promotes a greater understanding of others and creates trust’

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Track, Measure, Report, Change Measuring the effectiveness of any diversity and inclusion practice is critical to understanding its effectiveness and to make changes where things aren’t working. This may sound pretty obvious but it is a key aspect of change management that is often poorly executed.

The EDI KPIs to track should be identified as part of the overall strategy. This could be gender pay-0gap analysis, attraction and recruitment changes, staff / parent / pupil surveys, promotions, access to Learning & Development etc. Tracking, being honest about the outcomes, learning from mistakes is critical to the process. What works in one school, may not be so successful in another.

Cultures and communities are different.

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Opening up lines of communication Enabling employees to talk about their diversity and inclusion experiences to each other, free of judgement, is a brilliant way to normalise subjects and open up discussion. Telling each other our stories promotes a greater understanding of others and creates trust. This can be done in numerous ways through collaboration forums, Employee Resource Groups, organisational stories via videos, awards ceremonies, onboarding or lunchtime story-telling workshops — the list is endless. This is best led by local leaders to create the safe space and appropriate environment.

So, to ensure that your workforce truly benefits from a diverse and inclusive culture, it is important to have appropriate EDI leadership competencies, embed EDI into strategy objectives, measure effectiveness and enable ongoing communication.

But as John Doerr said: “Ideas are easy. Execution is everything.” n 37

Aim high but stay grounded Good career counselling is about being supportive but straight talking, too, says Hayley Bendle, Head of Higher Education and Careers at Cardiff Sixth Form College

I

t is perhaps unsurprising that the global pandemic has influenced the way students think about their future careers.

In a survey carried out by Prospects 27% of student respondents said that Covid had made them change their prospective career path altogether. Which surely means that careers advice needs to shift, too. In a post-pandemic world, the impact of a comprehensive, stable, and high-quality career and 18+ options programme on the outcomes of students must be prioritised.

But what does excellent, impartial, yet supportive career counselling look like in an era where applications to some of the world’s most selective (or, rejective) universities have also skyrocketed? Below are five key qualities of outstanding practice to support students who aspire to the world’s best universities.

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‘ Only one in 40 overseas applicants will make it to Harvard — and among this group of applicants will be the very best of the best’ 39

‘ Applications to university should not be about moulding oneself to become what students consider universities look for, but about being the best versions of themselves’

1. Manage expectations It is not uncommon to advise students for whom there appear to be only two available vehicles to success: going to the G5 or Ivy League. With some of the most selective universities shelving meritocratic admissions in favour of a more ‘holistic’ approach, admissions statistics can be incredibly helpful in painting a realistic landscape where students will witness the honest level of competition for such institutes.

We must not forget that such hyperselective American universities have non-US citizen acceptance rates as low as 2.5% for Harvard, or bluntly, one in 40 overseas applicants. And amongst this group of applicants will be the very best of the best, so selectivity can sometimes feel insurmountable. Whilst this may not act as a deterrent, it will certainly at least lead to a conversation about back-up planning.

Schools and colleges should not reinforce G5 and Ivy League universities as the beall and end-all. Facilitating such difficult conversations may be construed as being cruel to be kind, but it will be much more beneficial for the students’ future benefits than the opposite: killing with kindness.

2. Broaden horizons “A person can only grow as much as their horizons allow.” — John Powell A focus on broadening students’ horizons can deepen perspectives beyond their immediate comfort zone (be it intellectual, personal, or social). This, in turn, may introduce better, more suitable options to them.

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It’s worth acknowledging that some students may already have preconceived or unconscious assumptions, and perhaps even a deterministic view of their prospective career.

As an international college of more than 40 nationalities, Cardiff Sixth Form College students are in the fortunate position to be able to challenge their existing values and beliefs with new and unfamiliar knowledge from a diversity of staff and peers alike.

As career counsellors, we play a vital role in encouraging students to be in control of their own decision-making (not that of their extended family or community, perhaps) and to design a future that is based upon their P2: passion and purpose. Thanks to our social capital and connections, we can enlighten students about how the world is most certainly their oyster and is much bigger than they may currently think.

3. Encourage a best fit Applications to university should not be about moulding oneself to become what students consider universities look for, but about being encouraged to become the best versions of themselves. It is disheartening to see students spend a significant number of their high-school years participating in clubs and organisations, just because they think this is what they believe Oxbridge or the Ivies would expect from successful

applicants. In the pursuit of perfectionism and exceptionalism, students face enormous pressure to conform to what is often simplified as a self-aggrandising tick-box exercise.

Living life to please others is not conducive to positive wellbeing or personal fulfilment; young people of today will likely move through 12 different jobs and four careers in their adult working life. High-quality career counselling whilst students are still at school will only help to ensure that they are making the most informed decisions now: not closing off too many future options by untimely and inaccurate GCSE/A-Level advice.

‘ Students must be encouraged to make informed decisions that will help them work towards converting aspirations into realistic expectations’

4. Advocate for informed risk taking Self-esteem mirrors the perceived discrepancy between one’s actual-self state and ideal-self state. We need to ensure that students are encouraged and ready to make informed decisions that will help them work towards converting aspirations into realistic expectations, and consequently, reality. And yes, this may involve taking daring action.

Students are often concerned about saying something wrong; instead of attempting a question, they may avoid it altogether. The reality is that students are not flawless, and university admissions interviewers certainly do not expect them to be. To quote Thomas J. Watson, “The fastest way to succeed is to double your rate of failure.”

We need to instil a culture where students embrace making mistakes, and counsellors encourage students to have a go. If students are still committed to applying to selective universities, nigh-on perfect scores at IGCSE or A-level alone will not give them an edge.

Rather than relish the comfort of their academic discipline, students will be better served and will stand out if they take the initiative to refine new skills and go against the grain. And, even if they do not know it now, they will be thankful for taking the risk.

5. Develop resilience and self-efficacy Given the oversubscription to hyper-selective universities, it is imperative to remind students that an unsuccessful application does not mean that they are unsuitable or not good enough. The harsh reality is that they have likely not done anything wrong, but inevitably 41

miss out due to the competitiveness of other applicants. Nonetheless, the likely feelings of dejection and inadequacy that may result from such rejection further fuels the need for counsellors to foster self-esteem.

Psychologist Albert Bandura’s ‘Self Efficacy’ theory determines our levels of resilience in the face of hurdles. Metacognitive awareness of our beliefs can engender a proactive set of behaviours, bolstering a student’s decisionmaking readiness to achieve their goals.

Bandura posits four main sources of influence that we can easily embed within career counselling, namely:

Discover the spirit of Hampton Court House, an award-winning school nestled in Bushy Park, straddling south-west London and Surrey, equipping the next generation of global citizens with humility, courage and tenacity

a) Mastery Experiences — provide a challenging, but conducive learning atmosphere, in which students can learn new skills autonomously

c) Social Influences — offer positive and specific verbal encouragement, fostering students’ confidence and motivation to conduct their own research and development d) Affect — teach emotional, physical, and psychological wellbeing management techniques, thus boosting self-efficacy and disposition to make important career decisions.

It is up to us, not just career and higher education counsellors, but as educators as a whole, to challenge the concept of ‘best’. If students really vow to aspire to some of the world’s best universities, then, looking at 2022 university rankings, there should be no question about the University of St Andrews in the UK, or UC Berkeley in the US, being at the very top of their lists. (It’s worth remembering that the Ivy League was only initially formed as a New England-based athletic conference, and the G5 as a tactical consortium to coordinate bidding for increased UK government funding.)

Now more than ever, straight-talking yet supportive career counselling is crucial.

And so is our need for compassionate, active listening so that our students feel heard, and their needs met. n 42

An independent co-educational school for children aged 2–18

b) Vicarious Learning — match students to alumni mentors (as role models) with shared identities to encourage students to believe that they too can reach their goals

Scan to explore our upcoming open events and innovative curriculum or visit hamptoncourthouse.co.uk LabelFrancÉducation accredited

Doing it well

‘ Here at RIC we aim to open students eyes to the intrinsic value of education for the sake of their own flourishing’

Quality matters in education but how is it measured and what do different definitions of it tell us about the sort of schooling we value? Alistair Brownlow, Principal of Rochester Independent College, shares some thoughts from his academic team about what quality looks like at this distinctive independent school

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ne of the books we have multiple copies of in the Rochester Independent College staffroom is Lucy Crehan’s pedagogical travelogue Cleverlands. It takes a road trip around countries with sky-high scores in the PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment) tests to see if there are any common threads in their routes to a quality education and success in the global rankings. Notably, Crehan confirms in her circumnavigation of the world from one smart kid country to the next that systems with highly qualified teachers who are given great professional development tend to do better in global rankings. As a Korean education policy wonk quoted in an influential 2007 McKinsey report on the subject, said: “The quality of an education system cannot exceed the quality of its teachers.”

At Rochester (RIC) we have a brilliantly diverse academic and creative community of teachers who are given the freedom to be themselves at work and inspire our students to exam success — RIC is in the top 2% of schools in England for value-added progress at A-level. This is achieved in an unstuffy environment that looks and feels starkly different from a traditional independent

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school. The Independent Schools Inspectorate (ISI) commented that, “the use of first names and informal attire generate a relaxed working environment. Students flourish as they become more confident because staff encourage them at all stages and provide very high levels of pastoral care. Students’ personal development is excellent.” The Rochester formula is based on examination success as a by-product of students being happy and comfortable at school and developing selfknowledge and self-confidence. Inspirational teaching is, we think, the most important contributory factor. Keeping staff subject knowledge fresh so they can be engaging in the classroom is important. RIC has over the years supported scores of teachers through Master’s and PhD level research in subjects including Victorian Literature, Intellectual History, SEN Education, the Sociology of Hip Hop and Grime Music, Design and Digital Media and Neuroscience. One of our Maths teachers is even currently studying a Master’s in Jazz Music at Trinity Laban.

Assistant Principal Ellen Crozier has been leading curriculum development and quality assurance across RIC. She says: “Quality education rests upon skilful teacher questioning and perceptive teacher feedback.

It involves modelling to students how to follow a line of enquiry, time manage and ask for help from the wider team, including their peers — in a nutshell, developing independent study skills. It is about meeting students where they are, knowing them well as individuals, giving them an experience of early success and moving forwards. It involves helping students understand what the purpose of the subject is in the real world where adults use it to solve problems creatively hence our employment of teachers who are experts in their creative and academic fields.”

One of these expert teachers is Rowena Francis who graduated from Oxford with a degree in German and Philosophy, both of which she now teaches at RIC while studying a Master’s in Philosophy of Education parttime at UCL. She argues: “The answer to the question of what makes for a high-quality education depends first on the answer to the question of what education is for. The most obvious answer from a secondary 46

school students’ perspective is typically that education is for getting good grades. And good grades are for moving on to the next stage of education to get more good grades. And these good grades will finally result in a good job. As systems work today, this has validity, but focuses on the instrumental rather than intrinsic value of education. Here at RIC, we aim to open students’ eyes to the intrinsic value of education for the sake of their own ‘flourishing’. Maintaining this, despite the competitively driven nature of schooling today is, I argue, the essence of a high-quality education.”

Aristotle theorised that when humans make the most of doing what humans are uniquely able to do, they achieve eudaimonia, a flourishing state of life. Humans, in contrast to other creatures, have the capacity to reason, to learn, and to create. At RIC, we recognise that learning and creativity differ from person to person, and teenagers are often still discovering how they do this best. Therefore, we give Sixth Form students the opportunity to try out subjects and see what they enjoy and do well in, before committing to the subjects in which they will take exams.

Without limit or requirement, students can choose all art subjects, all science subjects, all essay-based subjects, or any combination from a great range.

What’s more, students’ choices as well as individuality are affirmed in allowing this.

Autonomy is key to what makes us human, too. But teenagers also require guidance that comes from experience, and this is why the relationship between students, teachers, and personal tutors is a mark of RIC’s excellence.

Small classes enable teachers to get to know their students well. Teachers learn students’ aims, interests and abilities in order to give them feedback and advice that is academically impactful. Personal tutors maintain an ongoing dialogue with their tutees, which includes getting to know about their personal interests as well as academic ones. They communicate with their tutees’ teachers which promotes a supported and holistic education for every student.

In the same way that students are encouraged to let their individuality and strengths shine, teachers are too. RIC has

‘ The Rochester formula is based on examination success as a by-product of students being happy and comfortable at school’

a practising doctor teaching Biology and advising on university medical school applications. A former West End actor teaches drama, inspiring pupils through their own experience and demonstrating how their subject has a place in the ‘real world’. On occasion, I use Disney film clips to teach Philosophy. In the words of The Lion King’s Rafiki, is it ever right to “run from the past”?

By teaching in a way that is practically relevant, links to the rest of life, and perhaps has an element of surprise, students engage and learn substantive content in a way that is better than purely and regimentally being fed ‘what’s on the syllabus’.

The debate Rowena touches upon over whether top exam results are the most important hallmark of quality is not unique to Western education. In China where the privileging of high-stakes exam success and the importance of testing is well established there have, in some provinces, been curriculum reforms attempting to broaden educational aims. These are grouped under the banner of suzhi jiaoyu, generally translated as ‘quality education’, in contrast to yingshi jiaoyu, the more familiar examoriented system. The aim is to focus on fostering individuals who are more creative and adept at problem solving rather than just rote learning and acing exams. Student workload though in most schools remains considerable and dissatisfaction with the overwhelming pressures of the gaokao — the notoriously demanding Chinese university entry exam — is one of the reasons cited by some of the Chinese students and families who are choosing Rochester where they can aim to do well at exams and proceed to universities but in a less industrially pressurised environment. Similarly with our local students. The educational landscape in Kent is one dominated by the super selective grammar schools and at RIC we welcome students into Year 7 some of whom have passed the 11+ tests but are opting for a different style of education, others who have narrowly missed the grammar school entry requirements despite intensive tutoring and whose confidence needs rebuilding.

Head of Sociology Kamila Pawlikowska has taught at Penn State University and The 47

University of Kent as well as RIC. Kamila says: “Traditionally emphasis is placed on exam results and understandably parents rely on league tables when choosing the most suitable school. However, this approach assumes that the school focuses mainly on exam results, and that students develop only in this direction. At RIC, we see the quality of education differently: we first focus on student development — personal, social, academic and psychological. Rather than simply being told to study, students are encouraged to try various subjects, reflect on their learning experience and share their views about what excites them. They are given the possibility to ‘taste’ an exceptionally broad range of subjects and to discuss these ‘adventures’ with their personal tutors. They can choose any combination of subjects and change them as they grow, develop, and get to know themselves. Once a student finds the perfect combination of subjects they are motivated by passion, curiosity, and the pleasure of learning in a friendly, safe environment. Our approach is simple really: to recognise the rich, multifaceted potential of the person and nurture every part of it, until they are ready to choose their own pathway. Once this is achieved, good exam results just happen.”

Head of Photography is fashion and portrait photographer Michael Daks who joined RIC from Paris College of Art. He was formerly Visiting Professor at the Istituto Marangoni, Paris. Michael says: “As a photographer my career was always based on excellence of technique combined with creative thought to produce a memorable image. Those are still the principles of my teaching. If my enthusiasm for teaching a subject I love can inspire my students to seek the highest quality in their work, then I feel I have done my job to my best ability. Photographic technique can always be learned over time, but to inspire creative thought is the best reward for any art teacher. I am so fortunate to be teaching at a school that encourages and supports the fine arts and that is reflected in the quality of the teaching and most importantly the quality of the students’ work.” All RIC’s tutors in the arts are practicing creatives and the quality of RIC’s provision in the visual arts was recognised by the award for ‘Top Independent School for 48

‘ We employ teachers who are experts in their creative and academic fields’

Excellence and Innovation in Fine Arts’ from the Independent Schools Association in 2021.

Leighton Bright, Head of Lower School and SENCO at RIC wrote compellingly in the fifth edition of this publication about diversity and inclusion and we would also include these as important factors when considering the ‘quality’ of the education we offer at Rochester.

If we do not, as Leighton argued in that article, become “campaigners and champions” for inclusion and offer a genuinely welcoming environment that actively promotes and celebrates neurodiversity, different cultures, nationalities, gender identities and sexualities it’s difficult to see how academic progress can be made. The promise Leighton highlights that “every parent and student who walks through the door at RIC will be working with an open-minded and flexible institution where difference is celebrated” is at the heart of the quality of our offer.

Bill Gates, tech entrepreneur turned educational philanthropist, takes a data-led approach to looking at educational quality: “Research shows that there is only half as much variation in student achievement between schools as there is among classrooms in the same school. If you want your child to get the best education possible, it is actually more important to get him assigned to a great teacher than to a great school.” Perhaps the most impactful decisions we make as school leaders are those around teacher talent spotting, recruitment and then of course retention and professional development.

Having great teachers in every classroom that share the values of the school is the most effective way of ensuring we’re offering the highest quality of education to all our students. Reading over the contributions from my talented colleagues I’m struck by their articulate commitment to Rochester’s ethos and remarkable commonality of purpose, as well as being reminded of an important finding of educationalist John Hattie’s worldrenowned research — “the most effective teachers are those who focus on the impact their teaching is having — they constantly assess their own work as well as that of their pupils.” We do it well, but we need to always strive to do it better. n 49

Eat your heart out School chefs at Dukes Education are improving the quality of school lunches, with remarkable results, says Amanda Constance, Director of Communications

‘ The Head invited sceptical parents to come and eat with us and, literally, taste the difference. Within a few months there were no complaints whatsoever’

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hen Junior Lopes joined Hampton Court House as its Executive Head Chef 15 years ago, he had just one condition.

“I said I was never going to use processed food,” he says. “I wanted to make everything from scratch and use only fresh ingredients every day.”

The 43-year-old who is originally from — where his father owns and runs three restaurants — is classically trained and worked as a Head Chef in Knightsbridge in London before he joined Hampton Court House (HCH).

When Lopes joined the school, children were eating processed food, there were few vegetables on offer and there was a real lack of food knowledge among the students.

“One asked me what the tree looked like that chicken grew on,” he remembers now.

Lopes saw a need for complete cultural change. “We had to make vegetables and healthy food attractive to the children.”

An immediate shift was to get staff eating with children. By sitting down together and leading by example the teachers can help and encourage the students, and by enjoying the food themselves, the students follow suit.

“We call it family dining,” says Lopes. It mimics the way Lopes eats at home with his Italian wife and two children. “It’s an oldschool Italian table. We have a starter, main course, dessert, nobody leaves the table until everyone has finished. We take our time.”

For the food itself, Lopes set about revolutionising the menus, maximising the number of vegetables in each meal. His popular Veg Booster Sauce for pasta has no less than 11 vegetables within it, including 51

‘ A lot of chefs have the idea that working in a nursery kitchen is the easy option.

No way!’

beetroot, celery, onion, carrot, aubergine, garlic and spinach. Lopes believes in introducing the widest range of vegetables possible and at a very young age. “Hiding vegetables is a great ploy because it means children develop a palate and enjoy the food even without realising it.”

Lopes says it took one academic year to effect real change at HCH. He believes there are two reasons that the quality of school meals in the UK is so poor: complaints from parents and money.

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When parents at HCH were initially sceptical, “the Head invited the parents that complained to come and eat with us and literally taste the difference,” says Lopes.

Within two to three months there were no complaints whatsoever.

Parents are now very supportive of Lopes’ school lunch revolution. “We showed them that our aim was not to make the children suffer but to give them good nutrition so they could learn well.” More students now eat school lunches than ever before — over 90% — “which means we now have more money for better ingredients and more sophisticated menus,” says Lopes.

When Anna Alzoubi joined Riverside Nurseries as a chef and menu developer at the Twickenham Green nursery two years ago, she faced similar challenges to Junior Lopes, namely a lack of training and knowledge of chefs in the school kitchens, plus a culture of low expectations around food for children in the all-important Early Years.

“A lot of chefs don’t consider babies in their menus, but this is wrong, how do you expect them to grow well?”

Alzoubi, 42, comes from Jordan where food is cooked and eaten fresh every day, eating is communal and children eat the same food as adults. “In the Middle East we don’t serve children different meals — we serve the same food as we eat at home and most children eat a packed lunch from home.”

“When I started as a nursery chef at Riverside, I wanted to make nutritious meals that met everyone’s needs,” says Alzoubi.

This was more challenging than it sounds, “there’s a lot to consider, she says, “whether children have dietary preferences such as being vegetarian, or allergies and religious preferences such as Halal or Kosher. It’s a lot to fit into one menu.”

But Alzoubi rose to the challenge, educating herself about Early Years nutrition and changing menus accordingly. “The

Government’s guidelines really helped me with getting right the portions of nutrition for Early Years children,” says Alzoubi.

She only uses fresh food — “I do all the chopping myself” — apart from frozen peas and unseasonal berries and has created nutritious menus that rotate every four weeks. There was “a bit of resistance at first” from some children, she says, as they were so used to readymade food. Alzoubi says children fussing is an important part of their development — typically from 18 months to two years. “But it’s very important to persevere with them and equally important to expose young children to many flavours.”

The result is a huge success. “Now we are at a place where all the Riverside pupils love my food,” says Alzoubi. And it’s not just the children. Alzoubi’s achievement was recognised in her nomination for Nursery Chef UK 2021 in the Nursery Management Today Awards last year.

Alzoubi is aware that she is lucky. “I have a much bigger budget here than in my previous nursery,” she says, “it really helps with the quality of ingredients I can buy.”

Alzoubi does question the culture of low expectation she has experienced, however.

“I have the passion for cooking and the knowledge, which is crucial in this job, a lot of chefs have the idea that working in a nursery kitchen is the easy option. No way! I have 25 children with allergies, some serious, you can’t do this job without real knowledge and awareness,” she says.

And then she asks: “Why can’t it be like this everywhere?”

This is a question that Junior Lopes has grappled with for many years. An independent school like HCH with a supportive staff body and decent budgets is already at an advantage when it comes to raising the quality of school lunches. But what about the huge numbers of schools and colleges in the state sector where processed and unhealthy food is the norm?

Lopes has been campaigning for better quality school lunches nationally for years.

He worked with the food campaigner Henry Dimbleby on Dimbleby’s School Food Plan for the Government in 2014; it features many of Lopes’ own recipes. That same year, Lopes published a book for dinner ladies called A 53

Cookery Book for Schools. And he is still very involved with Dimbleby’s charity Chefs in Schools which transforms school food and food education by training kitchen teams to serve great school lunches. He is currently advising 10 different schools and helping to train staff in their kitchens. “I have seen kitchen porters become chefs,” he says. “I like people to grow up with me.”

Why does he do it? “Because I was shocked to visit schools and see what these children are eating,” he says.

Lopes says the challenges are still rife — Brexit has made food more expensive, and the cost-of-living crisis means that the food quality is actually going down in a number of schools.

But he remains positive about change.

In early February 2022, the Government published its Levelling Up White Paper. The result of years of campaigning by charities such as Jamie Oliver’s BiteBack 2030, School Food Matters and Chefs in Schools, the White Paper aims to address the problem of poor school lunches by making it mandatory for schools to eventually publish their ‘wholeschool approach’ to school food and greater compliance with school food standards.

Training and support, worth £200,000, will be provided for school governors to support a whole school approach to food and funding of £5 million has been promised so that every child can leave school knowing how to cook six recipes.

Lopes hopes this White Paper is evidence of a cultural shift finally happening. And while none of the campaigners involved believe that anything like enough budget has been committed by the Government, “At least it’s a start”, he says.

Meanwhile he continues with his good food mission at HCH where he has developed a highly popular ‘Masterchef Crash Course’ aimed at educating students so they can feed themselves well when they leave home. Skills such as learning to make a great omelette, boning a chicken, and how to buy, cook and freeze in batches are all taught to older students.

When questioned whether privileged middle-class children need this sort of help, Lopes says you would be surprised. “Children from middle-class, dual income families 54

where time is short and corners get cut often eat more takeaways than low-income, multigenerational immigrant families where food is cooked at home from scratch.” He recalls a 13-year-old at HCH who had no cooking culture at home. “So, I taught it to him at school and he started making supper for his whole family at home.”

Feedback from parents has been overwhelmingly positive with many reports about how amazing their children have become at cooking. And, perhaps more importantly for Lopes, these young people will continue the cultural change he has worked so hard for. “The children leaving HCH will carry forward their knowledge and their commitment to good food.” n

‘ I taught a 13-year-old to cook at school and now he cooks supper for his whole family at home’

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Beyond bricks and mortar Everyone knows a good school needs good facilities but what this actually means post-pandemic is a different question altogether, says Andrew Coulter of Knightsbridge School

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Ignite your future NUMBER ONE IN THE UK FOR A-LEVEL RESULTS OVER THE PAST 11 YEARS

quality education is based on facilities, resources, excellent teaching, and ample space. For London schools with limited space, expensive real estate, and the ongoing rise in operating costs, developing facilities is often something left to be desired, rather than required. But does this really matter? Surely the pandemic has shown that resources, specifically a school’s ability to mobilise online resources at speed, is the most important factor in providing a high-quality education.

A school’s buildings are undoubtedly an important element of the educational development puzzle, and many still do not hold the vital components that are fundamental to a modernday comprehensive learning environment.

Many curriculum subjects benefit from access to specialist facilities. For example, a student looking to pursue an interest in the performing arts would benefit

from a studio or a theatre to perform in. In sports, state-of-the-art facilities can present students with the opportunity to further their talents to a level they may not reach elsewhere. So yes, facilities do matter.

Yet a schools’ facilities do not solely ensure a quality education. In a postpandemic world, it seems that facilities are only one of three areas within the educational context that can add to the quality of a pupil’s education. What is often missed is a school’s access to quality space or resources.

At Knightsbridge School (KS) we have witnessed a transformation in the significance of these elements within the educational environment over the past two years.

Before the end of the most recent lockdown, schools across the country continued to further face the reality that their built assets were only being used by a fraction of students because Covid-19 restrictions meant that most 57

children had to study from home. The importance of adaptable learning resources became paramount; resources that could provide students with important opportunities to explore ideas and knowledge, collaborate, solve problems and develop knowledge and skills. As we found when the pupils went online, these resources had to be reliable to support the National Curriculum for each specific key stage. Luckily for us, KS has been adapting and making the most of resources to provide a quality education long before the pandemic.

Surrounded by some of the most expensive real estate in the country, KS has managed to create an exuberant yet academic environment despite not having the freedom of space. Constrained at times by its rarefied locale, the school continues to hold high academic and pastoral aspirations, as underpinned by its KS Code, priding itself on being an energetic, and well-rounded school.

Working closely with the local community, KS has managed to turn underused areas into spaces that cater for both formal and informal learning, for group work and individual study, for social activities and sporting endeavours. Running a school in listed buildings can be challenging but KS has successfully identified opportunities for the creative re-use of space across its community. It has done this by adapting the conventional classroom environment to one that produces an innovative pedagogical setting which can be enjoyed by pupils, 58

‘ The importance of adaptable learning resources became paramount; resources that could provide students with important opportunities to explore ideas and knowledge, collaborate, solve problems and develop knowledge and skills’

staff, and visitors alike. The key to its success has been developing spaces which can fulfil more than one function.

The Curriculum for Excellence directive endeavours to support children and young people become successful learners, confident individuals, responsible citizens, and effective contributors. School design architects now focus on creating spaces which not only emphasise academic excellence, but also develop an individual’s skills outside of the classroom. Furthermore, the design of social spaces for children within schools has been found to help facilitate social communication.

KS’s innovative approach to utilising its limited access to space has enabled it to create an environment in which pupils can develop academically and socially.

For some educationalists, ‘every space within a school is a learning space’, while others would argue social spaces are ‘the internal and external areas within the school buildings and grounds where students go to when they are not in the classroom’.

KS has managed to generate a malleable environment which positively supports the quality of their pupils’ education.

There can be no doubt that conventional facilities positively impact the quality of a child’s education. Yet the pandemic forced the nation’s schools to reconsider its reliance on facilities and the delivery of a curriculum within the traditional environment. As parents and pupils were exposed to an 60

‘ The pandemic demonstrated the ability for education to be continued without the conventional need for a classroom’

untried online education, they were given insight into the creative and adaptive ability of the UK’s educators, who rose to the challenge from their own homes.

The introduction of online learning has simultaneously raised the question of the need for certain facilities in education, and propelled digital learning to the forefront of requirements.

Education was adapting to the digital world before Covid struck but in an unexpected global experiment, the pandemic demonstrated overnight how schools and universities could adapt their teaching to an exclusively online environment. The result is proof of the agility of the educational environment; one that has demonstrated the ability for education to be continued without the conventional need for a classroom.

This may have profound consequences on the question of how the quality of facilities affect a child’s education. In the last two years, access to advanced technological facilities for both staff and pupils has been paramount; had many not had access to technology when the world stopped, education too may have ground to a halt. For many London schools, projects to develop bricks and mortar facilities are unrealistic. In a post-pandemic world, it may be argued, possibly to the relief of some bursars, that such facilities are now an unnecessary investment with technology paving the way forward.

Replacing investments in school facilities, with those exclusively in technology, however, is never going to be the answer.

Despite its many successes, the negative social impact of online learning has been noted, with the importance of sharing a physical space that can support a pupil's academic and pastoral needs well recognised. Hence a move towards ‘blended learning’ that uses both online and more traditional teaching methods.

Despite the many advantages of school facilities, the pandemic demonstrated the ability for schools to successfully operate without the requirement of playgrounds, whiteboards, and seating plans. This brief period away from the classroom subsequently highlighted the fundamental need for students to access technology and for teachers to manipulate it with skill and proficiency.

While the pandemic has demonstrated the turning tide in the need for tangible facilities, schools should continue to focus on the long-term impact this can have on pupil performance.

Yet for education to continue to be progressive for all aspects of society, schools must recognise the importance of technology when considering the impact of facilities on a child’s education. A good education has always been about evolution, something that is becoming even more relevant to education today. n 61

The last word…

A CAM BRID GE E D U CATION

Every week at Dukes, we share a ‘Quote of the Week’ offered up by one of the team. We’ve collected some of our favourites from the spring term.

“I have always been delighted at the prospect of a new day, a fresh try, one more start, with perhaps a bit of magic waiting somewhere behind the morning.”

“Spoon feeding in the long run teaches us nothing but the shape of the spoon.”

J. B. Priestley

“Quality is not an act; it is a habit.”

Offered by Annika Yerushalmy, Director of Marketing and Admissions (Schools)

Aristotle

“How selfhood begins with a walking away, And love is proved in the letting go.”

“It isn’t so much what’s on the table that matters, as what’s on the chairs.”

Cecil Day-Lewis

Offered by Paul Ludlow, Compliance Director, Dukes Colleges

EM Forster Offered by Amanda Constance, Director of Communications

Offered by Tim Moss, Group General Counsel

W.S. Gilbert

“Education isn’t everything. For a start, “That if one advances confidently it isn’t an elephant.” in the direction of his dreams, and Spike Milligan endeavours to live the life which Offered by Kevin Doble, Chief Executive, Northwood Schools he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common “History isn’t something you look back hours.” at and say it was inevitable. It happens Henry David Thoreau, ‘Walden’ because people make decisions that Offered by Zunade Powell, Director of Admissions and Marketing, Orchard House are sometimes very impulsive and of the moment, but those moments are “Listen to the mustn’ts, child. Listen to cumulative realities.” the don’ts. Listen to the shouldn’ts, the Martha P Johnson impossibles, the won’ts. Listen to the Offered by Rohan Froud, Admissions Manager at Rochester Independent College never haves, then listen close to me...

Anything can happen, child. Anything “I guess it’s quite southeast Asian, but can be.”

I’ve always been struck by the fact Shel Silverstein that the next generation are more Offered by Claire Little, Director of People important than we are and if you have that kind of mindset then you pick up that sense of mission that whatever you do in life, it’s important to leave a legacy. And to pass on skills and ambitions and motivation and desire to the next generation.”

Professor Sir Jonathan Van-Tam, former Deputy Chief Medical Officer for England 62

Small Class Sizes - Individual Attention - Personalised Support

W W W.STA NDR EWSCA M BR I DG E.CO.U K

Dukes Education is a family of nurseries, schools, and colleges based throughout the UK, in London, Cambridge, Kent, and Cardiff.

Our schools cater to children from 0-19, serving them from their earliest years at nursery until they leave school to go on to university.

Surrounding our schools, we also have a collection of complementary education offerings — day camps, international summer schools, and university application support services. This way, we create a wraparound experience for every family that joins us.

Dukes Education 14-16 Waterloo Place London SW1Y 4AR +44 (0)20 3696 5300 info@dukeseducation.com dukeseducation.com Founder and Chairman Aatif Hassan Dukes Board of Directors Aatif Hassan, Jon Pickles, Mark Bailey, Tim Fish, Glenn Hawkins, Libby Nicholas Dukes Education Advisory Board David Goodhew, Christine Leslie, Pam Mundy, William Russell

Dukes Education Group Ltd is registered in England and Wales number 09345899. Registered Office 14-16 Waterloo Place, London SW1Y 4AR.