Absolutely Education Spring/Summer 2017

E D U C AT I ON

EDUCATION

SPRING • SUMMER 2017 • £5

SUPER WOMAN

Meet the head’s wife

S PR I N G • SU M M ER 2017

DOWN GRADE Making sense of the new GCSEs

GO WEST

Applying to US universities

HIT FOR SIX

The changing face of school cricket

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TIME TO TALK WHY THE ART OF DEBATING MATTERS

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WEEKLY BOARDING, FULL BOARDING AND DAY SCHOOL FOR GIRLS 11-18

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HAPPINESS FIRST ACHIEVEMENT FIRST INDIVIDUALITY FIRST FRIENDS FIRST ENRICHMENT FIRST PROGRESS FIRST ALWAYS FIRST HEATHFIELD SCHOOL, ASCOT Boarding and Day for Girls 11-18

VISIT US FIRST

OPEN DAYS SATURDAY 20 MAY SATURDAY 14 OCTOBER 10am - 12 noon

TO BOOK A PLACE PLEASE CONTACT:

registrar@heathfieldschool.net

heathfieldschool.net

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NEWS FROM REPTON See success in action To book a personal visit or for further details, please contact the Registrar:

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Six hockey teams through to National Finals Harvard for Mimi Upper Sixth pupil Mimi Tarrant has been awarded a place at the prestigious Harvard University.

She will spend four years studying for her undergraduate degree in America and hopes to finally major in Neurobiology. Mimi has been praised

by Harvard’s Admissions Committee for her academic, extracurricular and personal achievements.

Repton has an impressive record in the National Hockey Finals, with the School currently holding both the Boys’ and Girls’ U18 National Titles.

So far this year an incredible number of six hockey teams have made it through to the National Finals where they will compete once again to be crowned National Champions.

Admission of Scholars The inaugural Admission of Scholars Ceremony recognised the achievements of new pupils who had been awarded a scholarship upon entry to Repton.

Scholars are expected to show the highest level of endeavour and are role models to all fellow Reptonians.

Gold CREST work experience Peter Williams in Upper Sixth was awarded a Nuffield Research Placement investigating the associations and outcomes in renal disease at the Royal Derby Hospital. His project was assessed by leading scientists and deemed to be worthy of a Gold CREST award – the highest level awarded by the British Science Association.

Great Expectations The adaptation of Great Expectations

by Charles Dickens showcased the creative and technical abilities of pupils from all year groups, on and off the stage. With a beautiful set and costumes created by the Art and Textiles department, Pip’s story of hope and regret was a truly spectacular theatrical experience.

Chamber Choir on BBC Radio 4 It was a privilege for the School’s finest singers to sing the tune ‘Repton’ during a performance on the BBC Radio 4 Daily Service broadcast. The Chamber Choir’s singing was broadcast live to 250,000 people over the airwaves.

Tel: 01283 559222 Email: registrar@repton.org.uk

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Welcome to Eaton Square Upper School, Mayfair, London’s newest independent senior co-educational day school.

2017 is set to be an incredibly exciting time for Eaton Square as we prepare to open the doors to our brand new senior school next September.

Based right in the heart of London at 106 Piccadilly, Eaton Square Upper School, Mayfair, is located in a stunning Grade-I listed building directly opposite Green Park. The building’s rich history, iconic design and central location make it the perfect base for many families with young children across central London.

Connected to our existing Eaton Square Pre-Prep and Preparatory schools, as well as the wider Minerva Education group (which includes Hyde Park School in South Kensington and The Lyceum School in Shoreditch) the new school will cater for up to 420 students aged 11 upwards.

Eaton Square Upper will span across four storeys and a basement, featuring a purpose built student canteen, lecture style classrooms, multiple science laboratories and a beautiful art room.

What’s more, we’ll also be taking full advantage of our local surroundings through partnerships with local sports clubs, outdoors lessons in Green Park and regular trips to London’s most well known cultural institutions.

The idea for Eaton Square Upper was born out of a clear need for a new senior

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school in the capital – and after talking to our current parents, it was apparent that many were keen to see their children progress from prep to senior school with a seamless transition and continuity in care and provision of services.

Not only will the school be available to children already attending one of our preparatory schools, but we will also be welcoming new students from other London schools and beyond.

Continuing with our long standing, family-focused ethos, our admission process will take a holistic approach that will incorporate online test results, a reference from the pupil’s current head, and interviews with pupils and parents.

Rather than hoping to select from one particular gender or strata of current academic level, we will provide an education which celebrates the diverse skills and aptitudes of pupils in London and maximises the benefits of enabling them to interact and learn from each other.

Please call or email for more details or to register your interest. registrar@eatonsquaremayfair.com 0207 491 7393 106 Piccadilly, London W1J 7NL www.eatonsquareupper.school

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’s oo on Sch nd r Lo nio Se

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Eaton Square Upper School, Mayfair

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Our aim is to anchor a 21st century education within the illustrious history of the oldest school in the country, dating from 597 AD. A King’s education rests on the simultaneous pursuit of academic and co-curricular excellence.

Situated in a UNESCO World Heritage Site within the Precincts of Canterbury Cathedral, the setting, by its very nature creates a spiritually aware, historically informed and aesthetically appreciative community.

Over twenty sports are on offer from Rugby and Hockey, ockey to Fencing and ockey, Equestrianism, estrianism, with m most pupils representing the school sc ool in inter-school fixtures. Our primary aim is for pupils to enjoy sport at whatever whaat a ever level they choose to play. Sports Schola Sc Scholarships arships are aavailable av ailable for fo particular particularly articularly talented indi iindividuals. di iduals. div

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Junior King’s, founded in 1879 as the preparatory school to The King’s School is conveniently located just two miles from the city. The 16th century Manor House has been augmented by superb educational, boarding, extra-curricular and sporting s facilities. Providing an excellent education for pupils from the age of 3, the majority of pupils then move on to The King’s School at 13.

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Music at King’s has a distinguished history with a strong reputation for performances of outstanding nding quality and variety. There ere are eight choirs, three orchestras, many chamber mber groups, a wind d band, big band and a selection of rock and jazz groups. Excellent nt facilities and generous awards are available for outstanding musicians.

OPEN DAYS - 13+ Entry - Saturday 11th March, Saturday 17th June Sixth Form Entry - Saturday Sa 29th April, Saturday 7th October www.kings-school.co.uk www.kings-school.co

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P oral care is regarded as an essential part Pastoral of the School’s ethos. All pupils, whether Boarding or Day, are members of a House under the care of a Housemaster or Housemistress. Each House also contains a Matron and a Tutor Team; all academic staff are attached to a House and are allocated a tutor group consisting of approximately ten pupils from across all year groups.

The King's education is based upon strong academic roots. It hasises and relies emphasises upon whatt is best in nal independent traditional ucation, namely school education, by scholarly excellence, supported by ystem. a caring pastoral and tutorial sy system.

The most popular leaver aaver ver destinations ord and Cambridge, the are Oxford Russell Group of Universities and d Colleges in the USA.

King’s Week is a unique festival of music, drama, art and recreation that has been held every year in the last week of the Summer o mmer Term since 1952.

Over 80 eventss ranging ranging from jazz to dance, ce, plays, lectures and recitals, attract t thousands of visi visitors.

King’s W provides Week a relaxing focus period in the period aft public lic after examinations and provides a glorious conclusion to the academic year.

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We l c o m e

From the

EDITOR

S

omething a wise school head said has become my latest education earworm. “Nobody sends their children to boarding school anymore,” he (I can’t for the life of me remember who) said.

This one sentence struck me so keenly. My father was ‘sent’ to boarding school.

He was beaten and bullied and hated it. His brother, my uncle, ran away from boarding school. He was sent back where he too was beaten. How times have changed. According to James Hanson, headmaster of boy’s prep Aldro, his pupils “nag, cajole, beg and plead” with their parents to be allowed to go boarding (Talking Head, p.37). This was also Sophie Pender-Cudlip’s experience when

the sports facilities, the beautiful buildings! – we have opted to educate our children at day schools in London. My husband and I tease our brood when they behave badly that we will send them to Gordonstoun (they should be so lucky, of course, we simply choose it as a threat because it’s far away, like threatening to send them to Mars) but we never would. I think it’s a cultural thing, London professionals just haven’t historically considered a boarding school education for their children.

It’s madness, actually. Not only is the pressure to get in to London schools insane but so many boarding schools – many within an hour of London – now offer weekly boarding, an eminently sensible (and cost effective) option for a dual income household. Your children are looked after all week

“WHEN MY CHILDREN MISBEHAVE I TEASE THEM THAT I WILL SEND THEM TO GORDUNSTOUN THEY SHOULD BE SO LUCKY, OF COURSE” her youngest son begged to be allowed to board like his older siblings (Distance learning, p.38).

There is no doubt that where boarding schools were once cold, forbidding, sometimes even nasty places, they are now modern, welcoming and most importantly, warm – both metaphorically and physically. Even pastoral care, which once used to be a pat on the back from matron, if you were lucky, has evolved in to a proper support system, run by experienced and caring professionals.

And yet, it’s not something I have chosen for my own children. Despite knowing just how wonderful boarding schools can be – the acres of space,

while you work, then you get to enjoy them at the weekend.

To board or not to board is a conundrum that may never be solved. Andrew Johnson, the new head of St Benedicts in Ealing was previously head of Stonyhurst in rural Lancashire. He has his own wise words on the matter (Talking Head, page.77).

“It’s horses for courses, and everything depends on the child.” Sums up most parenting doesn’t it?

I hope you enjoy this issue.

A ma nda Consta nce EDITOR

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CONTE SPRING / SUMMER 2017

upfront

20 NEWS What's going on in the world of education

26 SOCIAL NETWORK Climbing the career ladder at the school gates

28 COVER FASHION The hidden treasures of Notting Hill & Ealing High School's digital archive

n u r s e ry & p r e - P r e p

32 MEET SUPERWOMAN The wives of prep heads are marvels, says Eleanor Doughty

38 DISTANCE LEARNING An overseas parent shares her experience of UK boarding, by Sophie Pender-Cudlip

43 STARTER FOR STEM Why science must be taught in primaries,

by Hayley Jordan

46 EASTERN PROMISE Why a dual language curriculum is a 21st century education, by Professor Hugo de Burgh

108 senior

52 GOOD TO TALK Why debating helps engage pupils with politics, by Janette Wallis

57 STATE DEBATE State schools are catching on to the importance of oratory skills, says Joel Starkey

64 GOING DOWN Exhorbitant fees might be a thing of the past, says Lisa Freedman

70 GO SLOW In an accelerating world, schools must provide balance, says David James

79 DOWN GRADE Making sense of this summer's GCSE changes

6498 MOOCS

88 GO WEST Top tips on applying to US universities,

by Dr Jon Tabbert

school's out

94 SPRING BOOKS

28

Great reads for the new season

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NTS

100 EDITOR

Amanda Constance

A DV ERTISING M A NAGER

Andy Mabbitt

SENIOR SA L ES E X ECU TI V E

Hayden Taylor

A RT DIR ECTOR

Phil Couzens

SENIOR DESIGNER

Pawel Kuba

DESIGNER S

Ekrem Yilmaz, Rebecca Noonan

PRODUCTION M A NAGER

Chris Couchman

M A R K ETING M A NAGER

Nefeli Kritikou

FINA NCE DIR ECTOR

Alexandra Hvid

PA TO THE DIR ECTOR S

Kerry Hollingsworth

DIR ECTOR S

Greg Hughes, Alexandra Hunter

PUBL ISHING DIR ECTOR

Sherif Shaltout

38

For advertising enquiries please call 020 7704 0588 or email: andy.mabbitt@zest-media.com

ZEST MEDIA PUBLICATIONS LTD 197-199, City Road, EC1V 1JN 020 7704 0588 ZEST-MEDIA.COM

Zest Media Publications Ltd. cannot accept responsibility for unsolicited submissions, manuscripts and photographs. While every care is taken, prices and details are subject to change and Zest Media Publications Ltd. take no responsibility for omissions or errors. We reserve the right to publish and edit any letters. All rights reserved.

ABSOLUTELY-EDUCATION.CO.UK

102 MAKING OF ME Paddington creator Michael Bond's memories of unhappy schooldays

106 HIT FOR SIX? Cricket is changing, even at schools, reports Mark Greenhouse

108 PLAYING LIKE A GIRL How schools are encouraging girls to take up cricket

l a s t wo r d

130 JOHN CLAUGHTON Former Chief Master of King Edward's Birmingham and IB champion

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F RO NT COV E R The cover depicts pupils at Rendcomb College, a co-ed boarding and day school for children aged 3-18 in Gloucestershire. Rendcomb College, Rendcomb, Cirencester, Gloucestershire, GL7 7HA rendcombcollege.org.uk

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• A B S O L U T E LY E D U C AT I O N ’ S •

CON T R IBU TOR S

Charlotte Avery

Clayesmore for your child

Headmistress and President of the GSA

Charlotte Avery was educated at St Paul’s Girls’ School and Oxford. She is President of the Girls’ School Association (GSA) and Headmistress of St Mary’s School, Cambridge. She writes about engaging girls on page 43 What omission do you regret in your own education?

I wish I had learned French more proficiently when I was at school, so that I would now be able to speak to my (French) mother-in-law more accurately!

Dr David James

Deputy Head (Academic) Bryanston

David James has worked in independent schools for 20 years. His latest book, World Class: Tackling the Ten Biggest Challenges Facing Schools Today, will be published in May. He writes about the need to slow down on page 56 What omission do you regret in your education?

My school didn’t tell me how important it is to develop contacts (and maintain them). Such skills are invaluable in life.

Just call to arrange a visit at any time and discover more about our excellent boarding and day education 01747 812122 www.clayesmore.com

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Helen Peters Children's author

Helen Peters grew up on an old-fashioned farm in Sussex, surrounded by family, animals and mud. She is now a writer and lives at Roedean with her husband who is the headmaster. She writes about her dual lives on page 75 What omission do you regret in your own education?

Art. I have a fantasy that when I’m an old lady I shall take art classes and then spend my holidays sitting at an easel in the Tuscan hills producing marvellous landscapes!

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Registered charity 1101358

Where are the skills our children will need to optimise the internet?

Well, complex problem-solving skills are embedded in the curriculum at Sevenoaks School, so in theory we need look no further.

Our alumni certainly go on to achieve extraordinary things; equipped as they are with the skills they need to change the waiting world.

Robyn Exton for example, mastered complex problem solving at Sevenoaks. She left in 2004, and

now runs a mighty tech-based business in Silicon Valley; a business she built from scratch serving a market worth billions.

It’s worth considering then, that many of the skills your child may need to make a significant impact, can be acquired here at Sevenoaks.

www.sevenoaksschool.org

Every day at Sevenoaks, students practise complex problem solving, critical thinking, creative thinking, negotiation, team working and service provision – essential skills our alumni will use to excel at jobs which have yet to be invented and to reshape their world.

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• A B S O L U T E LY E D U C AT I O N ’ S •

CON T R IBU TOR S

John Claughton

Legendary headmaster and IB champion

John Claughton was educated at King Edward’s School, Birmingham, and Oxford where he gained a double First in Classics and four cricket blues. He became Chief Master of KES in 2006 where he replaced A-Levels with the IB. He is interviewed on page 98 What omission do you regret in your own education?

A failure to learn to dance, especially as I married a dancer.

Dr Jon Tabbert

Leading American university expert

The best school?

The one offering the most choice.

A native of Chicago, Illinois Dr Jon Tabbert started an independent US admissions consultancy in 1995, to demystify the US application processes for students from the UK and abroad. He passes on his top tips on page 68 What omission do you regret in your own education?

My lack of foreign language study. Very sad.

We are a highly successful co-educational school for 10 -18 year olds.

Choose from the IB Diploma Programme or A-levels.

We offer boarding and day places.

Julia Harrington

Headmistress of Queen Anne’s School, Caversham

Call our Admissions team to join one of our open mornings or arrange a personalised visit

Julia Harrington read History and Government and Politics at Exeter University before training as a history teacher. She writes about innovative teaching on page 73 What omission do you regret in your own education?

I went to a grammar school where there was little emphasis on anything other than grades and marks. I can honestly say I have never hit a rounders ball in my life!

01572 758758 admissions@oakham.rutland.sch.uk

www.oakham.rutland.sch.uk

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Registered charity 1101358

How do we prepare children for jobs that don’t exist yet?

None of us knows today what the world is going to require of us tomorrow. But some of us are keeping an extremely close eye on things.

At Sevenoaks School, many of the skills that will be called for in the future are embedded in our curriculum now.

Critical thinking for instance, is exercised here daily from the start. So is complex problem solving.

With one eye firmly trained on the world beyond our gates, we equip all our students with the skills they will need to reshape it.

So if sixty per cent of roles have yet to be invented*, Sevenoaks alumni will be ready to take them on when they are.

www.sevenoaksschool.org

*The Future of Jobs report, World Economic Forum. Potential jobs listed include: Space Pilot, Recycling Enforcer, Nano-medic, Memory Augmentation Surgeon, Hydroponic Farmer, Graphene Engineer, Experimental Food Developer, Ethical Hacker, Climate Change Reversal Specialist, Avatar Manager/Virtual Teacher

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Harrogate Ladies’ College Giving girls the confidence to take on the world on their own terms Call 01423 537045 or email admissions@hlc.org.uk to find out more

hlc.org.uk Since 1893

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Up Front SCHOOL NEWS p. 20 SOCIAL NETWORK p. 26 PICTURE THIS p. 28

ART SCHOOL

Picture credit: Reproduced by permission of the Provost and Fellows of Eton College

John Constable's A Lady Looking at a Drawing. Part of the Loan Exhibition of drawings and watercolours from Eton College Collections exhibited at the Works on Paper Fair earlier this year at the Royal Geographical Society in South Kensington

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“In real life, I assure you, there is no such thing as algebra.”

F R A N L E B OW I TZ

Ke e p o n wa l k i n g Newton Prep is barely halfway through its 25th anniversary year yet pupils and staff have already raised the £25K target for its four chosen charities, with 25% going to each. As part of their Newton@25 programme of events, everyone from nursery children to Y8 teenagers, staff and parents took to their feet for a sponsored walk and ended up ‘walking to Los Angeles’: a total of 5,436 miles! The older children walked up to 25kms while the rest walked multiple laps of Battersea Park, at 2.5km per lap (or 25 hectometers!), at one point forming a human ring around a gloriously sun-soaked Battersea Park. The £25k will go to HomeStart Lambeth, Place2Be, UNHCR and The Woodland Trust.

Top Story J U S T

Wi n n i n g way

S AY N O

Benenden School is holding a Phone Fast this month with a three day ban on mobile phones and social media. Landlines will still be available in each boarding house. The Phone Fast has been introduced to raise awareness among girls and parents of the risks that social media presents to the wellbeing of young people.

Headmistress Samantha Price said: "If just one girl decides to switch off her phone an hour before they go to bed, then it will have been worth it.”

New Hall School, a Catholic independent boarding and day school for 1,250 boys and girls aged 3-18 in Chelmsford has been awarded the Times Education Supplement Independent School of the Year 2016.

The school’s principal, Katherine Jeffrey, who collected the award said: “This recognition was unexpected and it is a real joy to know that our wonderful school is considered a model of excellence and an inspiration to so many.”

Judges cited that “New Hall is a clearly effective school at all levels and exemplar of a can-do attitude throughout.”

G O O G L E T H AT Mariella Frostrup visited Dauntsey’s school to give a talk titled ‘What you won't find on Google’, the latest in the School’s Mercers’ lecture series. Tackling the challenges of the digital world head-on, Mariella encouraged teenagers today to focus on their own success, relationships and ambitions, rather than on what is perceived to be success by the world's media. Using her own path from a humble background to becoming a successful journalist and presenter, she spoke about the importance of believing in yourself and focusing on your goals. India Wild, an Upper Sixth Form pupil from Dauntsey’s said: “It was a genuinely inspiring and thought-provoking talk that was enjoyed by all. It was a pleasure to meet someone so passionate about their work.”

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

E.M. FORSTER

SOMETHING THEY SAID “I think it would help if we used a different vocabulary for education from the one we’ve got now. We really want to think of education outside the narrow strictures of exams. And, if education was really much more integrated into the whole of society – if it stopped being a posh word for ‘babysitting’ – we’d value teachers more.”

Tony Robinson AKA Baldrick

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UPFRON T / NEWS

No p h o n e z o n e

L ove t h e a t r e Pupils at Alleyn’s School in Dulwich, London, have put on a smash hit production of LoveSong. The story of a couple whose past and present selves collide, was put on by an ensemble of 32 Middle School boys and girls from Years 9 to 11. Director Adam Lea said: “This truly co-educational, ensemble style of working has been perfect for our approach at Alleyn’s. Despite the challenging content... we have enjoyed the processes with all the camaraderie that occurs during a project of this scale."

A headmaster says he has revolutionised pupils’ behaviour by introducing a complete ban on mobile phones. Gregg Davies, headmaster of Shiplake College, Oxfordshire has decided to issue a detention to any pupil caught with a phone between 8.15am and 5.45pm. The new rule has been welcomed by parents, and Davies claims that it has already made children happier now they are relieved of the pressure of ‘constantly showcasing life online’.

A recent study by the LSE found that banning mobiles improved pupils' test scores by 6.4 per cent.

“Children must be taught how to think, not what to think.”

MARGARET MEAD

Ron gets ready for a Quidditch match

Q U I D D I T H TA K E S OFF IN THE UK Good news for Harry Potter fans: a premier league has been set up for the best Quidditch players in the UK, with eight teams set to compete for the title of national champion. With 20,000 international players, 25 countries and even now, an international rulebook, Quidditch has well and truly been put on the map. In the Muggle world, the Harry Potter-inspired sport involves seven players on a pitch, each with a broom between their legs.

The Quidditch Premier League is an exciting opportunity and development,” said director Jack Lennard. “It’s an opportunity for more people in more places to find out about this incredible sport.”

For more information, visit quidditchpremierleague.com

Top Story

Isle be there Activities Abroad are offering a brand new activity holiday on the island of Madeira this summer. Feed your child’s imagination and enhance their learning outside of the classroom with marine wildlife encounters by boat, snorkelling with dolphins and discoveing the geological history of Sao Vicente’s volcanic caves. With departures from 1st April, the whole family will acquire new skills and conquer new challenges as you discover the island together during a myriad of thrilling activities on both land and sea.

Call 01670 333 091 www.activitiesabroad.com

SOMETHING THEY SAID

There is a latent anger in a lot of people that went to boarding school at an early age. I was eight and I loved it over the five years. But I think the adjustments for eight year olds are a lot. And I think it informs who you are for a long, long time.

AC T O R DA M I A N L E W I S

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Stonyhurst St Mary’s Hall Open Doors 1st May 9.00a.m - Noon

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UPFRON T / NEWS

Fa s h i o n fo r Africa Stonyhurst pupils have put on an African-themed fashion show inspired by the work of a South African charity, following the school's recent rugby trip to the country where pupils saw its work for themselves.

Stonyhurst pupils took to the catwalk in a blaze of colour and patterns inspired by the fashion of countries such as Uganda, Ghana and Nigeria and raised £1,000 for the Goedgedacht Trust.

A NEW D R AG O N ?

Sevenoaks School, one of the world’s leading IB schools, has appointed a Director of Entrepreneurship, Julie Redding, to work full time at the school, and to lead the new Institute of Entrepreneurship. Redding is an experienced entrepreneur, and has run businesses in Chile and South America for over 10 years.

Students are enjoying a new varied programme of entrepreneurial activities, providing them with new commercial skill sets, opportunities to create business ideas, business plans and chances to present to prospective investors. In the last few months students have launched business plan competitions, run a TedX Youth event, participated in an entrepreneurial film-making competition and enjoyed a number of social entreprise events.

O x b r i d ge q u a d s a t M a l ve r n S t Ja m e s Five pupils from Malvern St James School, Worcestershire, are celebrating having received offers to study at Oxford and Cambridge.

Congratulations girls!

Three for Oxford and two for Cambridge

To p o f t h e t a b l e Ackworth School in Pontefract, west Yorkshire, has been named the latest table tennis academy

by Table Tennis England. In September 2016 the school enrolled ten of the country’s top junior players, who receive 18 hours specialist coaching from top European coach Matjaz Sercer. In addition, Ackworth has opened opportunities up to pupils of local primary schools too with their table tennis talent development centre.

“We are honoured to have been appointed a table tennis academy,” said headmaster Anton Maree. “We are equally proud to assist local primary schools to develop one of the world’s most popular sports. ”

Chief inspector joins GEMS Sir Michael Wilshaw, former OFSTED chief inspector, has joined international education company GEMS to begin a new senior advisory role. Sir Michael will work alongside former Eton College headmaster Tony Little on the GEMS network of 88 independent schools. Sunny Varkey, chairman of GEMS said: “Sir Michael Wilshaw has a remarkable track record of transforming low-achieving schools in England into outstanding ones through strong values and innovative methods within classrooms.

We’re privileged to welcome someone of his distinction to advance the GEMS cause.”

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Study | Explore | Succeed

For more information or to arrange a visit contact: 01822 813193 admissions@mountkelly.com Mount Kelly . Parkwood Road . Tavistock . PL19 0HZ . UK www.mountkelly.com MOUNT KELLY.indd 1

03/10/2016 16:47

UPFRON T / NEWS

“A house without books is like a room without windows” H O R AC E M A N N

Hampstead teen soars into space

Sandhurst swo r d fo r D a u n t s ey ’s Old Dauntseian Rosie Wild was presented with the Sword of Honour at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst by HRH The Duchess of Cornwall at the end of last year. Lt Col John Caiger said: “Rosie, from her first introduction to the Royal Artillery, displayed real talent.

She is a level-headed young officer with a glowing future in the Army.” Dauntsey’s tops the ‘Magnificent Seven’ league table of officer cadets at Sandhurst from independent schools.

Turner Time

Top Story

Pupils at St Lawrence College, Ramsgate, have been celebrating the work of JMW Turner. As a sponsor of the gallery’s exhibition, JMW Turner: Adventures in Colour, the school embraced the theme with workshops at the gallery. Principal Antony Spencer said: “The link we have with the Turner contemporary gallery is important to us, because we believe in the value of art and creativity in education. Young people who are able to express and understand themselves through words, music and art are more likely to succeed in the workplace.”

Geno Racklin Asher, 14, from University College School in Hampstead has been made part of a team who will see their experiment carried out on the International Space Station. Last year when the 14-year-old applied for a space exploration summer course at King's College London he met astronauts from NASA and with his team, pitched their idea for an experiment on the ISS. Geno said: “We learnt a lot about things we would never have known about before, and it is amazing that we have an experiment in space.” The team is now waiting to send on instructions for the astronauts in the experiment.

Right read John Catt have just published The Ten Step Guide to Acing Ever Exam You Ever Take by Lucy Parsons. In this book, straight-A student, Cambridge graduate, experienced teacher and former A-Level examiner Lucy Parsons gives you a complete formula for getting the top grades every time.

Starting with unlocking your motivation and fixing your exams mindset, she guides you through a practical system that will reduce the overwhelm, banish procrastination, give your life balance and empower you to work towards your exams in a methodical and lowstress way.

“As a parent like any other, I know that a good education is the greatest gift we give our children” T O N Y L I T T L E , former headmaster of Eton College

SOMETHING THEY SAID “We class schools into four grades: leading school, first-rate school, good school and school” E V E LY N WA U G H , author, in his debut novel Decline & Fall (1928)

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HIGH-WORTH

NETWORK London’s top preps are fertile hunting grounds for pushy parents wanting to get-ahead in their own careers JASMINE ROBERTSON

W

hen Abigail, an exCity lawyer, found herself as a single mum with two young daughters and in need of a new job, she knew exactly what her game plan was.

Get her daughters into Pembridge Hall, one of Notting Hill’s most elite preps known for its head count of senior bankers, get networking and nab herself a job back in the City.

So she did. She’s now back in the Square Mile and her girls are getting a pretty good education, too.

Parents, particularly of primary-aged school children, have long made firm friendships at the school gates. But with more and more women working, starting up and running their own business, they are also a great place for meeting and making business contacts. As the Talented Ladies Club website says: “The school gates are a brilliant chance to get to know a fresh group of talented mums and open your professional network even wider.”

We’re not talking networking in pinstripes in a monochrome office. This is more likely to be

a morning coffee in parkas and Uggs after drop off. But where mum’s coffee mornings might have once revolved around the kids, the dog and where to find a decent plumber, they are now just as likely to include how to 'up your SEOs', drive traffic to your site, or catching up with a friend on a new business pitch. Among my immediate group of school friends, there are senior editors, publishers, TV producers, account managers, lawyers and heads of charities. I was recently at my son's football match with one eye on the ball whilst discussing a how best to launch a brand with another mum, a lawyer and branding expert at one of the world’s largest drinks companies. Women have always been collaborative and involved with each other, just in some cases this has shifted out of the home and into the workplace.

And it’s not just women taking advantage. Just as mothers have got more involved in the working world, dads are more involved with their kids and will often be at the school gates and at sports matches and this can lead to all sorts of networking opportunities.

“It’s all about the school-gate mate,” says Jonny.

A partner at a City law firm with four children at prep schools in north London, he says many a valuable client has been snagged through school

“Many a valuable client or job has been nabbed via a school-gate mate”

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UPFRON T / OPINION

A B OV E

contacts. “This is because you are already in the club – you are at the school so you have proved yourself, proved you are successful enough to have afforded it in the first place, so the guards come down and you can be genuinely matey.”

He points out it’s also “a stage of life thing”– when children are at primary school, parents tend to fit the 35-45 age bracket – they are doing well but yet to peak career wise. “It’s a very dynamic phase professionally and you are looking to talk to people about how it’s going to happen,” he says.

Jonny says what starts out as men comparing how rich and successful they are “ends up being collaborative and supportive – sort of like NCT meets the boardroom,” he says. When he went through a turbulent work patch, he found the interest and concern of other dads at his children’s

‘So many contacts, so little time’

schools genuinely helpful.

Sport matches are a brilliant place to talk shop.

Hours and hours can be spent on a touchline where any conversation can be a boon and men, in particular, chat easily and openly when there is sport in the background. At a recent football match Jonny was chatting with a fellow dad “about how much he makes and how much he takes home. I would never have a conversation like that with a partner at work or a client,” he says.

The professional tribes you will meet depends very much on the type of school and which village of London you live in. Bankers, VCs, private equity boys and corporate lawyers will be at prep schools in the ‘posh’ pockets: Notting Hill and Holland Park, Hampstead, Chelsea, Dulwich and so on. Actors and illustrious

media folk from the worlds of TV, film, advertising etc, maybe further afield and many of London’s best state schools attract big names from the creative industries.

The world of private schools used to be riddled with that very English disease of class. One big change in melting pot London at least, is that social networking at the school gates has become “very international and meritocratic. It’s not about who you know and much more about what you do,” says Jonny.

And of course, no one is recommending you choose a school for your child based on how it will improve your job prospects but with nepotism and the old-school tie less of a workable option and Facebook and Linkedin too ghastly for words it might be worth considering when you fill in those forms.

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COVER STARS

N

otting Hill and Ealing High School has launched a digital archive featuring photographs and publications from its long and illustrious history (the school was established in 1873 as Notting Hill and Bayswater High School).

The online repository includes all the school magazines from 1885 (the very first edition) right up to the present day. They are not only a great source of history of the school, the covers also reflect the mores of the age as well as developments in print and design; from the very proper and staid front cover images of the first half of the 20th century, to a great expolsion of graphic design from 1968 onwards. We think they are beautiful.

For more info or to see more covers visit www.gdst.net

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UPFRON T/ SPOTLIGHT

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U ng ni ol pe !

O 17 cho ol 20 r.s ho er pe Sc m b p e r t e re u pp ep qua S ns

ea

to

Open Morning Thursday 25th May Booking is essential

Eaton Square School is an independent, coeducational Nursery, Pre-Preparatory and Preparatory school in the heart of central London, educating children from the age of 2 ½ to 13 years old. The main school is in Belgravia, with three nursery schools located across London.

79 Eccleston Square, London SW1V 1PP T: 020 7931 9469 E: registrar@eatonsquareschool.com

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Open Morning Wednesday 7th June Booking is essential Hyde Park School offers your child a unique, well-rounded education, with 2 locations in central London. Our Nursery & Pre-Prep is located near Marble Arch (W2) and takes children ages 2 - 5. Our Preparatory is in South Kensington (SW7) and takes ages 6 - 11.

The Long Garden, St George’s Fields, Albion Street, London W2 2AX ~ 24 Elvaston Place, London SW7 5NL T: 020 7225 3131 E: registrar@hydeparkschool.co.uk

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Open Mornings First Tuesday of every month 2 May, 6 June Booking is essential The Lyceum is a small, non-selective, independent nursery and school for boys and girls aged 3-11, with a unique educational philosophy delivered through topic-based learning. The school is situated in the City of London, near to Old Street and Shoreditch.

6 Paul Street, City of London EC2A 4JH T: 020 7247 1588 E: admin@lyceumschool.co.uk

www.lyceumschool.co.uk

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Nursery & prep

BEAUDESERT PARK SCHOOL

HEAD'S WIVES P . 32 STEM FOR PREP P . 43 A BIALINGUAL EDUCATION P . 46

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Behind every good man…

There’s a good woman and no more so than in the UK’s prep schools. Welcome to the world of the unsung superstar, the headmaster’s wife ELEANOR DOUGHTY

A

t every prep school there exists a superwoman. She rounds up children for bed, comforts them when they’re sad, and attends every games match. Mums will make their judgement on her, when visiting a school for the first time. They will describe her as a “big sister” – the mum who knows what it’s like.

She is the headmaster’s wife.

And yet her job is relatively unsung.

Despite a relentless timetable of jobs day on day, the headmaster’s wife rarely gets the credit she deserves for wearing hundreds of hats at once.

It’s more than a job, says Carey Lankester, who has been married to Robert, headmaster of Maidwell Hall School in Northamptonshire for 32 years. “It’s a way of life.” The Lankesters’ life changed

“I’m involved in so many different areas which makes it fascinating and never boring” drastically when Robert began to get itchy feet at his job in the City, and decided that he wanted to go into teaching. Carey, with a background in Montessori, encouraged him, and the couple moved to Durham to allow Robert to complete a PGCE. Soon after, they were straight into life at Uppingham.

“He was just teaching there initially, and then after two years he was asked to go into a boarding house,” Carey explains. This was to kick-start a chain of events that would lead the Lankesters to Maidwell Hall, where they have been for the last 16 years. This will be their last school, Carey says. “We’ve got six more years and then we retire. We

wouldn’t want to go anywhere else.”

Life at Maidwell - a “really proper school”, says one parent, where the children wear blue cords and tweed jackets as uniform, and don’t watch television – has been revolutionised by the Lankesters, who introduced co-education six years ago. But what has remained traditional is Carey’s role as headmaster’s wife. “Robert is the boss,” she says. “But we do everything together. It’s very much a joint thing.”

The job involves a huge number of hats.

“I’m involved in so many different areas which makes it fascinating and never boring – from teaching drama and life skills, boarding duties, being a tutor, just everything. It’s a hugely varied role.”

At Hanford School in Dorset, Georgina “George” Johnston is in her third year of headmaster’s wifing. She married Rory, a former Deutsche Bank accountant, 20 years ago, and never expected that she would end up back at school. In 2008, Rory decided that enough was enough in the City and

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PR EP / HE A D’S W I V ES

A B OV E

Georgina Johnston at Hanford School BELOW

Carey Lankester at Maidwell Hall

looked instead to teaching. “He was always one of those people that when friends came to the house, the children gravitated towards,” George says. So teaching it was, and the couple moved to Horris Hill School in Berkshire, where, after a year, they were asked to become house-parents for the junior boarding house. Three years later, they moved to Hanford for the headship.

Luckily, both Johnstons were used to the busyness of boarding school life, having been full boarders in prep and public school as children. “My father was in the army, so I know what it’s like to be moved around the world, when home is not home,” George says. “But my school in Norfolk was really wonderful – it didn’t matter where home with my parents was.” It is this experience that has focussed her mind on creating a home away from home for the 100 girls at Hanford.

Pastoral care is key, she says. “I’m everybody’s mummy up to a point – they know the things I won’t tolerate, which are generally unkindness and dishonesty.” From

Above Are our public exams no longer suitable?

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PR EP / HE A D’S W I V ES

“One has got to be a little bit of a nurse, a little bit of a cook, a magician sometimes”

Horris Hill, the Johnstons brought with them a pastoral tutor system, where each child has a “go-to adult, who they can sit down with once a week or maybe more”.

No two days are the same, George laughs. “I’m on hand shortly after breakfast time until after bedtime.” Each can involve dealing with the matrons to organising birthday parties, taking children to appointments, and “helping to scatter around a little bit of glitter as I go really, to make everyone happy”.

She compares the job to being head of a household. “I do sometimes feel like lady of the manor with a bunch of keys at my hips. One has got to be a little bit of a nurse, a little bit of a cook, a magician sometimes.” It is physically and mentally

Role models have been everything to Fiona. She names her mother as one.

“She was doing this job 50 years ago, and I can remember in the early days sticking stamps on envelopes and sending out reports. She was a very calm person.”

Bridget Woodcock, former headmaster’s wife at Dulwich Prep School has also been inspirational. “When we moved here she said to me that the most important job for the headmaster’s wife was to look after the headmaster!” And Cheryl Trafford, whose husband Roger was head of the Dragon until 2002, “was such a good role model.

Dragon is a big boarding school, and there were a lot of couples running houses, all with small children. Cheryl knew what that was like.”

Having someone to listen to you, when you are everyone’s go-to listener, is critical, Fiona says. One of her closest friends is Henrietta Hoyland, the headmaster’s wife at Pinewood School in Wiltshire. “We were both housemasters’ wives at the Dragon, and she is somebody that I trust 100 per cent,” Fiona says. “I can go to her for advice and know that it’ll be completely confidential.” With Ludgrove, Wellesley House, Pinewood, Moulsford and Cheam, Beaudesert is included in a group of schools that meet twice a year. “We need to support each other because it can be a lonely job,” Fiona says. “You’ve got to be very discreet – you’ve got parents, children and staff to deal with.

It’s a very close community.”

A B OV E George Johnston wouldn’t Fiona Womersley with her husband and pupils change her job for the world – demanding, however. at Beaudesert Park even if it defies the conventions “To everyone you are School of full time work. Hanford is the main person, and a far cry from her previous that’s 100 children and life as a stay-at-home mum “who potentially 200 adults who made everything that everyone ate, have a demand on your time. and grew stuff that everyone ate”. Now, It can be very tiring if everyone she laughs, she is the envy of most of her wants a bit of you all at once.” friends. “They’re getting to the stage with For Fiona Womersley, wife of James, children who are growing up, and they headmaster of Beaudesert Park School in are wondering what to do with their time Gloucestershire, life in a boarding school – staring down the barrel of a good 20-30 is more familiar still. The daughter of years of working time.” Children keep you teachers, she grew up in a prep school, on your toes – “and your mind whirring”. where her mother was headmaster’s wife.

Truly, she says, it is “one of the best jobs She met James 30 years ago, and for the going. Having had two children of my own, majority of their married life they have I have inherited hundreds of everybody worked in schools together – first running else’s, which is lovely. I’m like Old Mother a boarding house at the Dragon School in Hubbard.”

Oxford.

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27/02/2017 10:50 24/02/2017 14:47:25

Talking

PR EP / OPINION

HEAD

ALL JOIN IN James Hanson, Headmaster of Aldro, says an ethos of inclusivity and opportunity are key for boys’ prep schools

G

reat to see you on the pitch, Fred, you were playing brilliantly!” I said, as he sat down after finishing the U11 E football match. Clearly he had run hard, but he was looking proud of himself. He replied: “Thank you, Sir, I really enjoyed it; my coach suggested that if I played two games for the E’s this half-term, he was happy for me to go sailing on every other Wednesday afternoon – the best of both worlds for me.”

We may be different to other schools in our approach, but I wouldn’t have it any other way. My Directors of Sport and Music embody the same philosophy – inclusivity and opportunity – these make the best prep school education for boys. Alongside the centrality of academic excellence, we want every boy to have the chance to represent their school team in matches, and also every boy to have the opportunity to perform on stage in form assemblies, school

“Boys nag, cajole, beg and plead with their parents to board at Aldro” performances and informal concerts. We all know boys who need more encouragement to take part in activities, but to us, taking part is second nature. Aldro also offers an environment where chess is as important as football for the boys, resilience is taught gently from day one, reading is a central pillar and is totally embraced by all boys, and Swedish longball is a firm favourite.

In an age when boarding is potentially going out of fashion, we see quite the opposite. We don’t push boys to board, parents don’t force it either – it happens

play in informal concerts because they want to build confidence. Performing to 10 rapidly becomes 800 for the carol service; next step they will be playing to a stadium full of people. Boys choose to sing in the choir right up until 13, which is one of the key advantages of a boy-only education.

Boys also need a long day and long week - they need to be challenged, fulfilled and nurtured. The worst cases are where boys are unfulfilled and bored, so I can’t understand schools that run Monday to Friday 9-4pm. Where is the fun in learning going to happen?

How can you guarantee not to miss a potential talent in a A B OV E because boys ask, child, ready to be nurtured?

‘The Crows’ nag, cajole, beg, plead Boys, especially, need to avoid growing Nest’: Aldro boys with their parents up too quickly. During the autumn, they are having fun to make it happen. If just as happy swapping Match Attack cards, our boys want more playing conkers, climbing on our wooden school, who are we to say no? For me, it is fort or building a den. a no-brainer: vertical friendships, dormBoys also love being outdoors in lessons decorating competitions for Christmas, - rebuilding Stonehenge out of cardboard waking up looking out on onto the most boxes or simulating an electric circuit by beautiful prep school view in the country, running round a court as current past joining a family community of 200 brothers, through different elements of the circuit taking part in the boarders’ feasts, the best are fun and proper kinaesthetic learning. food in the land too (however rare that We do PSHCE outdoors too. Why not teach might be for a prep school). community using a climbing frame, weeding If we ask for volunteers in assembly or the school vegetable patch, or building chapel, we get 95% of hands human chain to cross our lake going up straight away. “Even using just the wire bridge? We if it means coming up in also have the huge bonus of front of everyone to do some not being a linked or through impromptu drama?”, I ask junior school – so we aren’t them. Perhaps two hands forcing them into the same disappear, but still more than senior school. Ours go off to 90% stay resolutely high, over 20 different destinations, wanting to be involved. Over almost all of them at 13, so we 90% of all boys take music or help them go to the right fit for JAMES HANSON Headmaster instrumental music lessons, them – the end goal of a great Aldro with 75% volunteering to prep school education.

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FROM A DISTANCE An overseas parent shares her experience of choosing a UK boarding school education for her children.

SOPHIE PENDER-CUDLIP

M

ummy, all I want for Christmas this year is to go to boarding school,” said a small voice from the back of the car on the school run. He is seven and the youngest of our four children. To me, he is my baby. He still holds my hand walking into school and he still tries to sneak into my bed at night. His three older siblings board in the UK so I suppose the comment came as no surprise.

He chats to them on Skype every week and keenly listens to what they’ve been up to.

He reads their regular match reports on their school intranet. He pours over photos of them having fun at the fireworks party.

He listens wide-eyed about the weekend camp in the woods where the boys carved out pumpkins and slept in bell tents and he relishes in the latest dormitory antics.

When I was nine I said to my mother that I wanted to board and probably from the back of the car where I also couldn’t catch her eye. Again, I was the youngest and quite frankly wanted to follow my two older brothers. I couldn’t think of anything nicer than devouring a whole tuck box full of treats and roller skating through the school corridors with a gaggle of other girls. My mother relented and I enjoyed some of the best years of my life. However, when I was

“21st century boarding bears no resemblance to 20 or even 10 years ago” a bit older my parents were posted to Saudi Arabia and I became an overseas boarder.

With a weekly phone call and the odd letter arriving, I found it desperately hard. To this day, I struggle with airport farewells.

When we moved to Dubai, boarding wasn’t the plan but like many families we ended up heading down that road.

21st century overseas boarding bears no resemblance to boarding twenty or even ten years ago. Stephen Ilett, Headmaster at Port Regis prep school in Dorset, says: “Boarding has changed beyond recognition.

Now, children almost exclusively board because they want to. Parents don’t ‘send’ their children to board anymore.”

Communication has transformed overseas boarding as children are able to Skype, use What’s App and text on mobiles.

Schools are progressing all forms of their communication to include live streaming of children in concerts or performing in school plays, so parents like us can sit back in Dubai and enjoy, albeit a rather late, evening’s entertainment. At Port Regis,

reports are posted after each match and although you may not be there on the touchline, you can read how your child played. Bryanston, a senior co-ed school in Dorset, has an impressive E-chart system where grades are posted after every lesson, together with a weekly comment from the pupil’s tutor. This enables parents to not only spot when their teen might be slacking but also when they’ve done particularly well.

Pastoral care too has progressed with dragon-like matrons being replaced by houseparents with their own families and the occasional black Labrador. Most of them are also trained counsellors. Phil Lawrence, a housemaster at Port Regis says, “It is now far more recognised that it is healthy to be emotionally open and show feelings rather than bottling them up. Houseparents are much more patient, aware and understanding of homesickness and have more strategies to deal with it.

Our ‘emotional intelligence’ is much better.”

Fiona MacKenzie, Director of Middle East at Gabbitas, says, “Pastoral and academic staff are professionals and they get to know your child very well.”

Facilities too have developed from Enid Blyton-style sparseness to accommodation that’s more akin to five star hotels. At Port Regis, children in the last two years have private ensuite facilities and can relax in chill-out rooms with flat screen TVs, pool tables and even an outdoor vintage caravan.

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A B OV E

Port Regis pupils BELOW St Mary’s Shaftesbury have The vintage caravan power showers, fresh flowers at Port Regis and stunning views from all the bright dormitories. Bryanston pupils enjoy a cafe on site where they can pick up the odd cappuccino in between lessons. School food is no longer boiled cabbage and spam but organic, wholesome and fresh.

Choosing the right school can be tough, particularly when you are faced with glossy websites and can’t just nip down the M3 for an Open Day. “Some parents choose a school on the basis of where they have family or friends who can step in for exeat weekends, but others have no connection whatsoever to an area or even to the country,” says Elaine Stallard, Founder and CEO of Winter’s International School Finder. “It’s an extremely important decision for any parent to make,” she adds. Erika Clements, a Dubai mother of three, chose UK boarding for her daughter.

“We are from the US and selected a UK boarding school after looking at schools

Above Are our public exams no longer suitable?

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The best bilingual education in the heart of London

317 Portobello Road, London W10 5SZ

Tel: 020 8969 2664 spanishschoolvcb.co.uk

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PR EP / BOA R DING

KEY FACTS

487

boarding schools in the UK

.

70,000 boarders

.

27,000 non British boarders

.

5,000

British pupils from overseas

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Minimum of 5 hours a week playing sport

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2 hours performing arts

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40% entry to Oxford and Cambridge

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A B OV E

Happy boarding pupils at Port Regis

in Switzerland and America.

We felt the UK is the leader in boarding school education. Initially I had no foundation and didn’t even know what to look for or where to look.”

Clements had a few friends in the UK and tapped into them for guidance and then toured some schools herself. She settled on an all girls school with a full boarding environment because, “I didn’t want her to be alone at the weekends.”

She wanted a school with a large British population as “coming from Dubai we had experienced a very transient international population.” Excellent communication was a top priority and the school she ultimately selected was the most responsive sending a, “lovely personalised thank you email after our visit. This small touch made a big difference.”

Boarding schools are brimming with extra-curricular activities but it is worth checking that weekends are just as busy with full boarders of all nationality staying in. Magnus Bashaarat, Headmaster at Milton Abbey, says, “The school needs to have the right boarding offering for overseas families, which means full boarding. When visiting the school ask the pupil showing you round how many boarders there are for breakfast on Sunday. If you’re living in Dubai and you get a Skype call from your child who says there isn’t anyone at school, then you’ll have an unhappy child.” Having a proper boarding ‘community’ is crucial for successful boarding.

After making such a huge family decision, facing the opinions of other parents can be hard. For some, boarding is a total unknown and parents can’t even fathom it for their family.

Comments like “we couldn’t do boarding as our family are too close,” or “why have children if you send them to board,” are tough to deal with. The key thing is to keep focused on your decision as a family and remind yourself how happy your children are. Erika Clements adds, “Being away in Dubai is challenging but we live chat all the time. She calls me to tell me the funniest things and I get to see her face, her room, her friends as they giggle and shriek in excitement like normal 13 year-olds. I feel like we’re closer than ever.”

For all of us boarding parents there is no getting way from the ‘count downs’. We count down until they’re leaving and we count down until they’re home. But when we’re together, we enjoy every moment we have - laughing, teasing and listening to everything they have to say and they leave on a high, excited about seeing their friends.

On a practical note, a UK boarding education isn’t cheap, particularly when you take into account flights and taxi fares.

Fees now sit at around £15,000-35,000 per year (£10,000-14,000 for state boarding) but with school fees rising in Dubai, a fall in sterling and flash flight sales, UK boarding education is now back on the radar for many expats. As Mary Arnal, headmistress at St Mary's Shaftesbury says: “The world is getting smaller and boarding is becoming ever more attractive and accessible to overseas pupils.”

below 9.1% pupil to staff ratio

.

9 out of 10 go to top 15 universities according to ISC 2016 census.

Key factors to consider when choosing a boarding school from overseas Are there family or friends nearby?

How many boarders are there and how many are overseas?

.

What is the split between international and expat boarders?

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How many children are full boarding, weekly or flexi?

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How and when can I communicate with my child? What’s the WIFI like?

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How far is the school from the airport or what are the transport links like?

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Meet and get to know the pastoral care team.

Take into consideration the time difference.

.

Don’t listen too much to other parents unless they have something helpful to say.

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PR EP / OPINION

STARTER FOR STEM Hayley Jordan, STEM coordinator at Parsons Green Prep, on the importance of teaching these subjects at primary school

S

TEM influences nearly every part of our daily lives and is an area of industry set to burgeon in the future. As a result, it has already become an important aspect of the curriculum in secondary schools. Primary teachers are also keen to see STEM embedded in their curriculum.

Many primary schools could argue that they have been teaching STEM before the term was even coined, but it is becoming more explicit within the education setting as schools like Parsons Green Prep prepare their children for jobs that don’t yet exist.

That is a tall order for any subject so how does STEM do this? Rather than focusing on just subject knowledge, Parsons Green Prep encourages children to develop their skill set by finding out about the world around them. Inquiry learning is made more relevant through real life links and self-led problem-solving projects.

Listening to one another’s ideas and building upon what is said exposes children’s preconceived ideas, opens their eyes to alternatives and lets them find the truth of these. Taking turns and sharing

“STEM is needed in primary settings as we prepare children for jobs that don’t yet exist” are important contributions in developing a systematic approach to problem solving, building up thinking, patience and resilience. These skills are transferable into life inside the school as well as out.

At Parsons Green Prep a creative crosscurricular approach ensures that subjects are linked with purpose. For example, when Year 4 studied 'Invasions', they planned their own invasion through computing (using Scratch programing), explored

A B OV E

forces and materials in science to engineer attack catapults, and linked everything together with maths through measurement, use of Roman numerals, calculations and directions.

Explicit STEM sessions each week allow children to find common interests they want to explore, reinforcing learning. Year 6 are proud to show off the Lego WeDo creatures they have been working on. These animals have been programmed to move and create sounds. At the other end of the school, Year 1 have been developing tall structures.

Recognising how to organise spaghetti with marshmallows resulted in some sticky yet memorable moments. In all classes selfcontrol and teamwork is evident in problem solving.

Termly STEM activities are lauded to raise the STEM profile and children’s excitement. House Days offer full inclusivity to the pupils at Parsons Green Prep, providing children in Years 1 to 6 the chance to work together and collaborate, allowing for deeper learning. At our most recent House Day children turned detective, solving a murder mystery through chromatography, before taking a A pupil studies a model of the human brain

well-earned break by creating their own slushies, measuring out liquids and observing the chemical reactions between ice and salt.

The pupils love STEM and it is a highlight of the weekly timetable. "I’m so glad we are given the chance to learn about these subjects as they are fascinating," Amalie recently said. "I think we will be better prepared for secondary school because of the work we have done." With the after-school STEM club fully subscribed to, it appears parents and children are in agreement.

STEM projects are not just limited to the classroom. Parents get to join in the fun with termly homework projects. Open-ended tasks like the World of Wonder space project allowed pupils to pursue their interest and bring their parents along the way.

The school picked up the ISA school award for STEM this year and headteacher Helen Stavert believes that STEM has had a massive impact on the teaching and learning in school. "Parsons Green Prep School is a huge advocate of STEM, which are key subjects for securing positive opportunities and career paths for future generations. Primary school is the perfect starting point to encourage children to explore and begin to understand and realise the links between these subjects and why we study them."

H AY L E Y J O R DA N A Year 4 teacher and STEM coordinator at Parsons Green Prep SPRING • SUMMER 2017 | A B S O LU T E LY E D U C AT I O N | 43

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Ted had never written anything on his own, helpers were writing his ideas down on paper for him. Not only had he done this report alone, but also in the same time as the other children as well. It felt like a miracle. We also noticed that he was more relaxed and his writing was impressively improving.

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Thank you to the ALC programme – we are so glad we did it as soon as we heard about it, rather than waiting and wasting more time and years for our son and ourselves.

A B OV E

Dyslexia can cause unhappiness

T

ed didn’t enjoyed school, and wasn’t motivated to learn. He struggled to read with low comprehension, his spelling was bad and, however much he practised, it was all gone the next day. It was the same with his times tables. Ted was slow, his handwriting was untidy, he confused his letters and numbers, he had no confidence and got frustrated with himself. When he copied text he was able to remember two words if they were very easy, and three to four letters if he wasn’t familiar with the word. Everything was, “I can’t…, I’m dumb.” He was always tired and well… the list was endless.

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Eastern PROMISE The Chairman of Kensington Wade School, explains why its dual language curriculum really is schooling for the 21st century PROFESSOR HUGO DE BURGH

E

urope’s first English Chinese Dual Language Early Years and Prep School is opening in London in September 2017.

Kensington Wade’s children will not only be prepared for the best independent schools by the time they are ready for Common Entrance, but also be fluent in Chinese. Why and how?

Four insights are behind it. Now that so much international business is conducted by Chinese speakers, being able to mix in their world is a precious asset which more and more parents want. China is the most important trading partner of more countries than any other (124), and set to be the largest economy by 2020. China also happen to be the most advanced in the use of digital media, with more New Media users than any other country and more netizens than India and the USA combined. Clocking this, British Ministers have encouraged Chinese language teaching in British schools such that 17% of state and 45% of independent schools now have some kind of provision and there will be

many more in future. Many argue that it is more useful for children that French be replaced by with Chinese as the obligatory foreign language, and that as an intellectual exercise it is at least as instructive as Latin; but these are not the only reasons for the ‘Chinese turn’.

A consensus has emerged that we have a good deal to learn from Chinese schooling.

Our Department for Education is driving the initiative to introduce Chinese-based Maths Mastery into schools and has encouraged English head teachers and maths specialists to go to Shanghai to find out why children do so well there.

For Chinese children in some parts of the country learn mathematics better and faster than comparable age groups in Anglosphere schools; if the PISA test results are to be believed, Shanghai children are the world leaders. This is not because of ‘rote’ learning; rather the opposite. A team of UK math teachers that went to Shanghai found that their peers have more time to prepare classes, give fuller feedback, inspire collaboration between advanced and laggard pupils and get their classes to focus, concentrate, better. Our Education Minister Nick Gibb

“Scientists have identified special cognitive benefits from learning Chinese”

has set up 35 specialist teaching centres to spread Maths Mastery techniques and now plan that 8,000 primary schools will re-introduce whole class teaching ‘the Chinese way’.

Even these arguments are not the decisive ones that underpin Kensington Wade’s curriculum, developed with help from Roger Trafford, recent Head of The Dragon, professionals from Westminster School and the Head of Peking University’s junior schools programme.

For the third insight is that bilingualism

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PR EP / FE ATUR E

is of immense benefit. Becoming bilingual through immersion is quite different from learning a language merely as a foreign language, with a very small number of hours per week. Around 450 bilingual schools have started up in the USA, of which 25 are bilingual with Chinese, many employing the immersion method that Kensington Wade will apply, by which children are fully immersed in English and Chinese on alternate days and all subjects are covered in both languages. Experts rhapsodize about the contributions of bilingualism to cognitive development and how bilingual children learn subsequent languages with greater ease.

The fourth insight is that, when the other language is logographic rather than alphabetic, as with Chinese, there are other advantages. At the most basic is stretching the memory; by the end of a Chinese child’s elementary school career she will

with the practical and creative. While there is individual and group work, the overall approach can be characterised as ‘interactive whole class teaching’. The style of teaching can in fact be less stultifying than in English schools: Shanghai maths classes are half the length of the average English class and are followed by 15 minutes of unstructured play. The ethical dimension would delight an Anglican chaplain, with its emphases on service to others, affection for parents and love of learning.

Kensington Wade is part of a movement to learn from China in order to improve English education and equip our children for a world in which it will be as great an asset to know Chinese as to know English. Two A B OV E & BELOW distinguished proponents of Pupils learning this will be at our inauguration: Chinese Lord Willetts, who as Science have learnt 3,000 Chinese and Universities Minister set up ideograms as a foundation. scientific and research links between So Chinese children learn to China and the UK, and Lord Nash, the memorise rapidly and, as did our Schools Minister behind the Free Schools forbears, tend to have a well stocked programme. repertoire of poems, songs and data that We do not forget, though, the advantages they can draw upon because of that early of English education, which are recognised memory training. Moreover, because the around the world. Kensington Wade will learner is drawing pictures rather than take the best of both systems. We are recording pronunciation when she or he proud of the English genius at encouraging learns to write Chinese, scientists have creativity and enterprise and balancing identified special cognitive benefits. book work with sport, crafts, dance, music Critics say that Chinese schooling is too and social service. Our children are to narrow and that many parents would opt be prepared for the leading independent for our schools if they got a chance. But senior schools. But we also want to see our their schools are changing, too. children flourish thanks to lessons from China is a mighty big country and, China, and learn to communicate in the unsurprisingly, you can find every kind and world’s most spoken language, in writing, quality of school. Just as in England, the digitally and face to face. This combination best combine a knowledge-based approach makes for a curriculum that really does with opportunities to reflect on, discuss prepares children for the 21st century. and initiate; they also balance the academic SPRING • SUMMER 2017 | A B S O LU T E LY E D U C AT I O N | 47

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05/09/2016 15/07/2016 14:50 10:17

PR EP / OPINION

IN IT TOGETHER Jara Salguero Munoz, who teaches English as a foreign language at the Spanish School, on the gift of multiculturalism JA R A SA LG U E R O M U N OZ

B

eing bilingual or plurilingual can no longer be regarded as an asset but a need in a constantly evolving society in which people from all over the world share physical and virtual spaces. Bilingualism will boost the careers of our students as they will certainly have more chances than those who can only speak one language but not only because they have the ability to communicate in the language but also because they have a deeper knowledge of other cultures. Schools have made a great effort to distance their instruction in foreign languages from the stale academicism of the past and have incorporated curricular activities that involve intercultural activities and exchanges.

Research has proven that as far as successful communication is concerned, a perfect understanding of the language may not suffice in some circumstances.

European literature abounds in hilarious characters who illustrate the inability

“A child exposed to a diverse world cannot go back to their previous limitations” of foreigners to comprehend the world around them and who despite being able to speak the language, cannot decipher the logic system behind the locals’ outlook and attitude. We want to save our students the difficulties that some of these characters faced such as Stanger’s Jonathan Bradley who had to learn the hard way the modèle français at the workplace or Nothomb’s Amelié who would not understand the concept of hierarchy from the Japanese perspective. That is why teachers of modern languages include intercultural exchanges

A B OV E

as a necessary part of the course.

Every year students participate in activities that involve immersion in another culture whether that is spending a day at an international school or a week in a different country. For a teenager, having the opportunity to experience the feeling of confusion when facing a situation where their own set of social rules do not seem to apply, equips them with an in-built cultural augmented reality device that protects them from the dehumanising discourse of intolerance currently in vogue. They learn to interact personally and professionally according to what is considered appropriate in other countries. They learn the language of other countries and at the same time they learn to live and feel like people from other cultures do.

We have all accepted by now that the more languages a person is surrounded by, the better the chances for them to become multilingual and no matter how hard teachers of modern languages try to reproduce that environment, nothing compares to the real thing. Let’s think for a minute what sort of impact would have in our students’ lives to spend a week with a family from another country, have to eat Pupils at the Spanish School in Kensington

what they eat, watch what they watch and relate to others in ways they had never thought they would.

How significantly different that is from spending a holiday week at a luxury holiday resort. Once they have been exposed to a diverse world and different beliefs, they cannot go back to their previous limitations. And that is our main purpose as educators, to get our students to embrace diversity and enrich their understanding of the world, to provide them with the skills that will allow them to contribute to multicultural society, as the need for it is now greater than ever.

In the Spanish School 'Vicente Cañada Blanch' students learn English, Spanish, French and Galician and take part in regular school exchanges with international and British schools in London that share our commitment to students’ cultural education. From primary education to sixth form they visit schools and collaborate using both Spanish and English. They also participate in exchanges in Rome and France and cultural activities in Switzerland, Galicia and Andorra because we firmly believe that they are being given the gift of multiculturalism.

JA R A S A LG U E R O M U Ñ OZ Teacher of English as a Foreign Language Vicente Cañada Blanche SPRING • SUMMER 2017 | A B S O LU T E LY E D U C AT I O N | 49

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Senior

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SCHOOL DEBATING P . 52 FEE CHANGES P . 64 MAKING THE GRADE P . 79

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Oundle pupils hold a mock Scottish referendum

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SENIOR / TA LK ING POIN T

Speak Freely

In the light of Brexit and Trump, how do we engage young people in politics? The long tradition of debate and oratory in our independent schools is a very good place to start J A N E T T E WA L L I S

Y

oung adults have long punched below their weight when it comes to the ballot box: 18-24 year olds are less likely to vote than any other age group. But seldom has the consequence been as momentous as in 2016. If young voters had turned out in greater numbers, Britain's 'Europe problem' may now be confined to the Eurovision Song Contest and the US might be toasting its first woman president.

But the question stands: how do we get young people off their iPhones and into the voting booths?

“School debate and oratory certainly spur curiosity about politics,” says Andrew Fearnley, head of politics at Canford School in Dorset. “Controversies raised take root among a student body in the post event chat, while colleagues may take up ideas or points of interest in their subsequent classes. Rather like a stone being hurled into a still pond, the event is the stone, the chatter are the ripples, and the bigger the

stone, the greater and more extensive those ripples become.”

Kenza Wilks, captain of England's school debate team, school head boy, and debater extraordinaire, also sees debate's power to engage. “It's given me reasons to care about things going on outside my own immediate environment,” he says.

Kenza takes part in twice weekly, twohour debate coaching at Dulwich College, a school that inspires shock and awe in the world of school debating. Dulwich won the Oxford Union debating competition in 2014, 2015 and 2016 , the the Cambridge Union schools debating competition in 2014 and 2015 (the latter final saw two Dulwich College teams competing) and the Durham Union Schools Debating Competition in 2015. The house debating finals, for which some 600 boys squeeze into the Great Hall, is one of the college's great events.

Debate stands at the very heart of a classical education, says Keith Budge, headmaster of Bedales School in Hampshire. “In the classical context, the focus of education was on the subjects and skills deemed essential if one was to take

an active part in civic life – for example, public debate. Any effective contribution to public life requires the exercise of rhetorical skills, and Bedales encourages both public speaking and debating,” “Debating teaches intellectual nimbleness, the ability to express complex material clearly and the ear to listen carefully to what others say,” says Sarah Kerr-Dineen, headmistress of Oundle School in Northamptonshire. Senior debating is the very oldest of Oundle’s societies and the school offers a wide range of opportunities and coaching.

The rough and tumble of seeing one's opinions tested, and sometimes bested, helps to build character and mental robustness – providing an antidote to the 21st century so-called “special snowflake syndrome”. Pupils can learn to respect free speech and understand, or at least tolerate, opinions they may abhor. “There's a lot to be gained by learning to see both sides of an argument,” says Kenza Wilks.

“In the run up to the EU referendum the school staged a debate,” recounts Budge.

“One of our students found himself very

“DULWICH COLLEGE INSPIRES SHOCK & AWE IN THE WORLD OF SCHOOL DEBATING” SPRING • SUMMER 2017 | A B S O LU T E LY E D U C AT I O N | 53

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SENIOR / TA LK ING POIN T

much in the minority in making a powerful case for exiting the EU. I am proud to report that the many students who disagreed with him equally passionately were also happy to share with him their admiration for the skill with which he made his case. We want our students to understand educational establishments as places where freedom of expression is a privileged principle, and that this means that they will encounter ideas that they do not like.”

Commitment to free speech was tested in 2016 when Langton Grammar in Canterbury invited old boy, Trump supporter and farright agent provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos to speak. After a whirlwind of media attention, and contact from the Department for Education's counter-extremism unit, the school cancelled the talk. Yiannopoulos was deemed to present too big a safety risk for pupils.

“Debating and oratory are skills which build pupils’ confidence to hold their own on stage”

to Moscow last year for a two hour meeting with Russian president Vladimir Putin in the Kremlin. The chaps, who arranged the trip and meeting entirely on their own, beat prime minister Theresa May and foreign secretary (and Old Etonian) Boris Johnson, neither of whom had yet met the Russian leader.

Sadly, the manufacture of such confident young debaters does not, in itself, assure better government or decision-making – as could be seen plainly in politicians' shellshocked faces on the morning after the Yiannopoulos had received a similar Brexit referendum. As Dulwich's Dr Spence invitation from the boys in Dulwich reflects,“In 2016 we came to realise that one College's economics society – with a similar of the weaknesses of contemporary political outcome. “The liberal dilemma is the discourse has been its domination by public acknowledgment that one sometimes has school or Oxbridge-educated men who have to determine exactly what sort and degree approached Westminster politics as if it of free speech is allowed and to decide was simply a grand English speaking when the expression of ideas is so union debating competition. Their gross that it represents an abuse strength and weakness is that of freedom of speech,” says A B OV E they could argue for anything, Dr Joseph Spence, Master A Canford School pupil and often did.” of Dulwich College. “When debating at the Model UN I saw on Youtube the RIGHT rabidly misogynistic line he Bedales Head Keith Budge took on anything relating BELOW to feminism or gender Debater extraordinaire Kenza Wilks equality, I had no hesitation in dis-inviting him, albeit this was only a couple of weeks after the Bataclan massacre in Paris, after which I had declared that diversity and the presence in any community of a variety of opinions was the best weapon any institution or society had against fanaticism.”

Public speaking opportunities vary widely at independent schools, from inhouse debates and speaking before small groups of supportive peers, to national events like the Oxford Union debating competition – one of the most prestigious schools debating competitions in the world with over 800 teams competing. Young Enterprise, Model United Nations and European Youth Parliament also provide Still, school debate stands as both a gold speaking opportunities at many schools. standard and a golden age – a throwback to “Public speaking by pupils is engrained a simpler, pre-digital era. “It's a reminder in the fabric of almost all activities at St of a time when politics was decided by Paul’s”, says Richard Girvan, Surmaster of argument rather than personality,” says St Paul’s School. “Debating and oratory are Sarah Lewis, whose three children debated skills which build pupils’ confidence to be in school. “I enjoyed it for the pure joy of able to hold their own on stage and develop beautifully articulated arguments. If a pupil the mental agility to hold and enjoy (and had hurled insults and bald-faced lies like more often than not, win) an argument. It Donald Trump does, he'd have been booed is the combination of this confidence and out of the house!” the exposure to the theory and probably a sense of the potential to have an impact on society that lead to sustained interest in JA N E T T E WA L LI S politics.”

And it is this sort of confidence, perhaps, Editor of The Good Schools Guide that encouraged 11 Eton schoolboys to fly goodschoolsguide.co.uk SPRING • SUMMER 2017 | A B S O LU T E LY E D U C AT I O N | 55

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SENIOR / TA LK ING POIN T

STATE DEBATE Once the preserve of elite public schools, more state schools are teaching oratory skills with impressive results J O E L S TA R K E Y

R

eally, children should get more say than anyone in who runs the country as they use so many more things, like schools and playgrounds, than adults do." Hands shoot up to respond to the speaker's point; I choose one.

"Wouldn’t children just vote for the same people as their parents?’ comes the response. The first speaker’s brow furrows.

"Well, no, not necessarily" the pupil replies slowly, "not if they knew about what each group stands for. They might disagree with them." A pause (for dramatic effect perhaps). "Anyway, don’t most adults just vote the same as their parents?" This nine year old has a point.

The motion in Year 5 is whether 16 year olds should always be eligible to vote in major decisions such as Scottish independence or Britain’s EU A B OV E & BELOW membership.

Pupils involved in Where some pupils debates at School 21 started off almost

“By learning to debate pupils are finding their voice”

embarrassed to disagree so fundamentally with the teacher they soon learnt that this was the very purpose of the exercise: they are learning to analyse, to disagree politely but assertively and to question. They are finding their voice.

I spent two years leading a Year 6 debating club, becoming increasingly convinced that learning through talk and debate were game-changers for primary education, then 2016 happened and these convictions swiftly became certainties.

Anecdotes about current affairs in class often morphed into wider discussions about the ethics of displaced peoples or the relative merits of our brand of democracy.

Pupils led debating assemblies that tackled issues such as FIFA’s ban on poppies and the potential for media brainwashing during elections. With only a few well timed questions many of our English, History and RE lessons became forums for analysis and challenging of paradigms rather than exercises in information transfer.

For many families over the years, private education has seemed an automatic

decision when desiring articulate children.

It is also fair to say that political literacy, debate and oracy skills have hardly defined most state-school curriculums (especially in the performance-driven culture of the past decades). Yet, shoots of growth have been emerging recently in state schools across the country, aided by training courses from groups such as the English Speaking Board.

School 21, a state-funded free school in Stratford, is perhaps the flagship of this movement. Since opening in 2012 with small cohorts of 3-18 year olds, it now receives ninefold oversubscription, has received a DfE ‘Character Award’ for their work and the tone of its single Ofsted report can only be described as ‘giddy.’ One of its founding principles is expressed through the ‘Voice 21’ campaign (devised in collaboration with Cambridge University), seeking to raise the profile of speaking and listening skills to equal status with reading and writing.

Equipping children as confident orators is seen as vital for success in the 21st century so, far from simply assessing children in silent exam halls, pupils are expected to give five minute speeches without notes on topics of their choice. The remarkable progress and accomplishments made by all pupils has started raising school leaders’ eyebrows across London and beyond.

I welcome the day when schools are judged more on the confidence and tenacity of pupils rather than simply their exam grades; where politics, oracy and debate are taught, not at the expense of academic achievement but as a means to empower it.

J O E L S TA R K E Y Primary school teacher SPRING • SUMMER 2017 | A B S O LU T E LY E D U C AT I O N | 57

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SENIOR / OPINION

MAKE IT A GIRLS’ WORLD

Charlotte Avery, Head of the Girls' School Association, on how to empower young women in our new political climate

A

s students in the middle of their examination season will explain, you must thoroughly unpack the question that is put to you in an exam. Asked to write about ‘a woman’s place in a Trump world’ my natural instinct led me to want to unpack, and define, the different elements of the headline.

What do we mean by ‘a Trump world’?

There are many people who group together the election of Donald Trump to be president of the United States with the UK’s EU referendum result: both were widely considered to be ‘shock results’, and both leave a substantial amount of uncertainty surrounding what the future will bring.

Furthermore, many people claimed that those expressing shock at both events were simply out of touch with regular voters, tarnishing them as ‘the elites’, the ‘college educated’, and the ‘political class’.

The events of 2016 showed that the ‘rules’

“Girls must be encouraged by each other to speak up and be heard” of political discourse seem to have changed, and it strikes me that clarification is needed on whether there might be ‘a woman’s place’ in this ‘new’ world. Was there a ‘woman’s place’ pre-November, or pre-June? Whether president Trump or prime minister May intend to revise or create policies that impact on gender equality, the advice I would give to our girls and their parents remains the same: Analyse the context of art, literature, statistics, news bulletins, marketing material, historical texts, and so on:

the table and dominate the space. The book is a self-help manual about how women should lean in – but to do so, they need to find their voice.

SPEAK UP AND OUT

education needs to provide our young people with a political awareness. All of us who consume a diet of media which focuses only on a narrow political ideology need to be challenged to broaden our horizons by engaging with different points of view.

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Girls at St Mary’s School mucking in together

Develop your abilities and confidence in public speaking and debating, if you want to be heard. Engaging in class is an important first step, and it is even more important to ask questions than to answer them correctly.

There are plenty of other opportunities to become more confident speaking in front of others too, for instance by offering to take an assembly, or by joining in with debates, both of which give an excellent opportunity to practise formulating opinions.

INVEST IN SOFT SKILLS

A way to do this is through taking on one or two substantial extra-curricular activities – whether individual or team sports, which will develop commitment, drive, resilience GET DIGITAL and teamwork; mastering a musical instrument or new language, or any other In an age where there is a wealth of range of new challenges. information online and no human By cementing these skills at an early age, ‘gatekeeper’, as there would be with a young adults are better prepared to deal traditional newspaper editor, for better with, and thrive in, working environments. and worse there is unverified information We all have a part to play in pursuing circling the internet. Students (and their genuine gender equality – and this remains parents) need to be educated not only about as true as ever. Girls must be online safety, but on assessing encouraged by each other, by whether the information they their family members, in their have found is reliable or not. interactions in the community, FIND YOUR VOICE and in their places of work, to speak up and be heard.

Cheryl Sandberg, COO of In turn, the girls themselves Facebook, wrote the wellhave a responsibility to known book Lean In, in which consider carefully what it is she says that, generally, CHARLOTTE AVERY that they want to say, and women tend to stand back Headmistress to articulate their message from the boardroom table, St Mary’s Cambridge confidently and effectively. whereas men typically sit at SPRING • SUMMER 2017 | A B S O LU T E LY E D U C AT I O N | 59

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Queen Anne’s School Independent Day and Boarding school for girls 11 - 18

Opportunity Excellence No Limits TES Independent School Award Winner 2016 Day, full, weekly & flexi-boarding places available Book onto our next Open Morning on Saturday 6 May at: www.qas.org.uk/bookanevent Queen Anne’s School, Caversham, Berkshire RG4 6DX 0118 918 7333 www.qas.org.uk Registered Charity

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SENIOR / INSIDER

AGENTS OF CHANGE Cheryl Giovannoni, Chief Executive of the Girls' Day School Trust, on shaping a future for women

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n 1872, four women defied convention and changed the course of history for women in the UK when they started the Girls’ Day School Trust (GDST).

The organisation has, since that time, been responsible for the education of thousands of girls, often against the odds, helping them to realise their potential and to make a meaningful difference in the world.

A few years earlier, Millicent Garrett Fawcett, then just 19 years old, was among the women who presented the very first petition to the UK Parliament calling for votes for women, 150 years ago.

That one didn’t get anywhere, but it was the first of more than 16,000 petitions presented to the House of Commons and House of Lords asking for votes for women between 1866 and 1918.

While women have made real progress over the past 150 years, we all know that there is so much more to be done. Like the founders of the GDST, I believe we are on the cusp of changing the course of history again, as the evidence for a gender-equal world becomes ever more compelling and women continue to shatter glass ceilings, defy convention and change the world for the better.

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One of the reasons I wanted to work with the GDST is that it’s a BELOW place where I feel I can Suffragette poster make a real difference.

An organisation whose mission it is to put girls at the heart of everything we do, at a time when it couldn’t be more important to build on the advances women are making in the world.

I am always telling my daughters they are lucky to have been born in what I call “The Century for Women”, where women have so many more choices and are making headway like never before.

At the GDST, we take female leadership seriously. We believe that ‘if you can see it, you can be it’, so we highlight the achievements of our alumnae – 70,000 of whom are part of our alumnae network – and connect them to the girls in our schools to help inspire, coach and mentor them as they consider their life and career journeys.

We know it’s not enough simply to encourage young women to take their place in the world, but to imbue them with the courage, confidence, composure and commitment – the four Cs of a GDST education – that give them the internal resources to make a meaningful difference.

I’m conscious that recent events have made women’s progress seem more fragile – reversible even. We have been A pupil at Sydenham High School

reminded that the price of liberty is eternal vigilance; that we cannot take the rights we have gained for granted; and that every generation has to defend and build on the progress made by those who came before them.

The campaigners for votes for women didn’t give up when their first petition didn’t succeed. They regrouped, readjusted and tried again and again until they achieved what they set out to do. In 1928, 62 years later, their persistence paid off and women achieved equal voting rights with men.

I was one of the millions of people worldwide who took part in the women’s marches in January. What struck me about my fellow marchers wasn’t their

“I believe we are on the cusp of changing the course of history again” anger (though there was some of that) but rather their quiet determination to make a difference, to persist until the changes they wanted to see were achieved.

That’s why I’m still optimistic for the future. I’m proud of our remarkable organisation’s long history and look forward to contributing to its shining future. And, as we prepare for that future, I’m proud that so many students, staff and alumnae are prepared to take a stand.

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LOOKING OUTSIDE THE BOX Dr Katy Ricks, Headmistress of Sevenoaks School, on the benefits of a truly international education

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rom what we can see of the political and educational map at the beginning of 2017, the word ‘international’ in International Baccalaureate (IB) matters more than it ever has before. Against the backdrop of an unpredictable political landscape, a worrying lessening of respect for expert opinion and increasing isolationism in a range of countries, what will ‘international’ mean for the young people we teach as they begin to live and work in an increasingly globalised and connected world?

In any period of political and economic uncertainty, the value of a broad education of mind and character rises, and the International Baccalaureate is a reliable education tool to instil characteristics of liberal mindedness, tolerance, empathy and global understanding.

Originating in Geneva, the IB was introduced in the late 1960s as an alternative approach to educating the

“Referendum results reflect the fact that the young wish for an international approach” growing numbers of internationally mobile students. In the Cold War climate, the new scheme boasted educational values that were not tied to any national government’s agenda and aimed to develop students to be “inquiring, knowledgeable and caring young people who help to create a better and more peaceful world through intercultural understanding and respect.”

There was a real sense that the younger generation could effect genuine and lasting change to society, and its aim is still essentially that.

For our students, living, socialising and being educated with students from over 45 nations is the norm. They see the benefits of a multicultural approach, and life here is richer because of the different experiences our students bring.

Today, the IB is taught in more than 140 countries – the majority of which are European, and there are 125 UK schools currently offering the programme. What the majority of IB-equipped schools appear to have in common is the philosophy that British education needs to become more “European” in its outlook in order for British teenagers to prosper in an increasingly global community.

A B OV E At Sevenoaks At Sevenoaks, we enjoy the freedom of Pupils at Sevenoaks School, we have studying language, culture and literature School working been teaching the IB from around the world, and have built the together for nearly 40 years, study of literature from other countries, in and have educated and out of translation, into the Sevenoaks students from international countries for School Certificates, our Year 11 public considerably longer – potentially since exams. Our economics and geography 1770 if the story of Huang Ya Dong, our courses similarly range across the whole first Chinese student, is to be believed. world and we discuss ethical and faith Our pupils leave knowing that they have issues freely and with a genuine sense of a responsibility to work towards a better inquiry and mutual respect. world. We celebrate the unity in diversity Referendum results reflect the fact that that our students and staff generate, and in the young wish for a more international a post-Brexit and a new Trump era, this is approach to education. We can hope that surely a mindset worthy of celebration. their voting was driven by the principle of As a school and student togetherness. body at Sevenoaks, we believe A glance at the headlines that most progress in society from around the world comes from collaboration. confirms the view that the Having the empathy and world is in need of ideas that compassion to appreciate will bring people, countries others’ ideas and viewpoints, and cultures together. The IB and being able to synthesise diploma programme stands one’s own ideas with those of for the very best possible others, throughout history, educational background for DR KATY RICKS Headmistress proved to be the best way to the young people most likely to Sevenoaks School effect change for the better. come up with these ideas.

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DOWN TIME With fees now unaffordable for many, some schools are thinking the unthinkable and reducing the cost for parents LISA FREEDMAN

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other hand, was evidently a deterrent. ‘Our product was just too expensive.’ Swallowing this unpalatable truth, last year, Westonbirt announced an entire restructuring of its fees, reducing sixth-form boarding costs by 30 per cent and day fees throughout by 25 per cent.

At the same time, they took a fresh look at fee assistance. ‘We’ve now moved away there are many parents who would like to from scholarships to bursaries,’ says Mrs send their children to independent schools, Dangerfield. ‘We didn’t feel it was right that but cannot afford it.’ parents negotiate their daughter as part Unsurprising perhaps, since fees at of the deal, so we’ve introduced a proper independent schools, which start at about bursary process for those who need it.’ £11,000 a year and rise to over £35,000 for Over the past thirty or so years, as boarding, are three times what they were leading schools that were formerly boys’in 1990. only have increasingly welcomed the ‘Twenty-five years ago a GP with two or opposite sex, all-girls’ school have struggled three children could have managed to pay to maintain their clientele. Indeed, many private fees,’ says Susan Hamlyn, Director have been forced to close, which is perhaps of The Good Schools Guide Education why those who’ve survived have been in the Consultancy. ‘There’s no way that’s the vanguard of fee progressives. case today. The cost has grown out of all Leweston School, another proportion to salaries.’ all-girls’ day- and boardingFortunately, there’s now A B OV E school in Dorset, has growing evidence, that schools Racing towards lower fees? also been a pioneer. are taking concrete measures Pupils at Leweston to address this.

LEFT Natasha Dangerfield, for The 'glorious neo-Gothic' Westonbirt example, head of Westonbirt BELOW School, an all-girls’ daySt Paul's High Master and boarding-school in Mark Bailey Gloucestershire, has always been clear-sighted that’s she operating in a competitive world.

‘When I arrived at the school four years ago, we realised we weren’t sitting in the right position in the market. We carried out a full research project, investigating other schools’ fees and asking parents why they weren’t choosing us.’

It became clear that the education they offered was not the issue - housed in a glorious neo-Gothic stately home in the Downton mode, Westonbirt is as renowned for its academic ‘added value’ as it is for its exemplary pastoral care - the cost, on the

“Westonbirt has reduced its day fees throughout the school by 25%”

I

f you’re sitting there with a calculator agonising whether, if you decide to pay school fees, you’ll ever go on holiday again, you’ll appreciate the fact that independent schools themselves are also carefully doing their own sums - and sometimes coming up with surprising answers.

A few months ago, Barnaby Lenon, formerly head of Harrow School and now chair of the Independent Schools Councils (ISC), advised his members (who make up about 65 per cent of fee-paying schools) that, if they felt their fees were stifling demand, the remedy lay in their own hands. ‘This is a very good time to cut costs,’ he told The Daily Telegraph. ‘We know

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SENIOR / FEES

“Fees at independent schools are three times what they were in 1990”

Committed to offering a high-quality and affordable education, it has recently taken decisive financial action, streamlining its operations to enable it to become more affordable. Starting in 2015, it was able to introduce lower fees in its junior school, and, from September 2017, will follow suit for older pupils.

‘So many parents have to make a choice making boarding arrangements as flexible about when, if at all, to invest in their as possible. child’s education,’ says head Kate Reynolds, Elsewhere, ideas to ease the parental who, as the mother of four children, fully burden are under constant review. A third appreciates their dilemmas. ‘I’m delighted of pupils at Independent Schools Council that this new structure will mean the schools already benefit from some form exceptional education we offer is accessible of fee reduction, and, in December 2016, to more local families.’ the ISC proposed that the schools they And not only to locals, Leweston will represent could provide 10,000 meansalso be providing a 10-20 per tested places if the government were cent discount for those in the willing to contribute an annual military (helping ease any A B OV E subsidy of £5,500 for each pupil, shortfall in the Continuity of St Paul's boys in an idea similar to the assistedEducation Allowance), and the science lab places scheme begun under LEFT Westonbirt Headmistress Margaret Thatcher in 1980 and Natasha Dangerfield shreds abolished by Tony Blair in 1997. the old fee structure Some notable innovators, of course, are already steaming ahead without government support.

St Paul’s School in west London, for instance, one of the country’s highest flying academic schools (with 56 to Oxbridge last year) has had a ‘needs-blind’ approach to attracting the brightest and the best for over a decade.

‘Dr Martin Stephen, who became head in 2004, suggested at his first staff meeting, we become more like American universities,’ says Dr Andy Mayfield, Director of Admissions. ‘He argued that coming here

should not be about money, it should only be about ability.’

Dr Stephen left the school in 2011, but his legacy remains firmly in place. Today, as it declares on its website, St Paul’s is committed to providing ‘an exceptional education to any boy who fulfils the entrance criteria’. This means, in practice, offering unusually generous bursaries, providing some form of fee subsidy to boys where the family income is as much as £120,000 a year, and (where total parental income is less than £60,000 and families live in a reasonably modest house) there is the potential to cover the entire cost.

St Paul’s, of course, has amongst the highest fees of any day school in London £7,827 a term in 2016-17 - but streamlining running costs has never been an option.

‘Boys here devour everything you put in front of them,’ says Dr Mayfield. ‘We need the type of teacher able to stretch them and we’re in direct competition with others recruiting top graduates.’

To ensure the school doesn’t ever need to compromise on pupil talent to pay the high teaching costs, it’s currently canvassing donations from parents and old boys to build up a large endowment that will feed its bursary fund.

‘We want to make sure that everyone who should come can come,’ says Dr Mayfield.

An ambition, cost-conscious parents will undoubtedly welcome.

LI SA F R E E D M A N runs the education consultancy At The School Gates, www.attheschoolgates.co.uk SPRING • SUMMER 2017 | A B S O LU T E LY E D U C AT I O N | 67

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Talking

HEAD

MODERN FAMILY

Peter Roberts, Headmaster of the King’s School, Canterbury, on what makes a good school

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he most significant and long overdue change over the course of my career has been the toppling of the traditional divide between the selfcontained institutional views that schools have tended to hold and the opinions and judgements of parents about their children’s experiences within those hallowed walls.

That in a modern and dynamic twentyfirst century school there should be broad, if not identical, agreement between the teaching staff and the parents about the ethos and aims of the education on offer amounts to a revolution of stance and perception. It is a revolution that is even more refreshing in the way the very best schools’ leadership teams take the views and interests of the pupils seriously.

RIGHT Peter Roberts with For a fullsome prefects boarding school like BELOW King’s Canterbury, The school's historic it stands to reason buildings

“A good school can become a truly nurturing environment”

of teacher-pupil interaction and the friendliness of pupils both to each other and towards visitors. Parents should gauge whether different pupils feel a sense of belonging in an equal way. Do they identify with the school’s values, seeing them as helpful and relevant to their lives and their own ideals? Would the school be brave enough to enable its pupils to develop qualities such as inventiveness, creativity and open-mindedness? Does the school say ‘yes’ to pupil initiatives without falling into the trap of a child-centred pursuit of education? Good senior schools develop young adults into taking responsibility within a carefully laid down framework.

SCHOOL SHOULD BE FUN This main thread encourages young people to see school as fun as well as useful. While many parents readily acknowledge that such principles lead to a well-balanced and healthy upbringing, perhaps not enough see the link with plenty of school time dedicated to co-curricular pursuits, both those which that the strong sense of community will lend champion development of character (the itself to this seemingly modern approach.

CCF, the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award Equally, as the oldest school in the country Scheme spring to mind), and the range of and part of the Foundation of Canterbury activities which are linked to later life skills Cathedral, it has – like many of the nation’s (such as sports, music and drama). most famous institutions – learned to adapt Lively and interesting adults who and change, growing stronger over the ages. passionately believe in this wider view A good school is much more than an of a good school are likely to be inspiring educational opportunity; it can become a presences in the classroom. There is ample truly nurturing environment, for many akin space within a good school for scholarly to a second home. It encourages and gives teaching in parallel with all pupils believing support as well as celebrating in the pursuit of academic success. It is then most likely excellence, but surely it is the to replicate what a good family overall cultivation of mind, is able to achieve. body and spirit that counts for most? Particularly so, since SCHOOL ATMOSPHERE the discipline of managing One of the characteristics those other pursuits alongside that parents should look out academic studies brings for on an Open Day is the the ability to cope with the PETER ROBERTS atmosphere in the school. pressures that university Headmaster Particular reference should and a career will ultimately The King’s School, Canterbury be given to the positivity impose.

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Westonbirt gave me the opportunities to be Head Girl and to play lacrosse for England.

I was successful in gaining a place to read Medicine at Bristol University Emily

From Sept’17: Day Fee £4,995/term; Boarding Fee £9,750/term.

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GO SLOW The Deputy Head (Academic) of Bryanston argues that in an accelerating world, schools must maintain a balanced environment for pupils D AV I D J A M E S

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ife is speeding up. Such a statement, one would think, would not stand up to much analysis: surely every generation has felt that they are doing more, and in a shorter time, than the previous generation; and no doubt we also feel that the pressures we have to cope with in this new, hyperfast, interconnected world, are fresh to us, and uniquely stressful. But in his recent book, The Great Acceleration, Robert Colville argues that this perception is in fact a reality. He writes about how research clearly shows that those who live in larger cities are doing more, and doing it more quickly, than those who live in smaller

communities. For residents of cities as diverse as Beijing, Mumbai, New York and London life really is getting faster. Not only that, but it is probably moving at the same tempo as well.

Don’t believe it? Well, try an experiment that begins Colville’s book: the next time you walk down a busy street look at people’s feet. You’ll soon notice that everyone is walking in perfect ‘lockstep’. Try as we might to assert our own individual stride we will inevitably revert to following the same walking pattern and pace of those around us. And if those around us are moving quickly so will we. This process of imitating the natural rhythm of others is called ‘entrainment’. It all adds to the great acceleration.

And with that acceleration comes a dwindling of patience: we demand webpages to load four times faster than they did in 1999; we expect same day deliveries of goods that used to take days (or weeks); we are delighted when we read that drones might start bringing us our latest purchase within an hour. As soon as we know such things are possible we want it. Speed defines our age like conflict defined the previous century, and industrialisation defined the nineteenth. We want it all, and we want it now. And it seems that in the future we will want it even faster than that.

For parents, of course, time takes on a peculiar new velocity. If the social and professional worlds around us move in a blur, how much faster it goes when we have

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children. As a father of three (20, 18 and 13) I find myself asking every day: where did the time go? What did that baby you once held in your arms turn into? Can he really be that hulking boy who plays rugby for the school?

Who is that fearless teenage girl who flies into hockey tackles as if sense, limbs and teeth were optional extras in life? Was she once my daughter who imagined there were fairies at the bottom of the garden? Where are those children now? I miss them.

School accentuates this sense of time passing. Indeed, time dominates the lives of teachers, pupils and parents: the academic year runs to its own idiosyncratic calendar, shaped by the broad sweep of terms and years, as well as the minutiae of fixtures and concerts, holidays and trips, lessons and examinations, as well as breaks and lunchtimes. And what good independent schools are trying to do is to ensure that each child is allowed to flourish within these time constraints, and to grow up as individuals. Independent schools try to foster independence of mind. But such schools are also aware of the need for pupils to conform, to follow the rules, to develop within certain parameters. Ideally, children should grow up in a school knowing that there is a strong safety net beneath them to catch them if and when they fall. We are, in our own way, trying to get a complex BELOW

A housemaster with junior boys

community of children and teenagers to follow the same patterns: or, to put it another way, to work in lockstep, and in a closely related movement of entrainment.

The best independent schools do this by creating clear identities which pupils respond positively and strongly to: they are proud of the house they are in, and the school that they attend. Following the rules is simply adhering to expectations of common sense and common decency. The best schools have very few disciplinary problems because pupils like being in them, enjoy learning, and see no need to break rules.

But if the world is speeding up then so are schools, and new technology is adding to this process. I have worked in boarding schools for 20 years. I started out as a resident tutor in a junior boarding house comprising of 65 children aged between 11 and 13. The biggest difference between now and then is the impact that technology has had on almost every aspect of a school’s everyday life. Our pupils socialise differently (sometime choosing online friendships over face-to-face contact), they learn differently (sometimes eschewing the library for websites), and they relax differently (gaming with ‘friends’ around the world, rather than kicking a ball on the back field). But another key area of change

“We demand web pages to load four times faster than they did in 1999” has been between how parents and their children interact during term time: many are in almost constant contact, either through email, text, FaceTime, social media or phone calls. Now this brings new challenges to schools: at its most extreme, the boundaries between home and school dissolve too quickly, and can be undermining of the school’s authority. For example, I once gave an essay back to a pupil with a low grade on it, and before the lesson had finished I’d received an email from the parent asking to speak to me immediately to discuss this serious issue.

The pupil was in Year 9.

But there are many positives to this new form of school and home entrainment: by working in close conjunction with each other schools and parents teachers are better informed about the issues that affect the young people they are responsible for. As an inspector of independent

A B OV E

schools I am constantly impressed by the depth of knowledge LEFT and understanding Relaxing in the school grounds staff have of the wellbeing of their pupils, and this is made more balanced with a healthy, mutually respectful relationship between parents and teachers. Speed, and the fast interchange of information, really does help here.

The best teachers model behaviour that they want their pupils to aspire to and, collectively, schools do the same. One of the many strengths of independent schools is that they constantly push their pupils into areas of what Robert Bjork calls ‘desirable difficulties’: this can be playing for the third XI, as much as it might be doing a practical in Chemistry, or singing a solo in the school choir. Most of the activities that school are involved in happen in real time, away from a screen. And although technology is speeding things up, and adding to the complexity of school life, the best schools will always keep it in perspective (as long as the adults do as well). Independent schools should be trusted to do what they have done so well for so long: namely, educating young people to become happy and healthy adults. They will remain essentially social places, where there is laughter, tears, mud, mess and mistakes, as well as joy, inspiration and aspiration. That is their strength. And in the very best schools there will be time to slow down, and reflect, and be offline, and to nurture the qualities that make us who we are, free from the lockstep of collective endeavour, alone for enough time to form one’s own dreams.

A young cellist at Bryanston

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Talking

HEAD

GREY MATTERS Julia Harrington, Headmistress of Queen Anne's School, on the role of neuroscience in understanding teenage behaviour

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e tell our pupils to ‘use their brains’ but how can they if they have no idea how their brains work?

Four years ago, I introduced an educational neuroscience programme into Queen Anne’s School called BrainCanDo. It’s based on the principle that understanding the function and development of the brain, neuroplasticity and mindset is of the utmost importance in education. I feel strongly that part of education is to explain to students what is going on in their heads.

So much teenage behaviour is put down to hormones. In fact it’s the result of the interaction of those hormones with the developing brain. I wanted pupils to understand that, and by doing so, learn how to regulate their moods and improve their memories. I also wanted teachers to become excited about how much more they could achieve in the classroom if they tapped into the latest developments in neuroscience.

“Neuroplasticity and mindset is of the utmost importance in education” Working with leading universities (Oxford, Goldsmith’s and Reading) in the fields of science, education and psychology, we conduct research to help us deliver improved methods of learning. Our teachers have responded with enthusiasm and the findings, turned into a classroom and sports field toolkit, have already reaped results in terms of the girls’ understanding of how their brains work, why they behave the way they do, and how they can use that knowledge to boost their learning, manage stress (especially in preparing for exams),

A B OV E

– and these findings should be enormously helpful to our teachers.

Exam stress has become an issue of frantic parental concern.

But teenagers need a certain amount of stress to function at the high end of their ability. Too much, though, turns into anxiety, floods the brain and makes them feel hopeless. Understanding what is going on in the brain at times like this allows teenagers to manage what is happening, realise they are not alone and find ways of dealing with the symptoms.

So we run workshops to help the girls harness stress effectively and manage it positively.

After the last round of A-Levels, one pupil told me that she felt she had been able to ‘handle the pressure better’, based on knowing what was happening in her head. Another said that after attending the workshops she was better able to manage her time in preparing for exams and had learned ‘to get on with it’ rather than fretting. They agreed that they understood that ‘stress’ was part of life, needed to be managed and was not to be feared.

Today’s teenagers like knowing why they behave the way they do and harnessing that knowledge not only to boost their learning but to improve their understanding of their own and their classmates’ moods. I’m convinced that knowing about the brain and how it learns – and develops – is a crucial part of today’s education.

stay healthy – and win at netball.

Successful learning is about much more than ‘concentrating’ or ‘trying harder’. If we understand how we get thought processes wrong then we can do more about putting them right.

One of our recent projects was looking at the effect of music on academic and sporting performance. In partnership with Goldsmith’s, we carried out research into how music can be used as a tool to make you a smart learner, regulate your emotions, revise effectively, play competitively – and also unwind after exams.

We are also conducting some research with Reading University into emotional contagion – how attitudes to learning and behaviour in the classroom can become contagious.

The dynamics of influence in children’s peer groups is fascinating – it’s not necessarily the ‘strong JULIA HARRINGTON character’ in the classroom, Headmistress for example, who causes Queen Anne's School disruption or demotivation A Queen Anne pupil in a science lesson

Julia Harrington is headmistress of Queen Anne’s School, an independent day and boarding school for girls aged 11 to 18, in Caversham, near Reading.

Part of The Grey Coat Hospital Foundation, it is one of five schools in the Westminster Greycoat Foundation.

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Market FORCES London's top day schools have been experiencing unprecedented demand but this could change with three new openings in September A M A N D A C O N S TA N C E

W

ho knew London’s senior schools were like buses? You wait years for a new one and then three come trundling along at the same time.

This September three new senior London day schools will be opening their doors to pupils. Notting Hill Prep is opening a new senior school in west London. Details are yet to be confirmed but it’s thought the school’s location will be in the Park Royal/ North Ealing area. The location of Fulham Prep School’s new senior school is currently a closely-guarded secret but it is likely to be in south-west London. And Eaton Square School is opening a senior school in the very grand 106 Piccadilly, a Grade I-listed building in Mayfair.

The main driver for these openings is that London’s existing senior schools are hugely oversubscribed – 1,300 children, for example, sat the 11+ for Laytmer Upper in January 2016.

“London is chocka”, says Sebastian Hepher, the current headmaster of Eaton Square School, who will be taking on the role of overseeing head of all the Eaton Square schools come September.

“I’ve been head for 24 years in London,”

says Hepher, “and moving on from prep is much harder now – particularly for boys.”

There are far more prep schools, he explains, but not the corresponding number of places at senior schools. Anyone with a son of 11+ age in London will be aware that places for boys are very limited (partly because boys were traditionally sent away to public school), hence the hideous bottle neck at 11+.

“We’ve wanted to open a new school for the past five years,” says Hepher “the trickiest part was finding the right site.”

106 Piccadilly certainly has the wow factor – Aatif Hassan, the boss of Minerva Education, the schools group behind Eaton Square Schools, admits he fought very hard for it. It’s a very impressive building, bang opposite Green Park and its W1 address will no doubt appeal to the international crowd.

The other reason for opening Eaton Square Upper was to get away from the “endless assessments” that children are now subjected to, says Hepher. The senior school will create an all-through school.

“You will be able to join us at three and half,” says Hepher, “and stay until university if you want to.”

The school will be non-selective. All pupils, both internal and external will sit the ISEB pre-test when joining Eaton Square Upper, but only for setting purposes. And pupils arriving from other London preps will be interviewed.

The bid to create an all-through school is also behind the new Fulham Senior School.

Like Eaton Square, Fulham has a pre-prep and prep, and pupils enrolled at Fulham Prep School will automatically receive a place at the senior school.

“It makes complete sense,” says Neil Brooks who will be head of the pre-prep, prep and senior schools. “Not least because it meets demand but also from all education points of view – the children won’t have to

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SENIOR / FE ATUR E

A B OV E

Pupils at Fulham Prep School LEFT

“London is chocka and moving on from prep is much harder now” do the 11+. They can stay with us so it will alleviate anxiety.” Existing pupils will do the 13+ for setting purposes, and the school will maintain the 11 and 13+ for children from external schools.

Brooks was appointed head of FPS in September 2016, taking over from Jane Emmett who founded the school in the midNineties. She has always wanted to create a senior school, but it was the acquisition of FPS by Inspired, an international education group that started in South Africa, that seems to have energized the move.

Brooks says Inspired’s forward-thinking

An art class at Eaton Square Upper

ethos of educating the whole RIGHT An Eaton Square pupil child was also behind the move to create a senior school “Fulham Prep School’s decision to open a new school is more than just a response to the growing demand for more senior school places in the independent sector in London, but a natural extension of our ethos to provide pupils with a broad spectrum education that will prepare them and instill them with confidence to go onto positions of influence, authority and leadership in adult life," says Brooks.

It remains to be seen if these new schools will take the heat out of the senior schools market. There are plenty of new preps opening in September, too, including a pre-prep for boys at Faulkner House, a new Wetherby Kensington and Eaton House Boy Prep opening in south Kensington. It is perfectly possible that demand will continue to outstrip supply for some years yet.

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Talking

SENIOR / OPINION

HEAD

FRESH AIR Andrew Johnson, the new head of St Benedict’s School, on the contrast between town and country schools

A

fter 10 years as headmaster of a rural, northern boarding school, I am now at the helm of a London day school.

The two schools could hardly be more different: one set in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and housed in heritage buildings; the other in John Betjeman’s ‘Queen of the Suburbs’, with its Edwardian dignity, fine Benedictine Abbey, and impending Crossrail connection.

An obvious advantage for any London day school is that museums, galleries and many other wonderful resources are on our doorstep, bringing learning to life.

Inspirational visiting speakers are easy to attract to St Benedict’s, since many live in the capital. (Six authors recently attended our book week.) If there’s an open lecture at the London School of Economics, or the British Library is running research workshops, we can easily attend. Alumni regularly drop in too, to talk about their career paths and to offer work experience

“Day schools certainly move at a pace. Carpe diem is in their DNA” placements. City day schools benefit from a high degree of connectivity. What we may lack in rolling acres of green space, we make up for in stimulating events and exciting, interesting opportunities.

Day schools certainly move at a pace, and Carpe diem is in their DNA. An excellent production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, for example, came together in just six weeks. The days are brisk, focused and full, beginning for some at 7:45am, and ending at any time between 4pm and 7pm.

All the elements for personal development – sport, drama, music, CCF, the Duke of

A B OV E Edinburgh awards, debating – are Boarding schools do this too, of Pupils at St just as strong in a day school; the course, but it’s more of a logistical Benedict’s in difference is that they have to be challenge from a rural location.

Ealing condensed into the working week.

London day schools reflect Where time-rich boarding schools the hugely rich and diverse sometimes try to fill the hours, day schools demographic of the city, rather than being puzzle over how to fit everything in. hermetically sealed, rarefied or remote. It’s Boarding school life can be a bit like interesting that both my former boarding life on an oil rig: intensely communal, and school and St Benedict’s each have pupils totally immersed in the term’s activity. who are of 33 different nationalities. The While rural boarding schools are relatively difference is that, at St Benedict’s, they don’t undistracted by ‘civilian’ life, pupils and fly in for the term; they live here, and belong teachers of a London day school are only too to the same society. London’s cosmopolitan well acquainted with it. That means we have and multi-cultural environment is a positive a particular responsibility to teach pupils feature of our thriving school's life. to engage safely with the real world, giving Some children thrive on the immersive straightforward information and advice education offered by boarding schools. about the negative influences Others need to return to they may encounter. Being their home at the end of a armed with this awareness busy day in order to reflect will serve them well – now, at on the day’s experiences, and university, and beyond. to have the space and calm Day schools can also enjoy to be themselves. It’s horses strong connections with their for courses, and everything local communities, through depends on the child. I feel voluntary service, for example, fortunate to have had the ANDREW JOHNSON in residential homes and opportunity to lead such Headmaster primary schools, or supporting contrasting, but equally St Benedict’s School local charities. excellent schools.

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02/03/2017 11:21

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09/02/2017 11:25

SENIOR / GCSES

Making the Grade Some GCSEs will receive numerical marks this summer. But some will still be letters. Confused?

Absolutely Education makes sense of the changes A M A N D A C O N S TA N C E

W

“Grade 9 is being referred by some as an A**- it will be awarded to only 3% of pupils”

IMAGE IVAN QUETGLAS

hen this year’s GCSE students receive their results this summer some will be the ‘old-style’ grades of ABC and some will be numerically graded 1-9. Pupils sitting exams in English Literature, English Language and Maths will receive a grade between 1 and 9 with 9 being the highest grade awarded. These are the first GCSEs of a new system that is replacing the current system of A*-G, with 9 as the highest achievable grade and 1 as the lowest (although there will also be a grade U for those who fail to achieve the minimum requirements for grade 1).

These three ‘new’ GCSEs have been taught since September 2015 as linear courses taken over two full years, rather than by modular assessment and finishing with written exams. Others have since been launched; by summer 2019, all GCSEs that are sat will be the new GCSEs graded by the numerical system.

In this new system, Grade 5 will be considered a ‘good pass’, with performance tables focusing on students achieving grades 9-5. The old system takes a grade C as a benchmark for a ‘good pass’, but the new grade 5 will be equivalent to a low

A B OV E

A pupil at Oundle

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SENIOR / GCSES

“Parents are concerned that the new tougher GCSEs could devalue the old ones” B or high C - thus a ‘good pass’ mark will become harder to achieve than previously.

The current top two grades (A* and A) will be replaced with three top grades (7,8 and 9). Grade 9 is being referred to by some as an A**, as it will only be awarded to approximately the top 3% nationally.

This, the Government says, will bring the UK in line with some of the top performing education systems around the world.

The changes aim to restore lost faith in GCSEs. Results have risen year on year which, according to a Dof E source, has masked “the fact that standards were stagnating”. A* and A grades have become a devalued currency awarded to students, which in turn has devalued the B grade. The reforms are also an attempt to do away with ‘resit culture’ which often saw pupils sitting units repeatedly until they had achieved the desired grade.

Barnaby Lenon, Chairman of the Independent Schools Council and a board member of exam regulator Ofqual says the experiments with continous teacher assessment in the past few years “as been disastrous”. “Many teachers hate it because they come under huge pressure to get good marks for all pupils (where do you think grade inflation came from?) and because these ‘controlled assessments’ have been found to be intensely dull.”

Those in favour of the changes see them as returning some rigour and discipline

to the exam system. In this year’s Maths GCSE, for example, pupils will be expected to learn key formulae by heart and there will be greater emphasis on non-calculator work. Whereas previously, as little as 25 per cent of exams were ‘non calculator’, new GCSEs will need to include between 30-50 per cent non-calculator work. In the English language GCSEs students will be required to read a greater range of challenging literature and non-fiction texts and there will be greater emphasis on the correct use of spelling, punctuation and grammar. In English literature, which will no longer be compulsory, pupils will have to assess a 19th century novel, a Shakespeare play, a selection of poetry since 1789 and a British fiction or drama from 1914 onwards. There will also be emphasis on ‘unseen texts’ in the exam.

Some parents have voiced concerns that these ‘tougher’ GCSES will devalue those that have gone before them. Will those awarded GCSEs in 2016 or 2015 be viewed less favourably in the job market for example? And some parents have questioned the bias that final year exams have towards boys. Girls naturally perform better with continuous assessment.

And some think it’s putting too much pressure on young shoulders. Two petitions against the reformed GCSEs had garnered 130,000 signatures by mid-February. The petitions said that GCSE students should not be expected to memorise formulas and quotes during their exams this year with one demanding pupils should be allowed to use a formula sheet A B OV E for their Maths The Ofqual chart of GCSE. And the GCSE changes other petitioned BELOW against closed Students: facing book exams for the confusion?

GRADING NEW GCSES FROM 2017 NEW GRADING STRUCTURE

CURRENT GRADING STRUCTURE

9

A*

8

A

7 6 5 4 3 2 1 U

GOOD PASS (DfE)

5 & above = top of C and above

B

AWARDING

C

4 & above = bottom of C & above

D E F G U

English GCSE stating: “Exams shouldn’t be a test on the student’s memory, but how we interpret texts.”

And there is concern about that running old and new grades alongside each other will cause confusion.

Nigel Lashbrook, Headmaster of Oakham School, says: “The introduction of a new grading system (1 - 9 ) for the new GCSEs which runs alongside the old grading (A* G) for the legacy GCSEs is frustrating for everyone, regardless of whether you teach in a maintained or independent school.

Two grading systems which do not directly correlate (a grade 9 is above not equivalent to an A* grade, for example) makes it very difficult for those outside education to make sense of what they really mean, employers, for example. At Oakham we have communicated very carefully with all of our parents with regards to the two systems but there will inevitably be some confusion until the assessment at 16+ evolves into one grading system - but that will not happen for some time.”

But Barnaby Lenon dismisses these concerns. “”There should be no confusion.

A grade 4 is the same as an old grade C. A grade 7 is the same as an old grade A. For more information, the Ofqual chart (pictured, above) is a useful guide which details how the grades read across.” Lenon insists the changes are “a very good thing”, particularly because “there is now greater differentiation at the top end of the ability range. This is important because too many pupils have been getting A and A * grades which has meant that the more selective universities have been unable to select on the basis of GCSE grades.”

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28/02/2017 12:55

SENIOR / OPINION

ART OF THE MATTER The Head of History of Art at Latymer Upper on the survival of her subject and making it available to all RUTH BELL

L

ast year saw indignation rise from Art History students and teachers on hearing the news that AQA, the only exam board offering History of Art A-Level, had axed the subject.

A lot of guff was published in the press.

Headlines claiming it was a total farewell to Art History for the 16-18 age group were plain wrong. Cambridge International Examination board (CIE) still offers an Art History course to Sixth Formers as a Pre-U. The irony, however is that due to the comparatively high exam entry fee, the Pre-U is favoured by independent schools, so was, perhaps, the more ‘select’ option.

Initially, speculation about why Art History was dropped centred on Michael Gove’s legacy. Studying a great book was deemed ‘enabling,’ while analysing a great painting wasn’t. Art history wasn’t rigorous.

It was soft. Simon Schama tweeted ‘Art History A-Level axed as ‘soft.’ SOFT? Tell that to Kant, Hegel, Burckhardt, Panofsky, Schapiro and the rest.’

“The House of Lords debated the AQA axing for more than 45 minutes” Despite only attracting 839 A-level students in 2016, news of Art History’s demise galvanised many to action.

Students at Latymer Upper School, were quick to sign the #SaveArtHistory petition which totalled 8,063 signatures. 220 experts from esteemed institutions including the University of Oxford, Sotheby’s and the Courtauld Institute of Art presented an open letter of protest to AQA. The issue was debated in the House of Lords for over 45 minutes. Highlights of the debate included reference to Sophocles,

A B OV E

‘Whoever neglects the arts when he is young has lost the past and is dead to the future.’

The Lords diagnosed that Art History A-Level’s departure, along with other under-valued subjects like Archaeology, was due to a ‘false hierarchy of subjects.’

Art History’s ability to explore important issues never ceases to amaze me. Take just one example; the Pre-U set-work The Holy Virgin Mary (1996) by Chris Ofili. This work with its black Mary unfailingly stimulates impassioned debate about racial identity and integration in the UK. Discussions include the fine balance between needing to respect religion and freedom of the expression, and often touch on the distinctions between street culture and fine art when analysing the work.

AQA claimed the decision to drop Art History A-Level ‘was not about money or whether History of Art deserves a place in the curriculum’ but the ‘complex and specialist nature of the exams creates too many risks.’ The exam board was correct to be concerned about students’ entitlement to fair results. No one can deny that it is a complex process to assess student essays fairly. We do the Pre-U Art History at Latymer pupils studying the Death of Socrates

Latymer Upper School because the marking is always trustworthy. Any future A-Level board could take some useful lessons from CIE. Assessment of students’ work is done residentially by a team of markers experienced in teaching the subject. If a surprising answer comes up, it is assessed by group consensus.

So why does Art History matter? Student's answers included visual literacy, enriching links with other subjects; cultivating awareness of different cultures and creating transferable skills of communication and analysis. Former Art History students expressed concern that future students would be deprived of similar learning opportunities. Surely that’s the point of a well-rounded education: to create a memorable experience, to spark a passion you hope grows beyond school life.

The good news is that Pearson will be offering Art History A-Level from September 2017. If I could make a resolution for Art History A-|Level for 2017 it would be to remove the financial barrier to the subject. History of Art has so much to offer intellectually and culturally and yet only eight state schools are able to teach it at the moment. We offer a full Art History bursary at Latymer Upper School which is a small step in the right direction.

RUTH BELL Head of History of Art Latymer Upper School SPRING • SUMMER 2017 | A B S O LU T E LY E D U C AT I O N | 83

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SENIOR / OPINION

LIVING HISTORY The Head of Classics at Dauntsey’s, Wiltshire, on why her subject remains ‘supremely relevant’ today AY E S H A W E B B

C

lassics is the name given to the study of ancient Greece and Rome. In schools, this encompasses three subjects: Latin, Greek and Classical Civilisation.

Classics, once the bedrock of English education, is now increasingly threatened: when the examination board AQA decided to withdraw Classical Civilisation from its portfolio, OCR became the only board to offer GCSE and A-Level examinations in Latin, Greek and Classical Civilisation.

Whilst Latin and Greek rightly have a reputation for being intellectually rigorous, Classical Civilisation suffers from being perceived as a ‘soft’ subject. I would argue that it is stimulating, challenging and of supreme relevance. Exploring ancient Roman and Greek civilisations involves the close examination of literature, history, art, religion, architecture and philosophy; all of which are highly pertinent to the world in which we live.

Let me give you an example. In Homer’s

“In Homer's Iliad the characters talks about losing their home and being a refugee” ‘Iliad’, a poem about the Trojan War composed in the 8th century BC, many characters talk about losing their home, being a refugee and their reception by others. What, therefore, does this mean for how we address the migration crisis that we currently face? Will we emulate the sympathetic Peleus or the disdainful Agamemnon? In developing a close understanding of our ancient forebears, we can develop a different – and more enlightened – perspective on the complex economic and political debates of today.

Parents often ask me about the merits of

studying Latin and Greek when sparked an enthusiasm for A B OV E modern foreign languages offer archaeology which, in turn, has Pupils at Dauntsey's a more obvious practical benefit. led to an interest in surveying I am certain that the benefits which is likely to be her ultimate of studying ancient languages university course. Options are equal: the linguistic roots explored by other classicists enable students to understand English include becoming an author (JK Rowling), and a host of other European languages; a politician (Boris Johnson) and a musician the grammar and linguistic concepts (Chris Martin). I hope parents can feel encourage a precision of understanding reassured! which improves one’s approach to any 2016 was a year of tumultuous change intellectual endeavour; and the opportunity across the globe and 2017 is set to present to appreciate original literature. yet more challenges. Our leaders could do a Learning Latin and Greek demands worse than look to the ancient civilisations rigorous and disciplined study, which is at to see what lessons they might learn. odds with our modern culture of instant Consider Santayana’s quotation “those who information. It is for this very reason that cannot remember the past are condemned they provide an excellent foundation for to repeat it”; how can we make progress intellectual training and develop flexible without studying earlier culture? thinking. A current Upper Sixth pupil of mine recently commented: “Studying Virgil’s epic poem ‘The Aeneid’ has given me insights not only into the themes within the poem but also into the history of ancient Rome. The mix of fact and mythology is complex to unravel – it’s challenging but very rewarding.”

A-Level students may go on to study the AY E S H A W E B B subjects at University or it can provide a route into a range of other courses.

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SENIOR / R EV ISION

READINESS IS ALL Easter revision courses can deliver excellent results – as long as you choose the right one JAMES BARTON

R

evision is a bit of a misleading word. In the modern A-Level landscape, ‘revision’ is best applied as a continuous practice throughout a course and not, as most students believe, in the last few weeks leading up to examinations. If this best practice is missing, however, then what are your options to improve? Enter the Easter Revision Courses. An overcrowded market place in which students and their parents are spoilt for choice on providers.

When determining the value of a course, parents and students are advised to ascertain its benefit to each individual.

There can be an unfounded stigma attached to Easter revision courses (a feeling that asking for help somehow highlights a failing in preparation). The reality is quite different and the movement of the past five years or more has shown the demographic to be at the high end of the grade bracket.

A B OV E

Every student learns in a different way and therefore LEFT Hard at work it is impossible for an Easter revision course to be all things to all people. There are those who work more effectively in a group-based environment and others who find that distracting. There are those who would find the practice-based element most crucial to their understanding of the subject and there are those who need more tuition. Easter revision should certainly never be used as a replacement for teaching. For those Students outside MPW

“Enough emphasis cannot be placed on the importance of board-specific courses” requirements it would probably be more prudent to consider private tuition.

So, how to choose? Although it sounds obvious, the first thing is to find a course that meets your requirements. The differences between examination questions can often vary starkly from board to board.

At A-Level particularly, enough emphasis cannot be placed on the importance of board-specific courses. Tutors should be able to identify any gaps and areas of perceived weakness. The course should offer a balance between theory and practice while not claiming to re-teach the entire syllabus in one week. Perhaps the biggest indictment of the examination system is that it does not always allow the most

naturally gifted or intelligent to flourish but rather it rewards those who also know how to pass the examinations. That is really what a revision course should focus on: how to apply information to the exam itself.

So when should you do an Easter revision course? When you need an extra level of focus and reassurance before those all-important examinations. After all, confidence, as well as content, is king.

JA M E S BA R TO N Director of Recruitment, MPW London mpw.ac.uk SPRING • SUMMER 2017 | A B S O LU T E LY E D U C AT I O N | 87

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02/03/2017 11:41

GO WEST? Before deciding to study in America, make sure you have the answers to these fundamental questions D R J O N TA B B E R T

A

s an independent educational consultant, I have spent the last 22 years speaking at schools and conferences on the subject of American universities. In the post-presentation Q&A sessions, the same five questions always come up: IS AMERICA THE RIGHT PLACE FOR ALL STUDENTS? No, it most assuredly isn’t. Specifically, there are two groups of students who are not good fits for the States. Anyone considering professional studies such as Medicine, Law, Dentistry or Veterinary Science is advised to stay in the UK. This is because in the US these courses are taught only at the postgraduate level. Thus, if a student’s goal is to be an American-trained lawyer, he or she will need to acquire a three to four year undergraduate degree first, before moving to law school for a further three years. After seven years of study, nonAmerican citizens are expected to return to their home countries. It is therefore much easier and much quicker to study one of these subjects here in Britain. There is a second group of students, however, that also may not be a good match for the US. These are students who only want

to study one subject from the first day of university to the final day. If a student only wants to study, say, Chemistry, then the American liberal arts approach will be frustrating. Even Chemistry Majors will be required to undertake some course work in the humanities, fine arts and social science fields. This approach is by design; it obliges students to continue to engage with academic areas that US universities believe benefit them for ‘living a rich life’. If a student, therefore, does not buy into the idea of breadth, then the US is the wrong place to study. The converse advantage of this approach is that is really suits students who aren’t ready to narrow down to one subject as is required of them in the UK system, for example.

WHERE DOES ONE START THE OVERALL PROCESS? With over 4,500 colleges and universities to choose from, knowing how and where to begin the process is important. Given this huge number, I recommend that students start the process with themselves. After a number of years in school, there must be things that they love about education; there may be things they loathe. Thus, give consideration to personal preferences, such as location in the US, physical setting (a rural environment, suburban, urban), whether there is a campus or non-campus, co-educational vs single-sex, the size of the student body, cost and so forth.

“If you want to study Medicine or be a Vet, then the US is not for you” HOW DO US UNIVERSITIES EVALUATE APPLICANTS? Though it can differ, most US universities are interested in obtaining as broad a picture of an applicant as possible. In taking this holistic approach, universities will evaluate: school exam results and exam predictions (GCSEs, A Levels, Pre-U, the IB, GPA etc.) pre-entry tests (the SAT or ACT), teacher reference letters, extracurricular activities and application essays.

A university’s goal in doing so is to see if the applicant is an appropriate match for their institution.

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SCHOOL LE AV ER / US UNI V ERSIT Y

working their way up to Number One. In doing so the student The Baker Clock will come across a great many Tower Building at universities – all in the Top Dartmouth College 40 of National Universities – BELOW which they may never have Street signs on the heard of; institutions such as Harvard campus Brandeis, Wake Forest, Case Western Reserve, Carnegie Mellon, Tufts, Notre Dame, Washington University in St Louis, Rice, or Liberal Arts Colleges such as Carleton, Pitzer, Pomona, Harvey Mudd, Middlebury and Macalester. All highly ranked, highly regarded and very worthy of consideration.

LEFT

WHAT ARE SOME OF THE BEST COLLEGES IN THE STATES? Too many international students are only interested in Ivy League universities, a group of eight institutions – Harvard, Princeton, Yale, Brown, Penn, Cornell, Dartmouth and Columbia. I strongly advise considering a wider range of colleges.

Apart from the very selective nature of the Ivy League, it is fair to say that these universities are simply not right for everyone. So how can you find these other institutions? There are excellent resources available, such as: Princeton Review, Barron’s, Fiske, Peterson’s and so forth. I always recommend the website www.usnews.com. Their ranking system of National Universities and Liberal Arts Colleges offers a student the chance to see where US News places these institutions.

I often suggest to students that a good way to find out about 'unknown universities' is to go onto the US News website and start with the university ranked at Number 40,

IS IT AFFORDABLE? Though British universities are working hard to catch up with their American counterparts, they still have a way to go.

There is no doubt that US universities are a real investment. Tuition, room, board and other expenses (insurance, books, etc.) can be near the $70,000 a year mark. And while some universities will offer financial assistance to non-American students, most will not. Therefore before thinking about a US education it’s imperative that financial considerations be taken into account. But not all US universities have a $70K price tag. There are excellent universities with fees much closer to $30,000 to $40,000 per year. The best source, of course, of financial aid and scholarships are the universities themselves. On their websites they will indicate who is eligible. One of the keys to obtaining aid is to start researching universities as early as possible certainly no later than in Lower Sixth / Year 12.

American universities like students educated in Britain. They respect the rigour of the educational system and the fact that British students fit nicely into the States – they speak the same language, listen to the same music and watch the same films.

Though funding is an issue, American universities are very interested in enrolling British students. Though navigating the system can be challenging, every year I send happy students off to Columbia, UCLA, Harvard, Stanford, and the like.

With the right preparation and some carefully-made decisions, the American dream is within reach!

D R J O N TA B B E R T Managing director Jon Tabbert Associates SPRING • SUMMER 2017 | A B S O LU T E LY E D U C AT I O N | 89

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08/09/2016 11:08

www.hurtwoodhouse.com

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CO-EDUCATIONAL BOARDING

IN THE HEART OF ENGLAND Shrewsbury School provides an outstanding full boarding experience for boys and girls aged 13-18. We provide a rigorous approach to learning and an extraordinary variety of extra-curricular activities alongside personal pastoral support.

Scholarships and bursaries are available for talented pupils for entry at 13+ and 16+.

Please contact the school for further information or to book a place at one of our Open Days.

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Shrewsbury School

admissions@shrewsbury.org.uk 01743 280552 www.shrewsbury.org.uk ShrewsSchool

05/09/2016 16:23

School’s Out

OAKHAM SCHOOL

SPRING BOOKS P . 94 BEST EDUCATION APPS P . 100 HIT FOR SIX P . 106

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Top Spring

BOOKS With a new year and hundreds of new children’s books on the shelves, here’s our selection of brilliant reads

11+ 9+

WELCOME TO NOWHERE

by Elizabeth Laird MACMILLAN CHILDREN’S BOOKS

ROSE RAVENTHORPE INVESTIGATES: BLACK CATS AND BUTLERS

In the winter of 2015, sixt-time CILIP Carnegie Medal-shortlisted author Elizabeth Laird travelled to Jordan to volunteer in two refugee camps. This is the result of her experiences there. It tells the story of Omar and his family, who fled Syria when the bombs started falling. An excellent book for young people who want to know what is happening in Syria. £9.99

b y Janine Beacham HACHET TE CHILDREN’S GROUP

R

ose Raventhorpe loves nothing more than wandering around Yorke with her beloved butler Argyle, so when he is murdered, - the third butler to be stabbed in a week – Rose knows she must find out what really happened.

Join Rose on an adventure into a hidden world of grave robbers, duelling butlers and magicians. £6.99

9+

Emerald

SECRET

b y Susan Moore NOSY CROW

The second exciting instalment in the Nat Walker trilogy, a series of action-packed adventure stories with a go-getting girl hero set in a futuristic, steam-punk London. Susan Moore used to work at LucasFilm in California and her writing is a bit like Star Wars – fastpaced and epic in scale. £6.99

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SPR ING BOOKS

4+ 4+

Big Book of BEASTS

MUST READ

b y Yuval Zommer

F

THAME S & HUDSON

rom the author and illustrator of the best-selling Big Book of Bugs comes a brilliant book about the hairiest, grizzliest, growliest and most fearsome beasts on our planet. It is packed with fascinating information and full of gloriously illustrated wildlife scenes. £12.95

9+

T H E WO R L D ’ S G R E AT E S T S PAC E C A D E T

by James Carter BLOOMSBURY

Join poet Carter on a journey through space and time and meet everyone from a Viking warrior to a crazed cat. This wonderful collection is the perfect way to get children interested in poetry. £5.99

9+

THE ROAD TO EVER AFTER

by Moira Young

MACMILLAN CHILDREN’S BOOKS

The author has put her own spin on the Christmas classic It’s a Wonderful Life in this story of friendship and redemption. Orphan Davy David is no stranger to loneliness but when he meets old Miss Flint, they set off on a magical adventure together. This book is sure to become a classic. £9.99

8+

12+

THERE’S A WEREWOLF IN MY TENT

K A I ’ S S T O RY

by Judy Waite BLOOMSBURY

b y Pamela Butchart NOSY CROW

Izzy and her friends are SO excited about their school trip. They’re going camping and there’ll be marshmallows and no washing and everything. But then weird things start to happen. There are howling sounds at night and some sausages have gone missing…

Another brilliantly funny read from the best-selling author who brought you Attack of the Demon Dinner Ladies and To Wee or not To Wee. £6.99

Kai just wanted a bit of fun but now his video has viral, his friends are upset and he is getting messages from strangers on the internet…

Welcome to The Street! A High Low book from Bloomsbury that aims to encourage and support reading by providing gripping and ageappropriate stories for struggling and reluctant readers. £5.99

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SPR ING BOOKS

5+

7+

The Big GREEN BOOK

MUST READ

by Robert Graves, illustrated by Maurice Sendak

VINTAGE CHILDREN’S CLASSIC S

T

his is the only children’s book written by war poet and revered British writer Robert Graves.

Written when he was 67, it was illustrated by a little known artist who was yet to create his iconic Where the Wild Things Are. A long-forgotten and wonderful story about the magic of reading. £12.99 11+ 7+

Famous Five: FIVE G ET I NTO TROUBLE

b y Enid Blyton (Book 8) HACHET TE CHILDREN’S GROUP

THE BONE SPARROW

b y Zana Fraillon

ORION CHILDREN’S

Shortlisted for the Guardian Children’s Fiction Prize last year, The Bone Sparrow is the deeply moving story of a boy who has spent his entire life in a detention centre. Perfect for fans of The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas and out now in paperback. £6.99

T

he Famous Five are back for another adventure. It’s Julian, Dick, George, Anne and Timmy's 75th anniversary this year and all 22 titles will be available in new editions. This edition has beautiful new covers from in-demand author Laura Ellen Anderson to appeal to a whole new readership. £6.99

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An inspiration on the educational landscape

Lancing College Senior School & Sixth Form

AN EXCEPTIONAL INDEPENDENT EDUCATION FOR BOYS AND GIRLS AGED 13 TO 18

www.lancingcollege.co.uk Tel 01273 465805

West Sussex BN15 0RW

Registered Charity Number 1076483

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SPR ING BOOKS

Head LINES

A children’s author on what it’s like to combine the roles of successful writer and wife of the headmaster of Roedean HELEN PETERS

I

have to confess that when my husband became headmaster of Roedean, one of my first thoughts was, “Now I can write a boarding school story!”

I grew up near Roedean, and it seemed a mysterious, almost mythical place, a castle on a clifftop.

Fed on a diet of Mallory Towers, I longed to go to boarding school, but never in my wildest dreams did I imagine that one day I would find myself living in the Headmaster’s house at Roedean, writing books for children. I loved reading and writing, but it never occurred to me that I could become a writer myself. I became an English and Drama teacher instead, and satisfied my creative urges by directing school plays.

When I met my husband, I told him about my childhood on an old-fashioned Sussex farm, where we turned a tumbledown shed into a theatre and invited our families to pay actual money to sit in a freezing outbuilding and watch our masterpieces. Oliver suggested that I turn those experiences into a children’s book, and that really was a lightbulb moment. I started writing The Secret Hen House Theatre immediately, with huge enthusiasm and no idea how difficult it would be to write a publishable book. Twelve years, much advice and many rewrites later, The Secret Hen House Theatre was published, and I’m now writing my seventh book.

My stories are influenced by my own childhood and my life as a teacher. I taught one particular boy who had a genius for inventing creative excuses for his lateness to class. Two of my personal favourites that

made it into my books were, ‘Sorry, Miss, my goldfish got run over’ and ‘My mum’s on a life support machine and I had to go and put another 50p in the slot.’

I’ve managed to restrain myself from writing any Roedean students into my stories, but my Year 7 class have made me promise to include ALL their names in the third Hen House book, so watch out for seventeen new female characters…

When we first moved to Roedean, I had to put my writing on hold for a while. We wanted to get to know people, so we invited every single person at the school – pupils, parents and staff – to tea in our house.

So, after a week spent unpacking boxes, putting up pictures and sewing name tapes into every item of my children’s new school uniforms, we found ourselves, over the course of a fortnight, hosting twelve separate parties for seven hundred people.

I didn’t get much writing done, but it was a great way to feel at home here.

My creative brain definitely works better in the morning, so I try to get to my desk as soon as my husband and children have left for school. On the mornings when I teach, I aim to get two hours’ writing done. On my free mornings, I can write for three or four hours. Afternoons are for admin work, food shopping and so on. I cook dinner for the family and then there’s sometimes an evening event at school. Now that I’m a Roedean parent (our daughter is in Year 7) as well as Headmaster’s wife, teacher and occasionally a visiting author, I find I’m attending more and more school events, and sometimes I have to stop and remind myself which role I’m in!

My latest book, Evie’s Ghost, is narrated by a stroppy 13-year-old girl. Evie is not, of course, inspired by Roedean students, who are quite possibly the most delightful teenagers I have ever met. (I do, however, have a 13-year-old son at home, whose voice I might possibly have channelled at times.)

And I haven’t got around to writing that boarding school story yet, but I fully intend to do so one day.

A Duckling Called Button by Helen Peters, published by Nosy Crow, is out in March 2017.

Evie's Ghost is out in April 2017.

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Best Education

APPS Absolutely Education chooses some great apps to aid learning for 2017

Let’s Do Spelling

F r o m Andrew Brodie & Bloomsbury Publishing £2 .99 EACH (£8.99 FOR ALL 6 APPS) FOR IPHONE & IPAD

MATHMATEER

Six new spelling apps for primary school children by ex head Andrew Brodie. The apps cover six age ranges: 5-6, 6-7, 7-8, 8-9, 9-10 and 10-11. and feature hundreds of words for children to practise all carefully matched to the latest National Curriculum wordlists and are perfect preparations for SATs.

PRICE: 1.49 FOR IPHONE & IPAD FOR AGE S 9–11

Mathmateer is a fun spacethemed maths game in which children can build and customise their own rockets using money they've earned while soaring through space.

There are 56 different games ranging from simple counting to division and multiplication, so kids of all ages can enjoy playing. Five player profiles can be created, so you can set up one for each child depending on their skill level.

The only downfall is that the money system (used to buy extra rocket parts) is in dollars rather than pounds.

FAIRYTALE PLAY THEATRE F r o m Nosy Crow £3.99, FOR IPHONE & IPAD FOR AGE S 5+

A brand new kind of app experience from award-winning publishers Nosy Crow. Your child can set the stage, choose the characters, create and record their own story. With rich artwork, dozens of characters and different scene backgrounds, it will let loose their inner storytellers.

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MUST GET

Solar Walk £2 . 29, FOR IPHONE & IPAD

I

FOR AGE S 9-11

f your kids are feeling bored later tonight, how about a spot of astronomy? The amazing Solar Walk is a great app to get you started.

The £2.29 app lets you explore the solar system in exquisite detail. You can pinch and zoom around the heavens, examining celestial bodies in an immersive 3D environment from any angle or perspective.

Toca Life Farm

£2 .99, FOR IPHONE & IPAD

T

FOR AGE S 5+

Examberry 11+ Non-Verbal Reasoning App FREE , FOR IPHONE & IPAD FOR AGE S 9-11

An updated version of Examberry’s hugely successful 11+ apps. It includes a a practice section and also one full 80 question mock paper.

Additional papers are available for purchase at £1.99 each. You can work offline and answer review to learn from your mistakes.

he fifth Toca Life app from Toca Boca is sure to be as popular as the others. Like all Toca Life apps, it put children in the driving seat, to role play and create their own unscripted stories. Here they can explore farm life with 29 new characters and four brand new locations that will give them endless role-playing fun with crops and animals.

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CHALLENGE

NURTURE

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PROFILE

The

M A K ING of Me

Michael Bond

The author of the legendary Paddington Bear books on his unhappy days at boarding school

M

remember hoping I would get a mastoid like my cousin, and the Brother would be sorry…

ichael Bond is a children's author best known for his Paddington Bear books. He has also written a series about a guinea pig called Olga da Polga. Bond is 91, has two grown-up children and lives in London, not far from Paddington Station.

Q

A

Q What effect do you think your schooling had on your character?

A It made me more aware of sin.

Q How did it influence the rest of your life and career?

A Not at all

Where did you go to school and when?

Presentation College in Reading

Q Do you think other aspects of your early years were more influential, like your time in the army for example?

A I would say that Army life had a far greater effect.

What sort of school was it?

A Roman Catholic boarding school. I am not a Catholic but my mother liked the colour of the blazer – and I was a day boy.

Q

A

What beliefs do you think that particular school instilled in you?

A A strong sense of right and wrong.

Q

You left school quite early, why was that?

A I wasn’t very happy there and I left at the age of 14 – besides there was a war on.

Q

What inspired you to write Paddington Bear?

A A small bear sitting on the mantelpiece – he looked so lonely in the shop that I bought him and took him home for my wife.

Q

Q What was your favourite subject or activity there?

A English was my favourite subject, and I enjoyed long distance running.

Q What was your proudest achievement?

If you didn’t have one at school, then what and where?

A My proudest achievement was coming in last in the slow bicycle race, for which I was awarded an Ingersol watch.

Q Who was your favourite – or most influential - teacher?

A The Head Master who was a monk.

Q What was the most trouble you got into?

A Laughing in class.

Q How would you sum up your school days in five words?

A Words fail me – not for the faint hearted.

Q Did you have a favourite ‘secret’ place at school? If so, where was it and what did you do there?

A The bicycle shed where I avoided lessons.

Q What is your most vivid memory of your time there?

A When I upset the English master, a Brother, who beat me to the floor I

Michael Bond’s new book, Paddington’s Finest Hour, is published by HarperCollins on 6 April.

Q What are your plans for Paddington in the future?

A It would be more accurate to ask what his plans for me would be.

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www.farringtons.org.uk A leading independent co-educational day and boarding school offering high academic standards, excellent pastoral care and a wide extra-curricular programme within a supportive Christian environment.

Co-education Juniors 3 – 11, Seniors 11 – 16, Sixth Form 16 - 18 Perry Street, Chislehurst, Kent BR7 6LR T: 020 8467 0256

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03/10/2016 03/10/2016 10:18 08:03

Talking

SENIOR / OPINION

HEAD

THE PLAY’S THE THING Peter Clague, Headmaster of Bromsgrove School, on why the performing arts are good news for education

T

he President of the United States doesn’t have a monopoly on fake news or alternative facts.

Some years ago, when I was head of another independent school, two news organisations covered the same story about our performing arts success. The school had a long-standing reputation for the quality of its theatrical productions, regularly attracting audiences in the thousands. That particular year, we had spent nearly £50,000 staging the musical Cats. The cost was then easily recouped through ticket sales, but it was a significant sum and soon caught the media eye.

Given that both papers reported upon the exact same set of facts, their response was illuminating. One outlet focused the story on the amount of money a private school was squandering on, literally, child’s play. The article screamed “privileged indulgence”.

Unsurprisingly, it then attracted online comments from readers outraged at yet another example of the entitled few. Oddly, this same media group regularly rejected stories about our extensive service work

“There are life skills inherent in treading the boards, building a set or forming a band” in local communities, substantial bursary provision and regular fund-raising efforts for multiple charities. Not to mention the fact that all local state schools were invited to watch our shows for free.

The other paper seemed to report on an entirely different story. It told of a wonderful opportunity offered to young people by an inspired and inspiring school.

A B OV E

The box office an actuary. Life skills inherent in treading takings were the boards, forming a band, running a mentioned, but lighting desk or building a set should be on only in the context offer in every school career. Not to mention of highlighting the the sheer joy of the dramatic journey, from level of commitment the school gave to the opening night to final curtain. performing arts. The value we ascribed to We are already investing a significant dramatic performance was lauded. So too, sum in new performing arts facilities, the recognition that an uplifting production including a concert hall, new music school, unites a school community. drama theatre and recording studio. This Working on the Trumpian theory that is no calculated 'build it and they will come' any news is good news, I suppose both marketing strategy. They are already stories served to enhance the school’s here. The capacity for music, drama, dance reputation. Certainly, applications from already swells inside our pupils. Building families with a passion for the arts spiked. these performance spaces is simply a valve Yet our production that year to release latent talent. was no cynical marketing ploy.

Money spent on performing Surely performing arts arts by a school is not a sunk are essential in any balanced cost, it’s an investment. The education? To downplay good news stories, of young music, drama or dance in people whose confidence the curriculum because they was boosted and horizons appear expensive or frivolous broadened by the chance is short sighted. And we to perform on a stage, may PETER CLAGUE don’t make mathematics sometimes go unreported, but Headmaster compulsory in the expectation they’re facts nonetheless.

Bromsgrove School that every pupil will become Real ones.

A production of Hairspray at Bromsgrove School

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HIT FOR SIX With traditional cricket under threat from its bolder, brasher Twenty20 sibling, Absolutely looks at how the game is changing in schools MARK GREENHOUSE

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SCHOOL'S OU T / CR ICK ET

C

big reason for this uplift in attention from today’s school pupils. “Moving to a shorter ricket has always game format means that logistically there been intrinsically are far more opportunities for players to entwined around take part – we can now start a match at the essence of 5pm and students will enjoy a couple of ‘Englishness’ – lush hours of play – without it impacting on green pitches with everything else they are doing in their busy picture-perfect school lives.” Whilst it may be obvious, the thatched pavilions, implications are far-reaching. “Students the gentle thud of leather on willow, and the who have more opportunities to play are civility of stopping play to take tea. able to practice more, to develop and hone In recent years however the game has, their skills and to have more time to just quite literally, been hit for six – crashing enjoy taking part.” past the boundaries of ‘tradition’ and ‘Englishness’ – straight into the future.

Twenty20 is Test cricket’s younger, yet bolder and brasher sibling - with its brightly adorned players, and its fastpaced, exciting-to-watch game.

It’s certainly made an impression in schools up and down the country. “The younger generation love the sparkling lights of Twenty20,” says Neil Johnson, Director of Cricket at Oakham School. “They get to The second reason that Twenty20 is wear the flashy clothes with their names going down so well on school sports pitches on their backs. They can play a game more is the desire from pupils to emulate the quickly, and they really relish the challenge big hitting they see on screen. “Power of hitting sixes” play encourages cricketers to play in a Johnson, who played professional cricket completely different way – they now need for 17 years at international and national to be able to repeatedly smash the ball,” level before joining Oakham, thinks that the Johnson explains. As such, the nature new game-play has already, and will of school coaching has changed, continue, to broaden the sport’s too. “We now offer sessions on appeal. “We’ve certainly seen A B OV E ‘six hitting’ where you put a more interest from students On the pitch at pupil in a cage and get them to who perhaps would have Sandroyd hit for six, continually, just to shied away from the BELOW focus on these skills alone. We traditional format.”

An Oakham pupil also now teach them where to The speed of play is a in action find new places to secure runs, along with mastering sweeps and switches; all techniques that just wouldn’t have necessarily been taught or encouraged before the advent of Twenty20.”

There are, however, downsides to these changing attitudes. “Test cricket is a long game – mentally and physically. It’s a real ‘test’ of all your skills. But today’s younger players are often only watching the edited highlights – days of matches are reduced down to just the wickets, fours and sixes,” Johnson continues. “They don’t see the slow building of pressure on the batsman.

They don’t watch maiden after maiden.

They don’t see the play that caused the wicket to fall.” This is further exacerbated by the popularity of computer games, where there is no waiting; it’s all express play with extreme results.

“Today’s young players are not used to waiting, to playing the long game”

And how it has changed at prep…

N

owhere could better showcase just how much youth cricket has moved on than Sandroyd School – given that the sport has been a part of school life since its founding in 1888.

“It’s no longer just played by the school’s elite players in the summer term,” explains Headmaster Alastair Speers. “It’s hugely popular with all the pupils – boys and girls – and is now an all-year-round sport as we run a ‘Winter Academy’, with professionals from Hampshire CCC coming in during weekday evenings to run individual and group sessions.”

Alastair attributes the sport’s popularity with the introduction of Kwik Cricket, which he describes as an excellent way to get children "hooked” on the sport from a young age.

It’s a short-format game played with teams of eight players, and is a precursor to the Twenty20 and limited overs cricket that Prep pupils then move on to play. Sandroyd’s pupils begin to play in the Pre-Prep, from age three, with lessons from Director of Sport Trevor Webster, who, prior to his teaching career, played representative cricket in South Africa.

“Starting early, teaching and then honing their core skills at a young age, means that by the time they reach Year 3 our pupils are ready to play competitive matches.” Kwik Cricket can certainly be credited for developing girls’ interest in the sport – to such a degree that Sandroyd now has both county level players and girls trialling for places in the School’s 1st XI.

As such, Johnson argues that schools often have to ‘un-teach’ pupils what they perceive the game to be. “More and more, coaches are having to teach the nature of the sport – that it’s a long game, a long day.

We have to encourage them to understand both types of game – Twenty20 and Test – and that the sport can’t just be reduced down to hitting the ball as hard as possible.”

Putting the challenges of new coaching methods aside, the changes to the sport should hopefully mean that more students continue playing after they’ve left school.

Johnson concludes, “more people playing cricket, at school and at local grassroots level – regardless of what type – is great for the sport. It’s good in terms of viewership, the business of cricket and the future of England’s cricket team, as well as the obvious benefits to people’s health if they find a sport they enjoy and continue to play well into their adulthood.”

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Playing like a girl Cricket is becoming a far more popular women’s sport. Here two schools outline how they’ve introduced and encouraged girls’ cricket

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competition, encouraging discussion as a development tool as well as action based responses and understanding the individual and team dynamic.

Having a supportive environment was key to growth in player numbers.

We soon recognised that our core playing group were encouraging their friends to come along and join in the fun. If they had enjoyed the experience, then there was a good chance that one of their friends would come and sample cricket for the first time.

MARK GARAWAY

E

Millfield’s Director of Cricket

ven in 2012 girls’ cricket was very much in its infancy at Millfield, a school where cricket has long been a popular sport.

That year we started our girls cricket journey with a plan to grow ‘bottom up’; It felt quite ambitious at the time but from 15 girls four years ago we now have over 75 regular players across Millfield and a growing team at our prep school.

There has been much written about the need to encourage girls to participate in sport at that crucial drop off age of 14 and the need to adapt coaching styles to best suit female athletes. Girls need different things within a coaching and sporting environment and that includes a focus on personal improvement rather than internal

“Girls’ cricket was in its infancy at Millfield as recently as 2012”

LEFT

A cricketer at Blundell's BELOW

Bowling at Millfield

It was also important to find ways to encourage both experienced players and newcomers to play together. We found that using a tape ball in indoor cricket was a successful way of giving more experienced players meaningful game based practice whilst also providing a safe soft ball environment for new comers. A hard cricket ball is not always the best introduction to our sport!

With the support of a dedicated girls cricket coach, the girls squad have had a focused pathway to follow which has been personalised to their needs. We now have 15 summer term hard ball fixtures spread over two squads (Junior and Senior), which is a real sign of progress and we are introducing additional outdoor tape ball fixtures for 2017 to increase opportunities once more for girls to connect with this great game.

KIM COOIL

2nd in PE and Games Department St Mary’s School, Cambridge

T

he lack of coverage of women’s cricket by the media is part of the reason that schoolgirls are often less interested in the sport; they simply have not been exposed to it. Men’s cricket is highly televised, publicised, and popular, and so it is a common school sport which has a lot of coaches and international male

role models. At St Mary’s School, Cambridge we often talk about the importance of having positive female role models to show our students that women can achieve great things across the breadth of careers; the same is true in sport.

I also believe schoolgirls have a general perception that cricket is a long and boring game, which often deters them from wanting to participate. The England Cricket Board advocates adapting games to engage girls who are new to the sport – for example the Lady Taverners indoor (schools) competition, which is aimed at girls, is very inclusive, and is over in a matter of a few hours. As cricket continues to become more established as a girls’ sport it will also naturally increase its demand for exposure within the media, which should in turn boost its profile.

Women’s cricket is now one of the fastest growing sports among girls, and understanding the growth of the sport has meant that we have been increasing our own cricket provision. Last summer, First Choice Coaching came in to our school to deliver cricket as an extra-

“Schoolgirls have a perception that cricket is long and boring” curricular club, giving the girls a better understanding of how fun cricket can be. We intend to further enhance our cricket provision in a way that is engaging and fun for the girls, and also play competitive fixtures against local schools.

Sports scholar and Cambridgeshire U17 Batter/Wicket Keeper Olivia says she has seen a marked improvement in Cambridgeshire women’s cricket in recent years, with an increasing number of girls participating and with better facilities, conditioning, coaching and support now available.

The number of pathways through which girls can become involved in cricket is increasing, both within local clubs as well as through the county system, and our hope is that by better introducing girls to the joys of cricket while they are still at school, we will play our part in developing celebrated female cricketers who will then inspire the next generation of girls.

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AN URBAN OASIS

South Quay Plaza is a development truly unique to the Canary Wharf area. Standing within 2.6 acres of beautiful landscaped gardens and over 150 new trees, it will feel like an urban oasis. At the heart of the park, new cafes and restaurants will provide places to meet and socialise, all by the water’s edge of the South Dock.

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Computer generated image depicts South Quay Plaza and is indicative only. Prices and information correct at time of going to press.

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SQP.indd 1

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Talking

SENIOR / OPINION

HEAD

DREAM BIG Rob Jones, Head of Rendcomb College, on what makes an adventurous 21st-century education

I

n these increasingly uncertain and volatile economic times, it is more important than ever for schools to deliver an outstanding education; one which promotes a love of learning along with the skills and values that young people will require to be successful in the world. We have to prepare our pupils for jobs that are yet to be invented and for a world where creativity and imagination are key to a successful career. This is a truly exciting time to be working in education.

At Rendcomb we talk about being adventurous in and out of the classroom.

We are developing a culture where pupils know that it is okay to 'fail' as it represents a 'first attempt in learning'. If pupils know that success is a process, then they are more likely to take on new and greater challenges.

Adventure can take many forms but fundamentally it is about stepping outside one’s comfort zone; the thing that school children need to do every day to learn.

One of the great privileges of working in schools is that we can put opportunities

“We are developing a culture where to FAIL is a First Attempt In Learning” in front of children and, more often than not, see them surpass both their own, and our, expectations. Last year three of our Year 10 and Year 11 girls entered a national competition where they were required to use technology for social good.

Our pupils dream big and they won the £25,000 prize with an app that they wrote which used satellite technology to bring food and supplies to the homeless people of Cheltenham. Not content with this success they are now looking at its uses in helping government and charities direct aid to the

millions of refugees towards fulfilling their potential. Despite a across the world. bumper crop of school bests at GCSE and It is vital that we A-Level last year, the real joy was seeing continue to allow the individual excitment of pupils who had our young people surpassed their expectations – completing the time to pursue these projects and to their own adventure. allow them to lead us; an adventurous At Rendcomb College we are blessed with education requires courage from teachers a large and stunning campus with nearly an and school leaders, too. acre of fields, or woods, per child. We have Things are also changing in the classroom an outdoor programme that starts with a as technology opens up opportunities to Forest School (in a real forest!) and grows to teach and learn in different ways. Schools include such pleasures as bread baking on recognise that collaborative working is not open fires, bushcraft, camping expeditions only an effective way to learn but it is also a on and off site and a sixth form leadership requirement in the workplace. The internet and service programme that includes allows pupils to work together everything from command in and out of the classroom to tasks to independent living. share their ideas and research, We have a dedicated sixth connect with teachers in real form house, where pupils time and draw knowledge have to fend for themselves, from online resources. When drawing up a food budget, before have pupils had such washing their own clothes and opportunity to discover cooking for one another. for themselves? These Our programmes are fun ROB JONES opportunities allow pupils to but they also build skills Head learn in different ways and and character for the next Rendcomb College have definitely helped them all adventure – life after school…

A B OV E

Rendcomb College pupils having an adventure

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N O W AVA I L A B L E T O V I E W A C O L L E C T I O N O F L U X U R Y F O U R B E D R O O M FA M I LY H O M E S L O C AT E D I N T H E P O P U L A R T O W N O F B E C K E N H A M . I D E A L LY P O S T I O N E D F O R TRANSPORT LINKS INTO LONDON AND LOCAL SCHOOLS INCLUDING B A L G O WA N P R I M A R Y. • Four bedrooms • Two en-suites plus family bathroom • Fully fitted kitchen with integrated appliances

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23/02/2017 11:43

PROFILE

The

M A K ING of Me

Tom Martin

The founder of the ETM restaurant group on learning to fold a suit jacket at Westminster School

Q

A

Where did you go to school and when?

Westminster School, 1985-1990.

What are you doing now?

I’m busy running ETM Group with my younger brother Ed (who was also at Westminster), which consists of 12 bars, pubs and restaurants, including The Botanist Sloane Square, The Jugged Hare in the Barbican and our latest rooftop restaurant and grand terrace bar, Aviary, in Finsbury Square.

Q

A

What sort of school was it?

A public school for boys with co-ed in the sixth form.

Q

A

Q

A

Did you love it or hate it?

I absolutely loved it.

Q What was your favourite subjects or activity there?

History and Latin

Who was your favourite – or most influential - teacher?

A My physics teacher, David HepbourneScott, who taught me the correct way to fold a suit jacket Q

Q Where was your favourite place at school? What did you do there?

A The steps of Grants House where we took it upon ourselves to allow entrance to some individuals and not others who then had to use the basement entrance.

Q What beliefs do you think that particular school instilled in you?

A Having the courage of one’s convictions and if you wish to succeed it’s only down to you.

What is your most vivid memory of your time there?

A Attending morning assembly in the incredible Westminster Abbey four days a week.

Q

Were you too cool for school?

A No, I loved every aspect of school but managed to enjoy myself along the way.

Q

Q Would you send your own children there?

A Yes absolutely.

What was your proudest achievement?

Being the only person in my whole year to fail Maths O-Level in 1987.

Q What effect do you think your schooling had on your character? Did it change you?

A It gave me an incredible all-round education in life.

Q What was the most trouble you got into?

A I was rusticated (suspended) for a week and forced to run around Dean’s Yard ten times for clambering around on the rooftops of the school at 3am in the morning with a group of school friends.

Q How did it influence the rest of your life and career?

A Through the best imaginable education, it enabled me to go to an excellent university to study law and become a qualified solicitor which was then a great foundation for the business which I am now in.

Q

A

“I WAS THE ONLY PERSON TO FAIL MATHS O-LEVEL IN 1987”

What are your plans for the future?

A We've just opened our newest venue, Greenwood, in the architecturally striking Land Securities Nova development just across the road from Victoria Station.

Greenwood is set to become Victoria’s premier drinking destination and sports venue, showing all domestic and international sports, as well as featuring an American eight-ball pool table and two Shuffleboards.

How would you sum up your school days in five words?

A Enriching, inspiring, hilarious, memorable and fortunate. www.etmgroup.co.uk

A B OV E

Tom Martin BELOW

The entrance to Westminster school

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PROMOTION

Support For Success

C

Whether learning to type or getting extra tailored support, children flourish at the McLeod Centre for Learning

hildren who struggle with reading and writing often compare their own achievement with those of their peers. They feel less intelligent, isolated and have low self-esteem. At The McLeod Centre for Learning, which has CReSteD accreditation (Council for the Registration of Schools Teaching Dyslexic Pupils), children address their learning needs within a nurturing environment, and find their way in the academic world again – or even for the first time.

Before starting, children are assessed

by Specialist Teachers and an individual programme is designed. Children enrolled in the Morning School receive English (dyslexia), math (dyscalculia) and touch-

“At McLeod children address their learning needs within a nurturing environment” typing/handwriting (dyspraxia) lessons.

Groups are no larger than three and often individual. Dependent on needs, children usually attend one to five mornings a week for usually one to three terms.

The McLeod centre for Learning runs after-school sessions for 5-18 years. A wide range of subjects to A-Level is offered as well as remedial handwriting, touch-typing and tutoring for 4+, 7+, 8+, 11+ and 13+ entry exams. Specialist support for dyslexia,

dyspraxia and dyscalculia is also available.

Their teachers, experienced in selection processes, provide interview practice for independent preparatory and senior schools.

The McLeod Centre for Learning’s touch typing classes are after school and at weekends during term time. Intensive courses are run during holidays. Many children, who have already learned during a course, choose to continue to work in spelling whilst building typing speeds.

Amanda McLeod is the author and series editor of the Scholastic Handwriting series (Reception to Year 6). She’s a committee member of the National Handwriting Association, one of their trainers and also their representative in the media.

74 Lupus Street, SW1V 3EL, 020 7630 6970, amandamcleod.org

“One school, two buildings, great teaching, and tip top facilities.”

The Good Schools Guide

The Study is a leading prep school situated in the heart of Wimbledon Village. We identify and nurture each girl’s unique academic, creative and sporting skills in a caring and supportive community.

For further details and to book a school visit, contact Jane Davis on 020 8947 6969 www.thestudyprep.co.uk Registered Charity No. 271012

We welcome enquires about our scheme of assistance with fees for girls aged 7+.

Preparatory School for girls aged four to eleven

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30/09/2016 18:30

Catholic Day and Boarding School for girls aged 11 to 18 • Experience teaching the IB Diploma for over 35 years • Exclusive pre-IB Middle Years Programme • Nurture and support: girls gain excellent results • Places achieved at top Universities worldwide

• Scholarships and bursaries available • Multilingualism: up to 9 languages taught • Internationalism: over 40 nationalities, yet one shared mission • All faiths welcome

Please contact: admissions@marymountlondon.com www.marymountlondon.com Tel: 020 8949 0571 George Road, Kingston upon Thames, Surrey KT2 7PE. MARYMOUNT.indd 1

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THE WEEK

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TATLER

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“A wonderful place to grow a rooted sense of self, and joy in life and learning.”

Good Schools Guide 2016

3 –18 | Boarding & Day | 1 hour from London To book a place on an open morning or to arrange an individual visit, please contact Janie Jarman, Registrar.

T 01730 711733 E jjarman@bedales.org.uk Petersfield, Hampshire GU32 2DG

www.bedales.org.uk

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The Headmaster of Shiplake College invites you to a presentation about ‘A Boarding Education’, with the opportunity to learn boarding at this popular HMC school for 470 boys (11-18) and girls (16-18) near Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire

Considering boarding schools?

Presentation on Thursday 18 May 2017, 6.00pm - 8.00pm London Rowing Club, Embankment

To book your attendance go to www.shiplake.org.uk/london SHIPLAKE COLLEGE.indd 1

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‘‘Bringing out the best in boys’’

A day in the life of Aldro... come and see for yourself OPEN MORNING • Saturday 6th May 2017 • 11:00am–12:30pm If you would like to attend an Open Morning, request a prospectus, or arrange an individual tour, please contact the Admissions Office on 01483 813535 or email: admissions@aldro.org Aldro, Lombard Street, Shackleford, Godalming, Surrey GU8 6AS www.aldro.org ALDRO.indd 1

F L A I R

28/02/2017 15:05

•

D I S C I P L I N E

•

A C A D E M I C

R I G O U R

REGI

BROMSGROVE SCHOOL FOUNDED 1553

One of the country’s leading Day and Boarding Schools Come and see us at work, individual visits welcome, please contact Admissions to make an appointment.

ISI Inspection 2016 - excellent in every category Huge investment in boarding and sports facilities.

Heart of England location with easy access to the Midlands motorway network.

Set in 100 acres of beautiful tree-lined parkland.

Co-educational, Day and Boarding 950 pupils aged 13 - 18, 500 pupils aged 7 -13, 500 boarders f

01527 579679

admissions@bromsgrove-school.co.uk

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Boatloads of family fun this summer!

Our collection of award-winning holidays is designed for families who want far more than the usual summer break. Try white water rafting in Austria, mountain biking in Tuscany or snorkelling in Borneo.

We have a range of holidays to suit all ages and abilities during Easter, half-term and summer!

Visit www.activitiesabroad.com or call 01670 333 091 to find out more

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CIFE A-Level scholarships C

IFE (the Council of Independent Education) is an association of 20 private A level colleges in the UK which has sent over 50% of its graduates to Russell Group universities over the past two years.The quality of its education is in further evidence from the list of this year's CIFE academic award winners shown here.

GRADES A* A* A* A* A A* A* A* A* A* A* A B A* A* A* A A* A* A* A A* A* A* A* A* A A A A A* A* A* A (AS) A* A A A* A A A* A* A* A B A* A* A A* A* A* A A* A* A A A* B B A* A A A* A* A A A* A* A* A*

ERSITY DESTINATION UNIV – mb Ca s, nd mu St Ed UCL ford Ox , ge lle Co ty rsi Unive Ca , mbs Sydney Sussex College Hong Kong University New College, Oxford LSE ty rsi ive Un h urg inb Ed Leeds University City University l UCL, Kings and Bristo UCL LSE University of B'Ham glia University of East An LSE ge rid mb Ca , Robinson College

DEGREE COURSE Medicine Engineering Economics Maths Economics Economics English Law English & Phil English Media Studies & Soc French & Russian Economics Law Biology Acc & Finance Management Psychology

To promote this vibrant sector many of Cife's colleges offer very generous scholarships.

For details call 020 8767 8666 or visit www.cife.org.uk WWW.CIFE.ORG.UK CIFE.indd 1

06/09/2016 14:43

NEWTON PREP.indd 1

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Co-educational school forfor 3-18 years in in South-East England Co-educationalday day& &boarding boarding school 3-18 years South-East England

Small enough to ensure that individual pupils receive the attention and care they require, but large enough to provide outstanding facilities.

Strong Academic Results Full boarding 7 to 18 years

T: 01843 572931

New Boarding FAcilities Fast direct train to London

E: admissions@slcuk.com

www.slcuk.com

St Lawrence College, College Road, Ramsgate, Kent CT11 7AE

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A level Scholarships

APPLY NOW FOR 2017 SCHOLARSHIPS

One of London’s best private college for A levels offers full or partial scholarships for: • maths • science • economics • humanities • art • performing arts • Emphasis on study skills, independent thinking and individual attention has produced excellent exam results and university destinations • Informal, university-style approach and wide range of cultural activities

Telephone: 0207 937 3858 admissions@ashbournecollege.co.uk ASHBOURNE COLLEGE.indd 1

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02/03/2017 12:28

financier

academic entrepreneur

artist

editor

composer

teacher

director

architect

scientist

musician

journalist

economist

engineer

athlete surgeon

designer

author

Creating bright futures at Stowe is an independent co-educational boarding and day school inspiring pupils aged between 13 and 18.

e | admissions@stowe.co.uk t | 01280 818205 w | www.stowe.co.uk STOWE.indd 1

IF YOU WANT TO SEE 21ST CENTURY LEADERSHIP OPPORTUNITIES FOR GIRLS, COME TO RUGBY

30/08/2016 10:26

PARENTS KNOW NOT ALL PRIVATE, CO-ED SCHOOLS ARE TRULY EQUAL. Simply admitting girls is not enough. Can all co-ed schools claim there are as many opportunities, particularly in leadership roles, for girls as for boys? Is there an equal emphasis in the classroom, on sport, in societies, in cocurricular activity?

We invite you to visit with your daughter and let her experience a day in the life of a girl at Rugby School.

#wholepersonwholepoint www.rugbyschool.co.uk RUGBY.indd 1

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Country Prep Excellence for children aged 3-13 Nursery - Pre-Prep - Prep School

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A compass for life

A

AMPLEFORTH COLLEGE & ST MARTIN’S AMPLEFORTH

A sense of belonging in the Ampleforth valley Co-educational boarding and day school for 3-18 www.ampleforth.org.uk AMPLEFORTH.indd 1

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LEADING THE WAY Allow us to introduce Mr Mortimer, our Headmaster.

His passion for education is only matched by his love of sport – a keen rower, he’s twice rowed the Atlantic.

At Warminster we don’t only choose the best teachers to educate our pupils – we choose the most interesting ones.

Collectively, our staff have walked the beat as a Special Constable, played World-class rugby, led expeditions, directed West End musicals, surfed at a national level and climbed Kilimanjaro.

Individually, we are diverse in our interests, driven in our passions and determined to work together to do things a little differently. If you are too, then get in touch.

01985 210160 admissions@warminsterschool.org.uk www.warminsterschool.org.uk

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m fro

Who do you want to be?

Doctor Guitarist Hockey Player

18 7es ag

The Leading Boarding and Day School for Girls aged 4 - 18

ng di ar Bo

Millfield and Millfield Prep would be delighted to invite you to a personal visit find out more at millfieldschool.com/admissions

millfieldschool.com/everyfield

Your story starts here...

Contact us to arrange your personal visit or boarding taster www.malvernstjames.co.uk

admissions@malvernstjames.co.uk

01684 584624

Curiosity • Creativity • Challenge MILLFIELD.indd 1 MALVERN ST JAMES.indd 1

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An all-round education for girls aged 3 - 18 - Outstanding academic results, enabling our girls to attend the top universities of their choice.

- The Sunday Times highest performing independent school in Scotland for Intermediate 2, Highers and Advanced Highers.

- Specialist teachers, small class sizes and motivated pupils help to ensure our girls gain excellent results.

- Wide range of co-curricular activities that develop students’ wider interests and skills.

- Outstanding modern facilities including Scotland‘s only school equestrian centre, £1million science centre, theatre, all-weather pitches, tennis courts andGood a 25m indoor Swimming Pool.

Schools Guide - Scotland’s only CReSTeD accredited school.

- Direct links to Edinburgh and Glasgow airport.

- English Language School (www.klacscotland.com).

“A very special place to grow up in”

www.kilgraston.com FRANC

HA LEAL

ETO GE

Kilgraston School, Bridge of Earn, Perth, PH2 9BQ www.godolphin.org Tel: +44 (0)1738 812257 Email: admissions@kilgraston.com Kilgraston School Trust is a charity. Scottish Charity Number SC029664

mer Sum 16 20 RESIDENTIAL LANGUAGE ACTIVITY HOLIDAYS IN STUNNING SCOTLAND Week 1 26th June 2nd July

Week 2 3rd July 9th July

Week 3 10th July 16th July

Week 4 17th July 23rd July

EQUESTRIAN HOCKEY MULTI SPORTS MUSICAL THEATRE DISCOVERY SCOTLAND

TENNIS

www.klacscotland.com

Kilgraston School, Bridge of Earn, Perth, PH2 9BQ Telephone: +44 (0) 1738 812257 Email: languageschool@kilgraston.com

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30/09/2016 02/02/2016 09:40 30/09/2016 15:24 11:03

Stamford Endowed Schools

BOARDING Boarders receive excellent support “from staff which is greatly enhanced by the warm and positive relationships which exist between them.

”

In the recent ISI Inspection Report we were rated as ‘excellent’.

For more information on our Schools please call

+44 (0)1780 750311

or email admissions@ses.lincs.sch.uk Visit www.ses.lincs.sch.uk

STAMFORD ENDOWED SCHOOL.indd 1

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02/02/2016 09:53

02/03/2017 09:52 12:30 11/02/2016

BURGESS HILL GIRLS. DAY AND BOARDING SCHOOL

Bishop’s Stortford College

Building Confidence for Life

As well as offering a top academic education, let us stretch, engage, challenge and enthuse your child.

By encouraging pupils to get excited about learning, together with offering a wealth of opportunity, we do more than just educate; we build confidence for life.

FOR MORE INFORMATION VISIT BURGESSHILLGIRLS.COM

To discover what we can offer your family, we invite you to visit the College and see our campus first hand; please contact our admissions team.

Visit our website for more information: www.bishopsstortfordcollege.org T. 01279 838604 E. admissions@bishopsstortfordcollege.org

Consistently ranked within top 100 Independent Schools; based on A Level results.

Telegraph league table/ISI

Maze Green Road, Bishop’s Stortford, Hertfordshire CM23 2PJ Charity No. 311057 Excellence in Education Since 1906 Charity Number 307001

Bishop’s Stortford College and the Crest are registered trademarks of The Incorporated Bishop’s Stortford College Association.

Dyslexia

SCHOOL SEARCH

Experts in placing children with Educational Learning Difficulties.

• Dyslexia • Dyspraxia • Dyscalculia • Dysgraphia • Autism • Asperger’s Syndrome • and other complex learning difficulties

YOUR JOURNEY STARTS HERE Let us help you find your way and the best school for your child.

Telephone: +44 (0) 1728 687 964 Mobile: +44 (0) 7754 756726 info@dyslexiaschoolsearch.com

ST MARY’S CALNE

www.dyslexiaschoolsearch.com

A Top Independent Boarding & Day School For Girls Aged 11-18

For further information or to visit the school, please contact admissions@stmaryscalne.org +44 (0) 1249 857200 stmaryscalne.org

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Ackworth School

HMC, Quaker, Co-educational Boarding and Day School for 2½ to 18 Years

Your daughter is unique, her education will be.

Top 5

BOARDING SCHOOL for GIRLS iN THE UK

Traditional UK Boarding and Day School, with some international students

September entry application now being accepted Ackworth, Pontefract, West Yorkshire, WF7 7LT Tel: +44 (0)1977 611401 /AckworthSchool

Email: admissions@ackworthschool.com

www.ackworthschool.com

@ackworth_school

• The very best in British education • Superb achievements in Music, Drama and STEM subjects (Science, technology, engineering, maths) • iPad Centre of Excellence • Forest School in our own wooded campus

Talbot Heath Independent School for Girls aged 3-18

• National finalists in sixteen sports • UK No.1 Tennis School for Girls, No.4 in the World • Private minibuses to London Airports.

• Voted in the top 5 boarding schools for girls in the UK by Study International, Oct 2015

Rothesay Rd | Bournemouth | Dorset Tel: 01202 761881 | talbotheath.org Get social with us, search @TalbotHeathSch

Full boarding £3428 per term, Weekly £3059 per term, Flexi £61 per night/£150 for 3 nights inc weekends.

Senior tuition £4444 per term.

Building confidence & character since 1886

A thriving independent day, weekly and flexi-boarding co-ed prep school for children aged 3 - 13

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Individually known, Individually nurtured.

Boarding & day school for girls aged 9 - 18

a Cotswold childhood…

Open Morning Friday 17th March 2017 9.30 - 12.00 noon

Shaftesbury, Dorset SP7 9LP +44 (0)1747 852416 enquiries@stmarys.eu

www.stmarys.eu

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Minchinhampton, Gloucestershire t: 01453 832072 e: office@bps.school w: www.beaudesert.gloucs.sch.uk

02/03/2017 12:31

N PE O DAY SINCLAIR HOUSE SCHOOL PREPARATORY SCHOOL FOR BOYS & GIRLS AGED 4-11

OPEN MORNING DATES: WEDNESDAY 24TH MAY 2017 WEDNESDAY 18TH OCTOBER 2017 TUESDAY 31ST OCTOBER 2017

THURSDAY 23 MARCH

(Doors open 9.30)

10.00am – 11.30am

LYNDHURST HOUSE

PREPARATORY AND PRE-PREPARATORY SCHOOL 24 Lyndhurst Gardens, Hampstead, London NW3 5NW Telephone: 0207 435 4936 Email: office@lyndhursthouse.co.uk www.lyndhursthouse.co.uk

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59 Fulham High Street, London SW6 3JJ Tel 20 7736 9182 Email info@sinclairhouseschool.co.uk www.sinclairhouseschool.co.uk

22/02/2017 13:01

B LACK HEATH P REPARATO RY S CH OO L IAPS co-educational school for 3-11 years

Hawkesdown House School

For boys aged 3 to 8 years Endeavour Courage Truth

Overlooking Blackheath and set in five acres of beautiful grounds, this leading prep school offers an outstanding education.

Regular open mornings are held throughout the term when you can come and join us on a normal working day.

27 Edge Street, Kensington, London W8 7PN Telephone: 0207 727 9090 Email: admin@hawkesdown.co.uk www.hawkesdown.co.uk

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4 St. Germans Place, Blackheath, London. SE3 0NJ Tel: 020 8858 0692 Email: info@blackheathprepschool.com www.blackheathprepschool.com Company limited by guarantee No. 672569 Charitable Status No. 312732

02/03/2017 12:31

@KESBath

/kesbath

Founded 1642

New Hall School

A Catholic independent ‘diamond model’ school, city of Chelmsford Day (3-18 years) • Boarding (7-18 years) Preparatory • Girls’ Division • Boys’ Division • Sixth Form

WELCOME TO THE SCHOOL FOR ADVENTUROUS MINDS One of the top four independent schools in the South West.

The Sunday Times Schools Guide, Parent Power Survey

To nd out more, come and visit King Edward’s School for yourself.

Please contact our Registrar on 01225 820 399 to arrange a tour.

Further details available on www.kesbath.com.

The boarding provision is “excellent”

Open Mornings:

ISI and Ofsted

Saturday 29 April 2017, 9.00am - 12.00noon (online booking recommended) Contact the Admissions Department on 01245 236098 or registrar@newhallschool.co.uk for more details.

newhallschool.co.uk The Avenue, Boreham, Chelmsford, CM3 3HS “A Catholic foundation and ethos, welcoming all”

020 8440 8586 ENGLISH, MATHS, 11+, SCIENCE & MANDARIN TUITION FOR 4-18 YEARS. www.afterschoollearning.com

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02/03/2017 12:31

60

L A ST WOR D

seconds with

John Claughton The former Chief Master of King Edward’s Birmingham, and vocal advocate of the IB, on a lifetime devoted to education

Tell us about your new role at the IB School and Colleges Association.

Having retired from King Edward’s at the end of the last academic year, I wanted to do something to help the development of IB in this country. So, I see myself as something of an ambassador, talking to IB schools about their needs, talking to universities about the value of IB, trying to raise the visibility of IB in the media. There is a growing debate in this country about the nature of education, what it is for, how it is preparing students for their future lives and future jobs in a rapidly changing world.

35+ boys a year come on Assisted Places and that’s because we have raised £10m from alumni for the purpose, an extraordinary effort. This change has done all we could have wanted: more bright boys, greater social and ethnic diversity, better results, a more interesting, livelier school.

Q

Why do you support the IB? In the end, IB is an education, a proper education. This is an education that turns away from the anachronism of specialisation and requires all students to study language and communication, science and maths, the humanities. And it explicitly teaches the skills that the world needs, for example through the Extended Essay and the broader thinking in Theory of Knowledge.

Q

A

Why do you think it benefits pupils?

All students study to the same depth in their strong subjects but they do so much more: scientists get the chance to read literature, to study a modern language and Philosophy or Economics or History; Humanities students must do some Maths and science. That must be better for their future careers and lives. And there is no doubt that students are better prepared for university.

Q

A

What evidence do you for this?

One piece of evidence is that universities are increasingly aiming to attract IB students by lowering their offers. There is also research that shows better university outcomes for IB students.

Q

that has happened. The long-serving teachers who have spent decades teaching A-Levels would agree with that. And our university entry has improved at every level: our Oxbridge entry has doubled in the last decade, for example.

A B OV E

John Claughton

Q During your decade as Chief Master of KES, you doubled the school’s assisted places. Tell us about that.

A This was fundamental to my time as Chief Master. When I was a boy here, 80% of us came for free by government support and King Edward’s was a great engine of social mobility – and the best school in the country. By 2006 the number of Assisted Places was down to perhaps 10-15%. Now

A

Q In 2010 you abandoned A-Levels at KES, in favour of the IB. Why? A We made the move originally to restore the intellectual life of a great school and

“Universities are trying to attract IB students by lowering offers”

Q Do you think the independent sector needs to be more accessible?

A Absolutely: it is vital for the sector’s success, if not survival.

The government wants it and many schools need it. More schools have to do more to raise funds for more Assisted Places.

The schools that have been active have shown the power of such a strategy. It would be wonderful if the state collaborated in these efforts, as has recently been suggested.

Q What do you think is the greatest challenge facing independent schools?

A I don’t think there is one single challenge because the sector is so diverse. In the prosperous London and the south, the problem may be the problems that come with success and excess. In the Midlands and the North, and amongst smaller schools, it may come down to survival, maintaining pupil quantity and quality when the number of fee payers is in decline. And regulations and policies, all necessary, don’t make life easier for schools, either.

What are you proudest of in your career as a whole?

A Nothing could beat being the head of my old school and having the chance to make a difference in a school that meant everything to me. However, if you want a moment, it was being in charge of an Eton cricket team that beat an outstanding Radley team in the Silk Trophy at Shrewsbury about 20 years ago. Andrew Strauss got out to a filthy long hop on the ball before tea.

Q

130 | A B S O LU T E LY E D U C AT I O N | SPRING • SUMMER 2017

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02/03/2017 12:18

DISCOVER SOMERSET, DISCOVER DOWNSIDE

BEST FOR WELL-BEING The Week Independent Schools Guide

TWO HOURS FROM LONDON

TOP TEN BEAUTIFUL SCHOOLS Daily Telegraph

Academically top-performing school: 28% of pupils achieved at least 3 A*/A grades at A Level in 2016

downside SCHOOL www.downside.co.uk DOWNSIDE SCHOOL.indd 1

02/09/2016 09:56

A large estate in the world-famous university city London Heathrow 45 minutes away Co-educational Full boarding www.stedwardsoxford.org

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13–18

30/09/2016 14:45