Absolutely British Education Dubai Spring 2019 Preview

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BRITISH

EDUCATION

DUBAI EDITION

S P R I N G 2 019

WRITE

SPRING 2019

WE ARE FAMILY

OFF

BRITISH BOARDING GOES GLOBAL

Is this the end of handwriting?

Mind your manners PROMOTING KINDNESS AT ETON

IGCSES BETTER OR WORSE?

Smart

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THINKING

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CONTE N SPRING • 2019

upfront

12 NEWS

What’s going on in the world of education

19 BOOK BONANZA

Cranleigh Prep School’s Awesome Book Awards,

by Amanda Constance

20 BACK TO THE FUTURE

As Dulwich College turns 400, British Education talks to its Master, Dr Jospeh Spence

PREP

24 WRITE OFF?

Prep heads and education experts on the future of handwriting

29 LEFT BEHIND

Are left-handed children being let down?

By Libby Norman

32 SUPERHERO SCIENCE

Libby Norman discovers a STEM card game

34 11 YEARS OF 11+

Will Orr-Ewing of Keystone tutors has some sage advice for parents

32 SENIOR

38 COOL TO BE KIND

The unexpected benefits of teaching a growth mindset, by Eton’s Johnnie Noakes

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43 A WIDER OUTLOOK

Tips on bringing a growth mindset to raising children, by Melissa Hood

52 ALL ABOARD

The benefits of UK boarding, by Jo Sagers of Dauntsey’s School

62 MARKET FORCES

The controversy over unconditional offers,

by Lisa Freedman

s c h o o l’ s o u t

73 POLE POSITION

A STEM project with added va va voom by Dr Richard Phillips of Loretto School

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NTS

72 EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Amanda Constance

EDITOR I A L ASSISTA NT

Flora Thomas

M AGA ZINE M A NAGER

Donna McCafferty

GROUP A DV ERTISING M A NAGER

Nicola Owens

SA LES DIR ECTOR

Craig Davies

DIGITA L STR ATEGY DIR ECTOR

Leah Day

A RT DIR ECTOR

Phil Couzens

SENIOR DESIGNER

Pawel Kuba

MID-W EIGHT DESIGNER

Rebecca Noonan

DESIGNER

Catherine Perkins

M A R KETING M A NAGER

Lucie Pearce

FINA NCE DIR ECTOR

Jerrie Koleci

DIR ECTORS

52 74 ALTERNATIVE ASCENTS The charity teaching inner-city kids to ski,

by Flora Thomas

Greg Hughes, Alexandra Hunter, James Fuschillo

PUBLISHING DIR ECTOR

Sherif Shaltout

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@AB SOLUTELY_EDU ‘AB SOLUTELY EDUCATION’

78 ROYAL BATTLE

AB SO LU TELY B R I T I S H E D U C AT I ON | D U B A I E D I T I O N

How are schools coping with Fortnite?

by Sophie Pender-Cudlip

82 MOUNTAIN HIGH

BRITISH

EDUCATION

DUBAI EDITION

S P R I N G 2 019

WRITE

S PRI NG 2019

British Education heads for the mountains,

by Pendle Harte

WE ARE FAMILY

OFF

BRITISH BOARDING GOES GLOBAL

Is this the end of handwriting?

Mind your manners PROMOTING KINDNESS AT ETON

Dubai

l a s t wo r d

98 SAM ANTROBUS

60 seconds with the founder of Wishford Schools

Smart

19

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86 UK BOARDING SCHOOLS EXHIBITION

THINKING DEVELOPING A GROWTH MINDSET

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F RO NT COV E R Pupils at St Catherine’s Bramley, a day and boarding girls’ school for 4-18 year olds in Surrey St Catherine’s School, Station Rd, Bramley, Guildford GU5 0DF, 01483 893363, stcatherines.info

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Space to breathe.

Set in 200 acres of beautiful countryside and just four miles from the breathtaking north Norfolk coast, a Gresham’s education gives your child all the time and space they need to develop into a confident, well-rounded individual.

An independent boarding and day school for girls and boys aged 2-18 in the East of England. greshams.com | Norfolk, United Kingdom

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We l c o m e

From the

EDITOR

I

really wanted to make a positive start to the New Year with a shiny happy ed’s letter.

But then Dominic Floyd, Head of Mount Kelly prep school in Devon, had a nibble at my Achilles heel.

He’s spoken out against the “forum of negativity” that is the dreaded class WhatsApp group. Floyd thinks that the “worrying” trend towards large group conversations on social media platforms for parents has undermined the “critical” relationship between parents and their child’s teachers.

I've been banging this particular drum to anyone who will listen for a while now. I have observed the once-assumed trust between school and parents being rapidly eroded.

When my eldest son, now in Year 10, was at primary school, there was no

As Floyd says: “Minor complaints become amplified to an unintelligible degree” as issues take on a life of their own and these groups can often end up becoming “home to vitriolic tirades".

His suggestion, is face-to-face conversations with teachers. I don’t really have a solution, just a grump - but I am struck by what Julian de Bono, Director of Studies at Port Regis says about the art of handwriting in this issue (page 24). He says: “Handwriting forces us to take responsibility for what we put on the page.” Maybe we should learn to pause for a moment and take more care with these digital forums. If we want our children to behave responsibly on social media, shouldn’t we?

Right, I’ve dismounted from my high horse…. In happier times we went to a fascinating conference at Kingston Grammar School about

“IF EMAIL AND NUANCE ARE HARD ON EMAIL, IT’S EVEN WORSE ON WHATSAPP” WhatsApp group, it didn’t exist. In contrast, my youngest, in Year 3 has a highly active WhatsApp group which at best is somewhat neurotic and at worst, downright rude. When his teacher for this year was announced at the end of the summer term, her abilities were questioned and roundly trashed, before she’d set foot in the classroom.

All in the name of ‘bants’ apparently. I thought it disrespectful and offensive. We know from email that tone and nuance can be problematic, it’s even worse on WhatsApp where people ping messages to each other instantly, with little thought.

Growth Mindset. We left with our neural pathways fizzing and decided to focus on this hot– but often misunderstood – issue in the magazine. I’m very pleased that two Mindset gurus, Jonnie Noakes of Eton College and Chris Hildrew from Churchill Academy have both written on the subject for us.

I hope you enjoy this issue.

A manda Constance EDITOR

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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

Jonnie Noakes

Director of Teaching and Learning, Eton

Described by his peers as 'Mr Growth Mindset', Jonnie Noakes was educated at Eton and Cambridge. He is both the Director of Teaching and Learning, and the Director of The Tony Little Centre for Innovation and Research in Learning at Eton. He writes about Growth Mindset on page 38.

What arena of your life would benefit from a growth mindset?

My use of social media which, as my children will attest (between chuckles), I haven’t mastered (yet)!

Julian de Bono

Director of Studies, Port Regis

Julian de Bono is Director of Studies at Port Regis where he teaches English and History. He read Medieval and Old English and Icelandic at Oxford, and has worked at Winchester College, Bruern Abbey and The Oratory School.

He writes about handwriting on page 24.

What arena of your life would benefit from a growth mindset?

There is no part of my life that would not benefit from it.

Sally-Anne Huang

Headmistress, James Allen's Girls' School

Sally-Anne Huang is Headmistress of James Allen’s Girls’ School. She was educated at Bolton School and Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford. Her first headship was at Kent College, Pembury, and she has worked at Sevenoaks School and Roedean. She writes about social media on page 64.

What arena of your life would benefit from a growth mindset?

One day I will manage all my paperwork in an orderly and organised fashion!

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We l c o m e

From

ANDERSON EDUCATION

A

s the spring term commences, students who joined as new boarders in September are returning to a now familiar environment. As education consultants, it is rewarding to follow up with these families after their first term and get positive feedback about their experience. It is also reassuring for families that are considering the option of a UK boarding school education to hear first-hand, so we would like to share these words with you:

“Sury is enjoying the boarding experience; he is excelling in both his studies and in sports, loves his boarding house and has made many friends. He is back home in Nepal for the holidays now and I can see how independent and mature he has become. I cannot thank you enough for helping us with the

Selecting the best school for your child is a daunting task; it can be an emotional decision with a large financial commitment. As a first step, we recommend that you establish your criteria, ie type of school (co-ed, girls or boys, independent sixth form college), academic level, strengths and interests of your child and area of the UK. School websites are a good source of information; as are the individual Independent Schools Inspectorate (ISI) School Reports. Schools are inspected every three years and they must publish a copy of the report on their website within two receipt. weeks of receipt www.isi.net/reports The UK Boarding School Exhibition on 8 and 9 February 2019 at Grosvenor House Hotel, Dubai Marina, is a good place to start. It will give you the opportunity to talk to the education consultants, heads and representatives of up to 25 schools. Register at www. andersoneducation.co.uk/ukboarding-school-exhibition-dubai

“WITH OVER 75,000 PUPILS AT UK BOARDING SCHOOLS, YOU CAN SEE WHY #ILOVEBOARDING IS MORE THAN JUST A HASHTAG” search for a school, you helped us to find the right fit for him and I will be forever grateful.”

Vidushi, Nepal “We have had the perfect start to a boarding school experience, Caitlin has embraced every aspect of a UK boarding education and is thoroughly enjoying it. She is thriving; her academic and pastoral reports are amazing and from a sporting perspective she is also excelling. I can only thank you and your team for providing guidance; you helped us find the perfect school”. Lisa, Dubai

The Boarding School Association reports: “Standards in education and pastoral care have never been better and investment in facilities and learning is at an all-time high. Don’t just take our word for it – with over 75,000 boarding pupils at over 500 state and independent boarding schools – you can see why #iloveboarding is more than just a hashtag, it's a way of life.”

Sara Sparling EDUCATIONAL CONSULTANT ANDERSON EDUCATION

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Expa nding Gordonstoun Junior School will welcome a new Year 1 class in September. Robert McVean, Head, said: “We've had many requests for younger children to join Gordonstoun, so we are very pleased to be expanding and creating a new Year 1 class. Our main aim is to encourage a love of learning and knowledge."

ART SALE On 4 December, Christie’s presented a stand-alone sale comprising approximately 200 lots from the collection of Rugby School. Lucas van Leyden’s rare drawing, A Young Man Standing, sparked fierce competition resulting in a sale of £11.5m.

The school’s governing body will use the proceeds, totalling nearly £15m, to benefit the current and future students, including building a new museum space on the school site for the unsold art works.

“The Christie's sale raised nearly £15 million for the benefit of students”

WO R L D P R E M I E R E

Crafty Work

St Mary’s Shaftesbury pupil and Elite Dance Scholar, Isabelle Evans, will perform in the world premiere of Matthew Bourne’s Romeo and Juliet in May. “It's a wonderful achievement and testament to Isabelle's hard work and commitment to dance alongside her academic studies,” said Headmistress, Maria Young,

Writer Karen Bennett and photographer Julian Calder travelled across the UK to capture the passion of the craftsmen and women whose education was funded by the Queen Elizabeth Scholarship Trust. The result is a fantastic book: A Celebration of British Craftsmanship.

Available from qest.org.uk

OX B R I D G E ADMISSIONS Published figures reveal the schools and colleges with the highest number of Oxbridge admissions are: Westminster School; Eton College; Hill Road Sixth Form College; St Paul’s School; Peter Symonds College; St Paul’s Girls’ School; King’s College School and Magdalen College School.

“The government doesn’t realise it's way behind when it comes to AI in education... they're still locked in the 20th-century mindset without even realising that they are. What needs changing is the mindset.”

ETON COLLEGE A N T H O N Y S E L D O N I N T H E S P E C TAT O R

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UPFRON T / NEWS

By FLORA THOMAS

R elocation The Lyceum School will relocate later this year. Headmistress Hilary Wyatt said: “The Lyceum’s heart has always been in the bustling and vibrant Shoreditch...

We wanted to seek out an environment that would enable us to increase our capacity to take on more students.”

DNA Directed by Dominic Bell, Head of Academic Drama, students at The Ley's staged Dennis Kelly’s dark drama, DNA in the Great Hall. The cast of 12 worked hard and in a short space of time to realise Kelly’s script, which in the words of the director “turns the semi-incoherence of ordinary street speech into a highly original repetitive cross-talking poetry”.

NEW N U R S E RY St James Preparatory School in Kensington will open a nursery in September. The new space will share the school’s use of its Forest School, in addition to specialist performing arts, music and language teaching.

Newly appointed Head of Nursery, Minisha Bist, brings a wealth of experience in Montessori techniques.

T E AC H E R TRAINING Instead of swapping typical Secret Santa presents this year, girls at Kilgraston School raised money for the Scottish Catholic International Aid Fund which works with impoverished people across the globe. Pupils managed to raise £830 through donations, which is how much it costs for the charity to train a teacher.

Apple Awa rd Southbank International School’s Hampstead Campus has been named an Apple Distinguished School. The award recognises innovation, leadership and educational excellence in schools that use Apple products to inspire creativity, collaboration and critical thinking.

“I want my kid frolicking, drawing and playing football. Who knows more about stopping this madness and can help me? So nuts.”

R O B D E L A N E Y, AC TO R , D E C RY I N G H O M E W O R K F O R S E V E N -Y E A R - O L D S O N T W I T T E R

SOMETHING THEY SAID “Young people are self-censoring because, unable to differentiate between critiquing an argument and criticising a person, they believe that disagreeing with someone may be a 'cultural crime'.”

F R A N K F U R E D I , E M E R I T U S P R O F E S S O R O F S O C I O L O G Y AT K E N T U N I V E R S I T Y

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UPFRON T / NEWS

By FLORA THOMAS

H igh pra ise

S TAT E O F THE ART

SCHOOL OF THE YEAR Kensington Prep School is ‘Independent Prep School of the Year’. Ground-breaking facilities have been created by transforming classrooms into powerful learning spaces. The renovation boasts spacious classrooms, an immersive hightech Explore Floor with multiscreens and moveable furniture, a multi-media recording studio and an eco-greenhouse.

“Classrooms have been transformed into learning spaces"

Tonbridge School has built a state of the art science centre.

Named after distinguished British organic chemist Sir Derek Barton, an Old Tonbridgian and Nobel Prize winner, the Barton Science Centre is an ambitious development. Central to the design is an atrium space for lectures, experiments and events.

There are areas for group work and private study, project rooms, a greenhouse and even a roofgarden. Bill Burnett, Head of Science, said: “We’d like the new centre to be a regional hub and a centre of excellence that the wider community will share in.”

Renowned actor, screenwriter and novelist Lord Julian Fellowes attended the opening night of the Lower School production at Benenden and declared it "marvellous". Lord Fellowes said: “I think it’s marvellous but, of course for my generation, quite surprising in its content as a school play – there were one or two moments that made me jump!”

G I R L R AC E R Babington House student Esmee Hawkey has been selected from hundreds of applicants as one of five British women to compete for places on the new, all-female, motor racing championship ‘W Series’.

The W Series carries a prize fund of £1.15 million and is likely to lead to the first female Formula One racing driver.

Esmee is a fantastic role model for present pupils and as an Ambassador for Babington House School, she proudly wears the Babington Logo on her racing kit.

CON FIDENCE IS KEY The incoming president of the GSA, Sue Hicks, called for public figures to remember that they are role models. She said: “Schools have a complex job to do these days because of the highly visible world in which we now live. More than ever, we need to work together to provide children with skills to enable them to navigate the 21st century.”

Top Story

B E G , B O R R OW STEAL Pupils at Beaudesert Park School in Gloucestershire looted friends’ and families’ wardrobes to stage a Year 8 production of Bugsy Malone in the school's performing arts centre. With gangsters in fedoras and dancing girls bedecked in feathers, the vast cast required 150 costumes and even a vintage Austin car on loan from a teacher.

SOMETHING THEY SAID “About 10 independent schools have significant wealth and another 300 have buildings and land of considerable value. That leaves 2,000 independent schools with no endowment and little in the bank. These schools save the taxpayer £3.5 billion a year by taking children who would otherwise be educated by the state.”

BARNABY LENON , CHAIRMAN , INDEPENDENT SCHOOLS COUNCIL , IN THE TIMES

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MERCHISTON

STORY

WHERE YOUR SON COMES FIRST EVERY BOY IS AN INDIVIDUAL. EVERY BOY HAS A STORY. LET US SHAPE HIS FUTURE STORY.

Meet the Headmaster in Dubai Thursday 14 March – Saturday 16 March. Register online. “…one of the UK’s leading independent schools.” * Direct flights from Dubai to Scotland. We are 15 minutes from Edinburgh International Airport.

A BOARDING AND DAY SCHOOL FOR BOYS AGED 7-18 MERCHISTON.CO.UK admissions@merchiston.co.uk +44(0)131 312 2201 *www.ukboardingschools.com Recognised by the Inland Revenue as a Charity, number SC016580

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UPFRON T / NEWS

By FLORA THOMAS

T H E VO I C E O F YO U T H P O L I T I C S Wellington College student and member of UK Youth Parliament, Khadeejah Hullemuth, is working to set up a junior Prime Minister’s Questions. How does she juggle school work with being a MYP? "It’s all down to organisation and knowing what you’re doing," she said. With such clarity there is no doubt that she will go far in the world. of politics.

“It's all down to knowing what you're doing”

BOTSWANA CHARITY

CRICKET WIN

Queenswood School in Hertfordshire has been sending girls to Mara-a-Palu, a school in Botswana, since 2016. The trips focus on community service, and involve spending time with Ray of Hope, a charity supporting orphans and vulnerable children in the village of Gamadubu.

Now, Queenswood girls are establishing a link with a new initiative called ‘Hope for Her Botswana’, which focuses on women’s empowerment. Late last year, the school welcomed former Maru-a-Palu student Thato Mauco, who spoke with girls about the initiative.

Malvern College has named 13-year-old Grace Seedhouse as the inaugural winner of the prestigious Rachael Heyhoe Flint Cricket Award, set up in memory of the pioneering cricket star. Grace was selected from dozens of talented young cricketers who attended trials last week; she will join Malvern College in September. The award is worth thousands of pounds plus specialist menotring, and it is the first dedicated girls’ cricket scholarship offered by any school.

T R A D E S H OW In response to global interest in reducing the use of plastic, Hurst College’s Young Enterprise team, TOK, have launched a range of compact glass water bottles. TOK went along to Carfax Marketplace in Horsham to sell their products.

Each practical bottle has been hand-etched with an animal at risk from the destruction of our oceans. The eco-conscious bottles even come with recyclable leaflets about the featured animal.

GOOGLE THIS 16-year-old Abingdon School student Freddie Nicholson has been crowned Google Grand Prize Winner in the global tech giant's annual competition for young coders. Freddie’s prize includes the chance to visit Google headquarters in sunny California this summer. Freddie said of his win: “When the email arrived saying that I was a Grand Prize Winner I couldn’t believe it!"

Top Story

GOING UP

OPEN DOORS

Falcons Preparatory School in Richmond will grow to include Reception and Year 1. Olivia Buchanan, Headmistress, said: "We have been thinking about our school and the community it serves... for many parents, a Reception through to Year 8 pathway is the most attractive and we strongly believe that we can offer a first-class education for boys from as young as four."

The Study Prep Wimbledon is to host its annual open morning on 9 March. The school is renowned for its caring, creative ethos and superb academic results. Last year saw a record number of senior school offers and scholarships, with a record number of 39 scholarships awarded, beating the previous year’s record of 35.

SOMETHING THEY SAID “It is a shame that parents feel they have to justify choosing private education. If the alternative is that you sacrifice the interests of your children’s education for some kind of political ideology or some kind of virtue flagging, that doesn’t seem to be authentic parenting.”

S H A U N F E N T O N , C H A I R O F T H E H M C A N D H E A D O F R E I G AT E G R A M M A R S C H O O L

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UPFRON T / FOCUS

BOOK bonanza The Awesome Book Awards is a brilliant scheme for young readers, created by the Head of English at Cranleigh Prep School A M A N DA C O N S TA N C E

T

he Awesome Book Awards is, well, awesome.

The brainchild of Kate Schutte, Head of English at Cranleigh Prep School, it began in 2016 specifically to inspire children aged 7-10 years about books and reading.

It offers pupils the chance to vote for their favourite books from five shortlisted authors in order to select the winner. Previous winners are Peter Bunzl (2018) with Cogheart and Ross Welford (2017) for Time Travelling with a Hamster.

“It’s been very successful,” says Schutte, “because it’s about children, for children, aimed at children - that’s why all the authors want to be involved.”

And it is for all children. While it's run by Schutte and CPS librarian Alison Fenton, the school has little involvement other than staging the ceremony. Schools can register online so their students can vote on the books and receive resources and updates such as book club blogs and Q&As with the authors.

Registered schools are invited to take pupils to the awards ceremony itself in May. “It’s about creating a community of readers,” says Schutte. “We want children to explore different genres and to enjoy new authors’ adventures.”

them down to a five-book shortlist. The awards are launched in September.

Participating students are then encouraged to read the shortlist - “if they read one or two, that’s fine,” says Schutte, “if they read all five, they are encouraged to vote”.

Voting opens in March and culminates with the ceremony in May. “It’s like the Oscars for children - there’s real glitz and glamour,” says Schutte.

Schutte admits the awards night “is already a victim of its own success.

It’s too popular, more than 60 schools brought students last year,” which means they now have to limit numbers.

“We’re trialling tech this year so that in 2020 we can live stream and take it national.”

For something that is essentially a two-man band - plus great support from ABOVE Cranleigh’s IT and Marketing Kate Schutte with the 2019 shortlist department - the Awesome Book Awards already looks like The process to find this year’s the real deal. “It’s a lot of work, winner began last Easter. There are but great fun,” says Schutte. “With certain rules: the books must be by UKchildren you don’t want to do something based authors, it must be their debut novel half hearted. If we’re going to do it well, and it must appeal to a co-ed audience. we’re going to do it really well.”

Fenton keeps an eye on all debut novels, “she’s hugely proactive,” says Schutte.

They create a longlist, then a group of Voting for the 2019 Awesome Books pupils and adults read all the books over Awards opens on Monday 11 March 2019 the Easter holidays - that’s 15-20 books and closes Friday 26 April 2019. Sign up at before meeting in the summer to whittle awesomebookawards.com.

2019 Awesome Book Awards Shortlist

The Starman and Me

by Sharon Cohen

Being Miss Nobody

by Tamsin Winter

Brightstorm

by Vashti Hardy

Running on the Roof of the World

by Jess Butterworth

The Ice Garden

by Guy Jones

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Back to the

FUTURE The Master of Dulwich College tells Absolutely Education that his school’s 400th anniversary celebrations this year are not just about past glories.

He has his sights set on new horizons A M A N D A C O N S TA N C E

I

n 2009, when Dr Joe Spence arrived at Dulwich College as the prospective new head, he spotted an opportunity. “I saw we were 10 years from a milestone anniversary,” he says. So as part of his pitch to the governors he said, “I’m here for the long game, I’m sticking around.’ I promised I would have a clearly defined message as to what a Dulwich College education is by 2019.”

“And so what you will see this year is the work of a decade which we are now harvesting,” he says. Dr Spence is referring to Dulwich College’s impressive 400th Anniversary Programme, a blistering roll call of events throughout 2019 that involves and includes past and present pupils and staff, international pupils and the wider community. Highlights include the Dulwich Olympiad in March, the Service of Thanksgiving at St Paul’s Cathedral in June, and the unveiling of two newly commissioned artworks, Gerard Stamp’s Dulwich College - which will sit alongside Camille Pissarro’s 1871 painting of the school and Helen Whittaker’s commemorative

stained glass window which will be installed in the Lower Hall.

While the huge array of events on offer has clearly been the work of the whole school community, Dr Spence has been the engine behind it. “It has been very personal,” he admits. “This is what I promised on arrival.”

But he is at pains to point out that the school’s 400th birthday will not just be about looking back over past glories.

"What I want from this very special year is that balance of celebrating the best moments from our history but also looking forward, not missing the chance to think about where we go next - for me it’s about what the 2020s are going to look like.”

The event that Spence thinks most symbolises this coming together of the past and present is Old Alleynians day in Founders Week (June).

"It's not the most ‘wow’ day, but it’s at the heart of the year. The College is in touch with more than 3,000 alumni; leaders from every vocation imaginable will come back to their old school and give masterclasses to our current students. They will reflect on the past but also look to the future,” he says.

Dr Spence is not a man to stand still.

Arriving at Dulwich via a first headship at Oakham and ten years as a History and Politics teacher and housemaster to the King’s Scholars at Eton, he fizzes with intellectual energy. And a palpable sense of moral duty; he clearly feels he must continue the remarkable legacy of the school’s founder Edward Alleyn.

Alleyn - allegedly known as Ned to his friends - was one of the first celebrity actors, playing leading roles on the late Elizabethan and Jacobean stage. A darling of the theatre world, it is said that when he retired at the height of his fame circa 1598, Queen Elizabeth I personally requested his return to the stage. Through a good marriage and sound business sense, Alleyn amassed a small fortune and in 1619 he founded the College of God’s Gift in Dulwich village for ‘12 poor scholars' with letters patent from King James I. From those small beginnings grew a successful independent school for boys aged 11-18. Nowadays Dulwich College is an international global brand. There are now 1,800 pupils in London at Dulwich College and James Allen’s Girls’ School (JAGS). And

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11 partner schools with some 7,000 pupils overseas. The roll call of alumni is long and impressive: the actor Chiwetel Ejiofor, artist Jeremy Deller, the authors Graham Swift, Michael Ondaatje, Tom Rob Smith and Tom McCarthy; TV executive Sir Peter Bazalgette and further back in history, writer PG Wodehouse and explorer Ernest Shackleton.

Starry indeed but the school still has the same social mission at its heart as it did 400 years ago: to provide access TOP to an outstanding education to Dulwich's rugby team pupils regardless of their ability ABOVE to pay. Spence is positively Dr Joe Spence evangelical about the need for fee BELOW Camille Pissarro's 1871 relief in the form of scholarships watercolour of the College and means-tested bursaries.

Thirty five percent of boys from 11 to 18 are currently in receipt of some form of financial assistance at Dulwich and Spence wants this to grow to 50%. Even this ambition doesn’t match that of Christopher Gilkes, Master during the 1940s and 50s.

During his tenure the academic standing of the College not only grew but it also took in large numbers of boys whose fees were funded by the London County Council (LCC) – this was known as the Dulwich Experiment and at its peak some 85% of the boys entering Dulwich College were in receipt of fee assistance and the College roll rose from 700 to 1,000 boys.

Another of Dr Spence’s predecessors, Master Canon Carver (1858-1882), resented the prescriptive public examinations of the age and instead aimed to identify the right subjects for a boy rather than a syllabus of

shallow breadth. Today, Dulwich College has 'Free Learning' at its core, the second tenet of a College education about which Dr Spence is, well, evangelical.

“When I first coined that term half the Common Room would have said, “Nice Blairite soundbite’, and looked doubtful now those very same staff are coming to me with ideas,” says Dr Spence.

Free Learning, explains Dr Spence, is learning that is free from a syllabus, free from teaching to the test, and free to challenge pupils to thinking for its own sake. It is fed by intellectual curiosity, often supported by the interest and enthusiasm of a teacher, and takes place both within subject lessons and without.

Examples of Free Learning at Dulwich are 'Creative Weeks’ (an entire week off timetable e.g. Political Week, Linguistics Week) and the Upper and Junior School Symposia.

“We’re not all about Oxbridge here,” says Dr Spence, “we’re not all about attainment. Yes your sons will do well in public exams but if you send them here they won’t strain every sinew to get every grade.”

And just as the College archives show many 18th century OAs heading into the recognisable trades of the time - tailors, carpenters, wheelwrights, drapers, dyers and stationers – so today Dulwich College supports the many and varied routes for pupils after school, including apprenticeships.

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UPFRON T / FOCUS

LEFT The Dulwich Olympiad BELOW One of the newly published Quartercentenary series

“We don’t have a crystal ball, we don’t know what the future holds but we aim to prepare our students for the world of work in the 2030s,” says Dr Spence. He believes developing students' empathy and original thinking, their IT competency, leadership and communication skills are paramount.

“This will become even more the case with the death of the passive CV,” (when the listing of top exam grades will not be sufficient to secure a top job), he says.

events and showcase their talents in competitions and performances.

The first Olympiad took place in 2015 when Dr Spence took 110 London pupils to Beijing. This time 600 pupils from the international schools will travel to London and it is hoped that the Olympiad will continue every four years. “It’s a way of bringing us together,” says Dr Spence. “We really are a community not just a franchise.”

There are many events planned for this year but two of which Dr Spence is especially proud are the unveiling of a newly commissioned artwork of the school by architectural portraitist Gerard Stamp and the Quatercenternary Series, four newly published books concerned with, and inspired by, Alleynians.

Stamp’s work, which Dr Spence personally commissioned, will be unveiled alongside Camille Pissarro’s 1871 watercolour of the Barry Building, the neo-Classical, neo Gothic New College built by Charles Barry Junior (son of the architect of the Houses of Parliament) in the mid-19th century.

Stamp, an architectural portraitist, “plays off Pissarro’s watercolour,” says Dr Spence, but has included the Laboratory , the College’s newest building, thus “brilliantly capturing both the old and the new.”

“THE OLYMPIAD IS A WAY OF BRINGING US TOGETHER. WE ARE A COMMUNITY NOT JUST A FRANCHISE” And, he adds, the school isn’t afraid to back a boy who has chosen an alternative route. “We’ll encourage the boy who wants to do a Foundation Course even if his parents are still wanting him to choose STEM,” he says.

For Dr Spence, it was important that the same core ethos of a Dulwich Education - the Social Mission and Free Learning - runs through the 400th Anniversary Programme. “I’d like to think it isn’t too rah rah,” says Spence. “This isn’t us saying how fabulous we are.”

The grandest of all the events will be the Service of Thanksgiving at St Paul’s Cathedral, at the beginning of Founders Week in June. More than 2,000 people, including all pupils aged 11 and above, will gather at St Paul’s. But the day will begin somewhat earlier for 18 Dulwich rowers

from the school who will deliver a letter of congratulation from the Queen, rowing the Queen’s rowbarge, Gloriana, from Putney to Westminster, before entering the Cathedral and processing down the aisle with blades.

“That will be our moment of pomp and circumstance,” says Dr Spence. But he likes to think that the Friday before, Community Service Day, “is more emblematic of what the school is,” he says. Every pupil will be involved in a service project helping others.

"We are not about looking inwards and gazing at the collective naval,” he says.

Perhaps the event that most typifies this wider outlook is the Dulwich Olympiad 2019.

Taking place in March, it is a celebration of sport, music, drama and art that brings together students from the Commonwealth of Dulwich College International (DCI) Schools to participate in workshops and

This year will see the last two books of the Quartercentenary Series published: a collection of 11 short stories from OAs, staff and pupils (Dr Spence is writing one) and a book about five of the best known Alleynian authors by Patrick Humphries to which Dr Spence is adding an afterword. “The idea of Dulwich as a cradle of writers is very important to me,” he says.

2019 will be a chance for Dulwich College to spread the message about what it is and what it stands for. “We have a very historic sense at this school, a tribal loyalty which perhaps my predecessors had trouble articulating," says Dr Spence.

"I think we have got better at that.”

And while he isn’t one to blow any sort of trumpet, he will admit to “some pride in getting to this point,” before hastily adding the proviso, “there is still much to do”.

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ABOVE A pupil at the Lyceum

BELOW Is touch typing the future?

Pupils at the Lyceum

WRITE ON? S

HILARY WYATT

Rising numbers of students are doing their exams on computers rather than having to complete handwritten papers. Universities such as Edinburgh, Oxford and Cambridge are all testing the move and more than 60% of universities have brought in ‘e-exams’ in at least one or two modules according to a recent academic survey. As touch-typing takes over, we ask some teachers and education experts, is this the end of handwriting?

HEAD The Lyceum

ometimes parents ask why we teach handwriting at school at all; surely it is an obsolete skill? Of course, we must teach computer skills to ensure that our children are well-prepared for the future but developing a neat and swift cursive script is just as important and there is sound academic research that supports this view.

Joyce Rankin, who is on the State Board for Education in America and wrote The (Hand)writings on the Wall, cites research studies that have proven that there are direct links between developing good handwriting skills at an early age and academic achievement in both literacy and numeracy as children progress through their schooling; brain imaging has actually found that handwriting activates the brain more

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t

PR EP / TA LK ING POIN T

“Handwriting activates the brain, involving complex motor and cognitive skill” than typing because it involves more complex motor and cognitive skills.

I have always found that the process of writing something by hand helps me to learn it and research says it helps to ‘etch it into the memory’. We all remember those long lists of spelling words that we learnt through writing them out over and over again; the process of writing them down was actually teaching the brain to remember them. Why would we deny our children this highly effective learning tool?

Studies show that handwriting contributes to reading fluency as it activates the visual perception of letters. This is especially important for those who struggle with acquiring language skills. According to Marilyn Zecher, a language specialist, children with dyslexia have difficulty learning to read and to spell because their brains associate sound and letter combinations inefficiently.

She says that cursive helps with the decoding process because it integrates hand-eye coordination, fine motor skills and other brain and memory functions.

The last and most important reason to teach handwriting is that having illegible handwriting can have a serious impact on a child’s selfesteem and can hinder their learning irreparably.

were awarded for the successful integration of ICT into the primary curriculum and I studied this subject on a scholarship to the USA. I was definitely not going to be a Luddite.

But never did I consider dropping handwriting from the curriculum.

There was far too much evidence to support its value.

Children in Early Years develop physical co-ordination and mental stamina through mark-making, colouring and tracing. The Montessori method advocates a kinaesthetic approach, using sandpaper letters, salt trays and plasticine so children feel the shape of the letter and develop fine motor control. They draw the shape in the air as they repeat it. All children, leftor right-handed, should be taught the correct posture for writing and pencil grip to avoid discomfort. I am firmly in favour of cursive writing right from the start, with Early Years children being taught the ligatures

“I am firmly in favour of cursive writing right from the start”

to connect one letter with the next.

Descenders/ascenders should be the right depth/height and the link strokes smooth and regular. Letter strings, such as in words ending in -ing or -ght, come naturally to children writing these cursively.

When asked to advise on future schooling I always found the most efficient way to assess a child’s written level of English and creative potential is through a piece of unaided writing. All pupils, with only a handful of exceptions, need to write quickly and legibly in their examinations. On school visits parents should search for handwritten work by the pupils and value the integrity of the teacher who leaves untouched the occasional spelling mistake, celebrating the originality of the work displayed.

To support their child’s learning, parents must, alongside paying attention to regular reading, number bonds and the world around them, ensure their child witnesses them, their primary role model, handwrite thank you letters, telephone messages or shopping lists. What better new year resolution than to spend ten screen-free minutes a day on handwriting? It will be a sound investment.

SALLY HOBBS,

FORMER HEAD AND S C H O O L S C O N S U LTA N T Mavor Associates

I

am very aware of how deeply embedded into our lives the typed word has become. In the 1990s and Noughties many of us involved in primary education eagerly embraced technology, seeing the potential of the infinite variety of applications. Touch-typing programs proliferated. Certificates SPRING 2019 | B R I T I S H E D U C AT I O N | 25

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A small school, big on heart, big on ambition.

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A co-educational, independent, private boarding and day school for just over 600 pupils, from 0 to 18 years.

Set in a safe, leafy, spacious, 85 acre campus in Musselburgh; the school enjoys all the advantages of its rural setting.

Globally connected, with the convenience and opportunities of being just 9 kilometres / 6 miles from Edinburgh, Scotland’s capital city, with its international airport, rail and road networks.

Offering the traditional British / English curriculum of GCSEs and A-levels, and ranked in the top 7% of schools nationally for A-level.

97% of pupils enter the University of their choice, such as Oxford, Cambridge, St Andrews, and Durham.

Every pupil is known personally, and can grow and develop wherever their interests lie.

An emphasis on the development of the whole person, in mind, body, and spirit.

Exceptional facilities, bespoke to learning and teaching, sport, drama, dance, art and music.

An industry-leading Golf Academy with state-of-the-art indoor and outdoor pratice centres, and partnership with renown Golf Clubs.

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Independent, boarding and day school for girls and boys aged 0 - 18 Linkfield Road, Musselburgh, East Lothian, Scotland, EH21 7AF e admissions@loretto.com t +44(0)131 653 4455 w www.loretto.com @LorettoSchool @LorettoHead

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PR EP / TA LK ING POIN T

JULIAN DE BONO

D I R E C TO R O F S T U D I E S Port Regis

LEFT Gripping: Handwriting teaches motor-skills

BELOW Write on: Port Regis children practise handwriting

STEPHEN WINCHESTER HEAD OF ENGLISH Beaudesert Park School

H

andwriting is still alive and kicking here at Beaudesert, but very much part of a mix. We certainly place more importance on typing skills as the children near the age when they move on to their various senior schools of choice aged 13. Most can touch-type by the time they are 11, and we are working towards this being by the time they are 9.

The children start to put pen to paper in Nursery, with dedicated handwriting sessions the order of the day during those early PrePrep years. At that stage physically forming the letters helps the children develop fine motor skills, and the action of writing or drawing them also taps into different ways of learning which helps embed the information. In fact there is a substantial body of evidence which suggests that, whatever your age, the physical act of writing something makes that thing more readily memorable. As a result,

work such as revision notes and spellings can hold more benefit if written than typed, even if the latter may take less time. Good, clear handwriting is celebrated in different ways throughout the school.

Standout examples are displayed on noticeboards across various year groups, and children in Year 4 are each awarded a ‘Pen Licence’ when their handwriting has achieved a certain standard. At that point they are promoted to writing in class with a special pen instead of in pencil.

There’s also a popular calligraphy extra-curricular activity.

Touch-typing skills are celebrated, too. They are taught in dedicated ICT sessions, with children encouraged to practise at home using BBC Dance Mat or typing.com.

Once the children have reached a certain standard they can choose to sit a WPM (words per minute) test, and we publish a top 100 list. The current winner clocked up 63 WPM.

T

he difference between a handwritten thought and a typed one goes beyond the merely technical. It is true that handwriting teaches fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination that will be crucial to the work of future surgeons and engineers; it is also the case that its slowness allows children to think and edit more carefully while articulating their thoughts. Every sixth-form invigilator has seen A-Level students, having spent years typing, massaging the muscle between finger and thumb just 40 minutes into a handwritten exam. There is more to it than that, however: typing and writing are not the same.

Typing is the common currency in adult life: every keystroke is the same, unrelated to the eventual shape of the letters, and this disassociates us from the words we use – it promotes a bureaucratic, uniform style. We write what the reader wants to read, not what we want to say. Handwriting forces us to take responsibility for what we put on the page. Few poets start by typing a first draft; if we want our children to stand out in a world saturated with written information, we need to teach them that writing is more than a function – it is a craft.

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EXCELLENT ISI inspection 2018

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PR EP/ FOCUS

Left BEHIND

Do left-handed children get the support they need to thrive in a right-handed world or are they being let down?

Absolutely Education investigates LIBBY NORMAN

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enius or challenged – being left-handed still singles you out for labels. Parents of any child who favours left may be concerned that their offspring will have a bumpier journey, with more obstacles to overcome, because – let’s face it – the world is designed for right-handers. Parents are likely to have read eagerly the stories of famous southpaw creatives – Picasso and Einstein, et al – and read (less eagerly) that left-handers have a lower life expectancy.

Misinformation is still common and both of the above widely circulated stories are

not true, according to Professor Chris McManus, author of Right Hand, Left Hand.

McManus, Professor of Psychology and Medical Education at UCL, has a long-term interest and academic specialisation in handedness and lateralisation (the study of left and right brain functions). He devotes a whole chapter of his book to some of the more persistent myths surrounding left-handedness. Picasso and Einstein were both extensively photographed during their lives and every photo shows both to be right-handed, and with no other recorded evidence to suggest otherwise.

Today most estimates of left-handedness place it at around ten per cent of the population. The increase is put down to a

societal shift – left-handedness is no longer a source of shame in most societies so most children are not ‘retrained’. Lefthandedness was once closely associated with otherness, even witchcraft, but if you imagine that idea had vanished by the 20th century, then think again. The English Dialect Survey, conducted on living subjects between 1950-61, unearthed only two terms for right-handed (one of which was right-handed), as opposed to at least 87 distinct dialect terms for left-handers.

Many were obscene or scatological. Others, such as southpaw – which looks to have first emerged in Cumbria rather than on the baseball field or boxing ring – tap into the idea of ‘not from around here’.

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‘ Enjoying childhood and realising our imagination.’

“My time at Dallington has helped me to grow in body, mind and soul – this is something that I am immeasurably grateful for. Dallington has given me a push in the direction of success and I am thankful for all they have done.

I will do the best I can to repay them, the best I can, by leading an honest and dignified life.” - Nick (Year 6 pupil) Dallington is a family-run co-educational independent school, with a nursery, in the heart of London.

Personal tours each day of the week, except Wednesday.

Next Open Evening: Thursday 16th May 2019 from 6 to 8 pm

Headteacher, Proprietor and Founder: Mogg Hercules MBE Email: hercules@dallingtonschool.co.uk Phone: 020 7251 2284 www.dallingtonschool.co.uk

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PR EP / FOCUS

RIGHT A left-handed pupil

While the left-hander largely escapes negative labels today, parents who are investigating what being a ‘leftie’ means for their child’s future would be wise to read around the sources with a sceptical mind. Inaccurate information and dubious methodologies are still out there. Implied causal links between left-handedness and illness or cognitive/development issues are unproven and raise more questions than answers. What we can be certain of is that the incidence is currently somewhat higher in boys (around five boys to every four girls).

The first concern for most parents of lefthanded children is development of writing skills. Children typically start to display hand preference by the age of two. In early years settings, the current practitioner focus is on all the fine motor skills. Dr Paulette Luff, Course Leader for the MA in Early Childhood Education at Anglia

“Most children start to display their hand preference by around the age of two, but it can take longer to show a dominant hand”

Ruskin University, says it’s about a head down approach. “It’s not just about hand dominance, but also arm and foot.” She also suggests we may be in danger of labelling children too early – they may take a while to show a dominant hand. So, early-years settings should offer a range of equipment so they can watch how children interact with it and let them experiment. “Children try to do things like the people around them, so sensitivity and awareness of all possible differences are key. Children who are struggling can be encouraged to try the other hand,” says Luff. “Part of the problem is that children are taught to write when their fine motor skills are still developing”.

4 really simple aids for left-handers Mark Stewart of Left ’n Write, a lefthanded shop in Worcester, believes we are not doing enough. He and his wife Heather, a teacher, have created handwriting practice books and guides, delivering courses and advice to individuals, schools and early years settings as well as retailing left-handed equipment. Their work grew out of a quest to find functioning scissors for their “very left-handed” son. They have campaigned via their MP to get more information on teaching left-handers included within the teacher-training curriculum. Stewart is particularly exercised by writing. He says: “It takes five to ten minutes to sort out a good technique and correct grip”. Children have come from as far afield as London for his guidance – his oldest pupil was in her late 60s, and she had never been taught how to use a pen left-handed.

Sitting on the left so they don’t bump elbows with their classmates • Slanting paper to stop smudges – a writing mat may help • Specially designed pencils and pens – and a left-handed nib for fountain pens • Left-handed craft scissors – so they can see what they are cutting out

Here, I should declare my own hand – left – and my recollection that even in my dim and distant schooldays at a small rural primary school I had lots of guidance. So teachers have long been helping lefthanders overcome their individual learning challenges – although there’s no doubt some have slipped through.

Katie Paynter, Head of PrePrep and SENCO lead at St Nicholas Prep, says that today left-handedness is often handled

by SENCO staff as they have specialist training, and know the adaptations that help. The good news for parents, she says, is that these small changes are easy to implement. The most important part of school and home support is to ensure children are encouraged to experiment, rather than made to feel awkward or different. * Anything Left-Handed; anythinglefthanded. co.uk. Left ’n Write; leftshoponline.co.uk.

Right Hand, Left Hand by Chris McManus (Phoenix, 2002).

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