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Preparing for the Future
Investment and Development Plan
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Introduction As the March 2017 Independent Schools Inspectorate report confirmed, our school is “excellent”. We have a long tradition of excellence and in 2018 we will be celebrating eighty years of outstanding academic results and of making the most of every individual pupil’s potential. Our guiding principles, drawn from the Constitution of our founders, the Sisters of Our Lady of Providence, recognise that excellence is not just about outstanding results. We believe in a broad, liberal education which nurtures mind, body and soul. We help our pupils find their moral compass, to understand themselves and what they can contribute to the world, to make the most of life and the talents they have been given. This is encapsulated by our motto, ‘be the best that you can be’. These guiding principles have remained constant over our eighty year history of growth and development and will continue to serve as the bedrock for our future progress. In this ever-changing world of new opportunities and challenges, standing still is not an option. While holding fast to our principles and values, we need to look to the future and prepare our pupils for life in a different world from the one we inhabit today. We must ensure that our school remains a great school for generations to come. Our vision is of a modern, diverse, outward-looking school which nurtures intellectually brave, morally sound, confident young people who are prepared for life.
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To help us achieve this vision, we are embarking on a major programme of investment and exciting developments which will benefit your children. Alton is an excellent school which attracts bright, talented pupils, not just those who are academically talented but those who have something to offer and will make the most of the opportunities we provide. This ambitious development programme is designed to ensure that we continue to attract brilliant teachers and talented pupils and will remain a great school for generations to come. To ensure that this plan remains concise, we have not mentioned every aspect of the school and future provision. Please be assured that areas of omission are not forgotten. Yours sincerely,
Graham Maher, Headmaster
Clive Hexton, Chair of Governors
Sr Anne-Marie Marot, Chair of Trustees
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Curriculum We will continue to provide a broad curriculum and will constantly review our offer to ensure that it remains relevant and embraces new ideas and developing technologies. As the rapid development of Artificial Intelligence is beginning profoundly to shape and affect the world around us, we need to prepare our pupils for a future where careers will bear little resemblance to the ones we currently know. The only certainties are that our children will need to be technologically literate, adaptable and creative in order to navigate these uncharted waters. To equip our students with the information and communication technology skills they need, we will introduce a programme in 2018 for all Senior School students to use portable, internet-connected devices in class as an educational tool. Research shows that this encourages active learning across every subject, engages and motivates students and enables learning to happen whenever and wherever convenient, not just in the classroom. Staff will be trained in the best ways to use this technology in the classroom and make the most of accessing digital education. Devices will constitute an essential part of students’ everyday kit, but will only be used when it is appropriate and where they enhance learning. Our aim is that over time, most of the information currently delivered on paper will be
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given to students digitally. However, technology will be used in conjunction with printed text and exercise books. Using pen and paper is still a vital skill for students. We will write to you with full details about this scheme in the autumn. We will invest in a new Design and Technology (DT) facility for use from September 2018. Initially, this will be for the use of the Prep School and Year 7 but will gradually be extended to other Years in the Senior School so that we can offer DT as a GCSE option in the future. From September 2017 in Years 5 to 7, we will introduce hands-on challenge activities to encourage creativity and innovation through problem-solving. These will take place every week for Years 5 and 6 and be project-based for Year 7. Activities will involve learning the skills of engineering - using computing, electronics, design, technology, science and maths - but will be cross-curricular in nature and will draw in all subject areas and different staff over time. We will involve business partners where possible to help set genuine challenges and provide real-world context. We will also welcome support from parents with relevant expertise. Understanding how learning can be applied in the real world is motivational and may inspire pupils about future careers. In the Prep School, where children particularly thrive on hands-on learning, we will further develop the Forest School concept with challenging and fun activities and playful outdoor learning for all children from Nursery to Year 6.
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Chateau de Sauveterre, France
International Programme and Languages In this more globally connected world, we are keen to strengthen our relationships with our international Sister and Partner Schools and to cultivate in our pupils a broader and deeper understanding of communities and cultures. We are fortunate to have an international network of Sister Schools and our current programme of exchange and inter-school links was highly praised in our inspection report. We will use these relationships both to enhance our language provision and also to offer our pupils, linguists and non-linguists, unique opportunities to learn abroad and immerse themselves in different cultures and ways of life. Every summer from July 2018, we will offer a four-week immersive Spanish experience for pupils from Year 10 to 13 at our beautiful Sister School in Colombia. Trips and activities will be arranged so that pupils can make the most of their time and learn more about this fascinating part of the world. This will be open to non-Spanish speakers as well as those planning to improve their language skills. For our Year 7 and 8 pupils, we will offer the opportunity to spend up to half a term at the impressive Chateau de Sauveterre, near Toulouse in the South of France. Immersed in
Carnaval de Barranquilla, Colombia
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French language and culture, pupils dramatically improve their French while continuing to make progress across our whole curriculum with the help of both Sauveterre staff and members of our own staff who accompany them. We would also like to build on our international students’ programme offering places for one or two terms in the Sixth Form to boys and girls who will play an active part in school life. Although we have great interest from international students, we will always keep the numbers relatively low so they can fully integrate into school life to the benefit of all. Developing true friendships and sharing experiences promotes mutual respect and a sensitive awareness of differences and diversity. This integration with international students enhances our school ethos and offers so much to our pupils. To embed the programme for the long-term, new boarding house facilities will be created to accommodate them by September 2019. In January 2018, we are expecting fourteen Colombian and German students to come and be part of our school for six months. Several of these are boys. Toilet and changing room facilities for them will be put in place. Until our boarding house is ready, we will be looking for host families to accommodate our foreign pupils. Hosts are reimbursed.
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Emotional Wellbeing As a Catholic school with excellent pastoral care, we have always had a strong focus on emotional wellbeing. We nurture our students and teach them to love and value themselves. Sadly, it is well documented that mental health has become one of the most pressing concerns for young people in recent years. To help our students cope with the increasing stresses and strains of adolescent life, we are introducing a programme of mindfulness in the Senior School and incorporating it into the curriculum as an invaluable life skill. This will be led by Mr Gay, Head of Religious Education and a qualified teacher of mindfulness. Mindfulness is a tool which enables us to observe and recognise our thoughts and feelings and to manage our emotional responses. The health benefits are well-researched and wide-ranging, from reducing stress and anxiety to improving concentration and academic performance. Initially, the programme will be introduced to students in Year 7 from September 2017 but it will be extended to other year groups over time. More details about mindfulness can be found at: mindfulnessinschools.org/what-is-b/b-curriculum/
Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) Children and young people with special educational needs have a learning style or a disability which makes it harder for them to access learning using mainstream approaches. Children with SEND need additional support to help them make progress and achieve their best. Every child with a special learning need in our school has a pupil passport which explains their needs and the support they require. Our provision was found to be excellent in the recent Inspection Report. From September 2018, we will centralise our SEND support and employ additional professional staff to co-ordinate our approach. We want to ensure that our teaching and learning practices throughout the school remain up-to-date with the latest research and proven methodologies to best meet every child’s needs.
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For illustrative purposes only
Sports We offer a wide range of sports and our fantastic achievements in regional and national competitions continue to be an outstanding feature of the school. To build on this, and mindful of the arrival of senior boys, investment will go into improving our sports provision with a new, indoor sports facility to be built next to the tennis courts by September 2019, subject to planning permission. This will provide more options when the weather is unkind and allow us to offer a broader range of sports that can be played all year round. Adjacent to the facility we will build a new pavilion with a reception area. We also plan to add floodlights to the tennis courts. An AstroTurf pitch will be installed on the field (subject to planning permission), allowing hockey, football, cricket and tennis to be played all year round. There is plenty of space in the field for all of these sports, including rounders and athletics, to continue being played on the real grass too. We will also install a three-lane cricket net, ready for use by September 2018.
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For girls from Prep to Senior School, the main sports will continue to be hockey, netball, rounders, athletics and tennis. For boys there will be football, rugby, cricket, athletics and tennis. All girls and boys will also have the opportunity to try a wide variety of different sports in PE lessons, including those that traditionally have not been considered for them. From September 2017, we are changing our timetable to allow more sport in the curriculum for the Senior School and encourage greater participation by pupils of all abilities. This will benefit all of our pupils. We have spent a lot of time working out how to implement this change to ensure that it serves to enhance academic learning, not impede it.
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Sports (cont.) From Year 3, each year group will have matches and games training on a set afternoon to stop fixtures and matches from clashing with other subjects (except in the case of occasional tournaments). Further information about how this will work in practice is set out in the Alton School Guide to Sport which is attached to this letter. We are fortunate to have pupils with outstanding sports talent in our school. From this September, a new sports scholarship programme will offer tailored support to those with exceptional ability. This will include physiotherapist screening, strength and conditioning training, workshop with a sport nutritionist, and a training session with a world-leading mental performance coach. For tennis, once the new courts are in place, an Academy programme will offer the same support with the additional benefit of personal coaching.
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Facilities Our school environment needs to be inspiring with the right facilities and equipment for pupils to thrive. A long-term, comprehensive refurbishment programme begins this summer, starting with changing the layout of the Prep School to make better use of the space. It will also be repainted with new carpets and new chairs for pupils installed. Over the summer holidays, we will expand the garden behind the Manor House to create a much larger outdoor space for the Nursery and Prep School to use. It will be landscaped to maximise the potential for play as well as for gardening and other educational outdoor activities. A sensory garden will be planted. The Sisters have decided that what they need in the future is a smaller, purpose-built home. We plan to build the Sisters a house in their garden, close to the Chapel, and move our administrative departments and the Headmaster’s office to the newly refurbished Manor House as soon as possible. Once this move has happened, the Manor House front door will become the formal entrance to the school for visitors and will benefit from a re-landscaped garden in front. Our main car park will be resurfaced and expanded. It will be extended towards the Manor House and re-shaped to make better use of our land. With this move in mind, this summer we will relocate the School Office to a new position in the Prep School and use this opportunity to create a much more welcoming reception
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area within it. Until we take possession of the Manor House next year and can change the entrance, this means there will be a slightly longer walk to the School Office which may be good news for anyone counting their daily steps! By Easter 2018, we plan to have a cafĂŠ with a veranda overlooking the re-landscaped garden in front of the Manor House. This will be open daily for parents to meet and chat after dropping off their children. We would like our parents to feel welcome and included in school life and not have to stand in the car park in order to catch up with passing friends. Sixth Form pupils and staff will be able to visit the cafĂŠ during breaks and free periods.
Communications In such a busy and vibrant school as ours, we know that communication with parents has not always been as good as we would like. To address this, we are investing in a more integrated IT system which will improve the management and flow of information, including to parents. You should notice a difference from this September. An enhanced website and parent portal will provide up-to-date information and enable you to search for events and activities and book and pay for these online.
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Alton Convent School, Anstey Lane, Alton, Hampshire, GU34 2NG Tel: 01420 82070 Email: enquiries@altonconvent.org.uk Website: altonconvent.org.uk www.facebook.com/alton.conventschool www.twitter.com/AltonConventSch