Dukes Education Insight No.7

No.7

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

We believe that education is a journey to be enjoyed and shared at every We believestage that education is a journey of life. Insight is testament to to be enjoyed shared at every to learning: thisand ongoing commitment stage of life.

Insightpublication is testament a termly ofto articles this ongoing commitment written by someto oflearning: the extraordinary a termly publication of articles educationalists in our schools and written by organisations. some of the extraordinary educationalists in our schools and organisations. dukeseducation.com dukeseducation.com

No.7

Contents The right data makes things better Scott Giles, Group Sales and Marketing Director, Dukes High-quality data can unlock innovation in education

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

Guessing game Will Finlayson, Director of SBC Gen Z and the next generation of summer courses

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Trading places 17 Rachel Bowles, previously Head of School Development, Hampton Court House A demographic shift coupled with changes in working patterns is having a noticeable effect on independent school admissions Using high-quality data can unlock innovation in education, explains Scott Giles, Group Sales and Marketing Director at Dukes Education.

Should the current exam system survive the pandemic intact?

Tom Arrand, Head of Cardiff Sixth Form College Is there a future for A-levels and GCSEs?

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Cause and effect Hayley Bendle, Director of Careers and Higher Education, Cardiff Sixth Form College How will two years of teacher-assessed grades affect university applications?

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Look out 34 Dr Adrian Rainbow, Headmaster of Hampton Court House The key to self-improving schools is creating a flourishing community that learns together True sporting valour 40 Sebastian Hepher, Principal of Eaton Square School We should celebrate its return but sport must be inclusive for all No more stiff upper lip 46 Darryl Wideman, Head of Radnor House School An ethos that prepared young men to run an empire has no place in a 21st century school

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

One giant leap 52 Sam Holderness, Business Integration Director, Dukes Introducing the Dukes Club, a ground-breaking step forward in the education experience The power of poetry 57 Gyles Brandreth, writer and founder of Poetry Together The benefits of learning poetry off by heart The last word Wit and wisdom from the world’s great thinkers

020 7586 0312

mail@hampsteadfinearts.com

www.hampsteadfinearts.com

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Insight No.7

Tim Fish Editor’s letter

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

Bringing Insight to a coffee table near you…

n Insight N°7 our theme is ‘re-set’. We hope that the worst of the pandemic is behind us, and although there have been challenges, schools have remained open largely without restriction, and travel to the UK has become easier. Our re-set is informed by recent experience but also infused with a spirit of ambition.

Re-set is not rebirth, but certainly society — with education at its core — is re-evaluating. We want to return to how things were, but we have seen a shift in priorities and perspectives.

The Renaissance came about due to technological development, the rediscovery of classical culture, the growth of humanism, the sharing of ideas, and the impact on communities of huge events, whether war, famine, or plague. The opportunity to draw parallels is plain to see.

One of the most well-known exhibits at the Brooklyn Museum is Judy Chicago’s The Dinner Party, a huge banquet table which has 39 ornate place settings, each commemorating a significant woman from history. One setting is for Isabella d’Este (1474-1539), the Duchess of Mantua, who

travelled widely, spoke Latin and Greek, had eight children, commissioned Leonardo, Mantegna, and Titian, and is often thought to have been the sitter for the Mona Lisa.

Isabella was sole regent of Mantua; she played her part in Renaissance patronage, but also sought ‘re-set’, improvement, and change.

She founded a school for girls in Mantua, and after witnessing the Sack of Rome in 1527, provided shelter in her home for up to 2,000 refugees.

Isabella did not shy away from attempting to offer solutions to major problems others ignored. Our contributors examine how we can apply creativity, innovation, and steadfastness to our offer, from how school improvement might be addressed to what will motivate Generation Z to return to the UK’s summer camps. If this introduction is the top, we hope you will find yourself sufficiently provoked as you encounter The Last Word, and its quotations and aphorisms to accompany that final finger of shortbread and the draining of the coffee cup.

Tim Fish Editor 5

The right data makes things better High-quality data can unlock innovation in every sector, including education, says Scott Giles, Group Sales & Marketing Director at Dukes Education

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V Presenter Richard Osman’s debut novel, The Thursday Murder Club sold over one million copies in the UK in less than six months and broke publishing records in dozens of countries. His unlikely success in outselling authors who have been writing for decades threw light on to his background, as the media wondered how a quiet TV show producer became a beloved TV presenter then a comedy show panellist before his metamorphosis into a bestselling author.

In a New York Times interview, Osman revealed that while working as a TV producer, he would obsess about TV ratings — but not what viewers said they watched. Instead, he looked at data showing what they actually watched. Osman decoded the type of content that the British public responded to and produced a string of successful shows including Pointless.

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In 2017, The Economist published an article that declared that ‘data is now the world’s most valuable commodity’, surpassing the price of fossil fuels. In 2014 there were 10 billion internet connected devices on the planet.

Juniper research reports that in 2021 there are now over 46 billion devices — an average of 10 devices per household in developed economies. Every single day, we produce 2.2 quintillion bytes of data (that’s 2,200,000,000,000,000,000) and organisations worldwide are looking for ways to harness the insights that come from this ever-deepening well of data.

Data driven innovation High-quality data has unlocked innovation across virtually every sector. Sports scientists use data to help athletes break world records and data engineers help F1 cars go even faster.

Businesses like Google and Amazon use big data to define consumer trends and predict demand based on purchase patterns.

Political parties use demographic and psychographic data to target swing voters, and governments use data to set policy priorities.

While as a society we need to debate the ethics of data usage, there is no avoiding the fact that data is increasingly becoming a critical part of our world.

How do we get started using more data in education?

Some of you may already have brilliant data pipelines in place. For those who are just starting out on the data journey here are three strategies to move your organisation closer towards unlocking the value of data.

1. Develop a scientific mindset 2. Avoid data traps 3. Keep learning 1. A scientific mindset Having a scientific mindset simply means thinking like a scientist. What could you measure that would improve performance?

Is there some data that would help you make better business decisions? Could data teach you something about your students or customers?

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Data is the new oil

identify topic areas that a student might be struggling with and that in turn enables them to create bespoke learning plans to coach the students to achieve successful outcomes. It’s little wonder that the academic results are consistently strong at these colleges.

‘ Organisations worldwide are looking for ways to harness the insights that come from an ever-deepening well of data.’

Data for better learning outcomes: Data has the power to change organisations for the better. Thanks in part to students being forced online last year, there is a trove of data that can help support pupil outcomes. Some higher education providers have started using this new data to nudge students to complete assignments, identify and connect with at-risk students, and to provide adaptive learning within a course.

For a number of years, Earlscliffe and Cardiff Sixth Form College have each been running robust micro-assessments to track the academic performance of their A-level pupils each week. The results help teachers

Data for better marketing and admissions: The field of marketing analytics has become highly sophisticated, but the best approach is to start small. Perhaps consider testing your email subject lines or social media posts. Email tools such as Mailchimp allow you to set up A/B tests — you can write two different subject lines and then test which one generates the highest email open rate. Over time you will build up heuristics to know the best language to use. A 10-15% uplift in your email open rate can yield a material advantage over time. Equally, social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram are primed for content testing. You can use clever audience segmentation and test multiple messages to optimise the engagement rate on your posts.

When it comes to admissions, you can look beyond the basic number of successful registrations to get insights into the conversion funnel. By tracking the volume of enquiries (via phone or your website), plus visits to your school and completed registrations you can analyse the conversion rate. This will help you identify areas to improve — for example, if you are getting lots of initial enquiries but families are not signing up as much as you’d expect, there could be a problem with your tour.

Developing a scientific mindset across your organisation can lead to genuine innovation.

As you train your team, here are the main tenets of a scientific mindset: ȅ Have an open mind ȅ Use empirical evidence ȅ Practise logical reasoning ȅ Possess a sceptical attitude about presumed knowledge ȅ Nurture curiosity and discovery.

2. Avoid data traps Data can be incredibly powerful, but there are a few things you should watch out for.

Too much data can lead to ‘analysis paralysis’ — meaning that leaders feel like they can’t make a decision unless data can 9

somehow prove what will happen. Let data help guide you wherever possible, but professional judgement and instinct are still important. Leaders need to strike a balance between waiting for perfect information and maintaining momentum.

Data in isolation — looking at a single data point to draw a conclusion can sometimes hide the true picture. Taking a longitudinal view with additional data will usually provide greater insights. For example, viewing your website traffic on a particular date may give you a skewed picture. Instead look at year on year traffic and compare it to trends over the preceding months.

Confirmation bias means using statistics to prove an assumption. Sometimes research findings and statistics are misused just to prove a point and a cursory google search will likely confirm your point of view if you are simply seeking to validate your existing hypothesis. Confirmation bias can be dangerous because it can give you a false sense of confidence in your decision. If you’re using secondary sources of information, check the methodology and the objectives of the study. If you are conducting focus groups or quantitative surveys, getting an objective perspective on how the questions are framed, can help to eliminate bias from your sample.

There are some questions that you can ask to help you avoid confirmation bias: ȅ What about this story/result makes me believe it? ȅ Is this article from a trustworthy source? ȅ Do I feel challenged or reinforced by this story? ȅ Have I considered that I might be wrong?

What would that mean?

3. Keep learning One of the core values at Dukes Education is ‘we love to learn’. We want to keep progressing towards a goal of incorporating better data into our organisations. In that spirit, you may find it useful to have a reminder of some statistical principles that can help us navigate this new world that is full of data points.

Some of the concepts below are complex to explain, so for brevity, please forgive any oversimplification. They are intended to help make you curious to learn more. n 10

ʻ Robust microassessments can track the academic performance of A-level pupils each week.ʼ

Eight concepts to improve your data literacy

1 The Law of Very Large Numbers: Given a wide enough data set, any pattern can be observed. A million to one odds happen eight times a day in New York (population eight million).

The world hasn’t become crazier, we’re just seeing more of everything.

4 Statistical significance: Helps quantify whether a result is likely due to chance or to some factor of causation. The level of statistical significance is often expressed as a p-value or confidence interval.

7 Status quo bias: Some who were unfazed by Covid because it had a ~1% fatality rate were suddenly concerned about vaccines when they yielded a one in a ~million fatality rate. People see the risks of doing something but not the risks of doing nothing.

2 Pareto Principle (80-20 rule): Pattern of nature in which ~80% of effects result from ~20% of causes. E.g. 80% of wealth is held by 20% of people, 80% of crimes are committed by 20% of criminals, 80% of box office revenue comes from 20% of films.

5 Streetlight effect: People tend to get their information from where it’s easiest to look.

For example the majority of research uses only the sources that appear on the first page of Google, regardless of how factual they are. Cumulatively, this can skew an entire field.

3 Causal Reductionism: Things rarely happen for just one reason. Usually, outcomes result from many causes conspiring together.

But our minds cannot always process such a complex arrangement, so we tend to ascribe outcomes to single causes.

6 Woozle effect: An article makes a claim without evidence, is then cited by another, which is cited by another, and so on, until the range of citations creates the impression that the claim has evidence, when really all articles are citing the same uncorroborated source.

8 Scout mindset: We tend to approach discourse with a ‘soldier mindset’; an intention to defend our own beliefs and defeat opponents. A more useful approach is to adopt a ‘scout mindset’; an intention to explore and gather information.

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Guessing game Will Finlayson, Director of Summer Boarding Courses, on Gen Z and the post-pandemic challenges for English language summer schools

Generation Z (McKinsey, 2018) Born: 1995 – 2010 Context: Mobility, Social Networks, Digital Natives Behaviour: Undefined Identity, Realistic, Communaholic Consumption: Uniqueness, Unlimited, Ethical

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hat business are you really in?

In his seminal work, Marketing Myopia, Theodore Levitt highlighted the decline of the American railroad system through the 1950s. The industry did not decline because the need for passenger and freight transport decreased. Indeed, demand had grown.

Rather the decline came about because the need was filled by others such as trucks, airlines, and the telephone, rather than by the railroads. Those in charge had too narrowly defined their industry as ‘railroads’ rather than ‘transportation’, focusing on product rather than the need of their customers.

As we emerge from the pandemic, and green shoots return to the study travel industry, it is vital that we all ask ourselves, what business are we really in? The risk is that we assume that students have always, and will always, travel to the UK to in order to learn English. With the proliferation of technology

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ʻ The risk is that we assume that students have always, and will always, travel to the UK in order to learn English.ʼ

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and indeed English language, it may perhaps be naïve to think that the appeal of travelling to the UK solely to learn English remains the same as it did.

When I worked on my first summer school in 2008 every single student was enrolled on a General English course. Fast forward to 2019 and that had shifted to just 52%, with the remaining students studying CLIL (Content and Integrated Language Learning) — combining the study of a subject with language learning. Understanding our customers and ensuring that what we offer meets their changing needs is vital.

What do Gen Z want?

Feedback from our students and their families has always been an important part of shaping our courses. Asking students about their expectations of a post-pandemic summer school raised some key themes: Health and wellbeing The pandemic has placed heightened awareness on the issues of health and wellbeing. How we look after our students, the support we provide, and the tools we equip our students with, has never been more important. Whilst a student may come to study a specific subject, the experience they have and the friends they make outside of the classroom are integral to the experience.

Indeed, in a recent survey of our students the most popular reason for coming to a summer school in the UK was to “meet people from around the world”.

Preparing for the future There is a growing appreciation that academic success alone is not enough to succeed and get your dream job. The development of key 21st century skills such as creativity, collaboration, and critical thinking is integral. Alongside this, the opportunity to gain practical work experience in their chosen field to enhance their chances of employment in the future.

Technology Gen Z is the first generation of digital natives. They have grown up surrounded by technology and the internet. At the touch of a button, they have access to more 14

information than any generation that has come before them. Rather than using technology to replace face-to-face interaction and experiences, there is the opportunity to enhance that experience using an outstanding array of resources, apps, and learning platforms. However, it should also be noted that there is an onset of Zoomfatigue and an increasing body of evidence that increased technology in schools doesn’t lead to improvement and in some cases is linked to lower test scores.

ʻ At a touch of a button, Gen Z has access to more information than any generation that has come before them.ʼ

Climate change and environmental impact A recent survey by Deloitte highlighted that for one in three Gen Zers, climate change is the most concerning global issue. Activists, such as Greta Thunberg, have inspired millions of young people to act on climate change and mitigate their own impact on the environment wherever possible. Young people expect to see businesses making firm steps towards carbon reduction, not just token statements.

The obvious challenge for businesses requiring international travel is how to offset the carbon emissions from flying. There are also many other impactful steps, however,

that can be taken such as removing single-use plastic from camps, reducing food waste, and working with greener transport providers.

Experience over products Experiences facilitate the opportunity to connect with new people. Therefore, it should come as no surprise that this generation are shunning ownership of products and instead choosing to spend on experiences. It should also be noted that cookie cutter homogenous experiences are not as popular as one-of-akind opportunities.

What does this mean for summer schools?

There are a lot of big questions facing summer schools as we emerge into a postpandemic world. A huge amount of change has taken place in a very short period of time, and it is vital that we react to this, rather than continue to offer a static suite of courses. At Summer Boarding Courses, we will continue to listen to and work with our students to ensure that we offer them truly memorable, life affirming experiences. n Will Finlayson is Operations Director for Summer Boarding Courses, part of Dukes Education.

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Eaton Square Schools

Senior & Sixth Form

Trading places A demographic shift, coupled with changes to working patterns as a result of Covid, is having a noticeable effect on independent school admissions, says Rachel Bowles, previously Head of School Development at Hampton Court House

A Preparation for Life.

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s we emerge from Covid, there is an opportunity to reflect on what the pandemic, coupled with national changes in demographics, has meant for the independent school sector. It is well-documented that smaller schools and boarding schools have not fared well with many closing their doors at the end of a tumultuous two years. Within Greater London, however, we have seen an increase in enquiries and applications.

So, why is there such discrepancy?

In the simplest of terms, who and how people pay their school fees is changing. It is no longer the case that the majority of families pay their school fees out of capital or inheritance, with over 85% of families at Hampton Court House paying for school fees

out of earned income — and making sacrifices in order to do so. Our parents should feel invested in — and connected to — their child’s education.

Home learning during the pandemic gave parents greater insight into the quality of their child’s provision and their overall wellbeing.

Those that were not satisfied raised concerns and, in many cases, withdrew their children, leading to mobility between the state and independent sectors.

Meanwhile, many families lost financial security due to the national economic crisis as a result of the pandemic.

Reassessing financial priorities, either to move your child into independent education or to try and keep your child in independent schooling, can present a large amount of unexpected pressure. Understandably 17

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ʻ More than 85% of families at Hampton Court House pay for school fees out of earned income.ʼ 18

this means more families are requesting scholarships, bursaries or other financial support from independent schools and the expectation is for independent schools to provide greater flexibility for their families to assist them with fee payments.

One of the few silver linings from the pandemic has been the increase in flexible working which presented working parents with more options for the timings of their day, facilitating school runs and more time at home rather than commuting. But for independent schools in and around London it has also meant losing families who no longer need their London location, higher cost of living and restrictive working hours. Moving to the coast or the countryside whilst working remotely has become an enticing option for many families.

Conversely, we have seen an increase in applications from families who have previously enjoyed ‘city life’ in the centre of London, Paris, Dubai and Monaco; looking instead for the best of both worlds that we have to offer.

A leafy location in acres of parkland coupled with short commute times into London if work requires it. Riverside walks, bike rides and the safety of our neighbourhoods have attracted many families to move further out of the city and look for independent education and accommodation in outer London, whilst ensuring their children have continuity of education and access to the

same cultural capital they would have experienced in their city locations previously.

This shift in locations has also seen a dramatic change of independent school catchment areas. Fleets of school buses and shuttles would bring children into an outer London school from 10-15 miles away but our catchment areas have shrunk over the last few years.

At Hampton Court House we used to have a cohort of children travelling from South Kensington, Chiswick, Kew and Wimbledon but we now find that most families live within five miles of the school. For many this is due to parents relocating for work in London. They will find a school with all the attributes they are looking for and then seek a house within a short commute of that school. The premium placed on outdoor activities and fresh air during the pandemic has led families to look for a different pace and quality of life with more importance placed on green spaces, health and wellbeing.

Within a few hours of the announcement of school closures in 2020, all admissions processes needed to move online. Remote assessment, invigilation, school tours and interviews meant that admissions could be relatively seamless and, in some cases, produce faster decision making and results than the previous face-to-face versions of the administration. These online systems also enabled admissions offices up and down the country to provide end-to-end support 19

ʻ Moving to the coast or the countryside whilst working remotely has become an enticing option for many families.ʼ

for overseas families and condense what otherwise could have been a lengthy admissions process. Speed of decision making, sending and receiving of documents and in-depth, online interviews meant more overseas families were accepting offers and confirming relocation plans in time for September 2020 and 2021. Now that we are emerging from the confines of the pandemic, many admissions teams, including my own, are sticking to these online and remote processes and are combining them with in-person tours, meetings with the headmaster and taster days. The end result is a bespoke ‘Rolls Royce’ admissions experience which makes life a great deal easier for families looking to relocate and subsequently last-minute withdrawals from families who haven’t been able to commit to the move by the start of term, has been on a steady decline.

COVID-19 is not yet a dim 20

and distant memory but the ability to be agile and present our families with more flexibility of education and financial support means we can move swiftly to keep continuity if the need arises.

That being said, it must not be to the detriment of the health and wellbeing of our staff, who have all shown grit and resilience while maintaining educational momentum in a difficult two years. Balance is crucial if we are going to respond to the shift in the demographic of families applying to our schools, whilst also offering high-quality and dynamic education. At Hampton Court House our focus is now on prioritising the wellbeing of our children and staff in order to offer the best we can for all. n Hampton Court House is an independent, co-ed school for 3-18 year olds in south-west London.

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

Should the current exam system survive intact?

Tom Arrand, Head of Cardiff Sixth Form College, asks if there is a future for A-levels and GCSEs

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nce again, we return to a new school year with the assurance that exams will return next summer. And once again, this opens up the debate over whether exams are indeed the most appropriate way to assess students at 16 or 18. The past two years have offered us an alternative and, like many things during the pandemic, this now moves the debate to new territory.

Not that anyone thinks that the two different systems, hastily put together in 2020 and then in 2021 are by any means the perfect alternative.

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Are they, nevertheless, a glimpse of a system of assessment that is fairer, more robust and even more accurate than the traditional process of examinations?

First of all, let us roll back to the pre-Covid years, when the early summer meant silent exam halls and the rigour of assessment under formal conditions.

The narrative is that this process did, at the very least, produce clear and indisputable evidence of a student’s ability in a subject which could not be distorted by the ‘subjective’ interpretation of a teacher.

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ʻ The idea that exams are impartial and objective is significantly undermined by the suggestion, by Ofqual, that one in four grades are wrongly marked.ʼ

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This narrative needs some further thought, however, not least because the idea that exams are impartial and objective is significantly undermined by the suggestion, by Ofqual, that one in four grades are wrongly marked. Nor does it acknowledge that, in a normal year, a third of candidates must fail their exams, however well they do, because of where the grade boundaries are placed.

There is, of course, clear merit in the process of examining a student’s understanding in a controlled environment where they are answering new questions designed to determine their knowledge and understanding of a specific syllabus. It also means that under-performance due to error, misunderstanding (such as not reading the question correctly), unforeseen events or simply not being great at performing in exams is ‘baked in’ to the process. This helps to explain why the number of top grades has increased in the past two years; if you remove those factors then the number of students identified as having the potential to achieve a top grade will result in more top grades being awarded as it would simply be immoral to expect a school or an algorithm to decide which of them would randomly under-perform on the day.

In my view, policy-makers should focus their attention, where GCSE and A-levels are concerned, on the following key areas:

Curriculum content: it is hard to deny that political biases may have played a part in the most recent curriculum reforms of the mid-2010s. Few would dispute the need for GCSE and A-level curricula to be academically and intellectually challenging but there may still be opportunities to consider the relevance of certain topics as well as the balance between content and skills.

Many argue, convincingly, that ‘skills’ is too nebulous a concept to form a meaningful part of any such discussion but there is no getting over the fact that the application of knowledge in context is a fundamental desired outcome of an educational experience.

The push towards STEM subjects at the expense of the humanities, languages and creative subjects concerns many educators and could have a lasting impact on society, by way of unintended consequences.

Assessment: examinations are not a pandemic-resilient form of assessment. Is that a relevant assertion? Well, yes, in light of the fact that, regardless of the events of 2020-21, a pandemic was ranked as the most urgent risk to society by the government’s own risk register, above flooding or nuclear accident.

Examinations have great value but should not be a stand-alone assessment point on which everything depends; where random failure, misinterpretation (by student or examiner) and the relative ability of a student to perform 25

under such conditions (some exceptionally talented students simply do not excel under exam conditions) play such an unfair part. A solution worth considering would be assessment through coursework and/or practical assessment; continuous teacher assessment (set to clear criteria and bolstered by training and other measures to remove the potential impact of bias as well as strong moderation practices) and examination. If GCSEs and A-levels were assessed in this way, we might have a system which is more robust, fair and resilient.

Grade distribution: the obsession with top grades is astonishing. Every year, the media latches on to the number of A/A* (or numerical equivalent) grades in order to make sweeping assertions about falling standards. None of which helps anyone. But the grades, as they currently stand, are problematic.

Let us consider that in one subject, achieving under 30% of the available marks could result in a U grade, whereas 70%-89% could be an A grade and 90%+ an A*.

Think on this: a student who gets 70% comes away with the same grade as a student who gets 89% yet the latter student is just one percentage point off an A*. This could be the difference between satisfying the requirements to take up their place to read Engineering at Imperial, or not. And even if they gain the extra 1% on appeal, does that represent the same level of achievement as the student who gained 99%? Having 26

seven grades at A-level needs to be reviewed. Some have suggested releasing a standardised, uniform mark (UMS) as well as, or instead of a grade. There is merit in this. My own suggestion would be to simply increase the number of grades available in order to categorise and sub-categorise the level of attainment. Five grand bands (1-5) subdivided into five sub-bands. The highest grade becomes 5.5, working down through 5.4, 5.3, 5.2 etc until you get to 4.5 and all the way down to 1.1. It is just a suggestion, but surely there is a better way to differentiate between a student whose performance is near flawless and the other 10% of students who achieved the ‘A*’ level of attainment?

None of these problems have easy solutions but we must not pretend that they are not there. Bold assertions that exams are the best or only way to assess performance are unhelpful and unwise. All alternatives have problems and all problems can be overcome or at least mitigated with careful thought and planning. Ultimately, we need a system which is fair, robust and accurate and we must never again find ourselves in a situation where we are designing the system of assessment at the same time as delivering the syllabus. n Tom Arrand is Head of Cardiff Sixth Form College, the world’s leading A-level college by results, with a highly international student body, in Cardiff, Wales.

Sustainable Futures

Modules: • Sustainable development • Climate change • Our oceans • Sustainable cities • The economics of sustainability • Global leadership Includes paddle boarding and kayaking

Earlscliffe 29 Shorncliffe Road, Folkestone CT20 2NB, United Kingdom

Ages: 14-17 years Class: 22 hours per week Minimum English level: B1+ Maximum class size: 12

earlscliffe.co.uk

Cause and effect Hayley Bendle, Director of Careers & Higher Education at Cardiff Sixth Form College, asks what repercussions two years of teacher-assessed grades will have on university applications

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OVID-19 will inevitably, continue to cause shockwaves throughout the UK’s education sector. Currently, teachers across the country remain optimistic about the return of exams in the usual fashion; meanwhile, educators like me who directly counsel students with their higher education progression have grave concerns about how this could harm our students’ futures.

The perceived educational arms race in 2020-2021 led to students widely receiving more A grades than ever before, increasing from 25%

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(2019) to 44% (2021). This will cause an uncertain chain reaction for our current Year 13, with nearly 16% more students confirming voluntary or financially incentivised deferrals to 2022, compared to UCAS 2019 data.

Coupling this is a significant growth in students reapplying for a second time with higher achieved grades now in hand. Further data from UCAS indicate a mass movement toward higher tariff universities, in light of the temporary governmentendorsed removal of caps on places; approximately 25,000 extra students enrolled at 29

a higher tariff university in 2021, compared to 2019 (a 14.99% increase), whilst 11,000 fewer enrolled in a middle or lower tariff university. In the short term, this may be the most competitive application on record but how will it continue to impact university applications and acceptances beyond 2022?

COVID-19 landscape, too must be prepared

Widespread standardised testing In an era of perceived overprediction, and with a lack of raw or uniform data from GCSEs or AS Levels to date, how will UK universities gain further clarity over a student’s potential, without the standardised and Increased drop-out rate benchmarked data deriving The proportion of students from national comparators? going to higher tariff High tariff universities universities is at its allhave been steadfast in their time highest. With such an expectation of academic increase in achieved grades rigour; ultra-selective across the country, more universities such as Oxford students have unsurprisingly and Cambridge embed received higher grades pre- and/or at-interview than they would likely have assessments for a majority achieved had they sat formal of their courses. Other examinations. Subsequently, over-subscribed universities we could experience an including Imperial College increased rate of university London and LSE have drop-outs, or transfers to a lower tariff provider arguably too begun to implement better suited for them, if they obligatory and optional have been unable to cope with testing respectively. the rigours of their university. Institutionalised standardised testing is already a norm in In fact, The Netherlands many countries, such as the already implements a SAT and ACT in the United probationary period called States, the Selectividad in the propedeuse, where they Spain, or the Gaokao in routinely rank students’ first China. For universities, year raw attainment and this provides a welcomed implement a strict cut-off, element of comfort in after which a select number being able to analyse raw of students (usually 7%) are and accurate statistics and automatically ejected. evaluate the student’s aptitude Dutch universities have and intellectual potential. been able to embed the Students, alternatively, likelihood of over-prediction could experience cognitive into their selection process; dissonance upon the in the UK’s context, with realisation that their only 16% of higher education admissions test performance applicants’ grades being accurately predicted, perhaps may not align with their overstated beliefs of such drastic change and educational attainment to severe policy is something date. Again, perhaps this is for which we, in a UK post30

something that will become normalised in the UK’s landscape soon if, in the eyes of university admissions, A-levels predictions alone remain unfit for purpose.

‘ Educators like me who counsel students with their higher education progression have grave concerns how the return of normal exams could harm our children’s futures.’

Post-Qualification Applications (PQA) In 2021, UK Government launched a consultation over a PQA approach; tabled as being the most ‘equitable’ means of application, this is a model through which all UK students, no matter socioeconomic background, would apply based not upon either over or under-estimated predictions. Instead, they would apply with grades in hand after their final exams and could thus be better matched to their university of choice.

Yes, this could certainly avoid the pressure on both staff to provide optimistic predictions, and students to live up to said estimations.

UCAS Clearing has shown how this is a practicable solution for the 47,010 students that enrolled in university in 2021, for example. However, this limited perspective fails to consider the incomprehensible disruption this would have had on the 460,600 students who accessed university via their firm or insurance choice university. Not only would there be significant changes to teaching and examination schedules, but it would also require high quality careers counselling to be available to all alumni even after they have graduated.

Moreover, consider those 31

students who apply to courses that require interviews. To me, this will only perpetuate the schism between disadvantaged students and those who have the privilege and means to access further support, for example, independent schools with the means to offer careers information and guidance over the summer holidays, or indeed private tuition and agency support.

Post-Qualification Offers (PQO) A PQO model would act as a bargain between the current UK system, and nationwide standardised admissions testing, as above.

Our neighbours across the sea already utilise such system, whereby students can choose up to 10 programmes in February and offers are confirmed after the release and subsequent ranking of Irish Leaving Certificate results in August. On face value, there seems to be a number of advantages of opting for such model; it would allow UK students to choose more ambitious and safer universities from a wider tariff point spectrum, and be able to still organise their applications during the school year, with access to expert higher education counsellors, all whilst permitting universities to admit based upon accurate and achieved results, without having to instigate radical reform.

There remains a huge caveat to PQO system, however — namely, points mean places. To some, it may 32

not necessarily be a bad thing for students to be motivated to aim as high as possible, never knowing where the cut-off may be, which would certainly curtail the notion of ‘just meeting’ the entry criteria. Yet currently in the Irish system there is no requirement to even submit a personal statement nor a reference; admissions officers simply do not have enough time to convert detailed, holistic applications to places within just a few weeks.

With such microscopic focus on quantitative, not qualitative information, we must consider whether students will therefore become disincentivised to develop their super-curricular exploration, intellectual curiosity, and wider life skills. The UK Government are already predicting ‘skills vacuums’ and this will likely only accentuate it even further.

Increased prominence of agents Regardless of whichever post-qualification model may be implemented, it has been narrow-sighted of the UK Government to exclude the consideration of international students to date in this decision-making process. At face value, it would seem that the UK Government hope that PQA or PQO would not cause any barriers to this recruitment; after all, one year’s intake of international students is worth £28.8 billion to the UK economy. However, this limited view focuses predominately on overseas-

ʻ Our nostalgia for returning to normal is likely to only unfairly penalise those students who have, arguably, suffered most.ʼ

begin class as early as August.

It appears the UK Government has taken it for granted that students would still come to, or indeed stay in, the UK, regardless of a delay to the start date of term.

The pandemic accelerated the opening up of a Pandora’s Box of university application changes, and now, our nostalgia for returning to normal is likely to only unfairly penalise those students who have, arguably, suffered most. With a return to exams next summer, A-level candidates will be directly compared back to their peers from 2019, whilst those from 2020 and 2021 would have an unfair advantage for any future university or job applications. Likewise, permanently rebasing future expectations to match the 2020 and 2021 inflation will be harmful to those who The lure of studying graduated before 2019, who overseas will be in direct professional In the instance where competition. Predicted and international students, and teacher-assessed grades even UK students, would have inevitably become our be required to adhere to a Achilles’ Heel in a time of potential PQA or PQO system via UCAS as usual, they would cancelled examinations, but there is no one simple not fully know whether they are accepted into a university solution to these dire straits in which we find ourselves. until, most likely, September onwards. With more and more Frankly, this vicious circle requires a roundtable students open to studying discussion about the UK’s overseas for the entirety of their degree, no matter which teaching, learning, and examination strategy as a educational strategy the UK ends up choosing as our ‘new whole. n normal’, predicted grades will Hayley Bendle is Director of still be here to stay. Other Careers and Higher Education at attractive destinations, such Cardiff Sixth Form College, the as the USA, Canada, Hong world's leading A-level college by Kong, and Singapore, will results, with a highly internastill provide conditional offers, with the opportunity to tional student body, in Cardiff, the capital city of Wales, UK. confirm visas, move in, and educated international students. What about our overlooked UK-educated international students?

If they are unable to apply via UCAS, the role and dominance of agencies and consultancies will thus be augmented. Schools and colleges in the UK are already well-versed with their role in facilitating the university applications process to date, including providing advice on personal statements and writing supportive references; however, we should not spurn but rather embrace the added benefits of stronger working relationships with third parties. Working in collaborative tandem with admissions experts will help us all to best support and meet the needs of our students.

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Face out not in Dr Adrian Rainbow, Headmaster of Hampton Court House, says the key to self-improving schools is creating a flourishing community that learns together

ʻ No man is an island entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main.’

John Donne’s Meditation XVII

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onne was writing in 1623, but his words hold true in today’s education sector. We have learned from the Covid pandemic that schools do not operate well in isolation. A strategic focus initiating and developing partnerships, collaborations, and external support networks is the key for outstanding school improvement.

We learn by facing out, not facing in Self-Improving School Systems (SISS) were outlined in the Government’s 2010 white paper The Importance of Teaching and have been the focus of much educational research.

According to Professor David Hargreaves, the main principles of SISS focus on four areas: establishing a cluster of schools that benefit from reciprocity; finding solutions to school problems internally; extending research as a collaborative process between schools; developing system leadership.

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ʻ Adopting an Evidence Informed Practice-based approach creates an intellectual fizz around schools, inspires the pupils, and motivates the staffʼ The case for SISS is still attractive to many educators, as they are potentially ways to increase efficiency, economic viability and sustainability, autonomy and accountability, as well as having a clear positive impact on pupil achievement.

Despite the promulgation of Multi Academy Trusts and other educational alliances, meaningful collegiality between schools remains arguably difficult to achieve, especially in the independent sector.

Competing for the best pupils and feeling an ever-increasing need to differentiate and offer the most engaging and exciting USPs can often preclude a willing spirit of collaboration.

School leaders should feel confident in their school and comfortable with reaching out to other schools to share ideas, combine wisdom, and in this way achieve best practice.

Staff collaboration, peer review, and peer mentoring are all ways that teaching staff, and senior leadership, can develop; educators learn best from other educators. The creation of this support network and schools working together towards a common purpose rather than in competition will ultimately have a positive impact on pupil achievement.

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Becoming ‘part of the main’ is nothing to be scared of, rather it is an excellent way of achieving school improvement.

Strengthening from within Before looking outwards, however, it is important for schools to take ownership of their own improvement. It has been 30 years since Roland Barth penned Improving Schools From Within but it is clear that the current discourse about self-improving schools would benefit from re-visiting Barth’s positions on building on the strength of existing staff and developing leadership internally.

In order to recruit, retain, develop and nurture our teachers so they can best serve the needs of pupils, we need to invest in them.

We also need to trust them. We need to ensure that we are providing continuing professional development opportunities for teachers to improve. In return, they have an obligation to reflect on and enrich their practice as active learners by engaging in evidence informed practice (EIP). John Tomsett and Jonny Uttley outline this well in Putting Staff First: A Blueprint for Revitalising our Schools (2020), and explain that school leaders need to provide

the time and space for this reflective practice to happen. Rewards are clear: adopting an EIP-based approach creates an intellectual fizz around schools, inspires the pupils, and motivates the staff. Not only does this increase autonomy and accountability, it increases teacher recruitment and retention and develops leadership skills, preparing the ground for further development through meaningful partnerships.

Dukes Education — ‘Together we’re extraordinary’ The Dukes Education model is an excellent example of best practice when it comes to self-improving schools and a schoolled system. Each school, autonomous and accountable for their own best practice, high standards, and quality performance, also enjoys the great fortune of being part of a much larger partnership and family.

Although still inspected by Ofsted and ISI, the live governance, rigorous quality assurance, critical reflection, and self-regulation within each school and within the family of schools enables and empowers each school to achieve its highest potential.

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ʻ An ever-increasing need to offer the most engaging and exciting USPs can often preclude a willing spirit of collaboration.ʼ

As a recently appointed Headmaster in a recently acquired Dukes School, the level of support I have received from this partnership has been outstanding and has helped me continue our school’s journey towards excellence from a position of strength and support. So many experts from within Dukes have contributed hours, days and even weeks of their time to help Hampton Court House improve our provision and standards.

For example, we have had a safeguarding review, mock compliance inspection, quality of education review and many informal visits where Dukes colleagues have generously and empathetically offered suggestions for improvement. In turn, they have invited me to come to their schools to see if I can identify any areas for improvement or blind spots that they might be missing. It is this sort of critical friend operating from a position of trust that every school needs at the moment in order to provide an outstanding education.

Moreover, HCH has already started to engage with all of the CPD opportunities that exist within the partnership, and I am excited about the impact this will have on our ability 38

to develop our own internal leadership, as well as our ability to self-regulate and self-improve.

All of the schools in the Dukes family are different, but all share a common purpose: to offer an outstanding education for every individual pupil in our care, ‘to give children the foundations for an extraordinary life, through education’. The collaboration within our partnership, the ability to hold each other to account, and the focus on sharing best practice enables us to achieve our sense of purpose extremely well. This, ultimately, will help all of our children thrive and flourish, and be their best selves. Carl Jung claimed: “Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes.” Self-improving schools address the false dichotomy between looking outwards and inwards and recognise that a synergetic approach to school improvement results in a flourishing community of collaborative learners and leaders. n Dr Adrian Rainbow is the Head of Hampton Court House, an independent co-ed school for 3-18 years olds set in magnificent grounds in south-west London.

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No more stiff upper lip? ʻ The course of our history might have turned out differently if we had focused more on the foxtrot and life-savingʼ

Darryl Wideman, Head of Radnor House School, argues that an ethos that prepared young men to run an empire has no place in a 21st century school

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T

he Duke of Wellington allegedly said that the Battle of Waterloo was won on the playing fields of Eton. In fact, the concept of organised sports did not become a reality until decades after the defeat of Napoleon and there were no playing fields, as we would recognise them, in 1815.

You may also believe that Wellington was tall and Bonaparte was short, but there were actually just a couple of inches between them.

We tend to think of a tall man lording it over a shorter one because we have seen the cartoons 41

There is nothing more powerful than an idea whose time has come

triumph over the naked emperor, a self-made god forever on undignified display.

A hundred years later JF Roxburgh, the first headmaster of Stowe School, said that the ideal pupil will be useful at a dance and indispensable in a shipwreck, which is not always a key curriculum aim or pastoral philosophy in many schools. This is a shame, because the course of our history might have turned out differently if we had focused more on the foxtrot and life-saving, and less on the promotion of an unjustified sense of of the time, which used ‘alternative facts’ to supremacy based on the colour of our skin perpetuate the stereotype. or the allegedly positive character traits of a You may be less familiar with the idea stiff upper lip in the face of adversity. that in public Wellington was the picture of Opinions about the British Empire are modest masculinity and self-effacement, but increasingly aligning to the negative rather in reality he had something of a vindictive than the positive, focusing on theft, coercion streak. A BBC History Magazine recently and oppression rather than celebrating highlighted how, after Waterloo, a naked three- the mentality of Rule, Britannia or Land of metre high statue of Napoleon depicting him Hope and Glory. Archbishop Desmond Tutu as Mars, the ancient Roman god of war, was summed it up nicely when he said, “When sold to the British government, who presented the missionaries came to Africa, they had the it to Wellington.

Bible and we had the land. They said: ‘Let us He installed it at the base of the stairway pray’ and we closed our eyes. When we opened of his London home, Apsley House, and he them, we had the Bible and they had the land.” continued to collect trophies of his former The splendidly named Ellwood Cubberley foe: he seduced two of Napoleon’s former wrote in the National Education Guide in mistresses; bought the emperor’s sister’s 1916, “Our schools are, in a sense, factories, in mansion in Paris; and amassed an extensive which the raw materials (children) are to be collection of Napoleonic memorabilia shaped and fashioned into products to meet including weaponry, books, busts, paintings the various demands of life.” Two years into and even the vast Sévres Egyptian dinner the First World War, no doubt he was thinking service refused by Josephine as a divorce about the demands of the Western Front. present. At Apsley, Mars the Peacemaker There is also a reasonable argument, going was used as the ultimate display of personal back to the Education Act of 1870, that schools 42

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were seen as the means to guide citizens to vote ‘wisely’ and to prepare young men to run the factories, drive the trade and master the Empire.

Driven by the efforts of Edward Thring, headmaster of Uppingham School, the public school system began to develop with the foundation of the Headmasters’ Conference in 1869. Therefore, by approximately halfway through the Victorian era, the mix of imperial superiority, class prejudice and unjustified arrogance was well on the way to creating a misguided sense of assumed superiority that has arguably led our country to the paddleless creek where many think it currently finds itself.

There is a different and better way of doing things. And it is never too late to change our course, even if it requires a rejection of much that people think marks us out as British.

We need to admit that our education system is largely broken and not fit for purpose — just watch the late Sir Ken Robinson’s Ted Talks. We need to accept that a win-at-all costs mentality has only brought defeat, that the days of the pointy-elbowed go-getter are numbered and that a stiff upper lip is as useful as a chocolate fireguard when faced with the need to adapt rather than to perpetuate an often dangerously misguided sense of national superiority.

The future needs to be based on genuine values and humility. These are not something bland in a corporate mission statement, but a real commitment to making the world a better place, based on co-operation, respect and — for a change — the truth. It will not be easy, but it would not be interesting if it were easy.

The harder option is usually the right option, and our priority as educationalists has to be to do the right thing.

We know we must act to save the planet, and we must also act to create a better life for everyone on the saved planet. Now is the moment to do it. As Victor Hugo wrote, “There is nothing more powerful than an idea whose time has come.” n Darryl Wideman is the Head of Radnor House School, an outstanding independent school for girls and boys aged 9-18 in the heart of Twickenham, south-west London.

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ʻ A stiff upper lip is as useful as a chocolate fireguard when faced with the need to adapt.ʼ

Radnor House is an independent selective co-educational day school enjoying a stunning location on the banks of the River Thames in Twickenham, where our pupils thrive in small classes with a strong focus on individual attention.

Visit www.radnor-twickenham.org to find out more.

True sporting valour?

Friendship

Competition

Sebastian Hepher, Principal of Eaton Square Schools, celebrates the return to the playing fields but is mindful that sport must be inclusive for all

Achievement

Fellowship

Motivation

Awareness

Journey

ʻ Is winning the true driver for those involved in sport, or is it the act of competing, win or lose, which brings rewards to the individual?’

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ew of those who are interested in sport as a spectacle or participant could have missed the moment when the gold medal for the Olympic High Jump was shared after the Qatari athlete, Mutaz Barshim, asked the official whether it was possible. His long-time rival and friend since their junior days, Italian Gianmarco Tamberi, was beside himself with joy when, after a moment’s reflection, the answer was in the affirmative.

The decision to allow the medal to be shared caused, in the days that followed,

some heated debate. As Heads and leaders of schools who have always promoted the importance of competitive sports, I am sure that you have your own perspective, but it does raise the question of competition and whether winning is the true driver for those involved or if it is the act of competing, win or lose, which brings the rewards to the individual.

When looked at through the lens of school sports and the return to our playing fields, it raises the question once more of the benefit of competition to the individual and the team. Taken one step 47

further, one could also debate whether sports are for the good of the practitioner or for the promotion of the club, organisation or, in our case, the school itself.

Ben Steiner, a sport’s correspondent, wrote of the Olympic decision, “Tears, hugs, and joy in the men’s high jump celebrations. That is the best moment of Tokyo 2020.”

Another commentator, in an emotionally driven reaction at the time, perhaps went too far by suggesting that,“Barshim should be a contender for the Nobel Peace Prize for offering to share the gold medal with Tamberi.”

Barshim himself, shortly after the medal ceremony, tweeted, “What is better than one gold? Two!” Yet there were many former Olympians who felt that the decision was not the right one. The moment of kindness and selflessness was not lost on them of 48

course, but some questioned whether the motivation was a moment of preservation of a gold medal rather than the certainty that one of them would have to settle for a silver medal. For others, their reaction centred upon their own definition of sport and how it encompassed a number of different components and ideals; fellowship and friendship being near the top of the list.

Yet equally vital to them was that idea of competition, which lasts right through to the end, to the often very harsh final moment, with the division of the spoils and the clarification or assertion that the victor is No.1, the best of the lot. The intrinsic part of competitive sport. One champion.

So, just how important is the fact that our boys and girls are once again returning to the fields and pools, courts and dojos, to take part in

ʻ Sport and therefore competition, has always had two sides, two faces… juxtaposed, the good and the bad, the strong and the weak, the fast and the slow, the best and the rest.ʼ

the varied and competitive sports programmes which make the independent sector stand out?

For us all there is surely a unanimous affirmation that seeing the interaction, the teamwork and connections, and once again the parental support too, is not only delightful but is highly important to much of what we believe in within the independent sector and the good that it will subsequently bring to society. It is so much greater than the obvious benefits of fitness, preparation and modelling for life and a celebration of both the individual and the team.

Perhaps therein is the watchword which needs to be considered as the green turf is once more graced by our young, sporting charges.

Awareness. Sport and therefore competition, has always had two sides, two 49

ʻWe must all remember to consistently review and challenge that which we promote, to ensure that all who take part are protected, enthused and inspired along the way.ʼ

faces which are juxtaposed, the good and the bad, the strong and the weak, the fast and the slow. The best and the rest. Aside from the more obvious it has been found that sport can offer strategy and protection for those who are shy when young. Other studies have linked sport to lessening depression in teenagers, especially teenage girls. Further research has specifically focused on the role of the teacher in preventing the negative associations which can arise and the promotion of positive moral values through sport.

And for those who are on the front line of teaching sport, the links between motivation and competence is an interesting read.

Barshim and Tamberi shared a rare and special moment when the official paused to make his decision before awarding them both gold. All of the positives which we will see on our fields each week were 50

encapsulated as the reality of the situation dawned on them and those who were watching. It is undeniably true that the return of our pupils to the playing fields and competitive sports is a hugely positive thing but we must all remember to consistently review and challenge that which we promote, to ensure that all who take part are protected, enthused and inspired along the way.

Perhaps Mary Peters who was involved in another Japanese Olympics in 1964 sums it up well. “You don't have to be a champion to have succeeded — you just have to have enjoyed the journey. We made great friendships because we shared the joy and sorrow of success and failure.” n Sebastian Hepher is the Principal of Eaton Square Schools, outstanding co-ed all-through schools for children aged 3-18 in the heart of London.

Come together With the launch of Dukes Club early in 2022, Dukes Education is taking a ground-breaking step forward in the educational experience, says Sam Holderness

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he past 18 months have seen us become physically disconnected in an unprecedented way. School and workplace closures, isolation measures and social distancing, challenged our relationships with peers, colleagues, friends, family. Within schools there was not only an enormous strain placed on learning but also on wider extracurricular experiences, opportunities for personalised academic contact and social events, usually provided by in-person schooling. The cake was missing, and inevitably, so was the icing.

Necessity, as we know, is the mother of invention. The speed of adaptation was rapid

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as educators were required to reconsider how they delivered lessons with immediate effect, sparking overnight technological innovations.

Developments in virtual teaching opened new doors to experiences previously closed by geographic constraints — a guest lecture in A-level Chemistry from a leading Solid State Chemistry Scientist in America could now be accessed by science students across the UK. Such tech-enabled practices, now monikered ‘blended learning’ has had a wider effect across many school communities.

With most schools back to some sense of normality in the autumn term, the duty to ‘build back better’ is an opportunity that

educators have taken, tweaking the prepandemic status quo. At Dukes, we have grabbed the chance to celebrate the strength and breadth of expertise in our family of schools and organisations to the full. We have been working behind the scenes for the last six months, focusing on ways to enhance — and bring together — Dukes communities, both on and offline. We invite everyone in our family to the Dukes Club.

The Dukes Club will be a membership community exclusively for the families, staff and alumni of Dukes Educations schools, nurseries and organisations. The scope of expertise and opportunities presented when

we come together as a family of schools and education organisations is unique in the education landscape. Connecting this community will provide an enhanced student and parent experience, for work, rest and play.

The Club marks the first time students and their families will directly hear the Dukes voice; this voice will be used to enhance our common purpose in helping prepare our young people to better serve and shape the world in their adult lives. The Dukes Club complements an ethos focused on giving young people the foundations for an extraordinary life through education.

To be extraordinary in an increasingly 53

ʻ The Dukes Club provides a vehicle to connect, learn and socialise with peers from across our family.ʼ

globalised world, it is widely agreed that employability relies on a new set of essential traits as much as traditionally valued skills and knowledge. These skills include creativity, critical thinking, collaboration, communication, and others.

But how does the concept of the Dukes Club work toward practically enhancing such in-demand 21st Century skills?

Day to day, the Dukes Club takes the form of a variety of virtual and in-person opportunities. The Club online platform will host networking opportunities for members — like minded families will connect from across the family of nurseries, schools and colleges — whether they share the common purpose of seeking advice on transitioning from nursery to prep school, applying to medical school or interest in a charity field trip to climb Kilimanjaro.

To aid discussion and shared knowledge, the Club platform provides families with specially curated parent forums with tips on successfully navigating the challenges of British education system, lifestyle guides to local areas, and conversation on professional opportunities. Alongside this, the Club will provide members with access to a Learning Hub, a library of expert articles from academic leaders from across Dukes.

These include University admissions experts, curriculum subject leaders, early years specialists and parenting experts. Members could start with an analysis of the benefits of the Extended Project Qualification, or a guide on the study of History of Art. 54

Bringing these new online relationships to life, the Club community will be entertained in-person through exclusive parent and student focused events and activities. The Club will showcase the very best in UK educational experiences for young people — utilising expertise from Dukes awardwinning childcare experience providers and leading University Consultancy organisations.

Where traditional schools operate within the school day and the bookends of term time, the Dukes Club will advance our students’ experience with a range of benefits to redeem in the Reward Shop — from bespoke weekend experiences, such as sleepover visits to the National Space Centre to evening seminars from Oxbridge University Admissions experts.

Club events will also cater for our professional parent community, be it a wine evening with an expert on Florence’s Renaissance art, a family fun day with Ultimate Activity Camp’s sporting challenges, or TED-style talks from business leaders, celebrities and parenting experts.

With a view to pursuing education excellence, building back better requires educators to provide strong links between formal and non-formal learning, including opportunities for our young people to test knowledge and skills acquired through classroom learning in extracurricular trips, courses and coaching sessions. This will be a hallmark of the Dukes Club.

Schools are focal points of local communities. The Dukes Club provides a vehicle to connect, learn and socialise with peers from across our family, making connections and enjoying opportunities unrestricted by catchment areas and international borders. There is tangible benefit in young people being part of learning communities involving others from different locations, class, setting or even country. The real value-add to young people and parents of the traditional school experience is diversity, opening new perspectives, new opportunities and new friendships. The Club is a community for Dukes families to come together and enjoy an experience beyond the school gates. n Sam Holderness is Business Integration Director at Dukes Education.

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A CAM B R I D GE EDUCATIO N

The power of poetry Writer, broadcaster and founder of Poetry Together, Gyles Brandreth, extols the benefits of learning poetry by heart for old and young alike

Small Class Sizes - Individual Attention - Personalised Support

C W W W. STA ND R E WSC A M B R I D G E .CO.UK

an the so-called Generation Z that is typically immersed in computer games and gadgets find a way to communicate with their grandparents’ and greatgrandparents’ generation?

And can they enjoy the experience?

I believe they can — by learning poetry by heart and performing it. Really?

Really. And that’s why, three years ago, I launched Poetry Together to tie in with National Poetry Day. The idea is simple, free and fun.

It involves school groups — infant, primary or secondary

— linking up with a local care home or older persons’ home to learn a poem and recite it together, then have tea. (And cake!)

The project has the support of HRH The Duchess of Cornwall, who is an advocate of learning poetry by heart (and has poems in her head to prove it) and patron of both the Royal Society of Literature and Silverline.

Last month she met some of the schoolchildren and older people taking part in this year’s Poetry Together to hear their poems in performance and join them for tea. The project, backed by Dukes 57

Education, was inspired by a radio programme I made about the value of learning poetry by heart, featuring research carried out by the Memory Laboratory at the University of Cambridge. It showed how learning and speaking poetry benefits both younger and older people.

In young children, engaging with poetry can improve the speed at which they learn to speak, read and write. It can improve academic performance, concentration and even support better sleep. For adults, the evidence shows that learning poetry by heart improves the ability to communicate, improves memory, increases brain capacity and keeps dementia at bay.

It doesn’t matter whether it’s Shakespeare or Simon Armitage, serious or funny, ancient or modern — but it should be a poem that young and old will enjoy.

My particular favourite is The Owl and the Pussycat

by Edward Lear, and some of Lear’s limericks are great fun, too.

When we had a Poetry Together tea-party at the National Army Museum, several local London schools came along to recite war poems with a group of Chelsea Pensioners.

It was wonderful to see the two age groups chatting together and performing their poems. This year more than 400 schools and care homes took part from across the UK and as far afield as Nigeria, Russia, Canada, Italy and even south-east Asia.

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Poetry can make you laugh and cry. Poetry can make you think and feel. Poetry can teach you, and sustain you, and surprise you. Learning poetry by heart can — literally — transform you.

My head is full of snatches of poetry — as is yours, I’m sure. Mine is mostly verse I learned as a child — and if you’re of a similar generation (a post-war baby-boomer) it’s likely to be similar stuff: A A Milne (‘They’re changing guard at Buckingham Palace …’), Lewis Carroll (‘Twas brillig, and the slithy toves did gyre and gimble in the wabe …’), John Masefield (‘I must go down to the seas again …), Rupert Brooke (‘If I should die, think only this of me …’), bits and pieces I learned at home or at school, the first few lines of which have stayed with me across nearly seven decades.

This isn’t simply a personal enthusiasm — me thinking because I get a kick out of learning a poem and performing it with others it must be good for you, too.

There is some solid science here — which brings me to my poetry-by-heart guru: Professor Usha Goswami, Fellow of the British Academy and multi-award-winning professor of Cognitive Developmental Neuroscience.

In a nutshell, the research undertaken by Professor Goswami and her team at Cambridge provides measurable proof of what my gut instinct has long told me: as you start out in life, having your parents recite poetry and sing songs to you will help you with your linguistic skills;

ʻ Poetry can teach you, and sustain you, and surprise you. Learning poetry by heart can — literally — transform you.ʼ

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as you grow older, learning poetry will keep dementia at bay.

You will find the detail in the professor’s learned paper: ‘A Neural Basis for Phonological Awareness?

An Oscillatory Temporal Sampling Perspective’, published by the Association of Psychological Science.

To cut to the chase, Professor Goswami has been studying and measuring what goes on inside the brains of babies and young children — measuring the neural oscillations (the brainwaves as it were) that encode the signals through which we begin to learn and understand speech.

Essentially, what the professor’s studies of the ‘rhythmic synchronization across modalities’ establish is that the more you recite poetry to your children — before they are born as well as when they are babies and toddlers — the better they will be able to communicate, both when it comes to spoken and, later, even when it comes to written language.

And why do we remember best the poems we learnt as children, I asked the professor? “First in, last out, is the principle of it,” she explained, trying to put it in layman’s terms for me. And why is the stuff we’ve learned later more difficult to recall?

“It’s all still in there,” she said, reassuringly. “It’s just sometimes difficult to retrieve because there is so much in there.” According to Professor Goswami, “At whatever age you are, you still have the capacity to learn new things 60

if you put your mind to it.

There’s no shortage of brain cells as you grow older.”

When I was a boy, one of my heroines was the great English actress Dame Sybil Thorndike. When I lived with my parents in London, Dame Sibyl lived near us and we used to see her sometimes waiting at the bus stop. She was a keen Christian Socialist and a natural enthusiast. “Oh Lewis” she said to her husband, Lewis Casson, when they were both in their eighties, “if only we could be the first actors to play on the moon!”

She lived into her nineties and famously made herself learn a new poem every day to keep her brain active.

Learning poetry is good for you — and doable whatever your age.

Performing poetry with others is fun and a wonderful way of making new friends and building communities.

The evidence is there.

Learning poetry by heart will give you a happier, richer, longer mentally-active life.

Go for it. n Gyles Brandreth is a celebrated writer, broadcaster and poetry lover. He co-founded the Poetry Together initiative with the support of Dukes Education.

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ʻ There is scientific evidence that the more you recite poetry to your children — before they are born as well as when they are babies and toddlers — the better they will be able to communicate.ʼ

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SIXTH FORM STUDY IN THE UK

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The last word…

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

“For small creatures such as we the vastness is bearable only through love.”

Carl Sagan Offered by Adrian Rainbow, Head at Hampton Court House School

“Life is not the way it is supposed to be. It is the way it is. The way you cope with it is what makes the difference.”

Virginia Satir Offered by Magoo Giles, Principal, Knightsbridge School

A family of Nursery Schools in the heart of London, more at: missdaisysnursery.com “What lies behind us and discover what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson Offered by Helen Rose, Assistant Head (Boarding) at Rochester Independent College

“When you discard arrogance, complexity, and a few other things that get in the way, sooner or later you will discover that simple, childlike, and mysterious secret known to those of the Uncarved Block: Life is Fun” The Tao of Pooh by Benjamin Hoff Offered by Niall Johnson, Deputy Head at Earlscliffe

“Act as if what you do makes a difference. It does.”

William James, Philosopher Offered by Matthew McClarty, International Student Recruitment Manager (Kent Colleges)

“Golf is a compromise between what your ego wants you to do, what experience tells you to do, and what your nerves let you do.”

Bruce Crampton Offered by Tim Fish, Managing Director at Dukes Education

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“A tradition is kept alive only by something being added to it.”

Henry James

“Rigid, the skeleton of habit alone upholds the human frame.”

Virginia Woolf Offered by Amanda Constance, Director of Communications, Dukes Education

“When Mr Mandela handed me the trophy, he thanked me for what we had done for South Africa. I thanked him for what he had done for the nation. And at the end of the match, we all said a prayer. We are believers.”

Francois Pienaar, Captain of the South Africa rugby team, on winning the Rugby World Cup in 1995.

Offered by Tim Fish

Welcome to Miss Daisy’s Nursery Schools A family of nursery schools with a strong sense of community and a place where lasting friendships are formed, fun is shared and curiosity celebrated.

Discover more at: missdaisysnursery.com

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

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

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

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

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