9 minute read
Meet the Head
Meet the Head at Cumnor House Boys’ School
Cumnor House Boys’ School is an IAPS Preparatory Boys’ School in the Croydon area, with 280 pupils in the Boys’ school and over 100 pupils in their two Kindergarten and Preschools.
Meet the Head
Special feature
Miss Edwards is an Early Years specialist and joined Cumnor House in 2004 as a Reception class teacher. She soon became the Head of Early Years, as well as taking on the role of SENCo and Designated Safeguarding Lead. By 2013 she was appointed Head of Learning Support and Director of Studies, and has since had the roles of Assistant Head, Senior Deputy Head and was appointed Head in 2020.
What attracted you to Cumnor House Boys’ School?
Cumnor House has always had an excellent reputation. After teaching in Yorkshire for two years it was time to move back to my hometown. Independent schools offer so much more than just education to children. Pastoral care, high academic standards and an emphasis on the importance of the wellbeing of children is paramount.
Our ethos is one of compassion and kindness. We embed the Cumnor Way throughout the school and focus on ‘The five core values’: courage, compassion, integrity, endeavour and belief, that all our boys, families and staff follow.
What inspired you to teach at a boys school?
I was always interested in the way boys learn and develop. Having four sisters meant that my family was very female dominant, and I wanted to make a difference to boys’ in our society, teaching them to show their emotions and to promote positive mental health.
How would the students describe you? What do you think are the key skills that children should have mastered by the time they enter Senior school?
The boys should be well rounded, have skills across the curriculum and be able to flourish in areas that they are interested and excited in. A high level of Maths and English is important; and reading and language skills are key to their success.
How would you describe that Cumnor House Boys’ School supports the boys in this important stage of the educational journey?
As a prep school it is our role to prepare them for their future school. We do this by providing excellent teaching and enabling the boys to be successful at a high level in Sport and Music.
How does the school help children transition to the senior school environment?
The boys would describe me as kind, they know that I care about them and want the best from them. They would also say that I have very high expectations and like them to work hard, be kind and show integrity at all times.
From Kindergarten upwards the children have a busy timetable with different lessons delivered by specialist teachers. As they move into the Upper school in Year 5 their timetable and subject allocations are similar to that of a senior school which enables them to transition smoothly.
How does the School’s pastoral care provision help support children with any anxieties associated with settling into Senior school?
Pastoral care is extremely important; form tutors spend time assessing and observing how the boys are doing. Any additional support needed is provided on an individual basis. We also have nurture groups which focus on teaching strategies to manage anxiety.
What sport and/or co-curricular activities does the school offer which really engage students in the first two years of their life at the school?
All boys have weekly swimming lessons in our on-site swimming pool. They are able to take part in swimming galas from Reception up to Year 8. Our boys have specialist Rugby, Football and Cricket coaches and have the opportunity to join a number of choirs and music ensembles. Some of our most popular clubs include computer coding, mindful yoga, DT club and dinosaur club. Cumnor House is currently U11 Surrey Prep Schools Cricket Cup 2021 Winners and U11 ECSA National Cricket Cup 2021 Winners and one of the top 50 Prep schools for cricket in the UK.
What are the qualities of a great teacher?
To be a great teacher you need to be able to build a good rapport with your pupils; they need to know that you care about them, and you want them to do well. Teachers should be role models.
What advice would you give to parents choosing a school?
Visit the school when the pupils are there on a typical day. Sometimes it can be very different to visiting on an open day. Make sure the school suits your child, importantly, ask what opportunities will be afforded to them and if the environment allow them to flourish. Most importantly, ask will they be happy there?
What did you want to be when you grew up?
I wanted to be a teacher, of course!
What is your real-life superpower?
Kindness; making sure other people are happy is very important to me.
Find out more about Cumnor House Boys’ School at www.cumnorhouse.com
Encouraging your child to become an independent learner
By Bradley Busch and Edward Watson
As children get older and progress within the education system, how they manage their time and how efficiently and effectively they study by themselves becomes an ever-increasing premium skill. So, what does academic research tell us about how parents can help facilitate this?
Let’s look at three different but related techniques.
The first is knowing that developing independent learners goes hand in hand with improving self-reflection. The more selfaware children are, the more likely that they can manage potential distractions. Self-monitoring is a skill that can be developed by encouraging students to ask themselves good questions, such as ‘how can I get better?’ and ‘where do I do my best work?’
Another way to improve independent learning is to help children become better at managing their time. Left to their own devices, people tend to procrastinate. In fact, some studies have found that seventy five per cent of students consider themselves procrastinators, with fifty per cent procrastinating regularly and to a level that is considered problematic. Research suggests that most students are poor at estimating how long a task will take to complete, as they get distracted or face unexpected obstacles along the way. This is called ‘the Planning Fallacy.’
One study found that one of the best ways to overcome the Planning Fallacy is with small, regular deadlines. This was proven to help children manage their time better and perform significantly better in their work, achieving higher grades overall.
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ü Ranked table of results ü Your child’s strength and weaknesses report üAccess to mock test questions & answers Finally, introduce children to effective goal setting. This must include flexibility, short and long-term goals and enough challenge to maintain motivation. Goal setting allows learners to create targets that they would like to work on independently and achieve in a given time frame.
Research has found that when people wrote down their goals, they were thirty three per cent more likely to achieve them than those who kept them in their minds. Encourage children to make a to-do list so that their goals feel more concrete.
Overall, developing independent learners is easy to say but hard to do. It takes time, effort and repetition to ingrain these habits. But if you persist, your child will reap the benefits for many years to come.
Bradley Busch and Edward Watson are the writers of the book A Parent’s Guide to The Science of Learning: 77 Studies That Every Parent Needs to Know out now in paperback, published by Routledge, David Fulton.
A sense of purpose
This is all about getting students to care about what they are doing. If they care about it, they are more invested in it and are more likely to apply themselves.
One study that illustrated this manipulated the environment that students were taught in. Some students were told that they had to study hard because there would be a test. Others were told that studying hard was simply what was expected of them. A third group of students were told that learning the material would really help them achieve their goals.
The result? Those who had the instruction that learning the topic would be useful to them (i.e those who were given a sense of purpose) rated the material as more important and were more likely to put more effort into it.
A sense of purpose can be encouraged in a number of ways. Something as simple as completing the sentence ‘doing well at this will help me because…’ is a good starting point here.
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