Meet the Head: St. Andrew’s

Meet

THE head

We recently caught up with Mr Ed Graham, Head of St Andrew’s School, Pangbourne, which is an established co-educational day and boarding Prep School for children aged 3 to 13 (Nursery-Year 8), offering a rounded education in the beautiful Berkshire countryside.

When did you start at St Andrew’s, and what did you do before that? I started at St Andrew’s in September 2021, having been Deputy Head for six out of the nine years I was at Westminster Cathedral Choir School, where I was also Head of English. Prior to that, I worked in shipping in the City, trained as a teacher on the Teach First scheme, and spent four years at Edinburgh University. Are there any particular highlights of the school year at St Andrew’s? Does the school work with the local community in any way? We have a thriving programme of local charity work, led by the children’s Charity Committee. This includes everything from Christmas toy collections and food bank donations; helping raise awareness through sponsorship for Newbury Riding for the Disabled, and supporting our local Children in Need action group. Our sports centre (including the swimming pool) is also used by local clubs and schools. What would you like to achieve over the next couple of years and beyond? In December, we formed a new and exciting partnership with Bradfield College, which saw two charities merge to form the Bradfield Group. Whilst this brings opportunities for shared strategic thinking and new initiatives in teaching and learning - from enhanced curriculum to professional development - it also means we can enhance and improve our already-excellent facilities. We are expanding our use of technology, with children in the older years using Surface Gos; and have plans to develop our boarding provision (currently space for 24 children); Nursery offering (so we can cater for wrap-around care for 3-4 year-olds); and turn our Old Hall into a state-of-the-art creative and drama space. It’s going to be a busy two years!

How would you describe the ethos of St Andrew’s School? St Andrew’s is a family-orientated School that nurtures children to become grounded, confident young people, who are both curious and connected to the world around them. We try and get the children to look outwards and away from themselves. We provide an all-round education built upon academic excellence and outstanding pastoral care.

Can you tell us a little about the school’s history? St Andrew's was founded on 11th May 1934 with two staff and eight boys, under the leadership of joint Headmasters RW Robertson Glasgow and W Ward Clarke. The School now has 307 children, with 153 boys and 154 girls. The main Victorian Gothic part of the School, ‘Buckhold’, built in 1885, was designed by acclaimed architect Alfred Waterhouse, also known for designing the Natural History Museum.

We have many traditions unique to our school, but the highlights have to be celebrating St Andrew’s Day on the 30th November with Progressive Games (an afternoon of team games in mixed year groups); singing carols around the Christmas tree; Sports Day; nightorienteering; and the Dolman cross-country run around our 54 beautiful acres.

How do you involve parents and carers in children’s education? Parents and carers are actively encouraged to get involved in their child’s education as much as possible. Aside from Parent Evenings, they are invited to music concerts, games fixtures, school productions, and book fairs. We also have our own coffee shop onsite which, when COVID allows, parents can visit in the morning. This is a great way for them to get to know one another and feel a part of our community. Pre-Prep also shares pupils’ work and photographs securely on a digital platform.

Do you have any specific approaches that encourage and embrace diversity? St Andrew’s has established a RIDE (Respect, Inclusion, Diversity & Equality) committee made up of Years 7 and 8, led by our Deputy Head Pastoral, Mr Haig Howard. The aim is to promote the issues that often divide our society, namely race, gender, disability, sexuality, religion, age and poverty. Actions from this are led by the children, and they arrange for visiting speakers to come in and talk to the children.