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INDEPENDENT SCHOOLS GUIDE
FUTURE PROOF: ST DUNSTAN’S COLLEGE LOOKS FORWARD TO AN ExCITING 2021
The future looks bright for St Dunstan’s invested in science and technology laboratories, College. Located in the heart of it seems fitting that 130 years on, we are creating Catford, south London, the school is state of the art STEM facilities for the next currently undergoing its most significant generation of Dunstonians.’ “This centre will also redevelopment since its foundation in 1888. The new junior school will have a specific focus include cutting-edge
The school is transforming the entire west side on outdoor learning spaces, and each year group facilities” of the site, building an architecturally stunning will have their own dedicated outside area. There Junior School, Science, Technology, Engineering will also be redesigned playing fields and the new and Mathematics (STEM) Centre and a Sixth development will also include two new multi-use Form Centre. games areas ensuring pupils have unrestricted
St Dunstan’s, which is today home to nearly 1,000 pupils aged 3 – 18, has a long history of investing in science, technology, engineering and mathematics and was one of the first schools in the country to invest in science laboratories and dedicated technology rooms.
With a focus on collaboration across the four fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics, this new centre will transform these specialist subjects, currently dispersed across the College. Making the most of the latest technology and design available, this centre will also include cutting-edge facilities, building on historical roots in inspiring technical creativity and innovation.
Speaking about the new facilities, St Dunstan’s headmaster, Mr Nicholas Hewlett said: ‘This represents the most significant redevelopment of the College site since the very first bricks were laid.
‘I feel sure our founders and benefactors would be proud of the innovative new buildings that are being constructed, as records show they were intent that a St Dunstan’s education should be ‘ahead of the current time’.
‘As one of the first schools in the world to have
access to age-appropriate, exceptional sporting facilities. ‘There is no better time to join our junior school,’ Miss Laura Whitwood, Head of Junior School explained.
The Sixth Form Centre will be positioned within the heart and main central atrium of the STEM Block. The design of this area is modelled on university-style learning, including large, independent study spaces, social areas and a sixth form café, which will feature outdoor seating for the students to enjoy.
By September 2021 and through fundraising, the College will be adding a new Performing Arts Centre and a Plaza (named by the pupils) at the back of the College which will be both a CCF parade and an outdoor performance venue, as well as enhance our sport and leisure centre.
Most recently, St Dunstan’s was awarded ‘excellent’ by the Independent Schools Inspectorate. The inspectors found that ‘the quality of the pupils’ academic achievement and other achievements is excellent,’ and that ‘pupils of all ages display excellent knowledge, skills and understanding and become resilient in their learning as they move through the school’. The report’s key findings also found that St Dunstan’s pupils of all ages ‘have outstanding attitudes to learning and are effective independent learners and thinkers’ and that they ‘learn effectively by collaborating with their peers’.
‘We will of course not become complacent,’ Nicholas Hewlett explained. ‘We see this as endorsement of our direction of travel and not an end point in its own right.’
‘There is still much to achieve and a huge amount to look forward to in the years that are to come; wonderful new buildings, the potential for some outstanding academic results and, above all else, grounded and rounded young people who are well prepared to face and challenge the vagaries of our society with understated confidence, resolute values and humility.’
THE DETAILS
Find out more about St Dunstan’s College’s exciting future at one of their upcoming #DiscoverStDunstans bespoke tours or virtual Q&As with the headmaster. Book online at stdunstans.org.uk or call the Admissions Team on 020 8516 7200
150 years of education at Amesbury
Many are considering the move to a to provide a balance to work in the classroom more rural setting and at the heart through an extensive co-curricular programme. of that decision is not just home, The School has a high reputation for its but also school. Consequently, performing arts and sport. knowledgeable, honest and balanced advice about Amesbury is a fine school and is proud to not only the preparatory school years, but also be playing an important role, however small, senior school options is what is required so that in the national effort to combat the pandemic. parents can make an informed choice about a We strive to create a working relationship with life changing decision. At Amesbury School in home as we all know that this is at the heart of a Hindhead, Surrey we offer a modern, holistic and successful education and should we, once again, academically rigorous education, complemented by face lockdown, we are poised to offer ‘virtual idyllic surroundings in which to develop interests Amesbury’. At present, we are open for business in a range of co-curricular activities. We prepare and look forward to welcoming you to one of our children for a range of senior schools and our forthcoming open days. Headmaster, Mr Jonathan Whybrow, will use his amesburyschool.co.uk many years of experience to guide parents as they seek to make the right decision for their child. At present, the educational landscape at all ages faces the need to adapt and Amesbury, with its established emphasis on digital learning, is perfectly placed to do this. In recent weeks, several urban senior schools in the Guildford area have been obliged to change the nature of their entrance tests and Amesbury has protected its candidates from the stresses of these changes by pro-active preparation.
The mental wellbeing of children is at the forefront of coping with the pandemic and just as parents are working to protect their children so must schools play their part. By using our beautiful and extensive grounds, Amesbury is able
INTELLECTUALLY CURIOUS AMBITIOUS PUPILS &
As an institution which seeks to innovate and improve our educational offering, we are delighted to be collaborating with Century Tech as one of its flagship schools.
The platform makes use of artificial intelligence (AI) to understand a pupil’s learning profile and then uses this information to present an individualised pathway which is made up of ‘learning nuggets’ that suit the pupil’s learning needs. It also produces rich data that indicates to the teacher the pupils’ strengths, weaknesses and next steps.
Used with Years 7-11, the platform helps us understand pupils’ learning profiles and pathways, and to offer lessons, mentoring and support in a more targeted, focused way.
We have even heard of parents of pupils in Year 7 hosting ‘Century parties’ where they get together for dinner while children work collaboratively through their pathways.
It is really pushing our teaching staff to engage with academic data in a meaningful way. The information that comes through a pupil’s engagement with the platform is driving learning intentions in lessons which allows teaching to be truly responsive.
Historically, teachers draw out inferences of learning based on assessments, but Century draws out those inferences for us.
It can reliably let teachers know that a pupil is strong in a particular concept, for example
sentence openings or converting decimals to fractions, based on their performance in a series of tasks over time. This removes the margin of error that can sometimes come with teacher judgement, assessment construction and progress. What we have seen already is an increased engagement with a greater level of personalised lesson planning and support as a consequence of this.
If the technology is powerful enough to draw out such reliable inferences around pupil progress, there might be an opportunity to deploy it in the context of public examination and assessment – especially given the question marks around the unreliability of summative assessment.
We are also interested in how Century might be enhanced or developed to provide summative information. Currently, the AI which drives Century is largely focused on the formative: Pupil X is quite good at this, so needs to complete a bit more of it, while Pupil Y is very good at this, so should only do a small amount from time to time. The power clearly exists for the platform to gauge competency levels – but it is not yet programmed to do so through a nationally-recognised framework, such as grades or levels.
At Haileybury, we are committed to supporting pupils to become intellectually curious and ambitious. In order to access the great conversations within subjects, they need to build up a complex body of knowledge. Century Tech supports them in doing so, which means more of our teaching time can be freed up to probe, analyse and critique this knowledge, drawing pupils into subject areas and enabling them to identify as learners.
haileybury.com
Independent School of the Year! … DLD College London Secures Double Award Win
DLD College London is celebrating incredible success as it secures a duo of prestigious national accolades, a Special Judges’ Award for Independent School of the Year 2020 and Independent Boarding School of the Year 2020.
As a highly regarded award scheme, Independent Schools of the Year 2020 recognises the outstanding achievements of schools and their students across the independent education sector, in the UK and in British schools overseas.
The Special Judges’ Award, created this year, was announced by the Chief Executive Officer of the Independent Schools’ Council, Julie Robinson, in recognition of the college’s superior student wellbeing and urban boarding provision. The judges recognised DLD College London as a school that is “brimming with energy” and “offers something really special in the sector for its students, combining old and new approaches to education.”
The triumphant Westminster Bridge-based school was honoured as a joint winner of the Independent Boarding School of the Year 2020 award, in celebration of its innovative and lifeenhancing boarding provision in the heart of London.
Irfan Latif, Principal of DLD College London
was delighted with the success. He commented, “We are thrilled to be announced as ‘Boarding School of the Year 2020’ and to receive the Special Judges’ Award for ‘Independent School of the Year 2020’. These much-coveted accolades are a fitting testament to the achievements of our students and our hardworking staff members, who go above and beyond each day for our school community, making the impossible possible.”
DLD College London is the only independent school in the heart of London with on-site boarding and is housed in highly contemporary, purpose-built premises on 199 Westminster Bridge Road, overlooking the Palace of Westminster and the River Thames.
The school offers students aged 14-19 the chance to study a wide range and flexible combinations of GCSEs, A-Levels, BTEC courses and International Foundation Programmes (IFP). It also offers an Academic Preparation Programme (APC).
As part of the Alpha Plus Group, DLD College London provides a ‘gold standard’ of educational quality. Classes are small, enabling students and teachers to focus upon the most effective ways of learning and to provide them with the highest levels of pastoral care. The school’s beating heart is its award-winning wellbeing centre.
THE DETAILS
Sixth Form Open Evening Tuesday 1 December @6pm – book online.
To find out more about DLD College London go to dldcollege.co.uk
Escape the Classroom
North london’s newest school’s approach to educating our future generation during a pandemic
As we continue to navigate the new academic year around COVID-19, eager to see our children back in school and learning but fearful of the underlying threat, north London’s brand-new Nursery and Pre-Prep School is thriving despite the uncertain circumstances.
North Bridge House Nursery and Pre-Prep West Hampstead opened this September and has been innovatively designed to allow continuous provision of the curriculum outdoors, using sustainable products wherever possible and combining 3D technology with multi-sensory play space to transform children’s learning environment.
The ‘Imaginarium’ is an immersive space that transports children to the very place they are learning about - whether that be a tropical rainforest or a railway station. While this state-ofthe-art facility inspires a genuine love of learning from the outset of children’s education, the outdoor play area is a hugely beneficial teaching environment. Outdoor learning may have been embedded into the curriculum at North Bridge
House long beforethe current pandemic, however, it comes with a newfound appreciation since the Government outlined how transmission of the Coronavirus is significantly lower in outdoor spaces.
“While we have always shaped our provision around the outdoors being fundamental to growth and development in the Early Years - running everything from science and minibeast clubs to an annual petting zoo in our playgrounds - staff have embraced being able to collapse the timetable and take any lesson outside with the sheltered extension directly over the threshold,” says Executive Headteacher, Christine McLelland.
Building on the NBH group’s established Early Years and Key Stage 1 expertise, Christine has designed the new West Hampstead campus to take children beyond the conventional and physical constraints of the classroom and into the natural environment, where they are stimulated through all kinds of sensory, practical, and social experiences – including growing their own vegetables and tending to school pets.
“We want to be as organic as possible and to provide the children with as many unique opportunities as possible in this central London location,” concludes Head of School Eilish Sleator.
For more information, call 020 7428 1520, email admissionsenquiries@northbridgehouse.com, or visit northbridgehouse.com
School in the time of Covid-19 – the view from Year 9
School life has had to change quite a lot don’t think I missed out on any learning.” since the lockdown. How are children Nicholas “If you needed help with something you adapting to these changes after six could message the teacher using Microsoft Teams. months away from school? Here, girls You could definitely get your work done faster and boys in year 9 at St Benedict’s air their views because you could be proactive.” on school in the time of Covid-19. Jack “I actually liked it but socially it was quite What is it like to be back at school? probably my favourite sport.” Brianna“It’s the same except for the social hard. Also, I missed the cricket season which is distancing, hand sanitisation and having to wear a How have your co-curricular activities mask.” changed? Louis “I thought it would be a lot harder to adjust Nicholas “In sport, there’s a lot less contact and but it’s been quite easy. I’m glad to be back.” no matches with other schools until at least halfterm.” How did you find online learning? Jack “We have house matches on Saturdays in “I think if we went Vita “I really enjoyed online learning but I missed my friends. Online lessons ran very smoothly and I place of fixtures which is nice. It’s quite important for your house to win!” back into lockdown Vita “Singing lessons are different now because again we’d be well we have to sing to a mirror, so you can see the prepared and would teacher’s reflection, instead of singing towards go into online learning them.” without difficulty What about the future? Louis “I think if we went back into lockdown because we’ve already got it sorted out” again we’d be well prepared and would go into online learning without difficulty because we’ve already got it sorted out. But school in person is a lot better because I prefer just talking to the teachers, being with friends and being able to play sports.”
For more information about St Benedict’s visit the website at stbenedicts.org.uk or telephone 020 8862 2254
A Guide to the English Independent School System
Finding your way through the maze of english independent education can be tough, and we can help say eaton house schools
There are many benefits to an English Independent school education, including enriched academic opportunities, smaller class size, parental involvement and the latest technological resources. However, the whole process can feel complex. It can be helpful to choose a Nursery and a Pre-Prep school that can guide you through the competitive examination processes for top senior schools, such as Westminster, Eton and St Paul’s.
3-4: Independent Nursery Some Independent Nurseries, Pre-Prep and Prep Schools register from birth. The term in which the child turns three is a common start date, but dates vary.
Independent Nurseries sometimes pursue a
more active Early Years Curriculum, providing building blocks for future exam success, in addition to getting children ‘school-ready.’
4-13: Pre-Prep School and Prep School Young children will join Pre-Prep Schools at 4+ and move on to Prep schools at 8+. These schools offer fun yet intensive academic and co-curricular opportunities. For boys, this leads to exams at either 7+, 8+, 11+ or 13+ for Senior schools; for girls it is usually at 11+.
The 11+ exam is taken in the January of Year 6. The Common Entrance 13+ exam is taken in the June of Year 8. This is preceded by an interview or pre-test in Year 6 or 7 when a firm offer is made.
Many London day schools and boarding schools set their own exams, others belong to groups, such as the London 11+ Consortium, making exam entries to a number of schools easier.
There really is no need to worry. The school will guide you through it all.
EATON HOUSE SCHOOLS Eaton House Schools (ages 3-13) has two sites in Belgravia and Clapham. There are two co-educational Early Education Curriculum + Nurseries providing early maths skills, English through phonics, problem solving and active play, together with cooking, yoga, and more. Nursery children move on to the single sex Pre-Preps (4-8) and the Preps (8-11, or 8-13) which act as feeders for schools such as St Paul’s, Westminster, Eton, JAGS, Wycombe Abbey, Winchester, Dulwich, and many more top schools. To contact the Head of Admissions, Miss Sam Feilding, ring 020 3917 5050 or see eatonhouseschools.com
