Selecting senior schools Planning the next stage in your child’s education needn’t be stressful, says Richard Berlie, Headmaster at St. Anthony’s School for Boys, London St. Anthony’s School for Boys is an ISI Excellent school in Hampstead, where academic endeavour is nurtured in a safe, familiar community. Thanks to the school’s unique ethos, from the time when they start at the school in Reception, all the way through to when they leave at the end of Year 6 or Year 8, every boy is recognised as an individual, with their own personal talents and interests. A rigorous academic curriculum, overseen by the Heads of Faculty, has been put in place to foster inquiry and build knowledge and understanding. Furthermore, a huge array of co-curricular activities – including drama, musicmaking, singing, art, debating, coding and many more – capture the interest and enthusiasm of young minds. Pastoral care is of utmost importance throughout
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the boys’ time at the school, but perhaps never more so than as they come to the end of their time there, when the role played by the form tutor enables helpful conversations between home and school regarding selecting secondary schools. The approach is to put the child’s needs first, identifying suitable schools where they will be happy and will continue to fulfil their potential. “My constant refrain to parents is to ‘cast the net wide’ when it comes to senior school applications,” Richard Berlie, Headmaster, explains. “A number of senior staff at St. Anthony’s have experience working at ISI Excellent – the highest category – independent boarding and day schools (in my case at Ampleforth, Emanuel and Dulwich), and we have great success in sending
