BSA Guide to UK Boarding Schools Sept 2015 by Bulldog Publishing

PUBLISHED IN ASSOCIATION WITH THE BOARDING SCHOOLS’ ASSOCIATION (BSA)

September 2015

w w w. u k b o a r d i n g s c h o o l s . c o . u k Bulldog Publishing Limited

F Frensham rensham Heights Think, Create, Explore

| Foreword

Foreword – by Tony Little, Honorary President, Boarding Schools’ Association (BSA), 2015–16

Of the many decisions in a parent’s life, choosing the right school for your child is among the most important. Whether we like it or not the world today is as much about knowledge, skills and competition as it is about exploring or growth or fulfilment. Education is the one of the key ingredients to shape, guide or even determine a young person’s progress in life, so getting the decision right is a moment of pressure for all parents. Schools and the education they offer come in many different forms, and one of those unique and very special forms is boarding. Boarding schools are distinct from all other schools because their work does not start and finish at the classroom door. The thousands of dedicated and enthusiastic staff who work in boarding are there to provide everything from pastoral care and medical advice to a kindly listening ear or a gentle reminder not to forget an important textbook or games kit. They are guides and role models, organisers and friends and they help young people to get the most they can from their time at boarding school.

If you are considering boarding for your child then it pays to spend time finding exactly the right sort of school to suit their character, skills and aspirations. That is where this guide comes into its own, representing a positive and constructive partnership between the Boarding Schools’ Association and Bulldog Publishing. If you are wanting to know which sort of schools offer what and where, this guide will tell you. If it’s a junior school, senior school, girls’ school, boys’ school, co-ed school, city school or rural retreat you are after, the guide will help you narrow down your search. The Boarding Schools’ Association represents around 500 boarding schools in the UK and overseas and provides a wide range of services including professional development, government relations, communications, media, publications, conferences and events. This guide is an important part of BSA’s services and we hope you find it useful and of value.

Tony Little was educated at Eton College, where he was a music scholar, and Cambridge University, where he read English. He started his teaching career at Tonbridge School in Kent before moving to Brentwood School where he spent seven years as head of department, five of which also as a boarding house master. After seven years as Headmaster of Chigwell School and six years as Headmaster of Oakham School, Tony returned to Eton in 2002 as Head Master. On retiring from Eton in 2015 Tony became Chief Education Officer of GEMS Education, responsible for ensuring the quality of education in GEMS schools worldwide. He is Honorary President of the Boarding Schools’ Association.

September 2015 I THE BSA GUIDE TO UK BOARDING SCHOOLS

The

Guide

TO UK BOARDING SCHOOLS

PUBLISHED IN ASSOCIATION WITH THE BOARDING SCHOOLS’ ASSOCIATION (BSA)

September 2015

Welcome to the first issue of The BSA Guide to UK Boarding Schools. We hope you will find the Guide helpful and informative. This is a good place to start if you are embarking on the search for a boarding school for your child. The Guide covers all aspects of independent boarding education, including funding, selecting a school, academic success, extra-curricular opportunities, schools that specialise in art, music or dance, schools for children with special educational needs and disabilities, and sixth form choices. You will find information about the range of boarding options – full, weekly, flexible – and the variety of schools – boys only, girls only and co-educational. Each child and each family will be looking for something different in a boarding school and we have aimed to include information on the whole gamut of provision. UK boarding schools lead the world in the quality of education and pastoral care they provide. We hope this Guide provides an excellent start to your search for the right school for your child. Sheila White Editor

w w w. u k b o a r d i n g s c h o o l s . c o . u k Bulldog Publishing Limited

For free additional copies of the Guide please call 01763 268120 or email: info@ukbsa.com www.ukboardingschools.co.uk www.boarding.org.uk

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THE BSA GUIDE TO UK BOARDING SCHOOLS I September 2015

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The

Guide

TO UK BOARDING SCHOOLS

THE BSA GUIDE TO UK BOARDING SCHOOLS is a trade mark owned by Bulldog Publishing Ltd

Editor

Published by BULLDOG PUBLISHING LIMITED Unit B4 Beech House Melbourn Science Park Melbourn Hertfordshire SG8 6HB Tel: 01763 268120 Fax: 01763 268129 Web: www.ukboardingschools.co.uk Publisher: Design and production:

Printed: Directors:

Bruce Hodge CB Creative Limited Tel: 01223 750566 www.cb2creative.com by Warners Midlands plc Peter Threlfall (Chairman) Bruce Hodge (Managing) Roger Dalzell

Sheila White Sheila White has worked in educational publishing for more than 30 years. She is an editor, writer and project manager. She has written and produced information and educational material for schools, industry and national organisations. Sheila is a member of the Society of Authors and the Society for Editors and Proofreaders.

Editorial Advisory Board

Ian Jones (Chair)

Graham Able

Adrian Underwood

Robin Fletcher

Ian Jones’ career includes 11 years as Head Master of Bedford School, two years as the Director of Studies at Britannia Royal Naval College, and six years as the Regional Director of an education charity in South-East Asia. Since 1995 he has been an education consultant, initially as an Ofsted Inspector and a Reporting Inspector for the Independent Schools Inspectorate and most recently as a Tutor for the National Professional Qualification for Head Teachers. He has also been on the governing body of a number of independent schools, mainly in East Anglia. He captained Cambridge University at hockey and represented Great Britain in the Rome and Tokyo Olympics. He edited the Guide from 2007 to 2012 and is Chair of the Editorial Advisory Board.

Graham Able has spent 40 years in independent schools, the last 22 as Headmaster of Hampton School and then Master of Dulwich College. After retiring from Dulwich he was appointed Chief Executive of the Alpha Plus Group; he recently retired from this role but remains Group Deputy Chairman. Having previously served on the governing bodies of Roedean and Imperial College, he is currently a governor of Gresham’s School and of Beeston Hall, where he was once a pupil and is now ViceChairman. A former chairman of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference (HMC), he has advised governing boards on their structure and effectiveness. He enjoys golf, cricket, sailing and contract bridge; he is also a lifelong supporter of Norwich City Football Club.

Adrian Underwood’s career has been in boarding education for over 40 years since 1971. From 1975 to 1997 he was headmaster of a boarding and day school. In 1998 Adrian became National Director of the Boarding Schools’ Association (BSA). He watched over the Association’s development into the world’s major boarding association. He was appointed OBE in 2007 for services to education. He now lives on the North Norfolk coast and is an educational consultant and a lead inspector for the Independent Schools Inspectorate, the Dubai Schools Inspection Bureau and the CfBT Education Trust. He is a governor of Wymondham College and enjoys sailing, golf, tennis and training ambulance drivers for a local day care centre.

Robin Fletcher has been BSA National Director since September 2014. A boarder at Rugby School, Robin was a journalist for nearly 20 years editing five regional newspapers, including the national Sunday newspaper for Wales. Between 2001 and 2014 he worked in various senior roles, including communications director for Trinity Mirror’s regional newspaper division and communications and performance director of the Aster housing and care group. He also founded a communications and training consultancy, serving over 100 clients across the UK. Robin holds an MBA from the University of South Wales and an MPhil from Cardiff University. He is also a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and honorary fellow of Cardiff Metropolitan University.

The information in this Guide was correct to the best of the Editor’s and Publisher’s belief, at the time of going to press and no responsibility can be accepted for errors and omissions.While every effort has been made, it may not always have been possible to trace all copyright holders. If any omissions are brought to our attention, we will be happy to include appropriate acknowledgements in the next edition of the Guide. Bulldog Publishing Limited is registered under the Data Protection Act (1984). Registration No: PX 4103362. All rights reserved. No part of this Guide may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form without written permission from the publisher.

THE BSA GUIDE TO UK BOARDING SCHOOLS I September 2015

LEADERSHIP

SPORTSMANSHIP TSMANSHIP • RESPECT • CHARACTER • PRIDE • SELF-DISCIPLINE • SPIRITUALITY • SPOR

Full aand weekly weeklly boarding boardiing from September 2015 The Duke off Yo ork’s Royal Military School is a state boarding school for students aged 11 to 18. We welcome applications from any student who wants to study GCSEs and A Levels at our unique and iconic school with its strong traditions.

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Why choose us? ‘Good’ in all areas by Active lifestyle including • Graded • sport, music, drama and Ofsted. activities. GCSE success rate is • Our £24.9 million refurbishment signiﬁcantly higher than the • has delivered a new national average. sports centre, high-quality student is encouraged • Every accommodation and to achieve their potential in

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ethos helps develop • Military have the ﬂexibility • Students character and life skills. of full and weekly boarding 2015/16 fees are just £11,820* per year.

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Contents 03

Foreword

Schools founded by the Military

by Tony Little, Honorary President, Boarding Schools’ Association (BSA), 2015–16

A unique and iconic school – Chris Russell, Executive Principal of The Duke of York’s Royal Military School

About UK boarding 10

– James Lockwood, Headmaster of The Royal Hospital School, Holbrook

Boarding in Britain – Robin Fletcher, National Director, Boarding Schools’ Association (BSA)

Maintaining 300-year-old links with the Royal Navy

The gateway to a technical career in defence – Peter Middleton, Principal of Welbeck – The Defence Sixth Form College

Fees – finding them

Fees – where do they go?

Education in Scotland

Boarding at a state-funded school

A boarding half century – all change? Actually, no!

– Sir Anthony Seldon, Master of Wellington College, 2006–15

A shared life under a common roof

An education that remains once school is completed – Irfan Latif, Head Master of Sexey’s School, Bruton

State boarding schools

– Tony Little, former Head Master of Eton and Honorary President, Boarding Schools’ Association (BSA), 2015–16

Boarding at an independent school Choosing and assessing schools

The merits of boarding at an independent school

Choosing a good school and the right school

What makes a good school?

– John Moule, Warden of Radley College

– Peter Roberts, Headmaster of The King’s School, Canterbury

24 26

What about boarding schools?

– Barnaby Lenon, Head Master of Harrow School, 1999–2011, and Chairman of the Independent Schools Council (ISC)

– Mark Turnbull, Headmaster of Giggleswick School

Inspections of boarding schools A safe pair of hands – professional development for boarding staff teams – Alex Thomson, Director of Training, Boarding Schools’ Association (BSA)

Selecting a school

School visits: questions and answers

Interpreting league tables and the different exams now offered in schools

The importance of good governance – Graham Able, Group Deputy Chairman, Alpha Plus

Schools as communities in the widest sense – Mark Wallace, Principal of Lincoln Minster School

The extra-curricular challenge – Emma Taylor, Head of Christ College, Brecon

Lessons in leadership through the CCF – Antony Clark, Headmaster of Malvern College

– Alex Peterken, Headmaster of Cheltenham College

The importance of partnerships between independent and state schools – Richard Harman, Headmaster of Uppingham School and Chairman of the Headmasters’ and Headmistresses’ Conference (HMC)

– Adrian Underwood, Educational Consultant and Lead Inspector

The case for continuity

The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award Scheme: the cornerstone to a co-curricular programme – Chris Alcock, Headmaster of Queen’s College, Taunton

School sport: a head’s perspective – Richard Biggs, Headmaster of King’s College, Taunton

THE BSA GUIDE TO UK BOARDING SCHOOLS I September 2015

Preparatory schools

Specialist schools

The advantages of starting boarding in a preparatory school

104

The popularity of prep school boarding

105 106

Where ‘boys can be boys’ – Rob Morse, Headmaster of Aysgarth School

Specialist schools: nurturing special talents – Stefan Anderson, Principal of Tring Park School for the Performing Arts

– Simon O’Malley, Headmaster of Wellesley House School

Specialist schools – arts, drama, music

Choristers sing for their supper – Jane Capon, Information Officer of the Choir Schools’ Association (CSA)

‘Girl heaven’ – Sarah Wicks, Headmistress of Knighton House School

Pastoral care in the blink of an eye? – Roger Jones, Headmaster of Dean Close Preparatory School

Choosing a boarding prep school – in Scotland!

Special educational needs and disabilities 108

Provision in the independent sector for pupils with special educational needs and disabilities

110

Why early intervention matters

– Innes MacAskill, Headmaster of Belhaven Hill School, Dunbar

Junior boarding: a positive experience for younger children – and their families – John Baugh, Headmaster of the Dragon School, Oxford

– Nick Goodman, Principal of Frewen College

112

‘Believe. Inspire, Succeed’ – David Quick, Headteacher of Slindon College

Senior schools: single-sex or co-education? 86

Single-sex or co-education? The pros and cons

‘The key is the child and what the child will want’

My child has dyslexia. How do I find the right school? – Brendan Wignall, Headmaster of Ellesmere College and Chair of CReSTed

– Sir Anthony Seldon, Master of Wellington College, 2006–15

Sixth-form choices

Questions to ask your daughter

116

– Sylvia Brett, Principal of Harrogate Ladies’ College

114

School life and home life should complement and reinforce each other

After GCSEs – what next? – Richard Cairns, Head Master of Brighton College

118

Key post-16 curriculum choices – Simon Smith, Deputy Head (Academic) of Haileybury

– Emma McKendrick, Head of Downe House

Boarding makes the difference: a girls-only perspective

120

Sixth-form programmes: the choice

– Rhiannon Wilkinson, Headmistress of Wycombe Abbey

Appendix

Girls thrive in science – Eve Jardine-Young, Principal of Cheltenham Ladies’ College

100

The best of both worlds – the ‘diamond model’ – Ian Davies, Headmaster of Brentwood School

102

Useful contacts Boarding schools in this issue, by county BSA schools members

Girls’ sport: challenging, competitive and passionate – Pauline Stott, Director of Sport at Kilgraston School

103

121 124 128

Inspiring confidence in girls – Dr Felicia Kirk, Headmistress of St Mary’s Calne

The

Guide

TO UK BOARDING SCHOOLS

September 2015 I THE BSA GUIDE TO UK BOARDING SCHOOLS

About UK boarding | Boarding in Britain

Boarding in Britain – Robin Fletcher, National Director, Boarding Schools’ Association (BSA)

Westminster Abbey and Canterbury Cathedral are two of the most famous and iconic church buildings in England, known to visitors from all corners of the globe. What is probably less known is that these centres of both worship and tourism share their sites with highly regarded and ancient British boarding establishments, Westminster School and King’s School. These two examples, one in the heart of London the other in the ‘garden of England’ that is Kent, illustrate the amazing diversity that characterises the boarding sector in the UK. Britain has more than 450 independent British boarding schools and 38 state boarding schools. Although many schools are located in the south of England, the spread of boarding schools offers parents and pupils the chance to experience the contrasting topography of the British Isles. Gordonstoun in

Scotland lies just a few miles south of John O’Groats in the very north of the UK surrounded by pine forests, rugged coastline and the nearby snow-topped mountains of the Cairngorm National Park. Four hours south in Edinburgh, the metropolitan heart of Scotland, sits Fettes, an imposing Gothic edifice that lovers of Harry Potter and Hogwarts would recognise as one of their own. Travel down to the east coast of England and you will discover Wymondham College, a large state boarding school on the site of a former US wartime base in the Norfolk countryside Noel Coward rightly called ‘very flat’. Swing left towards the south west (via perhaps St Mary’s in urban Cambridge or another St Mary’s in leafy Ascot) and arrive in Bruton, Somerset, a small town with fewer than 3,000 souls. Here sit cheek by jowl three boarding schools, including

one state and one just for girls. Whiz up north via perhaps famous names like Marlborough, Rugby and Cheltenham Ladies College, and visit another state boarding school in the heart of Lancaster before hopping over the water to Rockport College, which hugs the beautiful coastline 20 minutes from the heart of Belfast.

Geographical choice I could go on, but I suspect you get my drift. One of the great beauties of choosing a boarding school is that it offers geographical choice, a far cry from the restriction of having to live in the catchment area of your local day school. We don’t really know how many of the parents of the UK’s 75,000 boarders actually choose schools on the basis of geography, although it may be a factor to be considered. It is no wild claim to say there is a boarding school to suit every kind of student.

THE BSA GUIDE TO UK BOARDING SCHOOLS I September 2015

Most important criteria In choosing a boarding school what are most important criteria to consider? Academic results, pupil mix, class size, facilities, co-curricular activity, ethos, values, the reputation of the Head, setting, cost, admissions policy? Each of these factors varies from school to school and parents will need to weigh up which one or ones are most important for their child. The BSA Guide to UK Boarding Schools is a great place to start your primary research, laying out the boarding landscape and giving you the facts, figures and contact details you’ll need on your journey. Then of course there are websites and prospectuses of those schools that catch your eye, all of which are just a few keyboard clicks away. But relying on digital research is a dangerous path to walk because

Boarding in Britain | About UK boarding

we cannot decide what’s best for our children’s future on the basis of the internet alone. The real research happens when you make ‘the visit’ (or visits) to your chosen school or target shortlist to see what they are like in the flesh. This, like getting to a showroom to see a car, is the acid test and is not a process to be rushed. And what to look for? Yes,

visit the school theatre, see the swimming pool and sports hall and the new science block. But if given the choice, or you are pushed for time, put these second on your list and head for the boarding houses, for that is where your child will study, sleep, make their friends and live their lives when they are away from home. There is no substitute for seeing the

‘dorms’, testing out the house piano, having a chat with matron and the house cleaner, and meeting the house master or house mistress and their spouse. This is what lies at the heart of a great boarding school, and, if it ‘feels’ right the moment you step through the door of a boarding house, then trust your instinct and proceed. Parental sixth sense is a great gift and it’s one of those important moments in life when your ‘gut feeling’ won’t let you down. Boarding education pretty well started in the UK, hundreds of years ago, and British boarding schools lead the world in the quality of what they provide. Giving any child the chance to experience life at a British boarding school is an amazing thing and a lifechanging opportunity. Good luck – you won’t regret it for a second. ■

Further information Tel: +44 (0)207 798 1580 bsa@boarding.org.uk www.boarding.org.uk

Robin Fletcher was a boarder at Rugby School from 1979 to 1984 and is now National Director of the Boarding Schools' Association (BSA) and the State Boarding Schools’ Association (SBSA).

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September 2015 I THE BSA GUIDE TO UK BOARDING SCHOOLS

About UK boarding | Fees – finding them

Fees – finding them

All boarding schools charge fees, but these vary depending on the type of school and boarding requirements. Here are some typical costs (per term) for 2015 (ISC Census, 2015). Age group Senior Junior

Average fee per term £10,723 £7,287

In state boarding schools, tuition is paid for by the state. Extras can add considerably to the bill (perhaps another 10 per cent), depending largely on which activities your child chooses to take part in – for example, music tuition or school trips. Allowance should be made for expenses relating to books, entries for public examinations, stationery and uniforms.

Planning for school fees It is important to prepare for the commitment of paying fees for several years, having in place a strategy that will enable the school fees to be met in the event of death, an illness or loss of income, and considering how fees need not be entirely dependent on earned income, so ensuring a child will be able to complete their education. Planning strategies can significantly reduce the financial burden of school fees, so take professional advice.

Planning can be covered under four headings: ● spread the cost of fees ● invest a lump sum ● set up a regular savings scheme to provide funds to cover future fees ● look for financial assistance.

Spreading the cost Many parents experience difficulties in funding school fees continuously from taxed income. There are several schemes available designed to help parents in this situation. The purpose of these plans is to improve cash flow and hence make school fees more affordable. In essence, this involves spreading an element of the school fees over a longer period of time. For example, a parent may be able to afford comfortably 70 per cent of the school fees from income, but the additional amount may prove to be a strain. In this instance, it may be possible to take out an equity draw-down plan to spread the school fees for the balance of 30 per cent over say a 10-, 15- or 20-year period.

The lump sum Early investment of capital can avoid the need to use income for providing for school fees in later years, or at worst go a significant way towards reducing reliance on income. The need for tax efficiency and flexibility of approach can be tailored to individual requirements.

THE BSA GUIDE TO UK BOARDING SCHOOLS I September 2015

Regular saving Regular saving for school fees should ideally be started as soon as possible. The longer you save, the less the impact there will be on income when school fees fall due – or, better still, consider some sort of life assurance policy. Income or capital sums derived from such policies are normally tax free.

Payment protection It is important to ensure the payment of children’s school fees can be continued in the event of a change in personal circumstances due to serious illness, injury or death. A lump sum can be provided by life insurance. Income protection plans can guarantee income through to retirement in the event of illness or accident.

Trust planning Trust planning can be useful for grandparents who wish to make provisions for school fees and achieve Inheritance Tax benefits at the same time. Trusts offer the benefit of transferring the tax liability on future income and capital gains to the children to utilise their personal annual allowances. There are basically two types of trust: one in which the children have a right to any income arising from the trust and also own the capital; the other where the distribution of capital and income is at the

Fees – finding them | About UK boarding

discretion of the trustees. Maintenance Trusts offer both of the above.

Financial assistance Grants Government departments give grants to enable children whose parents are working abroad or are subject to postings to attend boarding schools in the UK. Details can be obtained by contacting the Government department. Charitable grant-making trusts are able to help only in cases of genuine need. The trusts will reject applications unless their specific requirements are satisfied. The Royal National Children’s Foundation helps vulnerable children and young people in Britain whose circumstances are seriously prejudicial to their normal development and where no other care is available. The charity helps by providing grants and boarding school places for children aged 7–18 who have suffered trauma, tragedy or neglect in their young lives. These are young people who usually have one or no active parent, whose normal development is compromised or threatened by adverse home, school or family circumstances. The charity supports cases of social need and not educational preference. The Royal National Children’s Foundation was formed by the merger of the Royal Wanstead Children’s Foundation and the Joint Educational Trust who have worked in partnership for many years. Together, these charities have a history dating back to 1827. Details can be found at www.rncf.org.uk or through the Directory of Grant Making Trusts at www.dsc.org.uk. A list can be obtained from the Charities Aid Foundation (CAF) at www.cafonline.org/ or by writing to the CAF at Kings Hill, West Malling, Kent ME19 4TA.

Bursaries A rapidly increasing number of boarding schools have bursaries, which are grants from the school to help parents pay the fees. These are generally awarded after a ‘means test’ of family income and are not dependent on examination performance, although some account will be taken of academic ability. Bursaries may be awarded in addition to a scholarship where financial need is demonstrated and the child would otherwise be unable to enter the school. To obtain a bursary, parents will usually be asked by the school’s bursar to complete an application form, providing details of their financial circumstances, supported by documentary evidence and including capital

assets. The application is likely to be considered by a combination of governors, the head and the bursar. The award will usually remain in force throughout the pupil’s school career – although in some cases an award made before GCSE will not necessarily continue into the sixth form. Most schools will review bursaries annually to ensure the justification for an award remains. Bursaries are rarer at prep schools, though a surprisingly large number of prep schools do offer some awards.

Head of your child’s present school about the chances of success. Scholarships vary in value – they might be worth as little as 10 per cent. In general schools now limit scholarships to a maximum of half the value of the school’s fees, any extra being awarded strictly subject to family need. You should find out from the school what scholarships are offered, and what each is worth so you are not disappointed if you cannot afford the remainder of the fees if your child wins one of the smaller awards.

Scholarships A number of organisations offer sixth-form scholarships to enable pupils to stay on at school until they enter the next stage of their career on a university course. These scholarships are awarded for two years, after which acceptance is guaranteed, providing the appropriate qualifications are achieved and medical standards satisfied. Additionally, many senior schools and a few preparatory schools offer scholarships to attract bright or talented pupils. A scholarship is awarded for academic promise or on the basis of special ability in music, art or some other specialism or allround merit. Some schools give awards for drama, sport, and design and technology. They are usually awarded after a competitive examination and interview, and normally take no account of financial need. Academic scholarships are the most common, followed by scholarships for music, art, design and technology, and sport. Talented children are invited to compete in open scholarship examinations. The schools hold these exams in the September–December and January–April terms of the year before admission. Scholarships will usually be awarded at ages 11, 13 and 16, with pupils already at the school having the opportunity to sit for awards at 13 and 16. Scholarships at the age of 16 for candidates already at the school are frequently awarded on the basis of GCSE results, with awards for new students being made as a result of an interview and report from the previous school, usually with the requirement to achieve certain grades at GCSE. Competition is strong but, as long as the pupil makes satisfactory progress, a scholarship is normally held for the duration of his or her time at the boarding school. Past papers are available from many schools, which will give an idea of the standards demanded. Take advice from the

Other educational awards Many schools also offer closed awards to children of members of the Armed Services, as well as clergy, teachers and some other professions. Some give help to children of former pupils, to single-parent families and orphans, or concessions for brothers and sisters. The conditions of these educational awards can vary enormously. They are often described as fee concessions, reductions or discounts. Some are not available annually and depend on the terms of an endowment. Others simply say special consideration may be given to pupils in a particular category.

Summary We hope this summary has helped to explain the current concept of scholarships, bursaries and awards within the boarding sector, and also – and even more importantly – how wide the range of choice now is. There are many options to consider and there is a great deal of financial help available if you are prepared to look for it. Read this guide thoroughly, consult the various recommended handbooks and explore the schools’ websites. Above all, do not be afraid to ask the schools exactly what they have on offer. It can be a lengthy task, but potentially very worthwhile. So start planning as early as possible and do not be afraid to take advice. ■

Further information SFIA 41 London Road Reading RG10 9EJ Tel: 0845 4583690 Webenquiry@sfia.co.uk www.schoolfeesadvice.org

September 2015 I THE BSA GUIDE TO UK BOARDING SCHOOLS

About UK boarding | Fees – where do they go?

Fees – where do they go?

Parents contemplating school bills have often found them difficult to fathom. Rises in school fees have several causes. First, there are the inevitable salaries and employee benefits for academic and administrative staff. Second, and most recently, national insurance increases and unprecedented employer teachers’ pension increases have added significantly to costs. Teaching has never had a reputation as a well-paid profession and has always struggled to keep up with inflation. Schools, in most cases, occupy buildings and facilities that have been in operation for some time, and crucial maintenance can no longer be deferred. Also there are continual increases in the costs of books, materials and utilities. Even schools with endowments and trust funds investment have rarely found income matching inflation. These are all survival factors, but schools wish to maintain and improve standards. This means attracting bright children, good teachers and providing facilities which answer the needs of the decade. At the same time most, but by no means all, schools try to avoid the temptation to expand, to avoid affecting

their character and tradition. Schools that have changed to co-education have tested their ability to cope with extra numbers and the changes which accompany them. Pupils require academic interests and recreational and social pursuits to be provided for. Many schools, have maintained numbers by expanding their preparatory and pre-prep intakes.

An investment Parents are looking at a good education as an investment with a high potential long-term return. They place the highest emphasis on academics. Before choosing a school for their child they want to know if individual tutoring is available, the numbers of pupils per class, examination results, positions in the various league tables, and if teachers are easily accessible. They ask about information technology, bullying, health and hygiene, drugs, and the boarding houses. The importance of A levels and the International Baccalaureate leading to entry to a good university, and a demanding degree course, have never been greater, particularly as

THE BSA GUIDE TO UK BOARDING SCHOOLS I September 2015

universities have had their share of financial cuts, are more competitive, and for many careers a second degree now has to be seriously considered.

A balancing act Schools will attempt to balance the materialistic with the vocational, pointing out that today’s teenagers may well have 10 to 12 different jobs in their lifetime as they adapt to change and mobility. There is therefore an emphasis on matching the talents of the individual with a wide range of facilities and opportunities. These in turn lead to the provision of recreational facilities, sixth-form centres, information technology units and craft and design centres. Administrative systems need to be technologically up to date. The teaching staff, too, require IT, updated laboratories, resource centres, and equipment and materials to stay ahead in their disciplines. There will be criticism if the minority subjects are not offered, and there must be a proper emphasis on music and art. All this is costly.

Fees – where do they go? | About UK boarding

Total costs The total costs of five years’ boarding education from 13 to 18 could amount to anything between £130,000 and £270,000. In boarding schools, on average, about 55% of that amount will cover salaries and wages, about 10% catering, 10% new or refurbished boarding accommodation, 9.5% repairs and maintenance, 4% books and teaching materials, 3% fuel, 2.6% rates and insurance and 2% recreation. Add scholarships and bursaries, fee assistance,

ent Excell ults es r exam tastic n a f and ral pasto care

the estate, travel, laundry, professional charges, and general expenses, and there is not much left for further development, which is normally left to fund-raising. Schools with endowment income are fortunate, as are those with well-established traditions and reputations. Position helps too, and schools within easy reach of airports, motorways, intercity rail services or parental homes have advantages over those in more remote areas, attractive though their locations may be.

Travel costs to and from school are unavoidable extras not always considered, nor are the costs of uniform, warm clothing, equipment for leisure activities, field trips, holidays and exeats, and everything connected with applications and interviews for the next stage in the education process. The next stage is, of course, in many people’s eyes a degree course, where travel expenses, living expenses, costs of books and equipment and tuition fees have to be funded. In short it is important for every parent to realise and appreciate the full extent of the investment they are making. Yet an investment it is, and, in retrospect, the most important decision any parent can make on behalf of their children. ■

Further information SFIA 41 London Road Reading RG10 9EJ Tel: 0845 4583690 Webenquiry@sfia.co.uk www.schoolfeesadvice.org

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September 2015 I THE BSA GUIDE TO UK BOARDING SCHOOLS

About UK boarding | Education in Scotland

Education in Scotland The Scottish school system is based on a coherent 3–18 curriculum: ● Nursery age 3 years–5 years ● Primary age 5 years–12 years ● Secondary age 12 years–18 years (minimum school leaving age is 16).

Key features of the Scottish system Learner entitlements Learners are entitled to a range of features at the different stages of learning. The entitlements are: ● a coherent curriculum from ages 3 to 18 ● a broad general education – learning across all areas from the ages of 3 to 15 ● support – all staff share responsibility for identifying the needs of children and young people, and for working in partnership to put support in place to meet those needs ● a senior phase that prepares children and young people to study towards qualifications, but with a continuing emphasis on health and wellbeing, physical activity, opportunities for personal achievement, service to others and practical experience of the world of work ● skills for learning, life and work – support to develop skills used throughout life and in work ● a positive destination – local authorities and schools are responsible for planning and supporting young people to make successful transitions to young adulthood and the world of work.

Nursery Between the ages of three and five, children in Scotland are entitled to funded pre-school education. Though provision varies, this usually means that during term time a child is offered five sessions of education a week, of about two and a half hours each.

Primary school Children in Scotland complete seven years at primary school (P1 to P7), with all curriculum areas generally being taught by their classroom teacher (some specialists, e.g. in music, modern languages, can also be used). Children in Scotland must start primary school in the August term after their fifth birthday. This generally means that children start school when they are aged between four

and a half and five and a half. Education authorities can make arrangements for children to start in the August when they are four, if they will turn five by the end of the following February.

Assessment at 16 Scotland has new national qualifications – the National 4 and 5 awards, followed by Higher and Advanced Higher.

Advice and information Secondary school Most children move to secondary school (typically a larger school taking pupils from several primary schools) between 11.5 years and 12.5 years. Pupils are taught by several teachers with specialist expertise in each curriculum subject or area. All subject teachers are responsible for teaching Health and Wellbeing, Literacy and Numeracy across Learning within their subject material. Children moving to Scotland from Year 7 in an English secondary school will generally be required to attend a Scottish primary school for up to one year (depending on the time of the move). Academic levels are similar and each case will be considered on its merits by the school and local authority. Children transferring from a Scottish primary school at the age of 12 (P7) will miss the first year of secondary education in England/Wales. Although standards in English and Maths are similar, children may not have experienced specialised teaching in the areas of Science or a Modern Foreign Language. Children and young people are entitled to six years of secondary education (S1–S6): a broad general education (S1–S3) and a senior phase (S4–S6) during which the young person will build up a portfolio of qualifications. There are considerable consequences for the transfer of pupils between the systems between the ages of 14 and 16. If a change of school is unavoidable at that age, further advice should be sought from the relevant local authority.

THE BSA GUIDE TO UK BOARDING SCHOOLS I September 2015

Advice and information can be found, from the appropriate Scottish local authority (there are 32 local authorities, each with responsibility for maintained schools in their area) or directly from the school. Additional information can also be found, and printed, online at: Curriculum for Excellence: www.ltscotland.org.uk/understanding thecurriculum CfE Communications Toolkit: www.ltscotland.org.uk/understanding thecurriculum/whatiscurriculumforexce llence/index.asp Parentzone: www.ltscotland.org.uk/parentzone Scottish Government Supporting Learning 2-C South, Victoria Quay Edinburgh EH6 6QQ Tel: 0131 244 0645 enquiries@scotland.gsi.gov.uk Scottish Qualifications Agency www.sqa.org.uk Scottish Council of Independent Schools www.scis.org.uk Eurydice Eurydice provides information on and analyses of European education systems and policies, including those of England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales: http://eacea.ec.europa.eu/education/eu rydice/index_en.php ■

Scholarships:

Open Mornings:

Sixth Form Scholarship: (Entry age 16+) Date: Saturday 14th November 2015

Junior: (Entry age 9 to 13) Date: Saturday 10th October 2015 Time: 10am start

Junior Assessment & Scholarship: (Entry age 9 to 12) Date: Saturday 23rd January 2016

Senior: (Entry age 13+) Date: Saturday 31st October 2015 Time: 10am start

Third Form Scholarship: (Entry age 13+) Date: Monday 22nd â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Thursday 25th February 2016

General: (Entry age 9+) Date: Saturday 5th March 2016 Time: 10am start

Please register for Open Mornings online.

www.strathallan.co.uk Forgandenny, Perth, PH2 9EG T: 01738 812 546 E: admissions@strathallan.co.uk Registered in Scotland as a charity number SC008903

About UK boarding | A boarding half century – all change? Actually, no!

A boarding half century – all change? Actually, no! – Sir Anthony Seldon, Master of Wellington College, 2006–15

I started boarding as a 12 year old 50 years ago this September, as one of 25 boarders at a prep school, Bickley Park, near Bromley, which happily is still going. It was my choice to board, in part to get away from my parents, in part because I was quite religious and my parents weren’t and I liked the fact that boarders went to church every Sunday. These days we are encouraged to think that boarding then was all very oppressive, that every other teacher was a paedophile and that the one who wasn’t was a psychopath. But my recollection is generally one of kind people who were not in any way suspect. It was certainly Spartan. We slept in dormitories with black iron bedsteads which I suspect dated from the Second World War and had deep hollows in the mattresses. One was particularly bad: it had a huge depression going down about six inches into the middle then there was a huge spring which came up. We complained but no-one would do anything so we took it in turns so that someone different had the mattress each night. It was hard at first because we were not allowed to see our parents for the first four weeks but I think it was meant in a kindly rather than unkindly way. The matrons were lovely – warm, kind and thoughtful. Our biggest excitement was when the headmaster went out for his

weekly visit to the cinema with his wife. We went to the window and watched them go. Then matron was in charge and it was mayhem.

Midnight feasts The biggest termly excitement was the midnight feast when we would build up reserves of food our parents had brought in. We would keep each other awake in half-hour stints and would have to say the Lord’s Prayer to convince the other person that we really were still awake. Then we went down and had the midnight feast, which in the summer term included a skinny dip in the swimming pool. All great fun, and also innocent. I thought it was great. I then went to Tonbridge which was also then full of kindly, non-predatory, people. Again, it was Spartan. We would have our water in a plastic tooth mug by our bedside and which sometimes froze over in the depth of winter. But there was nothing that wasn’t characterbuilding. There was very little bullying. The worst I could say about relationships with staff were that they were a bit clinical and cold. But there was great humanity there too. We were fortunate in that it was evidently very different from the world that the novelist Sebastian Faulks was experiencing here at the same time at Wellington. No-one at Tonbridge in my time was turned

upside down with their head down a toilet or anything like it. I can recall no organised or systematic cruelty. We did once torment a German boy who was there for a term. We didn’t like him, not because he was German but because we thought he wasn’t very nice. We should probably have been more welcoming. After lights out, I can remember us lobbing things into his wooden cubicle while someone imitated an air raid siren and someone else shouted out ‘Luftwaffe attack’. I can’t say I look back on that with any pride. Another very good custom at Tonbridge then was for older pupils to come out of their house for a term and live with a member of staff or in one of the grand old Victorian houses of which Tonbridge has so many. Because I had to redo my A levels, I had four terms rather than one. That was very fortunate for me because I went to live with Jonathan Smith whose first novel, which was about my grandparents, called ‘Wilfred and Eileen’ has just been re-released. He was working on that at the time and became a lifelong friend. Looking back on those experiences, I think I took away three things. The first is that weekends were not good, certainly for me. The worst thing about boarding was the Saturday nights and interminable Sundays. At prep school, things like film nights were organised but at Tonbridge there was nothing and Sunday afternoons seemed to go on forever.

Great weekends So I was very happy, as one of the first things I did at Wellington, to make every weekend in effect an optional exeat weekend, between matches on Saturday afternoon and chapel on Sunday evening. Because of the decision, we lost

THE BSA GUIDE TO UK BOARDING SCHOOLS I September 2015

some parents who thought that only full boarding was going to make a man or a woman of their son or daughter. For them I had little sympathy. Others, for whom I had much more sympathy, found it simply too far to travel every weekend. For those who do want to stay in, Wellington is great at weekends. The second thing I learned was that having all boys together is both great and not so good. It’s great because boys need boys and they bond brilliantly, if welldirected and carefully guided. But the company of girls is vital. I spent a lot of my time at Tonbridge going walkabout until I met, at a party in the holidays, a girl who lived in a house three doors away from my boarding house and started going out with her. I just can’t understand why you would want to segregate boys from girls all the time. If it’s a boys’ school with a sister girls’ schools, it’s just about OK if there are lots of joint activities. But the ideal is to have houses where boys can be boys on their own and also to have opportunities, ideally every day, where boys and girls can meet and become friends. The third thing I learnt was that you do need enlightened teachers and pastoral leaders who know when to stand back and not interfere and when to give guidance. I learnt a great deal from several outstanding people at Tonbridge: my own housemaster, Robert Austin, Jonathan Smith, and another two or three housemasters who became great friends. They all had human warmth, deep interest in the life of the young and could subtly guide and shape good behaviour. And that’s been very much my model both at Brighton College and at Wellington of what good pastoral leaders should be like. At Wellington we had outstanding pastoral leaders

A boarding half century – all change? Actually, no! | About UK boarding

running the 17 houses. That’s my story. In one way, absolutely everything has changed – the beds are more comfortable, the windows have curtains, the drinking water doesn’t freeze in winter, and the food has become edible, nutritious and much more varied. But nothing important has changed and the continuities are far more obvious to me than the discontinuities.

What are these continuities? In prep schools: small-scale rather than industrial boarding, essentially on a family model, with a warm, maternal input from matrons and house parents and heads. In senior schools, the boarding model of houses remains the same, averaging out at 50–60 in size, with a housemaster and house tutors and prefects helping them run it, with people living in their own rooms or cubicles, with house

events and activities run by house prefects. Over 30 years, 95% of it is the same. We make too much of the discontinuities because it suits people in the present to rubbish or disown the past. It’s easier than engaging with it. It might seem that adult staff intervene much more than they did. But in a really good boarding house today it will still be true that senior pupils, or prefects, will have a key role in running things. That is as it should be because the students running the houses are much better inducted than in the past. At its best, they earn respect by moving people with kindness, compassion and care rather than force, hectoring and punishment. As a Head, I favoured ‘trust max’ – you should trust the children and the young staff much more. What went wrong with the old system – that Sebastian Faulks describes so

graphically in his novel Engleby – is not that the kids were in charge; it is that they were charged with the wrong things. I remain an enormous supporter of boarding. I was a shy, vulnerable and hypersensitive child, with very overprotective parents and I managed to cope, even back then. In my experience the vast majority of children can cope with boarding, though I do think a better model is weekly boarding, and would like to see boarding grow throughout the country, for all kinds of reasons. I think that for state school children, too, boarding could be fantastic. I deliberately put boarding into the Wellington Academy in Wiltshire. There are 100 boarding places and it’s working really well. So many young people would benefit from the same kind of experience that I had. ■

Anthony Seldon taught at Whitgift and Tonbridge Schools before becoming deputy head of St Dunstan’s, Catford, and, in 1997, Headmaster of Brighton College. In 2006 he became Master of Wellington where he led the sponsorship of the Wellington Academy in Wiltshire. He was knighted in the Queen’s Birthday Honours 2014. Sir Anthony has written or edited many books and is a political commentator best known as a biographer of prime ministers, including The Blair Effect, Blair, Blair Unbound and Brown at 10. He has also written Trust: How we lost it and how to get it back and Beyond Happiness: The trap of happiness and how to find deeper meaning and joy. He is Vice-chancellor of the University of Buckingham.

A U TU M N 2 01 5 O P EN DAY BUILDING FUTURES

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September 2015 I THE BSA GUIDE TO UK BOARDING SCHOOLS

About UK boarding | A shared life under a common roof

A shared life under a common roof – Tony Little, former Head Master of Eton and Honorary President, Boarding Schools’ Association (BSA), 2015–16

As Robert Frost pointed out, nearly a century ago, there are times in life to pursue the road not taken. The analogy is apt for me in 2015, as one path I had walked for many years came to an end, and I set off down some new ones. Working at a school like Eton was an extraordinary privilege. That extraordinariness showed itself in so many ways, not least the outstanding quality and endless dedication of all the staff. But teachers are nothing without pupils, so it was the extraordinary boys who passed through Eton each year whom I will remember most. Eton students excel and shine not just because they are bright and talented, but because of the environment that surrounds them. Boarding is the beating heart of that environment, as any one of the 1,300 or so boys at Eton’s 25 boarding houses soon realises when they go there. Without boarding Eton would never be able to offer the enriching life experience that our students enjoy. Some of that experience comes from having the extra

time to try new things, explore new worlds, or study a little harder or deeper without the pressures of travelling home each day. The real fullness, however, flows from living alongside others, learning how to give or to take, when to follow and when to lead, how to deal with people of very different temperament and character, understanding the nuances of a shared life under a common roof. In my years at a variety of different schools, be it Eton as a boy, or Tonbridge, Brentwood, Chigwell and Oakham as a master, my belief in the value of boarding has remained undiminished.

A transformative experience Boarding, regardless of background or wealth, offers students a transformative experience that is in so many ways an ideal preparation for life ahead. That experience could be at Eton, or any one of the 500 or so independent or state boarding schools across the UK. It could be in an all-boys, allgirls or co-ed environment; it

could be in the oldest and most ancient institutions; or it could be within a new school like Holyport College in Windsor, which Eton has been very proud to support. Good, modern boarding can foster confidence, encourage independence and prepare young people to face the slings and arrows of the world with purpose and equanimity. If part of the secret of success is a Kiplingesque sang froid when events conspire against us, then those who have boarded are well placed to be resilient and prosper. In preparing to leave Eton, it was with no little pride that I accepted the BSA’s offer to become Honorary President in 2015–16. As the BSA celebrates its golden jubilee, there is no more appropriate time to remind both our followers and sceptics about the true value of boarding. I look forward to playing a small part in helping the BSA to mark this tremendous milestone, and perhaps set the course for the next half century of promoting the boarding cause. ■

THE BSA GUIDE TO UK BOARDING SCHOOLS I September 2015

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Choosing and assessing schools | What makes a good school?

What makes a good school? – Peter Roberts, Headmaster of The King’s School, Canterbury

The most significant and long overdue change over the course of my career has been the toppling of the traditional divide between the self-contained institutional views that schools have tended to hold and the opinions and judgements of parents about their children’s experiences within those hallowed walls. That in a modern and dynamic twenty-first century school there should be broad, if not identical, agreement between the teaching staff and the parents about the ethos and aims of the education on offer amounts to a revolution of stance and perception. It is a

revolution that is even more refreshing in the way the very best schools’ leadership teams take the views and interests of the pupils seriously, anchoring much of the collective enterprise, particularly on the co-curricular side, in the activities and passions of young people. This is especially so where these pursuits are relevant to the skill sets that young people will need in their future life. For a full-boarding school like King’s Canterbury, it stands to reason that the strong sense of community will lend itself to this seemingly modern

approach. Equally, as the oldest school in the country and part of the Foundation of Canterbury Cathedral, it has – like many of the nation’s most famous institutions – learned to adapt and change, growing stronger over the ages – not set in stone, however beautiful those stones or the aesthetic context of a UNESCO World Heritage site may be! A good school is much more than an educational opportunity; it can become a truly nurturing environment, for many akin to a second home. It encourages and gives support as well as celebrating

THE BSA GUIDE TO UK BOARDING SCHOOLS I September 2015

success. It is then most likely to replicate, albeit in a more public forum, what a good family is able to achieve.

Atmosphere of the school One of the characteristics that parents should look out for on an Open Day is the atmosphere in the school. Particular reference should be given to the positivity of teacher-pupil interaction and the friendliness of pupils both to each other and towards visitors. Parents should gauge whether different pupils feel a sense of belonging in an equal way. Do they identify with the school’s

What makes a good school? | Choosing and assessing schools ample space within a good school for scholarly teaching in parallel with all pupils believing in the pursuit of academic excellence, but surely it is the overall cultivation of mind, body and spirit that counts for most when we are still young? Particularly so, since the discipline of managing those other recreational and developmental pursuits alongside academic studies brings the ability to cope with the pressures that university and a career will ultimately impose. ■

values, seeing them as helpful and relevant to their lives and their own ideals? Would the school be brave enough to enable its pupils to develop qualities such as inventiveness, creativity and open-mindedness? Does the school say ‘yes’ to pupil initiatives without falling into the trap of a child-centred pursuit of education? Good senior schools develop young adults into taking responsibility within a carefully laid down framework, one that gives the sense of freedom alluded to above. For a school like King’s which specialises in the pursuit of the highest quality of

pastoral care, this theme requires team work, dedication and careful planning by the adults. The results are just as tangible and obvious to the parents as other successes which often grab the headlines. The theme also actively contributes to the happiness of the pupil body, a contagious force in the way a good school works. As a means to judge the effectiveness of a school in achieving these goals, experienced parents listen carefully to their own children’s feedback, as well as sounding out existing parents.

School is fun as well as useful This main thread encourages young people to see school as fun as well as useful. This is a powerful message during the teenage years when behaviours can be reactive, if the adults are too controlling or base their assumptions on their own aspirations rather than a sound understanding of the real needs of the individual child. While many parents readily acknowledge that such principles lead to a well-balanced and healthy upbringing, perhaps not enough see the link with plenty of school time dedicated to cocurricular pursuits, both those which champion development of character (the CCF, the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award Scheme, and outdoor pursuits spring to mind), and the range of activities which are either directly and indirectly linked to later life skills (the most obvious are in the fields of sports, music and drama). Lively and interesting adults who passionately believe in this wider view of a good school are likely to be inspiring presences in the classroom. There is

Peter Roberts was educated at Tiffin’s, Kingston upon Thames and then read History at Merton College, Oxford, where he received a First Class Honours degree. He subsequently took a PGCE at London University. He worked at Winchester College from 1986 to 2003: first as an assistant teacher, then from 1991 as Head of History and also as Master in College (Housemaster of the Scholars' House). He became Headmaster of Bradfield College in August 2003 during which time he gained the prestigious award as Tatler’s ‘Headmaster of the Year’. He was appointed as the 41st Headmaster of The King’ School, Canterbury in September 2011. He is currently overseeing the biggest development in the school’s recent history: a new girls’ boarding house and a new Music School at the Junior King’s School opens in September 2015, closely followed by plans for a new science centre, a performing arts centre and improved sports facilities. Peter is married to Marie and they have three daughters.

September 2015 I THE BSA GUIDE TO UK BOARDING SCHOOLS

Choosing and assessing schools Choosing and assessing schools | What about boarding schools?

What about boarding schools? – Barnaby Lenon, Head Master of Harrow School, 1999–2011, and Chairman of the Independent Schools Council (ISC)

What is the Independent Schools Council? The Independent Schools Council (ISC) is the organisation that brings together and works on behalf of independent fee-paying schools in the United Kingdom, which educate more than 500,000 children every year. We are at a moment in the history of English education when there is an unprecedented amount of change. The whole curriculum for pupils aged five to 16 has been rewritten and revised A levels and GCSEs will be taught from 2015, 2016 and 2017. Schools are being given more freedoms but also greater responsibilities. ISC’s main activity is lobbying the Government. Every week a new initiative is announced and we seek to express the views of independent schools to policymakers. We also work with the press (stories about our schools appear in the media every day) and we do

research on behalf of independent schools. For example: trends in university admissions, the collection of statistics for the annual ISC Census and exam results. Importantly for our members, ISC provides a central base in London where all the various types of independent school (prep schools, mixed and single-sex, academically selective and nonselective, day and boarding) can come together to discuss issues of common interest.

What about boarding schools? Boarding schools continue to be popular in the twenty-first century, offering exceptional education and extra-curricular activities with round-the-clock pastoral care. Despite the recession, boarding schools are doing well and numbers have increased. The 2015 ISC Census showed that 70,642 pupils board at ISC schools, making up 14% of total

pupil numbers. A total of 485 schools, representing 39% of all ISC schools, have some boarding pupils. Parents are able to choose between different types of boarding to suit their child. Around 85% of boarders are full boarders, with the rest choosing weekly or flexi boarding. There are strong variations between different age groups. 14% of ISC pupils board and at sixth form this proportion more than doubles to over one third of all pupils. For junior pupils this proportion is significantly lower, less than 2%. Non-British pupils with parents living overseas make up just over 5% of the total ISC pupil population in 2015. The two parts of the world supplying the largest numbers of these overseas pupils are Hong Kong and China.

Pupils from overseas The parents of these pupils choose British schools because they are keen for their children to

THE BSA GUIDE TO UK BOARDING SCHOOLS I September 2015

master the English language, because they understand the significance of extra-curricular activities as part of the wider education, and because they know that attendance of a British school may be the best way to gain admission to a British university. A number of boarding and day schools have set up franchise schools abroad. While I was Head Master at Harrow we built schools in Thailand, Beijing and Hong Kong. These schools pay a fee to the British school and this money helps to keep down the fee paid by parents at the British school. In return, the UK school provides advice and monitors the franchise school in a way which guarantees standards. This year school fees have shown the lowest annual increase, at 3.6%, since 1994. An unprecedented number of pupils, 170,000, now receive help with their fees to a record value of £836 million, up £60 million from last year.

Choosing and assessing schools What about boarding schools? | Choosing and assessing schools

This reflects the long-term aim of our schools to increase the amount of bursary provision and widen access to our schools. Over the last 15 years there has been a consistent trend of schools providing fee assistance to increasing number of pupils. More than 41,000 pupils receive means-tested bursaries, valued at £350 million, an increase of 6% compared to last year. The average bursary is worth £8,277 per pupil per year. There are 5,406 pupils who pay no fees at all.

●

What are the advantages of a boarding school? Parents who work in the armed forces will understand better than anyone the attractions of living in a close community. Boarding schools have other advantages: ● They are able to offer a much wider range of extracurricular activities to a high

proportion of pupils because boarding schools have much more time with them. These schools also tend to attract staff who want to be involved in sport, music or drama at a high level. Boarding schools take pupils from all over the country and all over the world. This is a valuable educational experience in itself: the opportunity to know people from many walks of life and from many different cultures. And of course boarders do not have to travel to school, something which can be challenging in parts of the country.

What about disadvantages? The boarding environment is not for everyone. ● Pupils will not have the same level of privacy they may have

at home and some older pupils can find the loss of freedom restrictive. ● Boarding schools are wonderful for the outgoing and active pupil but perhaps less ideal for the shy child. ● Some children get homesick and of course some parents dislike not being able to see their children every day. ● Boarding requires substantial investment. However, more than a third of ISC school pupils receive help with their fees. As with attending any school, choosing to board is a personal decision for parents to make with their child and the support and advice of the school. Every school is different but details of individual schools can be found on their websites. Parents can also carry out a detailed school search and find information about all ISC schools at www.isc.co.uk ■

Head Master of Harrow from 1999 to 2011, Barnaby Lenon taught at Eton for 12 years, was Deputy Head Master of Highgate School from 1990 to 1995 and Headmaster of Trinity School, Croydon from 1995 to 1999. He has been a governor of 12 schools and is currently a governor of the Chelsea Academy and chairman of governors of the London Academy of Excellence in Newham, the first Free School to be set up for sixth formers and the first sponsored by a consortium of independent schools. He is Chairman of the Independent Schools Council, a Board member of Ofqual, and a member of the Oxfordshire County Council Education Advisory Board.

Whitgift. One of Britain’s ﬁnest independent day and boarding schools for boys excellent academic results more than 200 Oxbridge entrants in the past ten years

unrivalled sporting success over 75 national titles in the past two years

professional creative connections partnership with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra

unsurpassed curriculum IB, Bilingual IB, A Level or BTEC

exciting range of co-curricular activities 80 diverse clubs and societies, from astronomy to wakeboarding

superb location close to central London yet situated in beautiful parkland

For further details, please contact the Admissions Ofﬁce at admissions@whitgift.co.uk telephone 020 8688 9222 Whitgift School, Haling Park, South Croydon, CR2 6YT, United Kingdom www.whitgift.co.uk

Whitgift. An outstanding education.

September 2015 I THE BSA GUIDE TO UK BOARDING SCHOOLS

Choosing and assessing schools | Inspections of boarding schools

Inspections of boarding schools – Adrian Underwood, Educational Consultant and Lead Inspector

All English schools with boarding provision are inspected on a three-yearly cycle, whether or not the whole school is being inspected. If the boarding school is in membership of one of the five independent school associations (GSA, HMC, IAPS, ISA, Society of Heads), the inspection of boarding is carried out by a specialist team of boarding inspectors from the Independent Schools Inspectorate (ISI). If it is an independent school but not a member of one of those associations or is a state boarding school, the inspection of boarding is carried out by a specialist team of Ofsted boarding inspectors. Both inspectorates assess a school’s boarding provision against the Boarding Schools – National Minimum Standards, the first version of which was published in 2002. Full details of the Standards (the latest April 2015 version) can be found at https://www.gov.uk/governm ent/publications/boardingschools-national-minimumstandards Over the last 20 years, good practice in boarding schools has developed significantly and schools have responded positively to national legislation in this area. The effect of this has been to raise the level of care and management in boarding schools. This, in turn, has supported the increased quality of the boarding

experience for the more than 70,000 boarders in independent and state boarding schools. These improvements have been recognised by central government, so much so that the Department for Education consulted with boarding schools and boarders and in September 2011 published a new set of standards. The number of standards was reduced from 53 to 20, reflecting the way in which boarding schools promote the highest standards in care, education and the personal development of boarders. The 2011 Standards were further updated in 2013 and 2015. A significant aspect of raising the quality of the boarding experience has been schools’ investment in boarding training. The Boarding Schools’ Association’s programme of professional development, including the Certificates of Professional Development and Professional Practice in Boarding Education, is the major provider of this training. The full programme can be found at www.boarding.org.uk

National Boarding Standards The 20 National Boarding Standards cover the following areas: ● Policies, procedures and practice: includes antibullying, boarders’ activity

programme, boarders’ induction, complaints, confidential counselling and guidance, contact with parents, equal opportunities, guardianship, health and safety, management and leadership, medical care, promoting positive behaviour, role of prefects, boarders’ meals. ● People: includes boarding staff supervision, boarders’ privacy, recruitment checks on boarding staff, relationships between boarders and between boarders and staff, seeking boarders’ views, leadership and management of the boarding provision. ● Premises: includes boarding accommodation, medical facilities, recreational facilities, toilet and washing facilities. ISI and Ofsted reports on boarding are sent to all parents of current boarders. These are usually also published on the school’s website. They are certainly published on the inspectorates’ websites (listed at the end of this article). The reports follow the same framework and report on the: ● outcomes for boarders – the quality of the boarding experience ● quality of the boarding provision and care ● effectiveness of arrangements

THE BSA GUIDE TO UK BOARDING SCHOOLS I September 2015

for welfare and safeguarding ● effectiveness of the leadership and management of the boarding provision. The report does state when the boarding meets a particular National Minimum Standard. If a standard is not met, the report clearly identifies the reason for the school’s failure to meet the standard.

The role of governors The Government through the inspectorates is putting an increasing emphasis on the role of governors in monitoring standards in schools. The 2015 version of the Standards has a new standard: 13.1 The school’s governing body and/or proprietor monitors the effectiveness of the leadership, management and delivery of the boarding and welfare provision in the school, and takes appropriate action where necessary. On a boarding inspection, the chair of governors and any other governors who have responsibilities for boarding are interviewed about how they monitor the boarding provision and the policies and the implementation of policies relating to child protection (safeguarding) and the appointment of staff. As the final responsibility for the management of a school rests with the governing body, the (continued on page 28)

Sta t he e, go anywhe e

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Choosing and assessing schools | Inspections of boarding schools government needs to be certain that governors understand their responsibilities in all areas, but, particularly, in regard to the safety and welfare of pupils. Many schools now have designated governors who monitor the quality of the school’s boarding life and its safeguarding of pupils. These governors spend time in the boarding houses, meet regularly with the designated senior leader (child protection officer) and monitor the effectiveness of the recruitment checks on new staff and the quality of the single central register of staff appointments.

Child protection The safeguarding of pupils is a major responsibility of schools and is rightly given emphasis by schools in their procedures and by the ISI and Ofsted in their reports on boarding welfare. Parents are understandably often more concerned about a school’s location or examination results, and prospective boarders may be more interested in the quality of the bedrooms or the sports facilities. However, the school’s safeguarding of its boarders should also be high on parents’ and prospective boarders’ list of questions. There are four key areas in child protection (also known as safeguarding).

1 How can I access the school’s child protection policy? Every school is required to have a safeguarding (child protection) policy. This is reviewed annually by the full governing body. Schools are also required by the Department for Education to make this policy freely available to parents and prospective parents on request. If a school has a website, it is required to publish this policy on its website.

2 Who are the school’s child protection officers? The school appoints one or more ‘designated senior leaders’ (DSLs) to be child protection officers.

Usually there is a lead DSL and one or more deputies. These DSLs are required to have training every two years in child protection and inter-agency working. The DSLs in a school take the lead responsibility for all child protection issues and liaise with the Local Safeguarding Children Board, the Local Authority Designated Officer (LADO) for safeguarding and the local Children’s Services team.

3 What training do the school’s staff receive in child protection? The first thing to emphasise is that it is the responsibility of a school to train all its staff. If a pupil needs to share a confidential matter with an adult he or she does not necessarily approach a tutor or a teacher. All staff must receive child protection training as part of the induction procedures before they start working in the school. This training must be updated regularly. There is no longer a set frequency for staff refresher training. Schools consult with

their LSCB to determine the most appropriate schedule, level and focus for training. This training covers the categories of abuse (physical, sexual, emotional and neglect), how to respond to a pupil who discloses abuse to a member of staff, and what actions to follow after a disclosure. Each member of staff is provided with a copy of Keeping Children Safe in Education (Part One) and the school’s child protection policy and is expected to know them and also to know the names and contact details (day and night) of the designated senior leaders.

made. It is also a requirement to report to the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) within one month of leaving the school any person (whether employed, contracted, a volunteer or student) whose services are no longer used because he or she is considered unsuitable to work with children.

Be reassured Although abuse incidents are relative rare, schools have robust policies and procedures for preventing abuse and for dealing with any incidents which are reported to them. ■

4 What is in the school’s policy concerning reporting child protection allegations to a local safeguarding agency? It is a requirement that, in any school child protection policy, it is stated that a school must communicate readily (in practice, within 24 hours) with a local safeguarding agency whenever an allegation or disclosure of abuse has been

Further information For the Boarding Schools – National Minimum Standards go to www.gov.uk/government/publications/boarding-schoolsnational-minimum-standards For Safeguarding Children and Safer Recruitment in Education there are two government documents: Keeping Children Safe in Education (2015) (KCSIE) www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attach ment_data/file/418686/Keeping_children_safe_in_educati on.pdf Working together to safeguard children (2015) (WTTSC) www.gov.uk/government/publications/working-togetherto-safeguard-children--2 For ISI reports go to www.isi.net Reports on boarding welfare will only be found on the ISI website for schools whose boarding provision has been inspected since September 2011. For reports before that date, please go to the Ofsted website. Further changes to the inspection of schools are planned from January 2016. These changes will be in the March 2016 edition of the guide.

THE BSA GUIDE TO UK BOARDING SCHOOLS I September 2015

Adrian Underwood’s career has been in boarding education for over 40 years since 1971 when he was appointed a housemaster and head of department. From 1975 to 1997 he was headmaster of a boarding and day school. In 1998 Adrian became National Director of the Boarding Schools’ Association (BSA). He watched over the Association’s development into the world’s major boarding association, pioneering a professional development programme for boarding staff and engaging with the British government on a range of boarding issues including drafting the first set of National Boarding Standards. He was appointed OBE in 2007 for services to education. He now lives on the North Norfolk coast and is an educational consultant and a lead inspector for the Independent Schools Inspectorate, the Dubai Schools Inspection Bureau and the CfBT Education Trust. He is a governor of Wymondham College and Chairman of the English-Speaking Union’s USA-UK Secondary Schools’ Exchange. He enjoys sailing, golf, tennis and training ambulance drivers for a local day care centre.

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Choosing and assessing schools | A safe pair of hands

A safe pair of hands – professional development for boarding staff teams – Alex Thomson, Director of Training, Boarding Schools’ Association (BSA) ‘Boarders feel they receive excellent care and say they are looked after and that they are part of a family. An obvious sense of community is further nurtured by the excellent quality of relationships between boarders and staff who care for them. Such relationships are meaningful, trusting and extremely positive and help to create a relaxed, open and inclusive environment where boarders thrive. Boarders are cared for by experienced and dedicated staff who share the school's aspirations for boarders to make exceptional progress. The management and organisation of boarding is outstanding and ensures boarders continually receive the highest standards of care, support and guidance.’ Extract from an Outstanding Boarding Inspection Report

Such glowing praise for the boarding staff team is clearly well deserved. However, it does not come about by chance. Good boarding schools recognise the short- and longer-term benefits of investing in the professional development of their boarding teams. Whether this is in school training (INSET) or externally provided courses, schools now place equal emphasis on the development of pastoral care knowledge and skills alongside the curricular or subject specific training which ensure their continued academic success.

Whole school INSET A common area for all schools is safeguarding training. Recent guidance from the Government, Keeping Children Safe In Education (2015), highlighted a number of critical areas such as child protection and bullying, including cyberbullying. The former is likely to be covered by an annual whole school INSET with teaching and pastoral staff being joined by administrative, support and catering colleagues. In addition, schools are likely to arrange regular training sessions on topics such as emotional health, first aid, and e-safety.

THE BSA GUIDE TO UK BOARDING SCHOOLS I September 2015

So how do schools recognise the aspects of pastoral care they should be focusing on? Very often the senior leadership team will identify an area or theme which will directly benefit a specific year group and would tie into the Personal, Social and Health Education (PSHE) curriculum. An example would be Mindfulness or Resilience where raising awareness within the pastoral or boarding team will allow the housemaster or housemistress, tutor or matron to support boarders through homesickness or similar emotional challenges better. Young people need to be supported to cope with the stresses of examinations and to achieve a good work/life balance in what is often an extremely busy boarding week. This requires pastoral staff to be equipped with the latest knowledge and to develop the necessary soft skills to foster strong positive relations with the children so they in turn feel confident and empowered to ask for help or guidance if they need it. The aim of this aspect of professional development is to ensure the staff are able, as well as willing, to offer appropriate support so the boarding experience is as positive as possible.

Choosing and assessing schools A safe pair of hands | Choosing and assessing schools

BSA professional development courses Many boarding schools access the wide range of professional development courses offered by the Boarding Schools’ Association. These university-accredited courses are undertaken by both graduate teaching and nongraduate house staff, including matrons, assistant house staff and house parents, who are charged with responsibility for the care and welfare of boarding pupils. BSA staff development courses broadly cover the following areas: ● major legislation as it affects life in a boarding school, child protection issues, National Minimum Standards for Boarding Schools,

organisation and communication in a boarding school, relationships with parents, health and development, e-safety ● conflict resolution and counselling skills, the management of crises and stress in boarding schools, emotional and mental health issues ● a consideration of some of the major challenges that young people face today as they grow and develop. By investing in such staff development, schools ensure that they are better able to provide support for their pupils. Boarding inspectors are able to note that: ‘The boarders receive outstanding levels of support from a wide range of staff within the school…’

‘The pastoral care is exceptional…’ ‘Parents provided overwhelmingly positive feedback.’ ‘This outstanding boarding community is a result of the (staff) fulfilling their vision to provide a safe, structured, nurturing environment.’ ‘Staff work collaboratively and are dedicated to delivering a high standard of care to the children…’ So, next time you visit a boarding school make sure to ask about the programme of professional development for the boarding staff and find out how this is helping to make the boarding experience so much more fulfilling for more boarders. ■

Study at Rockport Sixth Form

Alex Thomson taught geography and mathematics before joining the Education and Training branch of the Army. His service included roles as Director of Adult Education in Northern Ireland, Chief Examinations Officer for the Army’s Junior Officer Education and Training, and Senior Education Adviser to the Officer Selection Board. Before becoming BSA’s Director of Training in September 2008, he was the Children’s Services Director for British Forces in Germany. He is passionate about promoting staff development and team building in education and boarding. He was made OBE in the 2009 New Year’s Honours List for his support to Service children and their families in Germany. As Director of Training he has expanded the Day Seminar programme and the BSA Professional Certificate course to meet the needs of boarding schools.

Rockport School A Learning Adventure

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September 2015 I THE BSA GUIDE TO UK BOARDING SCHOOLS

Choosing and assessing schools | Selecting a school

Selecting a school A guide to the school application process ● ●

● ● ● ● ● ●

● ●

Carry out research into possible schools If possible, visit schools at least a year before the proposed entry date Complete application form Register with school Pay deposit/application fee during the year before entry (or earlier) Prepare for entrance examinations/tests/interviews Sit entrance/scholarship examinations at agreed location If possible visit the school for interview during spring and summer term before entry Prepare for entry and complete all essential paperwork Purchase school uniform and items on clothing list during the summer term or holidays before entry Enter school Receive school induction at beginning of the autumn term.

● ● ● ●

School visits – what to look for ● ● ● ● ●

Do the pupils seem happy and purposefully engaged in activity? Are staff and pupils talking and working together? Are the pupils well mannered and courteous? How is discipline maintained? How, and with what frequency, does the school communicate with parents?

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How does the school monitor each pupil’s progress? What provision is made for pupils with learning difficulties? How many pupils are there in each class? What emphasis is placed on art, drama, music, sport? Are the facilities well maintained? Is there a high turnover of staff members? What is the balance between newly qualified and experienced staff, and the number of specialist teachers (especially in preparatory schools)? What pastoral care system is in place? What is the school’s policy on bullying and drugs? ■

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September 2015

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THE BSA GUIDE TO UK BOARDING SCHOOLS I September 2015

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www.bromsgrove-school.co.uk September 2015 I THE BSA GUIDE TO UK BOARDING SCHOOLS

Choosing and assessing schools | School visits: questions and answers

School visits: questions and answers

School visits can take a variety of forms. They can involve meeting the Head or perhaps attending an Open Day. Whatever the format, the first meeting is crucial so if possible always try to visit a school on a normal day. If it goes well, follow it up with an Open Day visit. Further visits can then be arranged – students can come back for a taster day; potential boarders can be invited to stay overnight. The initial look around is absolutely vital; it is where a parent and their child start to assess whether they fit the environment (and whether it fits them). It is where prospective parents and students decide whether they like the location, the ‘buzz’ and the Head. Open Days can involve a talk about the school normally by the Head, sometimes hands-on classes for prospective students while parents chat to senior staff and current students, and then current pupils leading a tour of the school. All this should be followed by an opportunity to ask any further questions.

As a prospective parent visiting a boarding school with your child, you should have the opportunity to spend time with the Head, a boarding housemaster/housemistress and a pupil. Above all, set out to enjoy your visit. You will find the vast majority of boarding schools make an excellent impression, and their pupils and staff will be in very good heart. Here are some useful questions to ask, particularly if you found the boarding school’s website, prospectus and accompanying information did not cover everything you wanted. The list is not exhaustive: use it as a guide and adapt the questions to your own requirements – you will have to be selective, given the relatively short time available. Covered here: ● academic issues ● rules and regulations ● boarding life and pastoral care ● financial issues ● after your visit.

THE BSA GUIDE TO UK BOARDING SCHOOLS I September 2015

Academic issues Q: What are the entry requirements? Is our child likely to obtain a place, and when? A: This is a crucial initial administrative matter to cover. Remember that the majority of places available will be for the main ages of entry: normally at 7, 8 and 11 for a prep school and at 11, 13 and 16 for a senior school. You need to know whether to have alternative schools lined up, and at what age the school recommends entry and has places available. Q: How do you organise your 14–19 curriculum? A: The debate on the nature of the 14–19 curriculum is ongoing and parents should feel confident and reassured about the current set-up. Larger schools may offer both A levels and the International Baccalaureate, but smaller ones will find this more difficult and expensive. Schools may also offer the Cambridge Pre-U Diploma or the Advanced Diploma. Most schools will be attempting to broaden their sixth-form curriculum, introducing more skills-based courses. There should be an awareness of and concern about the wide range of issues now involved and being debated.

Choosing and assessing schools School visits: questions and answers | Choosing and assessing schools

Q: What are the school’s plans for examination reforms? A: GCSEs and A levels are being reformed with first teaching from September 2015 and first examination from 2017. The reforms will be phased in with different groups of subjects. GCSEs and the full A level will become linear programmes, with examinations at the end of two years. There will be a standalone one-year AS qualification but it won’t count towards the full A level. A new National Curriculum will focus in particular on multiplication tables and mental arithmetic in mathematics; and grammar, punctuation, spelling and pre-20th century literature in English. Schools should be able to explain their own preparation plans for these reforms. Q: Can we see your sixth-form examination results and GCSE/Standard Grade results for the past three years? Also, can we see details of the school’s position in the league tables and the number of places obtained at Oxbridge (the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge) and at other universities? A: League tables need to be treated with caution, as they do not give a rounded picture of the school’s real success or failure in enabling pupils to reach their full potential. IGCSEs are currently included in the UK Government’s School Performance tables, but the DfE has recently announced that this will not be the case from Summer 2017 onwards. The annual tables, or better still the subject and pupil point score averages over the past three years, can be used to identify trends within a school, and most schools accept that these tables are used for obtaining comparisons. All the information should be available in a form that is understandable and helpful. These, the Oxbridge results and the list of university entrants will give you an indication of pupils’ attainment and progress, particularly with reference to those at the top of the ability range, and will illustrate the school’s success at helping pupils realise their academic potential.

Q: How does the school approach the teaching of English, sciences, mathematics, modern languages, and information and communication technology (ICT) for the most and least able students? A: These are key subjects, and your child could be at either end of the ability range. It is important to know how a school responds to individual abilities and needs. It is also important to find out how subjects fit into a broad, well-balanced curriculum, and how essential study skills, particularly in information and communication technology (ICT), are being developed and integrated. Q: Our child has a particular interest in sport/music/drama/art. How will the school get the best out of him/her? A: This question is aimed at finding out what the boarding school’s extra-curricular activities are, and how the school encourages participation in them. Ask about the activities that interest your child most, or in which your child has a particular talent. Q: What is the school’s policy on careers education and applications to further and higher education, and with which professions does it have particularly strong links? A: Good careers advice is an essential part of education throughout the school. Providing advice is a crucial role for the school. Careers departments should have an established local support network of contacts in the main professions, who are able and willing to pass on the benefits of their experience. Again a list of recent leavers’ university places will provide a valuable indicator of the school’s strengths and successes.

Rules and regulations Q: What are the key rules for boarders over the weekend, and what activities are on offer? A: A question for either the Head or the house staff, this is aimed at finding out as much as possible about what boarders can do at weekends and the school’s ability to offer wider cultural and social opportunities for its pupils.

Q: What is the school’s policy on use of the internet and mobile phones? A: You should feel confident the school has realistic and sensible policies in place to monitor internet usage. Similarly, mobile phones can be useful, not least as a means of keeping in touch with parents, so long as rules on their use and security are in place and put into practice. Q: What are the school’s policies on alcohol, drugs and smoking? Is the school facing any particular problems in any of these areas at present? A: Every boarding school will have a policy in place to cover these matters. The real issue is how they are dealt with, and whether the individuals concerned learn from their mistakes. This is a chance to consider the school’s personal, social, health and economic education (PSHE) programme, its health and safety and disciplinary policies, to look into the medical and counselling services available, to discover what happens if serious offences are committed, and to find out on what grounds a pupil may be expelled or suspended, and when this last happened. You should feel matters would be dealt with consistently, sympathetically but firmly, and, above all, fairly.

Boarding life and pastoral care Q: How can I be confident my child’s interests are protected at all times? A: Schools are subject to rigorous child welfare legislation, regulation and inspection, which is entirely right and proper. The interests of the child are at the heart of an independent education. All schools should have a child protection policy and all staff should receive training in child protection. The school’s latest ISI or Ofsted report should provide further details. Q: How does the school work with children who are excluded by their peers? A: The school should be able to identify these children at a very early stage. Schools should be able to explain the measures they take to deal with this. Children are more likely to interact if they are near each other and engaged in the same activity. Schools should provide high quality pastoral care and support to all children.

September 2015 I THE BSA GUIDE TO UK BOARDING SCHOOLS

Choosing and assessing schools | School visits: questions and answers

Q: Who is the first staff member we should see if there is a problem? A: The right member of staff can deal with many problems immediately. Knowing who that is and developing confidence in them is very important. Most boarding schools have very good pastoral care and counselling systems, and knowing how these operate is very important. This question will also allow parents to find out how well the school communicates with parents, and what opportunities there are for visits to the school to meet teachers and other parents. Q: What are the bathroom facilities like? A: School bathrooms range from individual en-suite arrangements to communal shower areas with private shower cubicles. You should be satisfied that the shower cubicles offer personal privacy. Q: Does the school have Skype? A: Skype provides a very cost-effective method of keeping in touch with your child. Some schools provide pupils with supervised access to Skype to enable families to communicate. Q: How good is the catering? Do the pupils have an input into the choice of menu offered? A: These are really questions for the pupil showing you around, although don’t expect a ‘good-eating rosette’ response! The general standard of school catering nowadays, though, is remarkably high and schools are far more conscious of the need to maintain healthy diets. Q: What medical arrangements are in place? A: Obviously, it is important to know what happens in the case of either illness or an emergency or accident, who the school medical staff are, and what the facilities include. Check on insurance arrangements, particularly for sporting fixtures, expeditions and trips, both at home and abroad.

particularly in helping to develop pupils’ life skills and a sense of care, concern and respect for others in the whole community.

Financial issues Q: Why have your fees increased this year? What are your salary scales for teaching staff and how do they compare with salaries in the maintained sector? What extras can we expect to pay? What is your policy on study leave for examinations? A: Well over two-thirds of school fees go on staff salaries, and independent schools need to ensure their salary scales match those in the maintained sector. Extras vary according to a child’s extra-curricular involvement. The head and school prospectus should make it clear at the onset what additional expenses and development costs can be expected. There is normally no reduction for periods of study leave – you may well ask why. Q: How do you finance capital expenditure and what are your development plans? A: Schools need to keep pace with national developments in education, so capital projects will always be on the agenda. Some of these may be funded by donations or an appeal. Others may come out of fees. The Head should be open about future plans and financing options.

The governing board Q: How important is the role of chapel in school life? A: The chapel may be central to boarding school life. While not every pupil may be expected to participate fully, a great deal can be achieved through chapel, most notably its important role in personal, social, moral and cultural education, and

Q: What is the role of the school’s governors? A: In boarding schools governors are the source of authority within the school and they are responsible for overall policy. They control finance and administration, responsibility for which is normally delegated to the Head or the bursar.

THE BSA GUIDE TO UK BOARDING SCHOOLS I September 2015

Probably their single most important task is to appoint the Head. Governors give their time and specialist expertise voluntarily and a good rapport between governors and head is essential for a wellrun school. Crucially, governors are responsible for all practices and procedures for the safeguarding of the school’s pupils and legally they must ensure the school complies with the National Minimum Standards for Boarding Schools and for independent schools, the Independent Schools’ Standards Regulations.

After your visit After your visit, try to discuss with your child your thoughts about the people you met, what you were told and what you saw. Then ask yourself a number of follow-up questions: ● What views did you form of the Head? Why? ● What sort of leadership was provided? ● How did the aims and objectives of the boarding school appear in practice? ● Was there a good rapport between pupils and staff? ● How was the eye-to-eye contact? ● Were the pupils well-mannered and enthusiastic about their school? ● Did the school have policies, procedures and rules to make it a civilised and caring community? ● Were the staff communicative and did they enjoy their teaching? Did they have control of their classes? What contribution did they make to the life of the school outside the classroom? ● Were the buildings well-maintained and the grounds neat and attractive? ● Was there a generally positive atmosphere about the community? ● Finally, and crucially, will the school meet your child’s needs? ■

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Choosing and assessing schools | Interpreting league tables

Interpreting league tables and the different exams now offered in schools – Alex Peterken, Headmaster of Cheltenham College

t would be unusual if parents did not take a keen interest in how successful a prospective school was and how much their son or daughter might be expected to achieve there. But it’s not always easy to get a clear picture of success by looking at measurable information such as league tables alone. This can be a particular problem in boarding schools, where the range and breadth of the opportunities provided for pupils means ‘success’ is achieved in a myriad of different contexts which are difficult to quantify. Boarding schools rightly have a broad definition of what constitutes success that goes beyond just performance in public examinations. Exam results matter of course, in fact they are at the heart of what we work towards for the large part of every day. However parents are becoming increasingly sophisticated in

understanding the raw data provided by league tables, understanding context, and also looking more widely at other signs of success. So what should parents look out for?

Prep Schools Baccalaureate First, some parents may be aware of the debate currently running about Common Entrance and just how ‘fit for purpose’ it is. Senior school heads have expressed concern about the focus on the regurgitation of facts rather than the development of academic skills per se – such as using evidence to marshall an argument or thinking on your feet in an exam room – which are important aspects later on when it comes to GCSE and A level. One approach from a small number of prep schools has been to develop a Prep Schools Baccalaureate that focuses on a far broader range

of assessment areas (including teamwork, leadership and extra-curricular activities) which is marked internally by the prep school on a rolling basis rather than a single set of final exams. Only a handful of schools have taken this step so far, with the majority of prep schools waiting to see the way Common Entrance develops over the coming years now that an updated set of exams has been agreed.

Turning towards IGCSEs At GCSE, the first formal stage in the public examination process, independent schools are increasingly turning away from GCSE to alternatives such as the International GCSE (IGCSE) because they are keen to ensure their pupils are well prepared to pursue subjects at sixth-form level and at university. The attractiveness

THE BSA GUIDE TO UK BOARDING SCHOOLS I September 2015

of the IGCSE is that it holds fast to the idea that studying a subject demands depth as well as breadth. At Cheltenham College, we offer the IGCSE in Mathematics, English Literature, Science, History and Geography. We have found pupils benefit from the richer and more substantial content. They also enjoy learning to apply principles in unfamiliar circumstances and this develops their analytical and critical thinking skills. As a consequence, when they enter the sixth form and go on to university, where they are required to understand and engage more deeply with their chosen subjects, they are in a much stronger position.

Cambridge Pre-U In the sixth form, there are now several different examination options. The most academically challenging are the Cambridge Pre-U

Interpreting league tables | Choosing and assessing schools

specifications. They are examined at the end of the two-year course, feature traditional content, and certainly prepare students well for the first year of undergraduate study. For parents, two things are worth considering here. First, is your child so clearly highly able that they will thrive under this extra pressure? Second, there is no evidence that sitting Pre-U exams (which the vast majority of schools do not offer) is in any way an advantage when it comes to university admissions.

International Baccalaureate Then there is the International Baccalaureate (IB). This adds extra subjects to study (which can be a problem for those who have been looking forward to giving up Maths and French for example!) and again, despite much press coverage, there is little evidence to suggest the IB is an advantage when it comes to university entrance. Where the IB is fantastic, however, is in encouraging independent learning through the research project. There is, of course, nothing to stop good schools introducing such a project into their sixth forms alongside conventional A levels. For example, at Cheltenham we run an internal research essay for all lower sixth students on a topic related to their university application while the most able take the Extended Project Qualification (EPQ). This has proved a very effective combination alongside conventional A levels, especially as far as university entrance is concerned. It is also excellent preparation for the step up to undergraduate courses.

A levels For parents, it’s important to have an understanding of the

public exam system the particular school they are looking at has adopted and why. The IB and Pre-U may offer some specific features, but these may not be necessary or appropriate for the vast majority of students. I am an advocate of the A-level system, by far the most commonly sat exams, undeniably understood by universities, and featuring an A* grade (which is awarded to around 18% of independent school exam entries against 6% nationally), enabling the very able student to be stretched and to shine.

running, swimming and cycling a non-stop relay for 24 hours (including the hire of a charity cat suit for me to run the first lap!). I’ve seen a Year 10 girl have a dialogue with a Jewish Rabbi in the synagogue about his ancestors and the Holocaust and heard a Year 12 pupil deliver a paper on legalising euthanasia in front of an audience of parents and a Professor of Ethics. Every sixth former at Cheltenham takes a nationally accredited course in leadership and life skills. Can league tables measure these sorts of successes? I don’t believe so.

Educating the whole person

Success is multifaceted

The complications of the different exam systems makes comparison across league tables difficult and just looking at league tables alone will mean you are in danger of missing the point about many of the things which should make education the greatest time of young people’s lives. To succeed in adult life involves much more than simply being proficient in the classroom. A good school sets about educating the whole person, and any measure of success should take account of the opportunities pupils have to grow as individuals. Excellent teaching and learning is crucial. But schools should also be places where pupils develop knowledge and understanding, where they are given the opportunity and encouragement to find and use their latent talents, where their self-esteem is built up and their confidence grows, and where they learn to be generous-hearted and develop an enquiring mind. In recent years I have seen a team of 24 prefects, unprompted, plan and execute a charity triathlon which raised in excess of £7,500 by

In boarding schools, learning in this broad sense does not begin and end with formal lessons. Lunchtimes, evenings and weekends are filled with activities – ranging from academic societies, hobbies and wider interest clubs, to sports and leisure activities – all of which contribute to an immensely stimulating and varied education. It is this that really enables pupils to grow into accomplished, selfconfident and well-rounded individuals. I’m not sure the Cheltonian who finished presenting to a conference at Manchester University about the College’s biodiesel ‘eco scheme’ (made from discarded cooking oil) really thought he could do it until it was all over! Most boarding schools also have well developed House and tutorial structures which means that the support to foster success is always close to hand. At Cheltenham, academic ‘clinics’ are open outside classroom hours and tutors spend time with their tutees offering support and advice about any and every issue. Housemasters and housemistresses know the

pupils in their houses very well indeed and can provide the security and stability that they need as they find their way through the maze of adolescence. And of course, coeducation allows boys and girls to grow up together and develop a social ease and confidence that is invaluable later in life. Success, then, is multifaceted and does not lend itself readily to any form of simple measurement. League tables, in particular, are unreliable as schools pursue other forms of examination, and they make no attempt to measure opportunity, character, self-confidence or any of the other attributes that we regard as equally important at Cheltenham College. ■

Dr Alex Peterken became Headmaster of Cheltenham College in September 2010, having joined as Deputy Head in 2008. Educated at Eton College, he read theology at the University of Durham, and was also a choral scholar at Durham Cathedral. He holds an MA in educational management and a doctorate in education, specialising in school leadership. His first teaching post was at Charterhouse, where he spent 11 successful years. He held several senior posts, including Head of Theology and Head of Higher Education and Careers Guidance. His final six years at Charterhouse were spent as Housemaster of Saunderites.

September 2015 I THE BSA GUIDE TO UK BOARDING SCHOOLS

Choosing and assessing schools | The importance of good governance

The importance of good governance – Graham Able, Group Deputy Chairman, Alpha Plus Many parents do not research closely the composition of the governing board when they are considering a school for their child. But the role of governors is critical to the success of a school. In most independent schools, the governing board appoints the head and will have a major input to the appointment of the bursar or equivalent. These appointments are key to the school’s performance, academically and financially. Prospective parents should satisfy themselves the school is likely to deliver a good education appropriate to their child and remain financially viable. Governors are also responsible for agreeing the school budget, determining the salaries of the head and bursar and setting fees. This latter function is of definite interest to most parents! The nature of governance has changed considerably over the last 30 years. The role of governors was once just to appoint the head and give general support. They are now better described as a board of specialist non-executive directors helping to run a midsized company with the head as chief executive and the bursar or business manager as finance director.

‘Critical friends’ Governors need to act as ‘critical friends’ to their ‘chief executive’ and to do so effectively they need to be wellinformed and with sufficient experience and knowledge between them to ask the right questions and interrogate the responses thoroughly. To monitor the progress of the school, governors need to take time to observe lessons and activities and to attend school functions outside their termly

board and committee meetings. They should be visible but careful not to cross the line between non-executive and executive functions. The number of governors’ committees will vary from school to school. Finance, property/development and academic committees are common to most schools – they allow governors with particular expertise to look and advise in more detail in specialist areas. If the governing body is functioning well, the work of these committees will make full board meetings more focused and more effective. The range of expertise needed on a governing body will vary a little according to the type and age-range of school. However all schools will need governors with specialist knowledge of finance and business, law, property, marketing and education. It is also important for some governors to be in touch with the local community. It is relevant for both prep and senior schools to have someone with school headship experience on the board, but a senior school will additionally benefit from a governor with university connections.

Parents as governors Opinions vary about parents as governors; I have always favoured having a current parent on the board, but one elected by the board for his or her expertise rather than a ‘representative’ parent governor elected by the PTA. The latter approach looks very democratic but tends to produce governors with a specific agenda – and possibly without any of the desired specialist skills – and this may not be in the best interests of

the school as a whole. It is important governing boards do not become selfperpetuating oligarchies. There should be clear criteria for the appointment of a new governor and a desired skill set agreed before the board seeks suitable candidates. The alumni and parent (past and present) body will provide a rich source of appropriate talent but there should also be some ‘outside’ influence on the board to ensure it does not become too inward-looking.

Inspectorate (ISI) or Ofsted inspection process. Governing boards which cannot demonstrate a good knowledge of their schools and a proper contribution to strategic decisions are likely to be downgraded and criticised in the inspection report. Most schools now list their governors with details of their specialisms on the school website, so, when considering a school, it is certainly worth taking the time to check their credentials and assess their suitability to govern. ■

Defined terms The best boards will have defined terms which governors may serve and will take care in succession planning. Most boards are probably too large and, like turkeys at Christmas, are disinclined to vote for their own culling. No school needs more than 12 governors and 14 is certainly too many. The largest boards often contain governors nominated by groups associated with the school. These nominees may not cover the range of desired skills so the board has expanded in order to address this. Governors must keep up to date with all regulatory changes and ensure safeguarding and health and safety matters are regularly addressed. So it is important for governing bodies to ensure they receive sufficient training where appropriate. The demise of Stanbridge Earls, a school which for many years did an extraordinary job in educating children with special educational needs, was an example of how poor governance and slack management can bring down a successful school in just a few months. Governance is judged as part of the Independent Schools

THE BSA GUIDE TO UK BOARDING SCHOOLS I September 2015

Graham Able spent 40 years in independent schools, the last 22 of these as Headmaster of Hampton School and then Master of Dulwich College. After retiring from Dulwich he was appointed Chief Executive of the Alpha Plus Group; he recently retired from this role but remains Group Deputy Chairman. Having previously served on the governing bodies of Roedean and Imperial College, he is currently a governor of Gresham’s School and of Beeston Hall, where he was once a pupil and is now vice-chairman. A former chairman of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference (HMC), he has advised governing boards on their structure and effectiveness.

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Schools founded by the Military | A unique and iconic school

A unique and iconic school – Chris Russell, Executive Principal of The Duke of York’s Royal Military School

A warm welcome The Duke of York’s Royal Military School is a non-selective boarding school for students aged 11 to 18. Located in Dover, Kent, the school is a convenient choice for those living in Europe as we are close to the Ferry port and Eurotunnel, and an hour’s train journey from London via the high-speed link to St Pancras. Set in 150 acres of Kentish countryside, your son or daughter will feel safe and secure in a close-knit community.

Excellent results The school offers a broad range of GCSEs and our success rate is significantly higher than the national average (5A* to C

including Maths and English). In the sixth form, a wide range of courses is available, currently 16 at AS level and 17 at A2 level. The curriculum is constantly under review and we respond positively to student feedback. All our students are encouraged to achieve the very best they can and regular evening prep is set – this is overseen by House tutors.

Summer Term. And we mark important commemorative dates in the calendar including Remembrance Sunday with the whole school and military band on Parade. We place particular emphasis on traditional values such as self-discipline, selfreliance, spirituality, leadership and respect for others, as we believe it helps our students develop character and skills for life.

Military ethos Originally established in 1803 to educate children from military families, the school continues to maintain and be proud of its strong military ethos. We Troop the Colour each year on our prize giving day at the end of the

Full and weekly boarding By choosing to live and study with us, your child will become part of a close community. It is extremely important to staff that our students enjoy

THE BSA GUIDE TO UK BOARDING SCHOOLS I September 2015

boarding and are able to forge strong friendships. Our Housemasters and Housemistresses offer good pastoral care and support, aided by an in-house team of Tutors, Pastoral Leaders and Housekeepers. It is a busy and vibrant place, especially at weekends, with various activities and trips on offer. We now offer the increased flexibility of weekly boarding as well as full boarding. This means students may go home at weekends after Saturday lessons and commitments if their parents wish them to do so. They can return either late on Sunday night or early on Monday morning.

Schools founded by the Military A unique and iconic school | Schools founded by the Military

So many opportunities A good school is about much more than what is learnt in the classroom – sport, outdoor activities and the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award Scheme continue to play a leading role in the lives of all of our students. Extra-curricular opportunities include over 70 clubs and activities and all the major sports are played, including rugby, netball, hockey, cricket and athletics. This year we have continued to work in partnership with a range of different schools locally, nationally and internationally. Most notable was the involvement of students in a

production of ‘West Side Story’ in Dover and in the USA which was put on by students in a joint American and British cast.

£24.9 million investment A £24.9m building programme has just been completed to enhance our school site and facilities. This has provided new junior and sixth-form boarding houses, a black box drama studio, teaching blocks and a Sports Centre.

year group, at any time of the year. To be eligible for a UK state boarding school, students must hold a British or EU Passport, or have the right to reside in the UK.

Come and visit

Applications

The school is non-selective, but all students are invited to a ‘suitability for boarding’ interview. We encourage you to visit us to see how we differ from other schools. Our students will give you a tour of the school and answer any questions you may have. ■

We recommend students join us in Year 7, Year 9 or for the sixth form (Year 12) but we will always consider applications from any

*Boarding fees are reviewed annually.

Contact details The Registrar, DOYRMS, An Academy with Military Traditions Dover, Kent CT15 5EQ Civ: 01304 245073 www.doyrms.com

The Executive Principal and Commandant, Chris Russell, is also the CEO of the Dover Federation for the Arts Multi Academy Trust. His career included various teaching posts before being appointed Headmaster of Astor College in 1988. Chris held a commission in the Royal Army Educational Corps and also played professional cricket. He represented the Army and Combined Services, captaining two championship Army sides. He has produced 48 international musicals and runs the National Students’ Art Exhibitions in the Mall Galleries, London (now in its 13th year). A qualified pilot, Chris’ interests are the theatre, sport and his boxer dogs. He is a member of the MCC and RAF Clubs and the British Torch of Remembrance.

September 2015 I THE BSA GUIDE TO UK BOARDING SCHOOLS

Schools founded by the Military | Maintaining 300-year-old links with the Royal Navy

Maintaining 300-year-old links with the Royal Navy – James Lockwood, Headmaster of The Royal Hospital School, Holbrook

●

The Royal Hospital School in Suffolk recently celebrated 300 years of proud seafaring heritage. Today it is a well-respected HMC co-educational boarding and day school, set apart by a unique history that infuses the ethos and daily life of the school. Founded in 1712 in Greenwich, London, to educate the sons of seafarers for a life in the Royal Navy, the school has retained its maritime connections and the values and traditions born from these historical roots. And while the RHS of today may be a modern-thinking, forwardlooking school, its links with the Royal Navy, and indeed the other two Armed Services, remain strong and are still very much a part of everyday life, manifested in many ways. All our Year 7 pupils are taught to sail in their first term and, through the school’s new Sailing Academy, provision for sailing at the very highest level is unrivalled. The School’s CCF includes both Naval and Royal Marine sections as well as Army and RAF, colours and sunset take place each day and pupils take part in ceremonial Divisions on special occasions. Every year the choir performs at the National Seafarers’ service at St Paul’s Cathedral and at the Admiralty Carol service in St Martin in the Field. Trafalgar Night is a key date on the school calendar and celebrated in fine style.

As recently as just 60 years ago all the boys who attended did so courtesy of the School’s parent charity Greenwich Hospital. A great deal has changed since then. The Royal Hospital School admitted non-seafarers for the first time in 1990. But we still have more than 300 pupils receiving the Continuity of Education Allowance (CEA) or in receipt of a mean-tested seafaring bursary through their connections with the Royal Navy or Royal Marines. A year later girls were admitted and in 2005 the school opened its doors to day pupils and more recently, flexible arrangements for boarding have been introduced for younger pupils.

‘Education is a liberating force’ I became Headmaster in September 2012 and strongly believe that, as a result of this heritage and probably more than any other school of its type, the Royal Hospital School recognises that ‘education is a liberating force’. As Headmaster, it is my aim to unlock the potential of each individual by offering them a whole new world of life-changing opportunities and an environment in which academic excellence is promoted through learning and shared experiences. A place that encourages boys and girls to discover themselves; quite

simply, to develop a passion that will endure for the rest of their lives. Through passion comes purpose, and from purpose the journey ahead becomes clear. This can only be achieved if the school experience is a happy one, founded not on learning alone, but on relationships formed and values shared. I firmly believe a well-balanced individual needs a sense of spiritual awareness, along with academic and sporting achievements. I place great store by the values of kindness, service, integrity and generosity of spirit – these are the invisible strands that hold a community such as ours together. By working closely together, the staff at the Royal Hospital School ensures our pupils are able to form strong relationships and make a valuable contribution, both here at school and in the adult world where many will become leaders in their chosen field. With a commitment to leadership, service and an international outlook at the heart of the school’s values, the Royal Hospital School is a good choice for parents seeking an outstanding all-round, balanced, broad and full education for their children.

Why the Royal Hospital School? ●

Our Junior boarders (11–12 years) have a dedicated house with routines, support and

THE BSA GUIDE TO UK BOARDING SCHOOLS I September 2015

●

pastoral care to enable them to settle in and flourish, easing the transition from primary to secondary education. We have a dedicated tutor system which supports each pupil and ensures that they achieve their academic potential. Additional support is offered through the learning support department, for children who have moved schools and missed work due to relocation. Means-tested bursaries are available for children with any seafaring connections which may include a parent or grandparent in the Royal Navy, Royal Marines, Royal Auxiliary Fleet or merchant navy. ■

James Lockwood became Headmaster of the Royal Hospital School in September 2012. He joined the Royal Hospital School in September 2009 as Deputy Headmaster from St John’s School, Leatherhead. After completing an honours degree in Manchester, he gained an MA in Education Management at the University of Surrey. James started his teaching career at Exeter School where he was a Deputy Housemaster and Master i/c Cricket. He spent 10 years at St John’s School, Leatherhead, during which time he led an academic department, was Housemaster of a boys’ boarding house, Master i/c Rugby and a member of the School’s Senior Management Team, with specific responsibility for the cocurricular life of the School. James is married to Sarah and they have two young children – Olivia and Harry.

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September 2015 I THE BSA GUIDE TO UK BOARDING SCHOOLS

Schools founded by the Military | The gateway to a technical career in defence

The gateway to a technical career in defence – Peter Middleton, Principal of Welbeck – The Defence Sixth Form College

Welbeck offers a unique opportunity for young men and women to study for their A levels on a career path that will eventually lead to a career as a technical or engineering Officer in the Armed Forces, or as a civilian engineer within the Ministry of Defence (MoD). The modern, purpose-built campus provides co-educational boarding for 350 students. Students can also join the college under the Welbeck Private Scheme (WPS). WPS students are an integral part of the college and follow an identical programme of study to the MoD sponsored students – although they are not committed to joining the armed forces or MoD, a number do progress to follow Service careers. Welbeck is primarily an academic institution, where all students should expect to be challenged, excited and inspired intellectually. But it also has a fundamentally military focus where students are prepared for their future careers through the military experiences and leadership opportunities.

A unique career opportunity starts at Welbeck The Defence Sixth Form College provides a proven pathway to a career in the MoD. It represents the first step in the Defence Technical Officer Engineering Entry Scheme, and is the only college in the country to offer

students a career-focused route through sixth form and university, and ultimately into their chosen career.

Academic focus with a military ethos State-of-the-art facilities, inspirational teachers and a dynamic community make Welbeck a leading co-educational college. With a focus on maths and physics, our aim is to inspire and educate students in order to maximise their potential. After Welbeck, students will read an engineering, technical, business or logistics based degree at a leading UK university: Aston, Birmingham, Cambridge, Imperial College, Loughborough, Newcastle, Northumbria, Oxford, Portsmouth, Southampton or Strathclyde. Here the support and mentoring continues through the Defence Technical Undergraduate Scheme Squadron. They receive a bursary of £4,000 a year while at university as well as training pay. WPS students can choose to continue their studies at a university of their choice.

experienced staff, students benefit from a full boarding environment geared to shaping a successful career in the Armed Forces or Ministry of Defence Civil Service. Our students come from a diverse range of social and cultural backgrounds from all over the UK and from UK families overseas. The majority of students have never boarded before so students develop personal skills to adapt to the residential environment, and are committed to contributing in every aspect of college life. In doing it builds respect for all members of the community.

Unlocking potential At Welbeck academic studies combine with developing core military skills and values, to provide a broader learning environment. Our programme of intellectual, personal and physical education develops in our students a moral integrity, responsibility and genuine sense

Welbeck life Each year 175 high-calibre young men and woman join the college. Living and learning with likeminded, career-focused individuals gives a unique atmosphere, energy and collective drive. Under the careful mentoring of skilled and

THE BSA GUIDE TO UK BOARDING SCHOOLS I September 2015

of service. Central to the college’s ethos is supporting each student to unlock their potential, enabling them to achieve more than they believed possible.

Military skills and leadership training A central emphasis of Welbeck is the development of leadership potential and military skills. The college benefits from having four full-time permanent military staff, and these are assisted by CCF officers. All students are expected to join the college CCF and there is a common training programme. Each student takes part in the six main exercises during their time at the college. There are also single-service visits, giving students opportunities to get a close look at working and training units. The unique leadership opportunities are accredited by the Institute of Leadership and Management (ILM). (continued on page 48)

Where learning meets adv adventure... enture... ...and engineers meet their future. For potential engineers with drive, ambition and ability, W Welbeck elbeck is where potential turns into bright futures as Of Officers ficers in the Armed Forces Forces or Civil Service. • One of the UK’s UK’s top performing Sixth Form Form Colleges with 100% pass rate rate at A2 and 90% A* to C in 2014 • State-of-the-art State-of-the-art facilities • Tuition Tuition funded by by the Ministry of Defence with means-tested boarding fees • 99% of students from Welbeck Welbeck were offered a place at university university in 2014 • Annual technical bursary of £4,000 at university university Visit www.dsfc.ac.uk to order or download a prospectus and book a place on one of our upcoming Open Days: Days: Saturday Mornings

Wednesday Afternoons Afternoons

10 October 2015 November 2015 14 November 5 December 2015 16 January 2016

4 November November 2015 November 2015 25 November 13 January 2016 10 F February ebruary 2016

Schools founded by the Military | The gateway to a technical career in defence

Sport, activities and music All students participate in major games and can choose from a wide variety of activities. The outstanding facilities include a multi-functional sports hall, fitness rooms, tennis and squash courts, swimming pool, allweather sports pitch, 12 other grass pitches, a high ropes/confidence facility and assault courses. Many students are also involved in musical activities.

Pastoral care and the boarding environment Outstanding levels of pastoral care are at the heart of the college ethos and this is centered around five co-educational boarding houses, each with live-in house parents. This environment

provides a unique ‘pre-university experience’ for students.

Applying to Welbeck To apply to Welbeck, and subsequently the Armed Services, you should be a medically fit UK, Commonwealth or Irish citizen aged between 15 years and 17 years and six months on 1 September in the year of entry to the college. Commonwealth citizens are required to have five years’ residency in the UK prior to application. Certain other single-service conditions may apply and will be outlined at the time of application. To join Welbeck as a Civilian Ministry of Defence Civil Service candidate you must be a British Citizen or hold dual nationality, one of which British. Applications are made directly to the sponsoring service.

WPS students apply directly to the college. All students applying to Welbeck are required to achieve a minimum of an A in Maths, B in Physics, and C in English Language at GCSE or equivalent qualification. To find out more about the entry criteria go to www.dsfc.ac.uk Tuition for MoD-sponsored students is paid for by the MoD. Parents or guardians are required to make a contribution towards the cost of their child’s maintenance, which covers board, lodging and the value of clothing and services provided. Parental contributions are means-tested and range from £0 to £13,053. Welbeck Private Scheme fees are £15,000 + VAT per year. To find out more about the college go to www.dsfc.ac.uk ■

THE BSA GUIDE TO UK BOARDING SCHOOLS I September 2015

Peter Middleton became Principal in September 2013. Peter, who was previously Deputy Head at Clifton College in Bristol, was born in Somerset and educated at Radley College before reading Chemistry at Oriel College, Oxford. He began his teaching career at Cheltenham College, where he was a deputy Housemaster, Master in Charge of Rowing and 1st VIII coach, and an officer in the Army Section of the CCF. He moved to St Edward’s School, Oxford, where he was a House Master, re-formed the Royal Navy Section, was Master i/c Rowing and an international rowing coach. Throughout his career, Peter has taught Chemistry to A level. His experience is grounded in the co-educational boarding sector within schools that have high academic aspirations and expectations. He has been a governor of independent and maintained sector schools, most recently of a Mathematics and Computing College. Peter is married to Clare, an educational psychologist, and they have three children.

An education that remains once school is completed | Boarding at a state-funded school

An education that remains once school is completed â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Irfan Latif, Head Master of Sexeyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s School, Bruton education: excellent facilities, outstanding pastoral care and a rich and diverse range of extra-

State boarding schools can take any pupil with a UK or EU passport and charge only for the boarding element â&#x20AC;&#x201C; with pupilsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; education received for free. State-funded school boarding fees are therefore typically around a third of the cost of the independent sector. State boarding schools are a vital component in the spectrum of education provision in the UK. Pupils at Sexeyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s (and no doubt at many other state boarding schools up and down the country) know and are involved in their local community, have an understanding of how the breadth of society works, and most importantly, can converse easily with people from all walks of life. They also benefit from many of the elements often valued in an independent

16 0

unique experience for each child.

curricular activities (club, societies, sport, music, art and drama) that promise a tailored,

Peter Symonds College Winchester

boarding and day day school Co-educational Co-educational state state boarding ffor or o stud studen ts aged 11-18 students

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September 2015 I THE BSA GUIDE TO UK BOARDING SCHOOLS

Boarding at a state-funded school | An education that remains once school is completed

Caring and nurturing environment It is hardly surprising boarding numbers are flourishing – long gone are the days when children were ‘sent away’ to boarding schools in fear. Boarding schools feature frequently in the list of the country’s most successful schools, bred not only from the very best teaching, but also from what is learnt outside of the curriculum. As Einstein said, ‘education is what remains after one has forgotten what one has learnt at school’. Boarding can teach students the value of stability in a caring and nurturing environment. This is evident in the respect and affection our pupils have for teachers and staff and in the focus placed on providing for each individual – right down to the detail of arranging transport during exeats (weekend breaks from

boarding) for pupils to visit family or guardians. Our recent sixth-form boarding leavers likened their boarding experience to ‘living with family’ – so much so that we are still trying to get rid of some of them, who return after university to visit! It is difficult to convey in a short article all state boarding can offer. For that reason, I would encourage you to come and visit Sexey’s – or state boarding schools like ours – to form your own impressions. I recently showed one family around Sexey’s. The daughter, a girl who was naturally reserved, lit up by the end of her visit, exclaiming, ‘I really want to come here!’.

Value for money fees

academic qualifications and idyllic Somerset setting, none of this was the primary influence on the child. Rather, it was the knowledge that she could continue horse riding, play hockey, swim, would be dissecting frogs in science, and be playing with the owners of those happy faces in the grounds that made her mind up for her. And judging by the parents’ expressions as they left, and the application form received the next day, that promise of happiness is worth a thousand statistics. The State Boarding Schools’ Association (SBSA, www.sbsa.org.uk) offers more information for families exploring their options, or we always welcome a phone call or visit www.sexeys.somerset.sch.uk ■

Although no doubt her parents were encouraged to book the trip based on our strong

Irfan Latif is Head Master of Sexey’s School, Bruton. Established in 1891, Sexey’s is an award-winning Church of England, co-educational school for ages 11–18. Prior to Sexey’s, Mr Latif – a former Head of Chemistry and Director of Science at St Benedict’s School in Ealing, London – was Deputy Head at Bedford School. He regularly lectures at the Royal Institution of Great Britain, is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry and is also a magistrate. He is a keen traveller and adventurer and recently led expeditions to Everest Base Camp, Venezuela and the Red Sea. He is married to Jocelyn, a science teacher, and they have two young daughters, Zara and Emma and their Jack Russell, Rodney.

De Aston School & Boarding House MARKET RASEN, LINCOLNSHIRE A vibrant 11 to 18 school with traditional values and modern facilities, including full time boarding. For more information about our Boarding House please contact Deborah Sheldrick.

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THE BSA GUIDE TO UK BOARDING SCHOOLS I September 2015

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T S APIENTIA

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Weekly boarding is a popular choice for busy working families, as one boarding parent says: ͚/ ŚĂǀĞ ďĞĞŶ ĂďůĞ ƚŽ develop my career knowing my son is in safe hands and all aspectts of his care and learning are addressed. He achieves, we achieve. /ƚ͛Ɛ Ă ǁŝŶŶŝŶŐ ƐŝƚƵĂƚŝŽŶ ĂŶĚ ǁĞ ŚĂǀĞ ƚŚĞ ďĞƐƚ ǁĞĞŬĞŶĚƐ ĞǀĞƌ͊͛

͚>Z'^ ďŽĂƌĚŝŶŐ ŝƐ ŽƵƚƐƚĂŶĚŝŶŐ͛ (Ofssted) For more information or to arrange a visit contact Tricia Heaton on 01524 580542 Email theaton@lrgs.org.uk www.lrgs.org.uk Lancaster Royal Grammar School East Road Lancaster LA1 3EF

East Anglia’s top performing formin sstate school at GCSE Affordable boarding fees - just £9,750 per year with education free to all Over 86% of students achieved ieved eved the t Gold Standard at GCSE (5 grade grad ad de es at a A*- C including English and Maths) hs) Wymondham College is the top op sstate ate e school in Norfolk for students gaining ng g att least 3 A Levels at A*-E (99%) enquiries@wymondhamcollege.org | 01953 609000 | www.wymondhamcollege.org

BOARDING GA AT T GORDON’S SCHOOL A leading sstate tate boar boarding ding school ffor or girls and bo boys ys fr from om 11-18 yyears. ears. ƌŝŶŐŝŶŐ ƚŽŐĞƚŚĞƌ ŶŽŶͲƐĞůĞĐƟǀĞ ƌŝŶŐŝŶŐ ƚŽŐĞƚŚĞƌ ŶŽŶͲƐĞůĞĐƟǀĞ academic academic excellence, excellence, abundant abundant ĞǆƚƌĂͲĐƵƌƌŝĐƵůĂƌ ĂĐƟǀŝƚǇ ĂŶĚ ĞǆƚƌĂͲĐƵƌƌŝĐƵůĂƌ ĂĐƟǀŝƚǇ ĂŶĚ ceremony in a school judged judged by by ceremony Ofsted as Ofsted ‘Outstanding in all categories’. categories’. ‘Outstanding

zĞĂƌ ϳ ĂŶĚ zĞĂƌ ϭϮ ƌĞƐŝĚĞŶƟĂů z ĞĂƌ ϳ ĂŶĚ zĞĂƌ ϭϮ ƌĞƐŝĚĞŶƟĂů ďŽĂƌĚŝŶŐ ƉůĂĐĞƐ ĂǀĂŝůĂďůĞ ĨŽƌ ďŽĂƌĚŝŶŐ ƉůĂĐĞƐ ĂǀĂŝůĂďůĞ ĨŽƌ September September 2016.

MODERN IDE AS - TRADITIONAL IDEAS ONAL V VALUES A ALUES www.gordons.surrey.sch.uk w ww.gordons.surrey.sch.uk rregistrar@gordons.surrey.sch.uk egistrar@gordons.surrey.sch.uk 01276 858084

September 2015 I THE BSA GUIDE TO UK BOARDING SCHOOLS

Boarding at a state-funded school | State boarding schools

State boarding schools For parents considering boarding for their children, state-funded boarding schools may be an option. As always it is important do your homework and, above all, see the school in action before you make any choice. State boarding schools provide free tuition but charge fees for boarding. Some state boarding schools are run by local councils, and some are run as academies or free schools. These schools give priority to children who have a particular need to board and will assess children’s suitability for boarding. At state-funded boarding schools, parents pay between £8,500 and £14,600 per year for their children to board. There are 38 state boarding schools in the UK. New academies or free schools with boarding include Holyport College

and Beechen Cliff School – these schools opened boarding in 2014. Liverpool College, which was an independent school, came into the state sector in 2013. Polam Hall becomes a mainstream free school in September 2015. Provision has been enhanced or expanded in some schools. In 2012 Wellington Academy in Tidworth, Wiltshire, which is sponsored by the independent Wellington College, spent £5.5 million creating 100 boarding places. Also in 2012 the Priory Academy in Lincoln opened 60 en suite study bedrooms to encourage sixthformers to stay on at the school. Fifty places were made available at Harefield Academy in Uxbridge, Middlesex, when the boarding house opened in 2011.

The Duke of York’s Royal Military School in Dover became the first all-boarding academy in 2010. The school is managed by an Academy Trust and funded by the Department for Education. The academy, which is sponsored by the Ministry of Defence, retains a strong military ethos and tradition but its boarding places are no longer exclusive to the pupils of Service children. The school has a major refurbishment project including the building of new boarding houses. The scheme will increase capacity at the school from 468 to 722 pupils and provide enhanced facilities. More information on state-funded boarding schools can be found at: www.sbsa.org.uk www.gov.uk/types-of-school/stateboarding-schools ■

State boarding schools School

County

Region

Adam’s Grammar School Ashby School Beechen Cliff School Brymore Academy Burford School Colchester Royal Grammar School Cranbrook School Dallam School De Aston School Duke of York’s Royal Military School Gordon’s School Harefield Academy Haydon Bridge Community High School Hockerill Ango-European College Holyport College Keswick School King’s School Lancaster Royal Grammar School Liverpool College Old Swinford Hospital Peter Symond’s College (sixth form only) Polam Hall School Priory Academy LSST QE Academy Trust Reading School Ripon Grammar School Royal Alexandra and Albert School Royal Grammar School Sexey’s School Shaftesbury School Sir Roger Manwood’s School Skegness Grammar School St George’s School Steyning Grammar School Thomas Adams School Welbeck – The Defence Sixth Form College Wellington Academy Wymondham College

Shropshire Leicestershire Somerset Somerset Oxon Essex Kent Cumbria Lincolnshire Kent Surrey Middlesex Northumberland Hertfordshire Berkshire Cumbria Hampshire Lancashire Merseyside Worcestershire Hampshire Co Durham Lincolnshire Devon Berkshire North Yorkshire Surrey Buckinghamshire Somerset Dorset Kent Lincolnshire Hertfordshire West Sussex Shropshire Leicestershire Wiltshire Norfolk

West Midlands West Midlands South West South West South West South East South East North East Midlands South East South East South East North South East South East North South West North North West Midlands South West North East Midlands South West South East North South East South East South West South West South East East Midlands South East South East West Midlands West Midlands South West South East

Information from the State Boarding Schools’ Association (www.sbsa.org.uk)

THE BSA GUIDE TO UK BOARDING SCHOOLS I September 2015

Boarding places 100 50 24 150 90 30 (sixth form) 250 120 70 470 200 50 60 300 225 54 31 200 30 (sixth form) 406 80 60 60 50 70 80 430 70 300 104 52 65 120 123 62 338 100 650

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Boarding at an independent school | The merits of boarding at an independent school

The merits of boarding at an independent school ●

●

● ●

Why choose an independent boarding school?

●

The main reasons stated by parents for choosing independent boarding schools include: ● small classes with individual attention ● high standards of education and examination results ● good discipline

● ●

encouragement of a responsible attitude to school work development of social responsibility extra-curricular activities including sport, music and drama.

Advantages ●

Independent schools offer diversity – co-educational and single-sex, choice of

●

location, differing ethos and philosophy. Independent schools are accountable to parents. If parents do not think their children are being educated properly they can take them away and send them elsewhere. Because of this, independent schools have to have very high standards and most are equipped with the most up-to-date facilities available. Most have smaller classes than state schools and staff have the time to give pupils individual attention. Better facilities. Broader range of extra-curricular activities. More opportunities for languages and sport, music and drama.

Parental attitudes revealed Research by the Independent Schools Council (ISC) showed parents rated the moral aspects of schooling and inculcation (continued on page 56)

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THE BSA GUIDE TO UK BOARDING SCHOOLS I September 2015

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WESTMINSTER SCHOOL

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Sporting Success across the School Pupils continue to compete from local to national levels. Highlights have included Devon Cup rugby finalists, a record haul of medals at the national meet in the Olympic Pool, Tall Ships Silver and record breaking performances at the Alexandra Stadium.

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www.trinityschool.co.uk Trinity School (Teignmouth) is a company limited by guarantee (registered in England; company number 1399560) and a registered charity (number 276960). Registered Office: Buckeridge Road, Teignmouth, Devon. TQ14 8LY. UK

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September 2015 I THE BSA GUIDE TO UK BOARDING SCHOOLS

Boarding at an independent school | The merits of boarding at an independent school

of values as higher priorities than concentration on exam results and league table success. Among the qualities of a school that parents felt were essential or very important were that it: encourages pupils to respect each other; pays close attention to individual pupils’ well-being; insists on good manners; adapts teaching methods to the needs of each child; and encourages independent thinking. They particularly valued the emphasis on small classes and individual care. Classes in many independent schools are smaller than in other types of school, particularly for the younger age groups between 5 and 13. This is when children are especially keen to learn, the foundations of a good education can be laid, and mistakes and learning difficulties are recognised and put right. There are two main issues about which parents should feel confident: ● academic ● extra-curricular activities.

Academic Figures from the ISC’s 2015 census show

that for 2014: ● At A level, 51% of entries from pupils at ISC schools were awarded at least an A grade, compared to 26% nationally. ● Independent schools account for 14.6% of A-level entries, but 27.7% of A/A* grades and 32.0% of A* grades. ● At GCSE and iGCSE 90.9% of entries from pupils achieved five or more A* to C grades including mathematics and English. ● At GCSE and iGCSE 77.7% of entries from pupils achieved five or more A* to C grades including mathematics, English, a science and a modern foreign language. ● Most (92%) ISC pupils progress to higher education and the majority attend Russell Group universities. Four per cent go on to non-UK universities.

Also remember, in order to survive, independent schools have to satisfy parents they represent good value for money. Parents should value what they pay for and encourage their children to do well.

The case for the independents ●

●

● ●

Extra-curricular activities Independent schools aim to develop a pupil’s whole personality by: ● developing the imaginative, practical and physical as well as the academic ● fostering music, art and drama ● encouraging team games, individual sports and indoor games and hobbies.

●

Independent schools enjoy freedom and prevent a state monopoly. They offer genuine choice – so ensuring the rights of parents. They encourage academic excellence as illustrated by statistics in science, mathematics, languages; and have a reputation for innovations. They provide facilities for gifted children. Many are religious foundations. Their average class sizes are much smaller. Some independent schools offer singlesex education. Finance: they save the maintained sector the cost of educating more than half a million pupils. ■

Denstone College is situated in o ver 100 acres acres of over rrolling olling Staff for o dshire countr yside, within easy reach reach Staffordshire countryside, of the motorwa motorway ay netw network ork and international airpor airports. ts. --X LEW ER I\GIPPIRX EGEHIQMG VIGSVH ERH ½VWX GPEWW X LEW ER I\GIPPIRX EGEHIQMG VIGSVH ERH ½VWX GPEWW spor sport, t,, m music usic and drama. ama.. Please come and see for fo or yourself yourself what a Denstone education can offer. offerr.

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THE BSA GUIDE TO UK BOARDING SCHOOLS I September 2015

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September 2015 I THE BSA GUIDE TO UK BOARDING SCHOOLS

Boarding at an independent school | Choosing a good school and the right school

Choosing a good school and the right school – John Moule, Warden of Radley College n the dim and distant days when I was a housemaster, a bright-eyed boy arrived for his first day and I was chatting to him and his parents. I remembered that they had been torn between us and another school. I asked politely what had made the difference, fully expecting the warm affirming compliment which makes all the difference early in term: ‘We loved the house. It seemed just right for him’ or, better still, ‘We just thought the Housemaster was so important’. I waited. ‘Well’, the mother said, ‘He came here for a cricket tournament and thought the cakes were good’. There is a lesson in that. And not just that the catering department is a vital component of school marketing. In fact, digressing, good catering can even be a disadvantage on occasion: at an open morning, a parent was heard to complain when confronted by an array of the finest freshly made canapés: ‘Haven’t you just got a biscuit?’. You can’t win. No, the lesson is however hard you try, one small thing you haven’t thought of can make all the difference; in both directions. From my side of the desk, however, it is relatively easy compared to what the parent faces. When I was Head Master of Bedford School (2008–14), I knew what the school was offering; as Warden of Radley (from September 2014), I know the same. At Radley we offer full boarding and mean it when we say it, we are single-sex and will remain so, we are selective but interested in potential and character as much as raw results at our entry point, we have the highest academic standards but pursue excellence beyond the classroom just as thoroughly, and we love our traditions but are modern in our approach to education.

Filtering all the information

Look for natural and normal

Then I put myself across the table and on to the sofa where prospective parents and boys (in my case) sit. And I sympathise. How, in a few hours, do I get all my questions answered? How do I move beyond the propaganda that the school is throwing at me? Boarding or day? Type of boarding? Town or rural? Big or small? Co-ed or single-sex? League table position? What is the entry procedure? When should my child start? What does the school do about bullying, drugs, alcohol? Careers advice, UCAS preparation, work experience? How many subjects on offer? How many teams? Activities? And how, just how, do I filter all that information? So, back on my side of the desk, can I offer advice that will, I hope, assist parents in identifying a good school and, once that is done, the right school for their child? First, go beyond the surface. When looking at a website, go several pages in . . . randomly, even. It is all too easy for headlines to be trumpeted and the best to be celebrated. You want to find out the mean and the median of a school as well since, by definition, not all will be the best. How many sing in the Chapel Choir? How many orchestras are there? How many teams are offered? How many matches do they play? How many productions does the theatre put on? Does the debating society meet once a term or once a fortnight? Is that special lecture an annual event or is there a regular programme? Does academic extension simply mean good results or is there genuine and widespread enrichment as well? How many entered that competition? . . . and so on. One swallow does not make a summer.

But that is only the tip of the iceberg. Next: the visit. And here again, do not be fooled by the headlines: the new state of the art building, the Head Master’s patter, the air-brushed prefect and the stress ball with a logo (sadly, yes, we were guilty at Bedford). Look deeper. If the tour guide knows every answer, it is likely he or she has been prepped. Watch the pupils coming out of a lesson and try to catch a glance before they see you. Listen to a conversation before you go round the corner. Stop and talk to the gardener or to the receptionist. Ask a pupil for help even if you do not need it. Ask to see a second room in the boarding house and if it is slightly messy, see that as a good sign: it has not been tidied specially. Look for natural and normal, and less for show. Ask the obvious questions but look for different answers: if the bullying question elicits a ‘we do not have that problem’ or a recitation of the latest compliance policy, alarm bells should ring. You want answers that recognise teenagers for what they are but address how a sense of community is built and how issues are monitored and addressed and an ethos created. Please do not get me wrong. Facilities matter, results matter, policies matter. But I say to every prospective parent I meet that there is one question that is more important than the minefield of information . . . and to ask it as you walk out of the gates having visited. Would my child be happy? I firmly believe a child will only be happy if he is inspired, if he is aspirational, if he has opportunities, if he has friends, if he feels at home, if he has fun, if he feels loved. Schools are about people and ethos, not bricks and mortar and statistics.

THE BSA GUIDE TO UK BOARDING SCHOOLS I September 2015

Use your gut instinct And so it comes back to the cream cakes. Well, nearly. The more time I spend in schools – the more time I spend with prospective parents and children – the more I believe gut instinct is the best measure. I recently read Malcolm Gladwell’s book ‘Blink’ which investigates the phenomenon of the immediate instinctive response. He talks about ‘thinslicing’, our ability to gauge what is really important from a very narrow period of experience. I remember the famous polar explorer Shackleton’s method of selecting expedition members: he used to shake them by the hand, look them in the eye, and reach a judgement after a few seconds. I am not advocating ether approach: speed dating has not reached school marketing yet, I trust. By all means ask every question, do the research and have an extensive visit . . . all are important. But so is instinct. ■

John Moule took up the post of Warden of Radley College in September 2014, having been Head Master of Bedford School from 2008 to 2014. Before Bedford, he was Head of History and Senior Housemaster at Stowe. He is a former scholar of Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford and would list his interests as avid sports spectating (armchair and otherwise), boring people with cricket statistics, reading, theology, political biography and P.G. Wodehouse, directing plays, and playing golf badly.

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Boarding at an independent school | The case for continuity

The case for continuity – Mark Turnbull, Headmaster of Giggleswick School

An ability to adapt to change is something we all recognise as an important skill in the modern workplace. In an age when technology allows ‘trends’ the briefest of lives before extinguishing them, and where almost all teenagers seem to be in near constant contact with peers beyond their immediate presence, it has been argued that the connectivity of modern culture and its constant flux makes young adults practised at coping with change. We can all also recognise children learn best when they are happy, and a crucial ingredient in happiness is stability and the assurance it

provides. Learning to cope with change needs to be done sensitively and, although the majority of children will have to change school at some point, repeated changes of school can sometimes hinder academic and skills progress and the formation of the deep supportive relationships that we all value.

What’s important to children Heads spend a good deal of time seeing prospective parents with their children and they will all make a point of trying to ensure everyone can see the visit from the child’s

perspective. While children will acknowledge the importance of success in exams, the reality for them when entering a school is the much more immediate concern about the day-to-day. How to manage workloads, when to practise, what are the routines, who gets into teams, what about food or friendships; these are all far more important to them and their short-term happiness. If we can limit the disruption to these foundations of school life, we can then create the opportunity to focus much more upon learning and achievement. I have to confess that despite

THE BSA GUIDE TO UK BOARDING SCHOOLS I September 2015

having boarded at school myself, and having been a passionate advocate of the benefits of boarding throughout my teaching career, I was surprised to find myself reluctant to send my own children to board. I just wanted them with me where I could see them grow and develop and we could share the love of family life. And then we moved, and one of our children decided he wanted to stay where he was and take up a boarding place at his school. What a revelation it was to me to see how my own child thrived in a boarding environment. Not only was he the one member of the family

The case for continuity | Boarding at an independent school

who didn’t have to deal with the emotional and administrative challenges of joining a new school (don’t underestimate the latter), he also loved the boarding experience. There are many arguments that create a good case for modern boarding but the two which are the most convincing to me are the opportunity to get so much more out of the school day and the social benefits. Being among like-minded teenagers face-to-face, rather than at home interfacing, creates much happier children.

Pastoral care Pastoral care is often illustrated through a triangle with parents, houseparent and child at each corner. The axes are the relationships along which communication occurs. If all sides are openly talking, you will have effective and caring support for the child. Ask

yourself how much more likely it is for this to occur if you know and trust the houseparent as a result of building relationship over time. There is a strong case for continuity in pastoral care. Equally strong arguments exist for ensuring a child stays with teaching staff and coaches that know them well. We are all becoming more conscious of different styles of learning and how our own children respond in particular ways to distinctive approaches. Good teachers will quickly recognise how your child responds and will learn to adapt their approach to ensure they meet the needs of the child. Of course, it is necessary for your child to be taught by different teachers as they move through a school and sometimes it is also desirable for your child to have a new teacher. But the knowledge of how your child learns can still be more effectively passed on

within a school to ensure that they achieve the best possible outcome. So if your child has to move schools there can be some great benefits, provided they are given the right level of support to navigate the change. However if this starts to happen too much they may well say they want to stay in a particular place and it is at this point the benefits of boarding really start to shine through. Look at boarding schools that really are boarding and not just day schools with a few boarders. In these you will find dedicated staff who understand the importance of contributing to a community that values each individual and who have the time to properly get to know the children. Such knowledge and care will be just as reassuring to you, the parent on the end of an email, as it will be to your child having a fantastic time boarding. ■

Mark Turnbull became Headmaster of Giggleswick in 2014. Educated at Marlborough College, he read geography at the University of Liverpool and holds a Masters degree from the University of London. Having begun a career in banking, his first teaching post was at Sevenoaks School where he taught the IB and held a number of posts including Housemaster and Head of Boarding. He was deputy Head of Eastbourne College for six years before returning to his native Yorkshire.

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September 2015 I THE BSA GUIDE TO UK BOARDING SCHOOLS

Boarding at an independent school | The importance of partnerships

The importance of partnerships between independent and state schools

Photograph by Kilian O’Sullivan

– Richard Harman, Headmaster of Uppingham School and Chairman of the Headmasters’ and Headmistresses’ Conference (HMC)

The new Science Centre at Uppingham School

All of us who lead independent schools in the UK believe in the importance of a liberal, holistic education. This includes the values underpinning our everyday work and the way we teach our pupils to communicate and to handle relationships with one another, and the way we nurture intellectual, emotional and spiritual awareness, and develop character, creativity and critical thinking. These are what contribute to the DNA that marks out our schools as exceptional. There are many definitions of education. To me one of the key factors of educating is listening: listening before responding. What has been called ‘a conversation between generations’. This is particularly important in a boarding school. It’s because of the commingling of the personal and professional that our establishments succeed: that sense of community and belonging we foster, where living and learning are one. That sense of relationship is one of the most precious things we can convey to, and share with, the pupils in our care.

Boarding is all about wellbeing Everything we do in a boarding school is about wellbeing. This has become a fashionable concept – along with mindfulness – but we’ve been doing it for years in our boarding schools. We pay great attention to the wholeness and health of each child, whether intellectual, physical or spiritual, and recognise this is a vital element of their overall education. Boarding schools truly belong in today’s world. Quite apart from the parents in the UK who are making real sacrifices to send their children to our school, both day and boarding, there are also parents from Azerbaijan to Germany to China and beyond, looking to get the best education for their child in this country. Figures for 2015 show there are more than 70,000 boarders at the UK’s independent schools, compared with around 68,500 in 2014. In terms of attainment, the pupils coming out of those schools continue to win top places at

university. But that excellent performance is not the only achievement of which we are proud. We are proud of their allround skills, character and employability. Most of our schools’ parents are both working, many in demanding, customer-focused jobs and the armed forces. Jobs where you leave early, get home late, fly to overseas meetings at short notice or are posted abroad. Parents want the best provision for their children as well as a full involvement with their education even if, or maybe because, they cannot always be physically present. They want us to reassure them their children are safe, well taught, happily engaged and entertained, active and developing their own lives, making friends for life drawn from all over the world.

Sharing excellence and best practice I write as Headmaster of Uppingham School, a large co-ed boarding school in the middle of England, as well as Chairman of the Headmasters’ and

THE BSA GUIDE TO UK BOARDING SCHOOLS I September 2015

Headmistresses’ Conference (HMC), which represents 270 of the leading independent schools. All of us who work in HMC schools have a powerful desire to share excellence and best practice wherever we can. We don’t just look after our own pupils. We do all we can to advocate for pupils across the country in all kinds of schools on a wide variety of issues. We scrutinise the work of Ofqual, the body which should guarantee justice in our public exam system. When Ofqual admits that 6% of its examiners are ‘inadequate’, as they did in 2014, it means 950,000 scripts could have been inadequately marked. We speak up on behalf of fairness for all candidates in all schools. We also have a wider role in promoting the general health of subject learning and its assessment – the humanities, science and modern foreign languages. All of these are vital for this country’s future international competitiveness. Schools like Eton and Harrow are excellent examples of independent schools in the

The importance of partnerships | Boarding at an independent school

UK but they are not typical. Our schools are diverse, serving different populations across the UK. Some are small, some are large, some are selective, some are not. Some are single-sex, some co-ed, some are in the countryside, some in the heart of our big cities. What marks us out is that we are all genuinely independent, not funded by the state or local authority. We are directly accountable to parents, with whom we have a specific written contract. With independent schools across the UK now more ethnically diverse than their maintained counterparts, we are enabling new models of social cohesion. With our diverse connections to, and partnerships with, the maintained sector, we support a huge range of activities and achievements which benefit us all. More than one in three pupils at our schools is on some form of financial assistance, totalling

£365 million annually and rising. Independent schools work with maintained schools in a number of ways: providing qualified teachers in specialist subjects, sharing expertise to help state school students get into top universities, running joint extra-curricular programmes, GCSE and A-level revision classes, coaching in music, drama and sport. And most of our schools share their facilities with their local communities and are glad to do so. We are committed to independent/state school partnerships. But any partnership is about a relationship, and relationships work best when each side enters it voluntarily and has an equal stake. We all have social responsibilities. But a ‘one size fits all’ solution imposed from the top down on independent schools is not, I believe, the right way to go about

encouraging those. If the relationship between private schools and state schools is to be undermined by the continued

class-based rhetoric of division, how can that possibly help us reach the goal of social mobility to which we all aspire? ■

Richard Harman has been Headmaster of Uppingham School since 2006. He was educated at The King’s School, Worcester, followed by Trinity College, Cambridge, where he read English. Having spent two years working for an academic publisher, he decided his real vocation was in teaching. After five years at Marlborough College teaching English and Drama, during which time he also completed his PGCE at Exeter University, he spent 12 years at Eastbourne College. Progressing from Head of English to Housemaster of a sixth-form girls’ house to member of the senior management team, he then became Headmaster of Aldenham in September 2000 and from there moved to become Headmaster of Uppingham in 2006. He is married to Karin and has one daughter, Olivia. Richard is a keen follower and occasional practitioner of various sports and he loves music and the theatre. In another life he would have been a director at the RSC, the National, or in the West End, or possibly manager of Arsenal FC. While he awaits that call, however, he is much enjoying the challenges at Uppingham. He was Chairman of the Boarding Schools’ Association (BSA) for 2011–12. He is Chairman of HMC for 2014–15.

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September 2015 I THE BSA GUIDE TO UK BOARDING SCHOOLS

Boarding at an independent school | Schools as communities in the widest sense

Schools as communities in the widest sense – Mark Wallace, Principal of Lincoln Minster School

Few people now subscribe to the notion of schools being a punitive experience, as portrayed by Dickens, Disney, Dahl and many more. More recently J.K. Rowling has revitalised interest in boarding schools – indeed I know of a prep school that ran highly popular boarding taster weekends along the lines of wizards’ conventions. Yet one detects a lingering perception that ‘sending children away’ to a boarding school is somehow still perceived by some as a diminishing of family life, a confinement or incarceration for the children, a narrowing of childhood. It is time to set the record straight, to show how inaccurate this is and how the very opposite is the case. Many boarding schools, and certainly Lincoln Minster School, constitute a carefully crafted, multi-faceted microcosm of our global society, far richer, and far more laden with opportunity and discovery than most families can hope to provide, unless they are in a unique position themselves or extraordinarily determined! Consider the environment in which a boarder at a thriving independent school will grow up: it is more than the ‘long sleepover’ vaunted by many schools. The somewhat

unpleasant term ‘socialisation’ masks the rich web of occasions through which boarding pupils experience the give and take of living in a small community with regular meals round tables (and often a single television set!), board games, birthday parties and barbecues, formal dinners, occasional ‘take-outs’ and helping to host events.

Celebrating achievement There are numerous occasions to celebrate achievement, whether their own, or – equally important, surely – to applaud the efforts and triumphs of others. Expectations of each boarder playing a role range from cleaning their own shoes, to being responsible for their own space and tidiness (often on a slightly more routine level than at home), arbitration in squabbles, initiating activities, and planning outings and events. Most schools develop leadership roles for their boarders, to help things along and give them an additional sense of self-worth. The activities that extend beyond the usual curriculum, and even beyond the so-called extra-curriculum are often augmented for boarders who probably spend less time in front of a screen than their peers going home every night. Schools

pride themselves on providing ample challenge for pupils, whether it is a climbing wall, the sailing club, polo or kayaking, singing in a cathedral, playing in a jazz band, making a newspaper, competing locally or even nationally in some discipline or interest, or fundraising for the school community project in a developing country. It is always heartening to hear pupils talk about their scariest moment when they were taken, or rather when they took themselves, out of their comfort zone. The point is, far from being disadvantaged by being a boarder, by ‘missing out’ on family life, our boarders reap huge advantages from the opportunities afforded to them. In their busy lives, they are engaging with others, not just at school but in the sports clubs, sharing interests, experiences, curiosity, discoveries. They learn what it is to be a member of a group, of many groups. They play at being mini citizens. Little wonder these young people develop into self-sufficient, confident young adults poised to go forward on the next leg of their journey.

Intercultural understanding More often than not, their good citizenship, far from being

THE BSA GUIDE TO UK BOARDING SCHOOLS I September 2015

restricted to a local or even national level, plays out on a wider platform. Schools are increasingly welcoming pupils from overseas more than ever before, with the result British pupils grow up learning alongside youngsters from different cultures. With Education UK being held as the gold standard by parents in many nations, the clamour for places in UK boarding schools and at British universities is probably doing more for intercultural understanding than we realise. Some of us in the education world worry the fervour with which parents from other countries seek to widen their children’s horizons and want their children to be comfortable in the English-speaking world as a route to professional success in later years, is not matched by our own interest in such schemes. For most children, the French/German or Spanish exchange, valuable as it is, still constitutes the main mechanism where pupils can see what it is like to be from another country and, more vitally, learn to appreciate that British is not the default nationality! Have schools exploited sufficiently the new global nature of their communities? Most have moved on from treating overseas boarders as

Schools as communities in the widest sense | Boarding at an independent school

pupils with a learning difficulty. But the proposition seems to be that such entrants come to learn English and experience the British system, a desire that leaves us a comfortable margin for remaining ethnocentric in our approach, rather than embracing the potential geocentricity. A step too far you think? Well schools have become much more courageous in the twenty-first century,

mindful of the need to bolster our pupils’ credentials as global citizens, fit to work in a global world (witness, for example, the rise in Mandarin options in schools). Undoubtedly PSHE (personal, social, health and economic education), debates, assemblies and religious studies classes are enriched with the wider perspectives afforded by a multiracial mix in the classroom. One has only to

wander into the art studios in schools today to see how the fusion of cultures is making colourful and thoughtprovoking inroads into our educational mindscape. Change is now engrained in the thinking of many schools and I suspect we have but begun this journey towards the global perspective. Meanwhile, let us stand back and acknowledge just how far we have developed from the days of Dotheboys Hall, and continue bravely on our journey to give young people the lifeenhancing experiences to enable them to fulfil that mission described by Woodrow Wilson: ‘You are not here merely to make a living. You are here in order to enable the world to live more amply, with greater vision, with a finer spirit of hope and achievement. You are here to enrich the world and you impoverish yourself if you forget the errand.’ ■

Mark Wallace became Principal of Lincoln Minster School in September 2015. His previous leadership roles have been at Kingston Grammar School, where he was Principal Deputy Head as well as Acting Head, and Caterham School (part of the same United Learning Group as LMS), where Mark was Head of Boys' Boarding and Head of Sixth Form. Mark's academic background is Mathematics and he had a spell working in the banking sector. He enjoys all sports, in particular golf and hockey, and has held a number of board positions of local associations and societies including chairman. In hockey, Mark has enjoyed regional, provincial and national levels of representation at all age levels. Mark enjoys charitable fundraising and has been in the Guinness Book of World Records on two occasions. Mark is married to Cathriona and they have three children.

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September 2015 I THE BSA GUIDE TO UK BOARDING SCHOOLS

Boarding at an independent school | The extra-curricular challenge

The extra-curricular challenge – Emma Taylor, Head ofChrist College, Brecon

Any measure of education that assumes what goes on in the classroom is essential, while other activities are peripheral, an optional bonus, fails entirely to take account of how many, if not all young people learn best, and of the skills and qualities they will need in the world beyond school. Indeed, the term ‘extra-curricular’ is misleading at best. Activities such as sport, music, drama and outdoor pursuits are a core part of what is on offer in independent schools, and particularly in the boarding environment, where so many extra hours in the day and

week are available to pursue skills and activities that promote much wider learning and character development than can ever be achieved in a narrow school day.

Discovery outside the classroom Sometimes these other contexts for learning can produce a breakthrough even in the most academic areas of a pupil’s development. On a recent trip for 3rd Form (Year 9) to the First World War battlefields, a colleague tells me she was delighted when one of our boys, who finds history

difficult in the classroom, came rushing up to her, having found the name of a former pupil in the Book of Remembrance at Tyne Cot cemetery, and tracked down the inscription to him among the 35,000 names recorded there. This young man, son of an Army family, had shown he could access and retain key facts, search for relevant information in a densely packed original source document, and apply his discovery to find the name of his school forebear among the thousands inscribed on that monument. How much longer would it have taken him to

THE BSA GUIDE TO UK BOARDING SCHOOLS I September 2015

learn exactly the same skill in the classroom with a textbook, and how much less enthusiastically or permanently would he have established that particular skill in his repertoire? Such learning opportunities present themselves in the most unexpected places, and some of the very best learning is done when pupils are unaware that they are doing just that. And it can be almost taken as read there will be plenty of opportunities of all sorts in a boarding school. So how to choose between these schools? Well, in the end choosing a

The extra-curricular challenge | Boarding at an independent school

school for a child is a matchmaking activity, and parents will want to know whether the activities on offer outside the classroom are likely to pique the interest of their particular child, or to build on an existing talent.

A prize for ‘thinking outside the box’ One way of finding out more about what a school cares about most is to ask for a copy of the prizes presented on Prize Day. Forgive the dreadful pun, but the school prizes are a clear indication of what the school prizes most. At a prep school where I gave away the prizes recently, there were prizes for citizenship and endeavour, as well as a wonderful prize for ‘thinking outside the box’ – I think we will hear of the young man who won that one in the future! In my own school our

breadth of interest results in prizes for debating and choral singing as well as outdoor pursuits and service to the community, plus all the usual academic prizes. Many schools also build their reward systems around some of the activities outside the classroom, so pupils are recognised publicly for excellence in sport, music, drama and leadership in the form of school colours or in some of the interesting diplomas and baccalaureates being developed to encourage and reward breadth of interest and involvement. Einstein is said to have written: ‘Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted.’ Exam results can be counted, of course, and they do count as they are critical for future success. However, so are initiative, creativity, leadership

(and ‘followership’), courage, determination, kindness and much more; these things may be learned in the classroom but much more so, in my view, in the many and varied activities and opportunities offered in boarding schools. Some of the most rewarding moments in my career have been when a pupil, perhaps a rather unconventional pupil, finds his or her niche – as a theatre technician, perhaps, or a crack shot, or a persuasive debater. Finding such a niche in the school community establishes enthusiasms and expertise for life and often affects a pupil’s future choices significantly. For all these reasons, and for the sheer fun and camaraderie gained by ‘doing things with friends’, the so-called ‘extracurricular’ life of a school should really be seen as central to what it offers. ■

Emma Taylor took up her post as Head of Christ College, Brecon, in September 2007. She joined from Dean Close, Cheltenham, where she was previously Senior Mistress and Admissions Tutor, and taught Economics, Philosophy and Religious Studies from 2001. She previously taught and was housemistress at Stowe School from 1990 to 1996 and at Canford School, Dorset, from 1996 to 2001. She was educated at St Anthony’s-Leweston, Sherborne and Canford School, Dorset. She won an open exhibition to read Politics, Philosophy and Economics at New College, Oxford, graduating in 1988. She has a PGCE from Westminster College, Oxford. She is a keen walker, and is a regular newspaper reviewer on BBC Radio Wales.

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September 2015 I THE BSA GUIDE TO UK BOARDING SCHOOLS

Boarding at an independent school | Lessons in leadership through the CCF

Lessons in leadership through the CCF â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Antony Clark, Headmaster of Malvern College

We are fortunate that at Malvern we have been able to maintain a large and active CCF section that teaches cadets some of the traditional and military skills, and imparts a range of other essential life skills, including leadership. Each Wednesday the familiar sounds of the cadet force at work resound around the campus while the RAF section travels to nearby RAF Cosford for practical flying experience. Life in the CCF at Malvern at the turn of the century, however, was very different. At that time there was great emphasis on military training: many leavers would be destined for the officer ranks of the Services at a time of war or would work for the Empire. Today our CCF cadets are trained in military skills and the art of leadership in the field. They plan well and their exercises are carefully executed

so the experience of the CCF cadet at school remains an invaluable preparation for life ahead â&#x20AC;&#x201C; in any career. Our CCF offers Tri-Service opportunities with three goalsharing but very differently cultured sections: the Army, Royal Marines and Royal Air Force. Key events for the Army

are the week-long exercise run throughout the country allowing the cadets to experience first-hand the activities of and equipment used by Regular units. The Marines journey to the West of Scotland for a challenging two weeks and the RAF have camps available in Cyprus and the UK

CCF Inspection

THE BSA GUIDE TO UK BOARDING SCHOOLS I September 2015

which involve direct experience of many of the in-service air frames.

Pupils of all ages The CCF is part of the cocurricular programme at Malvern where its activities are closely linked with the Outdoor Pursuits (OP) programme. Our

Lessons in leadership through the CCF | Boarding at an independent school

OP activities include a wide range of events from kayaking on rivers and in the North Sea, to surfing on the Gower Peninsula and lead climbing in the Peak District. Pupils of all ages are involved. Malvern, of course, runs a Duke of Edinburgh programme and always has a large number of pupils involved in this course, from Bronze to Direct Entry Gold Award level. Our expeditions include kayaking and walking, camping in Scotland, and CCF Winter Mountaineering training in the Cairngorms. Groups also travel up to Snowdonia and are involved in camps and exercises designed to stretch and test cadets in leadership and orientation. We have the Brecons in our back yard and this is an ideal location for outdoor activities. Boys and girls now take part in the annual Army Military Skills Competition and the Sir Steuart Pringle Royal Marine Cadet competition. In 2011, Malvern appointed its first female head of the CCF in Naomi Sharpe, an applied and committed member of the CCF. Another followed in Emily Gray, who is now studying at Oxford University. Highlights have been Rupert Harris, our Head of School, winning a RAF flying scholarship, which he was able

Naomi Sharpe, first female head of the CCF at Malvern

Winter Mountaineering in the Cairngorms

to take up in Scotland and a group of boys learning to paraglide in the Alps where they quickly absorbed the skills that allowed them to make the glorious descent from the top. Ben Donaldson was selected to be the Lord Lieutenant Cadet and Natalie Kingdon was one of 12 cadets selected from the UK for a three-week project in Mexico. Our skiers too take up the challenge, undertaking some serious off-piste skiing in Chamonix under the guidance of professional instructors. Locally we regularly kayak and canoe on the rivers Teme, Severn and Wye where varying river levels provide challenges

Ben Donaldson, Lord Lieutenant Cadet

for the participants. We are also able to train at the National Whitewater Centre in Cardiff. In the Peak District a group learned to lead climb making huge progress in a very short time, gaining the skill and confidence to complete the tasks. The absolutely essential requirements for all these activities are good training, foresight, accurate planning and excellent organisation, skills that stay with the participants into adulthood.

Falklands War. Not for the first time has a visiting speaker with an impressive Service record inspired the pupils at Malvern. ■

Leadership training In terms of leadership training our younger pupils have the opportunity to study for the newly established Leadership Diploma that comprises tasks designed to encourage leadership qualities early on. Malvern has always done a significant amount of leadership training with the senior pupils and their programme includes lectures from visiting speakers who inspire by example. Major General Andy Salmon CMG OBE recently visited Malvern to speak to the Chapel Prefects, Heads of House and Deputies. He was able to draw on his 36 years of distinguished service as a troop commander in Northern Ireland and the

Antony Clark was educated at St Andrew’s College, Grahamstown, South Africa, and at Rhodes University, where he gained a BA and HDE. He went to Downing College, Cambridge, on a Douglas Smith Scholarship and in 1981 gained an MA. Antony taught at Westerford High School, Cape Town, from 1984 to 1990, then worked in investment management before being appointed as Headmaster of St Joseph’s Marist College, Cape Town, in 1992 and subsequently of his own old school, St Andrew’s College, in 1994. In 2002 he became Head of Gresham’s School in Norfolk. He became Headmaster of Malvern College in 2008.

September 2015 I THE BSA GUIDE TO UK BOARDING SCHOOLS

Boarding at an independent school | The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award Scheme

The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award Scheme: the cornerstone to a co-curricular programme – Chris Alcock,Headmaster ofQueen’s College,Taunton

In common with many other UK independent schools, three distinct groups make up the bulk of our boarding pupils: children whose parents have frantic professional lives, the children of Service families, and overseas students. What pupils from faraway countries want in a school is overwhelmingly academic excellence with a

strong pastoral system. Parents want those things too, but they are also always concerned about life away from the classroom, such as sport, outdoor pursuits and drama. Leadership and teamwork are words that come up a lot when these mothers and fathers sit in my room and grill me about life at Queen’s.

Queen’s is numerically the biggest centre for DofE in the south-west of the UK. Almost all of Year 10 (around 90 pupils) choose to begin their Bronze award and over the years well over 300 sixth formers have been to Buckingham Palace to receive the coveted Gold award, way more than any other centre in the region. Since becoming the Schools Advisor to the South West Regional Board I’m even happier to have it as the cornerstone of Queen’s cocurricular programme. What distinguishes it for me is the service element of DofE. Whether it’s clearing gardens, working in charity shops or visiting older people in their homes, I think pupils gain a considerable amount from volunteering and giving, and quite honestly that’s not

THE BSA GUIDE TO UK BOARDING SCHOOLS I September 2015

something you get from many other co-curricular activities. ■

Chris Alcock was educated at Sevenoaks School and Durham University. In 1982 he started his teaching career at Stamford School, where he taught geography, was a boarding housemaster and ran the rugby. In 1997 he became Deputy Head at King Edward’s Witley, and in 2001 was appointed Headmaster of Queen’s College Taunton. He obtained his NPQH in 2000, is an ISI Inspector and a member of Taunton Vale Rotary.

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September 2015 I THE BSA GUIDE TO UK BOARDING SCHOOLS

Boarding at an independent school | School sport: a head’s perspective

School sport: a head’s perspective – Richard Biggs, Headmaster of King’s College, Taunton into the fancy concrete facilities we would build on the proceeds. We choose not to, though, and for good reason: sport at schools is worth doing. Far from being a peripheral extra it is, I firmly believe, a fundamental part of the curriculum and the educational experiences of our children. Here are just a few good reasons.

Sport for life

I saw a lovely sight a few weeks ago. Our U15B rugby team won its match against a local rival school. They haven’t won many and this was a scrappy nail-biter, with our boys clinging to a slender lead in the dying moments and then exploding in joy. There was much leaping about and whooping and yelling and backslapping. And that was just the parents. In assembly the following Monday I dwelt more on the ebb and flow of this one match than on the overwhelming victory of our 1st XV. It seemed to embody, for me, what school sport is all about. It isn’t universal, this phenomenon of school sport. There are countries where it doesn’t exist. Even here, the home of rugger and footie and jolly hockey sticks, it is patchy, varying hugely from state to

independent, from boarding to day, from crowded city to country estate. A school I once taught in had an annual hockey exchange with a school in Hamburg. When we went to Germany we played club sides – very good club sides. The only time the host school ever played as a team was when we visited them. In German schools there is little notion of school sport at all. And that model does work on one level: the sporty types play for clubs and are well cared for. We usually lost the annual match. Heavily. Why do schools like King’s College spend so much money, energy and (that most precious of commodities) time running a programme of sport? There are certainly other calls on that time and money. We could sell off our fields to developers and retreat

We need to be realistic and accept that very few pupils become professional sportsmen and women. A few go on to make a living out of sport in one way or another. But all could, potentially, play sport for the rest of their lives. If a pupil leaves King’s and continues to play his or her hockey at university and beyond, then I think we’ve done a good job. We lay down a foundation of sporting enthusiasm that, if it is well done, can last for life.

A chance to shine Sport provides an opportunity for children who may not excel in other areas. It boosts selfconfidence and esteem, and can have a profoundly positive effect on other aspects of school life, including the academic. A naval man thinking of sending his son to King’s said to me: ‘Charlie was struggling with his studies. We moved him to a prep school, where he discovered he was good at rugby, and his whole sense of who he was suddenly changed. He’s also doing much better in class.’ One of the great things about teachers being involved in the management of teams is that they and the pupils get to see a completely different side, and so gain a more rounded appreciation, of each other. This is lost when we hand all coaching over to the professionals.

THE BSA GUIDE TO UK BOARDING SCHOOLS I September 2015

Team spirit Hackneyed, I know, but there is nothing like going through the ordeals, disappointments and triumphs of a team sport together with your mates to cement long-lasting friendships, mutual support and respect. There is no better way to engender a sense of camaraderie than in sharing the emotional highs and lows that go with competitive sport.

A healthy body Self-evident, I imagine. Sport is healthy. Anything that gets children away from their computers and running around in the fresh air must be good. Again, something of a cliché, but those boys and girls who have spent their afternoons charging up and down the pitches will probably concentrate better on their studies. Obesity is a national problem in young people and exercise is a large part of the answer. Again, this is a benefit that stays with children throughout their lives if they keep playing.

A sporting attitude If it’s done properly there is a tremendously civilising benefit to playing sport at school. Modesty in victory, graciousness in defeat, a stoic acceptance of occasional bad luck (or poor refereeing decisions). The notion of hosting a visiting team and looking after them well, of calling close line decisions honestly; those occasions when you lend one of your spare players to the opposition or agree to reduce your team’s numbers to match theirs. This is all good stuff and its importance should not be underestimated. I like the little rituals too: the three cheers, shaking hands, thanking the umpire. It sounds hopelessly Victorian, I imagine

School sport: a head’s perspective | Boarding at an independent school

(believe me, Rudyard Kipling is not leaning over my laptop as I write this), but I’ll say it nonetheless: the ability to remain polite and generous even under the most trying of circumstances is surely a life skill worth learning.

Good fun I’ve kept the most important reason to last. We play sport for one reason only, really: it’s good fun. The five years our pupils stay with us at King’s are, in themselves, a large chunk of their lives. They should enjoy those years and look back on them with fondness. And, boy, they’ll remember their sport. When I coach a hockey team (admittedly at a fairly lowly standard – it used to be the seconds at my previous school, now it’s the U14Cs), I always start the season by saying ‘There’s only one reason we’re here, and that’s to enjoy ourselves. It’s more fun if you

win, so we’ll try to do a lot of that. But losing is OK, provided you tried hard and enjoyed yourself.’ Having said all that, what should parents be looking for in a school’s sporting provision? What does this all mean for how sport is organised at a school? This is a personal view, and certainly debatable, but this is how I think it should be … There should be sport for all. And by that I mean proper coaching and competitive fixtures for as many pupils as possible, not just the elite. If we believe the above benefits apply to all pupils (as I do) then they should be widely available. There should be a good variety of games. The smaller, boutique sports like fencing or fives or sailing often provide a wonderful haven for those less enamoured of the main juggernauts of rugby, netball, cricket and hockey. There should be widespread

staff involvement. Quite frankly, the more the teachers are involved with coaching or managing the sports teams the better. They bring perspective, sanity, humour and experience to what can otherwise become a rarefied, rather joyless and overpressurised world of professional coaches, dieticians and personal trainers. Finally, there should be a strong emphasis on the oldfashioned virtues of good manners and sportsmanship, of playing the game hard but never losing perspective, one’s temper or sense of humour. We should value those old school traditions – dressing smartly to arrive and leave, the feast of beans and sausages, the singing on the coach and the war stories, each gaining in colour as it is re-told. There is an uncomplicated, old-fashioned, honest joy to be had in sport. You should have seen the delight in the eyes of those U15B rugby players … ■

Richard Biggs was born and raised in South Africa. He won a Rhodes Scholarship to Pembroke College, Oxford, to read Maths and Philosophy. He won a half blue at fencing, and remains a keen hockey and tennis player. He started his teaching career at Magdalen College School, Oxford, and was Second Master at Lancing College before becoming Headmaster of King’s College, Taunton.

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September 2015 I THE BSA GUIDE TO UK BOARDING SCHOOLS

Preparatory schools | The advantages of starting boarding in a preparatory school

The advantages of starting boarding in a preparatory school

There are 605 members of the Incorporated Association of Preparatory Schools (IAPS) in the UK and Eire, with a combined total of around 222,334 pupils of whom 16,124 board. There are also about 39 overseas schools in membership, with 7,500 pupils. IAPS schools include boys’, girls’ and co-educational; boarding, day and mixed; urban and rural schools; individual and with senior schools attached. The size varies from over 400 to under 100, with the majority between 150 and 250, considerably smaller than their senior school counterparts. Most schools are charitable trusts, some limited companies, and a declining number are proprietorial. In choosing a prep school, above all visit a number before you finalise your choice. Preparatory schools generally take children from the age of 7 to 13, unless they have a pre-prep section. They are normally prepared to accept entry at any age in between, with 7, 8, and 11 the most popular and convenient. They can offer full, weekly and, on occasions, flexible boarding, which allows parents rather more access to their children at weekends, something that can be appreciated by the dual-career parent. Entry is usually dependent on an interview with the head, and a satisfactory

report from the previous school. Some schools set verbal and written tests in English and mathematics. Details on the entrance requirements can be obtained from the individual schools. Almost all preparatory schools prepare pupils for the Common Entrance Examination, which is used for transfer to their own senior school or other senior schools at the ages of 11+, 12+ and 13+. The syllabuses are devised and monitored by an Examinations Board, which comprises members of the Headmasters’ and Headmistresses’ Conference, the Girls’ Schools Association and the IAPS. The papers are set by the board, but are marked by the first-choice school for which the pupil is entered. Preparatory schools also prepare pupils for scholarship examinations to senior schools. There a very wide range of entrance scholarships – Musical, Choral, Art, and Design and Technology and other educational awards and bursaries available, and details are summarised in the Independent Schools Yearbook, which can be found in most public libraries. Full details can be obtained from each individual school. ● A smaller individual preparatory school

THE BSA GUIDE TO UK BOARDING SCHOOLS I September 2015

●

is set up to prepare its students for entry into any one of a number of senior schools in totally different locations. It allows the parents to delay the choice of a senior school, and crucially to have more appropriate advice and evidence on the kind of senior school most suitable for their child. It also gives parents more flexibility on where to live in relation to the postings they have at the time, and whether the child should board or be a day pupil. The individual prep school, because of its relatively smaller size and setting, will tend to have a more family and friendly atmosphere than its largerschool counterparts. There will also be more opportunities to be a bigger fish in a smaller pond, and to be prepared more effectively for the greater competition there is going to be eventually for places in teams, plays, orchestras, and choirs in a senior school. Many of the essentials of an all-round education are instilled at prep school, and cannot be left until it is too late in adolescence. ■

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September 2015 I THE BSA GUIDE TO UK BOARDING SCHOOLS

Preparatory schools | The popularity of prep school boarding

The popularity of prep school boarding – Simon O’Malley, Headmaster of Wellesley House School At Wellesley House, where the vast majority of our pupils board, we focus above all on ‘opening up a world of possibilities’ which to me seems to be at the heart of why boarding for prep school children continues to be so popular. Essentially, there is so much for the children to do, and all the time they are doing these things they are surrounded by their closest friends. The opportunities are immense and there is no end to what the children participate in, not just in their free time, but also during organised activity time. It’s part of the culture. Activities in all good schools these days range from archery to water polo to Zumba, music facilities are always open, sports fields beckon, art rooms are available out of hours and drama is the biggest team game of all.

Parental contact The idea that all this is happening in an emotional void with no parental contact is not at all the case. New technology has allowed for much greater parental access and it is not at all unusual for children to Skype their parents overseas, email at morning break with the results of a test, or news of a match that afternoon, and telephones are always available – we even write letters! Individual schools will have their own policies on the use of mobile phones. At Wellesley we only allow mobiles for overseas students, and then only at certain times. Generally speaking, the younger the child, the less likely they are to be allowed a mobile, the idea being that immersing themselves in the ‘here and now’ at school means that they will get the most from the experience.

Better quality of life Another crucial element in the popularity of the boarding prep is that parents find security and a better, less frantic, quality of life. Their children are able to participate in so much, and live in a community where they are given the independence to think for themselves and take their own decisions with the safety net to catch them when they fall. This is both convenient and mightily reassuring. Invariably, they get a jolly good education too. I haven’t deliberately left this point till last, but it is true to say our schools provide the best education in the world for this age group: if a child is unhappy it will come to nothing at all. One thing that has certainly changed in the last 20 years is that, in the majority of cases, it is not the parents alone choosing a boarding prep school; the child is also involved in the decision-making process. One of the reasons why unhappy boarders are very rare is that the children have chosen to board in the first place and, quite frankly, their parents wouldn’t keep them there if they weren’t enjoying it.

Parents are involved The relationship between schools and parents is also very different. Parents are involved and we, as schools, embrace this. With boarding becoming more localised in many cases, notwithstanding overseas and forces parents who still live far away, parents are frequent visitors to matches, concerts, plays, etc. This means there is regular communication, feedback of information, discussions about progress and any concerns can be dealt with swiftly. We aim to develop a triangle of communication between child, parent and

school. The days of a shock in the end-of-term report are gone. Any issues will certainly have been raised, and probably dealt with, as they happen, bringing us back to the support network I mentioned earlier. In a boarding prep school, staff are less like ‘teachers’ and more akin to the elders in a traditional community: caring, dispensing wisdom and overseeing, and, in a boarding school, fully involved.

Security and care Much of what I am saying here is to do with security and care, not in a ‘health and safety’ way, but ‘in loco parentis’. We don’t pick up the phone for every minor scrape, but we keep parents informed, and we feel it is our responsibility to take the trip to the local hospital should that be required and to keep parents fully briefed. On the games field, however, and in other areas such as school trips, health and safety is taken very seriously indeed. Qualified sports coaches supervise physical contact sports; coaching and training sessions are structured and safe, and fixtures are only played between teams of appropriate levels – schools now regularly communicate between each other to ensure this is the case. It is in no one’s interest to dish out, or receive, a 50-nil hammering. Despite this, we want our pupils to take risks and learn about themselves in the process, not only when everything goes to plan, but also, and certainly more importantly, when it does not. Team building exercises at the beginning of the year, tree climbing, adventure holidays and Outward Bound excursions, all foster this culture. After all, it is not our task to offer all the

THE BSA GUIDE TO UK BOARDING SCHOOLS I September 2015

answers now, but rather to equip the adults of the future with the strength to deal with everything life throws at them. To be, as Michael Gove remarked, ‘The authors of their own life stories’. In my experience, children leaving a boarding prep school aged 13 are mature, independent of thought, prepared to question, know how to work with other people and have a genuine concept of living in a community. They have also had a vast array of different experiences – they have interests, are interesting and are fully prepared to ‘give it a go’. Above all they have a strong sense of values. If the above hasn’t convinced you, you probably won’t be interested to know that another article recently reported in the press pointed out that, at about £15–£20,000 per annum, boarding prep schools are also half the cost of a top nanny – food for thought! ■

Simon O’Malley attended The Oratory School, Reading, Aberdeen University and Westminster College, Oxford (MA Hons English, PGCE Secondary English). Prior to Wellesley, he taught at The Banda School, Nairobi 1987–1994, Newland House, Twickenham 1994–1997 and Beaudesert Park, Gloucestershire 1997–2006. He has been headmaster at Wellesley House School, Broadstairs, since 2006. A keen sportsman, he plays golf and cricket. He is married to Katy and has two children.

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September 2015 I THE BSA GUIDE TO UK BOARDING SCHOOLS

Preparatory schools | Where ‘boys can be boys’

Where ‘boys can be boys’ – Rob Morse, Headmaster of Aysgarth School When speaking to parents in the UK and further afield, I often point out the advantages of sending their child to the north. Aysgarth’s position in the foothills of the Yorkshire Dales offers the opportunity to experience a traditional childhood, specifically providing for boys’ needs and enthusiasms. We endeavour to encourage children’s development of independence and taking responsibility for themselves but we’re sheltering them from the hurly-burly of modern day life. Boys thrive on adventure – seemingly quiet children will do far more than they thought they could when given the opportunity to enjoy a variety of activities such as climbing, sailing and camping, as well as challenging classroom assignments, and the

more energetic boy will keep focused for longer.

Slower pace of life The pace of life in the north is somewhat slower and this translates into fewer demands to hothouse children, a process from which few benefit and which detracts from a child’s natural development and enjoyment of life. However, our aspirations for the boys in our care are no different than those of schools elsewhere – to identify and develop their full potential in every respect. In the north, there is more space, less traffic, the days are longer in the summer, and northerners are inherently welcoming and friendly, more prepared to pass the time of day than might be the case in the hustle and bustle of the South-East.

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The other factor, seldom mentioned but largely true, is that value for money is better in the north of England compared to the South-East. Fees are lower, extras are more moderate and yet the quality is as good. Perhaps more significantly, house prices are significantly lower, allowing more of a parent’s wealth to be invested in their children’s education. The connections in the North-East of England are good. The East coast rail line enables the journey from London to York to be completed in just over two hours (many of our parents weekly commute to London), and there are international flights into Newcastle and Leeds Bradford airports (each about one hour away) as well as connections to international hubs such as Amsterdam, Dubai and of course Heathrow. Manchester Airport is about two hours away. Our pupils come from across the UK as well as from overseas. As in all good prep schools, our boys are escorted on their train journeys at exeats – in our case to either London or Edinburgh. The school has had a remarkably constant strategy since it started in 1877, focusing on boys’ boarding and preparing boys for the country’s leading senior boarding schools, and that is

THE BSA GUIDE TO UK BOARDING SCHOOLS I September 2015

still what we do. In recent years, about 75% of the boys have gone on to senior schools in southern England. The remainder either stay in northern England or complete their schooling north of the border. Over the last 12 years, the school has grown by 50% at a time when boarding numbers in the prep age range have been in decline, and Aysgarth’s facilities and the opportunities they provide compare favourably with most southern prep schools. ■

Rob Morse became Headmaster of Aysgarth Prep School in September 2015. Before taking on the role he spent six years as Headmaster of Perrott Hill, where he also taught and coached games. In his early career he worked at St Anselm’s Prep School in Derbyshire and Mount House Prep School in Tavistock. He is married to Lottie, a qualified teacher who specialises in art and drama. They have two children, Daisy and Harry.

‘Girl heaven’ | Preparatory schools

‘Girl heaven’ – Sarah Wicks, Headmistress of Knighton House School is finished, afternoon matches are over and my husband and I become the parents of a closeknit (if rather large) ‘family’ of full-boarders. There is a change of pace from the hectic round of lessons and activities which fill the week and this is a time we can all relax together and share experiences such as campfires, stargazing and wildlife watching.

A girls‐only prep school can be described as ‘girl heaven’ – a place where girls can really benefit and thrive as individuals – but at Knighton House School it’s not all about ponies, pianos and pink tutus. With its gardens and paddocks and with immediate access to the rolling hills of North Dorset, it is a good setting for girls to embrace an outdoors lifestyle. Girls spend their free time clambering amongst the branches of the Greenwood or Spinney, building camps and dens or helping out with the animals.

Ponies do feature strongly, but you don’t need to have your own to be able to ride, as they are all on working livery. When the ‘pony bell’ rings at 7.30 am, an enthusiastic team heads out to the fields with head collars in hand, while other girls let out the pygmy goats or check the henhouse for eggs. Seniors will be heading for early morning music practice. Piano and flute are popular, but we also have keen cellists, brass players and drummers.

‘Home away from home’ Founded 65 years ago by John and Peggy Booker with the vision of providing a ‘home away from home’, Knighton House is a school where girls flourish in an atmosphere of security, encouragement, space and freedom. We believe in hands-on experience, so whether that is searching for newts in our environmental pond, observing the rise and fall of the River Stour on its floodplain, or picking apples in our orchard to press or make into crumble, the girls’ learning is constantly enhanced by the school’s environment. But what about academic standards? I believe strongly that ‘it is not success that creates happiness but happiness that

Core principles

creates success’, and this is borne out by the school’s record of achievement at 13+ Common Entrance, with pupils going on to a variety of popular senior schools, many with academic, art, music or all-rounder scholarships. Knighton House is non-selective and these results are achieved by a team of dedicated teachers who believe in the school ethos of nurturing talent, challenging the most able, supporting those who need extra help and, most of all, building confidence.

Building confidence Building confidence is at the heart of all we do at Knighton House. From the youngest age children are encouraged to perform to their peers and parents in assemblies, concerts and productions. The supportive ethos of the school allows children to express their ideas and opinions, experiment and make mistakes, without the fear of ridicule. In this girls-only environment, there are no preconceptions about what girls are good at or what they should enjoy: there are enthusiastic mathematicians, passionate scientists and computer whizzes,

alongside talented writers, artists and musicians. Our aim is to open their minds to all possibilities and to cultivate in them the courage and independence to make the most of whatever gifts and opportunities life presents to them. The girls in the prep school are charmingly unselfconscious and you are as likely to find a Year 8 cartwheeling across the front lawn on a summer’s day as a Year 3. However, they are also fiercely competitive, as demonstrated on the hockey pitch, and if you want to see bravery, determination and skill in action watch a 10 year old steer a galloping pony around a show jumping course!

When the Bookers opened their school in 1950, the world was a different place and expectations for girls have changed. But the principles of scholarship, responsibility and sensitivity to the needs of others which they established are still at the core of our ambitions for our pupils. We want them to embrace the world of the twenty-first century but with character strengthened by traditional values. We prepare them for the challenges of that world while keeping them protected from the pressures of it for as long as possible. We allow them to enjoy being girls while they can, because all too soon they will be young women. ■

A warm and supportive community The school’s caring environment is a major strength. Pupils feel valued and know their independence is fostered. Central to this is the boarding experience and, whether they are full boarders, weekly or flexi, the girls relish the fun of being with their friends as part of a warm and supportive community. For me, one of the most rewarding times is when Saturday morning school

Sarah Wicks became Headmistress of Knighton House in 2014. She came to Knighton House 20 years ago and served as Deputy Head from 2005. She previously taught at the Royal Masonic School in Hertfordshire.

September 2015 I THE BSA GUIDE TO UK BOARDING SCHOOLS

Preparatory schools | Pastoral care in the blink of an eye?

Pastoral care in the blink of an eye? – Roger Jones, Headmaster of Dean Close Preparatory School An article in one of the national daily papers not that long ago caught my eye. ‘Forget clicking your mouse and tapping the keyboard,’ it began. ‘Soon, a wave of the hand will turn on your computer, a snap of the fingers will change tracks on your iPod, and the blink of an eye will bring up your emails.’ Microsoft is working on handsfree technology, Cloud technology has allowed Internet access to everything from anywhere, and Apple is still leading the way via the iPhone and iPad as more and more capacity and function continues to be crammed into our everexpanding personal devices. On many levels these advances are wonderful and in the educational environment have a huge potential for innovative teaching and learning. What can be demonstrated in the classroom through interactive white board technology today, will be an increasing reality for home and personal use in the days ahead. Truly it is an exciting time to be alive. There is however, as we know, another side to the story. It concerns how as a society we enable our children to reap the benefits of such technology, while at the same time protecting them from the more negative aspects. In short, adults – whether parents, teachers, or indeed those responsible for the technology itself – have the challenge of how to enable ongoing generations to become discerning users. Pastoral care in a boarding school environment can be given many helpful definitions. In a prep school setting, when one is dealing with quite young children, there is of course the need for some distinction from, say, a senior school setting as to how that pastoral care is

delivered and, perhaps just as importantly, what areas are of most concern. Any good and effective care of young children in boarding schools needs to ensure they are safe and secure, they are nurtured and stimulated, they have a balanced diet, not just of food but of activities and downtime, and they have set in place the foundations of a strong moral compass to enable them to make the most of every opportunity that comes their way, which inevitably will involve being able to discern the good from the bad as well as the best from the good. It is entirely appropriate to talk of showing a loving compassion and care for those in our charge. In our own school setting it is a love that springs from the firm belief that each child is supremely valued because they are created, loved and valued by God.

Lifeskills programme One of the ways we seek to construct such a moral compass, is by way of our Lifeskills programme which runs throughout the year and throughout the school, and is set to expand in the future. Aimed at complementing much of what goes on in the subject lessons, as well as our assemblies and services, we deal with all the obvious aspects of growing up to be good citizens, living in community and becoming aware of the world beyond ourselves. The latest research into brain function would seem to confirm that time spent reflecting on the world around us in a secure environment helps enormously when we come to actually living it out and maximising our opportunities. That is why any such programme is not

primarily about imparting information – rather it is about building meaningful relationships, relationships that will sustain enhance and hopefully bring fulfilment in life. Which brings us back to the technologies currently at the fingertips of us all, including our children. The potential for all the right sorts of stimulation and information and wonder and enjoyment is clear. So, unfortunately, is the potential negative impact of such instant access to all sorts of images, sounds and words – especially if they expose young hearts and minds to inappropriate things, and undermine that so precious moral compass. The statistics make interesting reading. More and more time is being spent in front of computer screens and hand-held devices, where social networking sites are nonnegotiable aspects of living, and news and events are viewed via YouTube rather than any more traditional media outlet. Perhaps the real challenge in all this is the movement towards a more virtual world, where friendships are developed and often formed at a distance, and actual face-to-face contact stands in danger of receding.

Safety and security That is one of the reasons why we very deliberately limit the amount of time our pupils spend in such activities, have important filter and blocking systems in place, and in an appropriate way also monitor their usage – and see such an approach as a vital part of our pastoral care. There is a fine line between necessary protection from misuse and a Luddite approach to new ways of being in touch and accessing the world around us. We want

THE BSA GUIDE TO UK BOARDING SCHOOLS I September 2015

to harness all that is good and wholesome, while creating an environment where everyone can learn to walk such a pathway safely and securely, so in time they can do so unaided. Time with one another in reallife, flesh-and-blood situations is irreplaceable by any other means. As we learn to be in the community, and cope with success and failure, joy and disappointment, then we are best placed to make the most of all that is on offer beyond those authentic actual relationships. If we are to believe the recent press releases this has to be a route educators of the young persist with, as all could change with the blink of an eye. ■

Roger Jones has been Headmaster of Dean Close Preparatory School since September 2014. He has worked in independent preparatory schools for some 37 years and as a Headmaster for 23 years. He began his professional career at The Junior King’s School in Canterbury and went on to be Headmaster of three such schools – Belmont in the Surrey Hills, Davenies School in Beaconsfield and more recently St George’s School, Windsor Castle. Before joining Dean Close, Roger had been involved in consultancy work for a range of schools including curriculum development, marketing and head teacher appraisals. He is a serving governor at two schools and has previously been an Independent Schools Inspector. Roger is married to Sue, an ex-professional dancer, and a teacher of dance and drama.

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September 2015 I THE BSA GUIDE TO UK BOARDING SCHOOLS

Preparatory schools | Choosing a boarding prep school – in Scotland!

Choosing a boarding prep school – in Scotland! – Innes MacAskill, Headmaster of Belhaven Hill School, Dunbar Choosing an appropriate school for your child is always a daunting prospect every parent faces at one time or another, especially when considering the option of boarding. However, if you are based abroad, this problem is further exacerbated by the worries and practicalities related to sending one’s child so far away, often to another country. There is much one can say to allay such fears about the modern boarding prep school, which has certainly enjoyed a bout of ‘Hogwarts’ popularity since the ‘Harry Potter’ films. Many children now envisage boarding as a ‘magical’ time spent with friends while enjoying many adventures. In today’s modern boarding school this is nearer the truth than one might imagine and the friendships boarding pupils make can, and often do, last a lifetime.

Playing golf at Belhaven Bay

However, today’s boarding schools are not ‘Hogwarts’ and, in sorting out myth from reality, it is important to remember they serve an important purpose, especially for those who find themselves living a life where the stability of home life is not guaranteed. Moving frequently, for example, can mean your child’s education is constantly disrupted and with it the chance of forming meaningful relationships with either children or staff. Whatever the reason parents embark on the boarding route there is no doubt such schools are much changed from how they were often portrayed in popular culture 30 or so years ago. Nowadays one is met with bright, confident children, gainfully employed and perfectly at ease in the company of their peers and adults. Good teaching in small classes with staff who offer

excellent pastoral care mean that pupils are allowed to grow and flourish in a warm and supportive community. There are many good boarding prep schools and although the majority have adapted to weekly or flexi boarding to meet demand and the needs of parents in their local area, there are still ‘traditional’ schools offering full boarding which at the weekends are awash with busy, happy and contented children making the most of the opportunities on offer – not least enjoying the company of their fellow boarders. There is much to be said for schooling in Scotland. Much of the country is well served by airports, such as Glasgow, Aberdeen or Edinburgh, there are ample railway and motorway connections, and there is a tradition of boarding that has not been as readily eroded as in some areas of the south. One of the greatest attractions is the ‘traditional’ style of schooling. Scottish prep schools are normally smaller in size, resulting in many more children enjoying the opportunity of playing in teams, singing in choirs, acting on stage and being given more responsibility than is possible in some larger schools, while there is still an emphasis on ‘traditional’ values, such as everyday courtesy, manners and service. The pace of life is a little ‘slower’ than in some other schools, with an emphasis on the individual and the belief in opportunities outside the classroom. There is not the need to grow up too quickly, nor are they as ‘streetwise’ as some, while the need for mobile telephones or electronic gadgetry and games is not seen as essential as elsewhere. Pupils can of course communicate with parents and friends by phone, email or Skype – but it is not an overriding necessity that drives a child’s day.

THE BSA GUIDE TO UK BOARDING SCHOOLS I September 2015

Beauty and culture Not least, Scotland is awash with beauty and culture on its doorstep. One is never far from some of the most beautiful scenery in the world, while a healthy outdoor life is often seen as a natural progression of everyday school life. Children are within touching distance of museums, theatres and sites of historical or cultural significance in thriving Scottish cities. Belhaven Hill in Dunbar is only 45 minutes from the centre of Edinburgh, one of Europe’s most popular centres of culture. For the boarders there are ample common rooms and games available to play in their ‘free time’, while extra-curricular opportunities abound. With scholarships won to the top senior schools in England and Scotland (approximately 70% of the school’s pupils head south), in fields as diverse as academia, music, art, sport and allrounders, the school is proud of all its pupils achieve. ■

Innes MacAskill is Headmaster of Belhaven Hill School in Dunbar, Scotland. He and his wife, Sandy, have worked and lived all of their teaching life in boarding prep schools. Innes was formerly the Deputy Headmaster of Caldicott Prep School in Buckinghamshire, before moving to be Head of Beeston Hall in Norfolk for 11 years.

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Preparatory schools | Junior boarding: a positive experience for younger children

Junior boarding: a positive experience for younger children – and their families – John Baugh, Headmaster of the Dragon School, Oxford

Despite the happy experiences of thousands of children at excellent schools, there are still myths to demolish in any discussion about boarding. So I am happy to report that boarders are not ‘sent away’, denied contact with their families or subjected to cold showers – very far from it as you will see throughout the pages of this Guide. When it comes to boarding at junior school age however, there can be deeper negative perceptions to overcome: in our society there is far less acceptance of younger children living at school or being away from home than for past generations. Strong beliefs about what is good for a child lie at the centre of this feeling and understandably so. But for parents of children from eight to 13 whose professional lives mean boarding is a good solution to frequent moves, postings abroad and changes of school, this means there can be guilt and anxiety to deal with alongside all practical

considerations. So from the standpoint of both boarding school Headmaster and parent, I hope I can allay some of these doubts. The Dragon School is a boarding and day preparatory school for boys and girls aged four to 13, with boarding from age eight. The emphasis of junior boarding is now very much on pastoral care and working in partnership with parents for the wellbeing of the child. No good school would accept a boarder unless the child, the parents and the staff agree it is right for the boy or girl concerned; it is all three parties that ensure a happy and successful boarding experience. What underpins this success in every way are the adults who care for the children and the physical surroundings for the boarders.

Welcoming and homely Boarding facilities for younger boarders today are universally

welcoming, homely and full of personal possessions. Boarding children have cosy shared bedrooms, space for games and comfortable areas to relax, read and watch TV. There are gardens for football, conkers and barbeques, and all the space of the fields when school has ended which give boarders scope for traditional childhood play. Above all, it is the House Parents who make the boarders feel at home. Living with their own children in attractive family homes, the House Parents at a school like the Dragon provide a genuine home life at school for the children; they are indeed in loco parentis. Boarders come back to house during the day and the house parents get to know them well and very quickly. There is frequent communication with home about personal and school matters and a very wellestablished system of support for any troubles or bouts of homesickness. Boarders identify with their house family and their friends and from my many years’ personal experience I can say they are cheerful and productively occupied the vast majority of the time.

the same doubts and managed their feelings for the sake of their children. They will tell you their young boarders are happy at school in the daytime, busy with prep and friends in the evenings and can email and call as much as they like. With ‘full’ junior boarding, pupils enjoy the weekends with the attention of dedicated adults and have a host of fun activities to try. ‘Full’ boarding also means regular exeats, weekend leave outs, long half-terms and holidays – all of which help families have time together. At the Dragon, the proof of children’s approval of this regime is the number of day pupils who request to board themselves. So despite what others may tell you who have not tried it, I would urge you to come and look at junior boarding for yourself and I believe you will be very pleasantly surprised. ■

Confident and settled Experienced boarding parents of those who started young will tell you equally of some initial misgivings and how quickly their offspring became confident and settled. They also know how family time together is more appreciated – and ultimately how well the experience prepares children for boarding at their senior schools. In fact one of the best things any prospective junior boarding parents can do is speak to other parents who have ‘gone before’. Current parents will tell you how they overcame exactly

THE BSA GUIDE TO UK BOARDING SCHOOLS I September 2015

After spending his early years in Africa, John Baugh became a boarder at an English school at the age of six. Having turned down a career in professional football for a career in education, he taught at Haileybury before becoming Headmaster of Solefield School in Kent at only 29. Subsequently Headmaster of Edge Grove in Hertfordshire he came to the Dragon in 2002. His two daughters attended boarding schools and he was Chairman of the Boarding Schools’ Association (BSA) in 2007.

Photo: Ccountry Life Magazine

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September 2015 I THE BSA GUIDE TO UK BOARDING SCHOOLS

Senior schools: single-sex or co-education? | Single-sex or co-education? The pros and cons

Single-sex or co-education? The pros and cons ●

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Starting at the adolescence stage, the girlfriend/boyfriend factor can become more than just a minor distraction, and can be detrimental to academic progress. The ‘laddish’ or ‘macho’ culture has become an increasingly adverse influence on boys. Central to this culture is a rebellious, anti-learning attitude, which means it is simply ‘not cool’ to show a real interest in academic work. Team sport is usually stronger in singlesex schools. All single-sex schools arrange plenty of joint activities with sister and other girls’ schools, covering curricular, extracurricular and social links.

Co-education – the benefits Girls’ schools – the benefits ●

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Girls’ schools dominate the top of the examination league tables. Boys and girls mature at different rates – they learn in different ways. Girls are less self-conscious if educated in single-sex schools. Girls can be overly aware of their appearance when they are adolescents. This pressure is reduced in a single-sex environment. Girls can benefit from being in schools that recognise these differences and can provide an education geared specifically to their needs. The girls of today will be tomorrow’s leaders, there should be no limitation on promoting these ambitions, either professionally or personally, while at school. Women are expected to balance many roles during their lives, and their paths to future success will require leadership, confidence, independence, integrity and an instinct to achieve. The girls’ school of the twenty-first century can offer a modern, relevant, exciting and challenging environment. Girls’ schools prepare girls for the complex and rapidly changing world they will face. Parents want their girls to feel confident and comfortable about who they are. Girls’ schools don’t just offer equal opportunities but every opportunity. All single-sex schools arrange plenty of joint activities with brother and other boys’ schools, covering curricular, extracurricular and social links.

Boys’ schools – the benefits ●

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The best exam results tend to come from single-sex schools. Boys approach their learning in a different way to girls and are therefore best taught separately. Research shows that boys and girls react quite differently to classroom discipline, long-term coursework assignments and examinations. There is less gender stereotyping. In coeducational schools boys are much less likely to opt for subjects that are traditional strengths of girls, such as English and French, and girls are less likely to opt for physics or chemistry. Boys are often short on self-confidence during teenage years and worry about their ability to cope with conflicting pressures. They respond well to direct teaching to work on short-term objectives and explicit guidelines. Some teenage boys feel that they cannot outperform girls in some subjects and this fear of perceived failure has a negative effect on their self-esteem. Boys are less self-conscious if educated in single-sex schools. Boys are more likely to participate in activities that might otherwise embarrass them. There are greater opportunities for boys to express themselves artistically, and boys can follow a diverse range of interests and talents in the artistic sphere of such pursuits as music and drama. Boys can be overly aware of their appearance when they are adolescents. This pressure is reduced in a single-sex environment.

THE BSA GUIDE TO UK BOARDING SCHOOLS I September 2015

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Boys and girls learn to mix easily socially with each other. Pastoral care as well as spiritual life are strengthened by co-education. Both girls and boys should be able to benefit from the high quality of teaching, excellent resources, strong pastoral care and extra-curricular programmes schools can offer The intellectual and cultural life is far richer, and the sporting and the social dimensions have broadened dynamically. Art, drama, music and debating in particular can benefit from the mix. Co-educational schools can take brothers and sisters. In the co-educational classroom there are more different academic strengths and weaknesses, and a wider variety of approaches to academic challenges. Less stereotyping develops. Career opportunities can widen. Boys’ and girls’ strengths are in many respects different from each other, but they need to be given the same opportunities and horizons. Co-education provides a better preparation for a co-ed world. Men and women, boys and girls, must work side by side throughout their lives. A school’s major commission is to prepare young people for becoming the adults, parents, employees and leaders of the next generation. Co-education presents itself as more ‘balanced’ and, often, less narrowly focused on academic results to the exclusion, or minimisation, of all else. ■

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September 2015 I THE BSA GUIDE TO UK BOARDING SCHOOLS

Senior schools: single-sex or co-education? | ‘The key is the child and what the child will want’

‘The key is the child and what the child will want’ – Sir Anthony Seldon, Master of Wellington College, 2006–15

Let’s get some facts clear at the outset. There is absolutely no – repeat absolutely no – firm academic evidence to suggest that boys and girls do better academically when taught apart. Even if there was (which there isn’t) there are powerful and compelling arguments for having boys and girls in the same school for social and emotional reasons. The key is the type of school a child attends – private, grammar or comprehensive, selective or non-selective, for a start. The following statements have all been made by real parents to me, and indeed they will echo the views of many of the readers of this guide. It is rarely a good thing to disagree with prospective parents. But it is, I fear, what I am about to do! ‘Girls must be taught in single-sex schools because boys are a terrible distraction.’ ‘Boys need to be boys; that means they must go to all-boys’ schools where they can play rugby, take part in the CCF and do the kinds of things they can only do when girls are not around.’ ‘If you want your daughters to be

leaders, or scientists, send them to an all-girls’ school. There is plenty of time for boys later!’ One has to appreciate that, in coed schools, boys and girls spend an enormous amount of time apart from each other, particularly in boarding schools. Houses are (almost always) singlesex, so in the evenings pupils are with those of their own gender. Games are single-sex, as are a variety of other activities. A problem with co-ed schools is that there are too many activities, not too few, when boys and girls are segregated. So girls have ample chance to grow up, be on their own and be with other girls when they want to, as do boys. In their houses, the young will see the older pupils of their own sex acting as the role models who they will want to emulate. In good co-ed schools, men and women will share the top positions, again giving both boys and girls an abundance of figures of their own gender to admire. And, by the way, in co-ed schools, girls join in rugby and CCF, and boys take part in lacrosse and horse riding. I would argue that far more healthy relationships can be

formed if boys and girls grow up alongside each other and learn to accept each other as human beings first and foremost, rather than fantasise about each other as distant sex objects. Helping young people to form natural and affectionate relationships with those of the other sex is a core part of what a school should be doing, and I think this is easier in a co-ed school. All that said, the plain fact is that some of the best schools in Britain, and indeed the world, are single-sex. Their contribution to this country over the last 200 years has been immense. Singlesex schools, for girls or boys, also offer some of the most economical and affordable education in the country. These schools excel in league tables and offer sport and the arts at a very high standard.

The key is where the child will flourish I am a passionate believer in the continuation of single-sex schools. They are absolutely right for some boys and some girls (though parents, please let your children decide, rather than yourself, based perhaps on

THE BSA GUIDE TO UK BOARDING SCHOOLS I September 2015

outdated notions of your own schooling). To my mind, the key is the child and where the child will flourish. If a child has a sense they would sooner be just with children of their own gender, it is important to listen. In recent years, there has been a sense co-education is the poor relation academically, because a number of largely male single-sex schools struggling to fill their places with their traditional market took the commercial decision to open their doors to girls too. This was undeniably the case and perhaps has led to a legacy of doubt and mistrust about the academic viability of these schools. But it is time parents, teachers and the whole educational establishment rethought this position and challenged these preconceptions. It is no longer true. There is no reason at all why single-sex should be synonymous with academic excellence and coeducation should not. Wellington and other great co-educational schools seek to offer an academically outstanding educational alternative to the single-sex route. It should be taken seriously.

‘The key is the child and what the child will want’ | Senior schools: single-sex or co-education?

Co-ed or single-sex is a debate that has raged for centuries. Plato, in Ancient Greece, argued that educating the sexes together would develop both personality and a sense of comradeship. In a world that is competitive, where men and women work alongside each other in every sort of environment, surely it is important girls and boys learn these same lifeskills at one of the most important stages of development in their lives. I believe what is needed is an environment where mixing is quite normal, where girls and boys work and socialise together, where reality puts paid to fantasy.

Girls and boys have time in their own groups In a co-ed environment, it is important to remember girls and boys do have time on their own as groups. As mentioned above,

they do by and large have separate games sessions and separate boarding houses. At mealtimes they may choose to eat together or in groups of girls or boys. They are never together every minute of every day. There is ample space for them to grow and develop, both together and with those of their own gender. However, is single-sex versus co-ed the most important question parents should be asking? There are more important, broader questions to consider. What is the quality of teaching, the focus of the school, the curriculum on offer, the universities and courses that pupils go on to and, most importantly, is it a school where your child will be happy? Do the aims of the school include helping children to form comfortable relationships, be they young or old, black or white, boy or girl? Will children fulfil their potential in music, in sport,

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in art and on the academic front? Will it prepare children for their place in the outside world as wellrounded human beings? It is true single-sex schools have made a huge contribution academically, and this should be applauded. As has been said, many indeed are at the very top of the league tables. Is this purely, however, as a result of being single-sex? Selection at entry plays a huge part for many of these schools. If we could all select the cream, we should then expect to be at the top. Long may diversity flourish. Single-sex schools have a unique selling point, and if they moved more onto the front foot and championed their own virtues, rather than trying to attack co-ed schools on false grounds, they would flourish even more. That would be a very good thing for independent education. ■

Anthony Seldon taught at Whitgift and Tonbridge Schools before becoming deputy head of St Dunstan’s, Catford, and, in 1997, Headmaster of Brighton College. In 2006 he became Master of Wellington where he led the sponsorship of the Wellington Academy in Wiltshire. He was knighted in the Queen’s Birthday Honours 2014. Sir Anthony has written or edited many books and is a political commentator best known as a biographer of prime ministers, including The Blair Effect, Blair, Blair Unbound, and Brown at 10. He has also written Trust: How we lost it and how to get it back and Beyond Happiness: The trap of happiness and how to find deeper meaning and joy. He is Vicechancellor of the University of Buckingham.

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September 2015 I THE BSA GUIDE TO UK BOARDING SCHOOLS

Senior schools: single-sex or co-education? | Questions to ask your daughter

Questions to ask your daughter – Sylvia Brett, Principal of Harrogate Ladies’ College

Ask your daughter if she has ever worried about posing a question in class for fear of what the boys will say or whether she has been anxious about making a mistake because she should have known better and can only expect ridicule from her peers. Ask her if she thinks some subjects are for boys and she might be considered unusual to want to study them. Ask her if she worries about what to wear in the morning and how much she feels she needs to wear makeup – even subtly – to maintain an acceptable image. Ask her if she feels she has an equal voice to the boys in her class and if the teachers pay as much attention to the girls as to the boys in lessons. You might see a flicker of recognition as she admits even the most sensible, confident, intelligent and grounded girl can feel she behaves differently in a class with boys. One of the many joys of working in an all-girls’ school is seeing my pupils flourish through a process of making mistakes, investigating new ideas, challenging their preconceptions about themselves and finding out who they are with the minimum of distraction and a sense that there is no area of study or life that they cannot investigate. Last year, girls from my school went on to study subjects as diverse as Anglo Saxon Norse and Celtic, War Studies and Philosophy,

Mechatronics and Robotic Systems, International Management for Business and Fashion Media and Communication. Each subject was chosen because it reflected the interests of the individuals and no pupil felt inhibited about pursuing a particular career because her peers disapproved.

Individual choice In an all-girls’ environment each girl or young woman is free to find their own personal joys and passions. The individual drives the subject choice, rather than the subject appearing to preclude certain people from studying it because of the assumptions of others. Thus we all seek a school in which our children can flourish – where – as we often say at my school – they can seek to be the best they can be. An all-girls’ environment enables young women to pursue a multi-layered process of discernment about who they are and where their academic passions lie. The most worrying female role models when I was a pupil were those who wore very large shoulder pads and displayed an intimidating lack of empathy. Our daughters today are flooded with information about what women can be, should be and should not be. They are bombarded with seemingly unarguable and diametrically opposed absolutes

about what it is to be female in the twenty-first century. Perhaps more than ever before, young men and women have to tread through a minefield of expectations far more confusing and potentially damaging than those their parents grew up with. Single-sex education does not isolate young people from the ‘reality’ of life, rather it can ensure that the focus of the pupils is outward looking because it is unclouded by the dynamics of a co-educational classroom. It is a challenging way of educating young people because there is nowhere to hide from the journey of learning. It demands maturity but growth which reflects the pace of the individual.

Self-confidence When girls who have been educated at all-girls’ schools arrive at university they are often more confident than their peers because they have tested their identity and self-confidence with integrity and arrive ready to embrace all that life has to offer. When girls join year 7 at Harrogate Ladies’ College, they all learn to play lacrosse. My girls are some of the kindest, most polite and gracious young women you will meet – indeed recent school inspectors described them as ‘disarmingly charming’ – but when they are learning how to ‘growl’ at their opponent in

THE BSA GUIDE TO UK BOARDING SCHOOLS I September 2015

lacrosse and they are speeding up and down the pitch in the freezing rain working closely with their team mates to secure victory, I know these girls have a fierce heart and determination to do their best. These are some of the qualities which – alongside academic achievement – will equip and empower our young people to embrace a future which, if geneticists are to be believed, may include from this generation of children the first person to live to the age of 200. In your choice of school look for the environment and ethos which reflect your own values and which will challenge our children to be their very best selves. ■

Sylvia Brett is Principal of Harrogate Ladies’ College, a boarding and day school for girls aged 11–18 and girls and boys aged 2–11. Before coming to Harrogate Sylvia was for five years Deputy Head at Roedean School in Sussex. Sylvia began her teaching career, after working in university fundraising, as a Housemistress at the Royal Masonic School in Hertforshire. She went on to Caldicott, a boys’ preparatory school where she worked as Lay Chaplain, and then moved to Downe House where she was Housemistress, RS teacher and Head of Lower School. Sylvia was educated at South Hampstead High School GDST and the universities of Durham and London where she pursued her academic passion for Theology and Philosophy.

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September 2015 I THE BSA GUIDE TO UK BOARDING SCHOOLS

Senior schools: single-sex or co-education? | School life and home life complement each other

School life and home life should complement and reinforce each other – Emma McKendrick, Head of Downe House

For over 100 years, Downe House has been one of the UK’s leading girls’ boarding schools, with an outstanding track record in nurturing girls and helping them to flourish in every possible way. There isn’t a Downe House ‘type’, or if there is, she’s likely to be her own woman and proud of it! Boarding at Downe House is specifically tailored to meet the needs of girls in the lower school (11+ and 12+), the senior school (13+–15+) and the sixth form, but irrespective of when a girl joins us, we’ll be there to support her on her journey through the different stages of her school career. One of the cornerstones of our success in turning out confident, self-possessed young women, well equipped to face the challenges of life beyond the school gates, is our partnership with parents. We believe school life and home life should complement and reinforce each other. For this to work to the best advantage, communication is key.

Whether parents are based in this country or abroad, we are committed to looking after their daughters and making sure they are fully supported. It’s important to remember many children worry about their parents when they’re not seeing them every day. Our highly experienced pastoral team understands this, and parents can rest assured there will always be someone on hand to help their daughters manage their worries. It’s amazing what a cup of hot chocolate and a chat can do! Our aim is to allow girls the space to voice their quite understandable concerns about their parents, and to encourage them to develop the kind of emotional resilience that will help them to cope, no matter what life throws at them. So how is the partnership going to work? Well, there are lots of ways we keep in touch with parents. For example, a variety of publications, including the calendar of events and our House newsletters are

sent termly, or more regularly. There’s also the weekly bulletin, The Olive Branch. For more personal information about girls, a password allows parents exclusive access to their daughters’ profile on the Extranet, our secure website for parents. Parents can view their daughters’ reports there and take care of other business, like signing up for extra-curricular activities. Parents can even receive SMS messages keeping them posted about fixtures and so on. As well as receiving regular formal reports, parents are invited to attend annual parents’ meetings to discuss their daughters’ progress with academic and pastoral staff. We also have a wonderfully effective one-to-one tutor system and our tutors work hard to build a relationship with their pupils and their parents. Tutors contact parents regularly and, if they have any questions about their daughters’ progress, parents are

THE BSA GUIDE TO UK BOARDING SCHOOLS I September 2015

encouraged to get in touch with tutors directly. Ultimtely, it’s the relationship between parents and House Staff that’s going to make all the difference. At Downe House, we work hard to forge strong relationships with parents and no enquiry, pastoral or academic, is too insignificant for a girl’s Housemistress or Housemaster (yes, we do have them!) to deal with. When it’s not easy to find the time to telephone, a quick email is a great way of staying in touch and House Staff respond as quickly as possible. Email will more than likely be the girls’ preferred means of keeping in touch with their parents and each girl has her own School email address. Mobile phones are marvellous, especially if parents are abroad, but if a parent needs to get in touch with their daughter urgently and she’s not answering her mobile, parents can phone the House and ask the member of (continued on page 94)

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LEWESTON

Situated just outside Sherborne in 46 acres of beautiful Dorset parkland, Leweston School offers a challenging and inspiring education to girls aged 3 months to 18 years and boys aged 3 months to 8 years. Boarding packages are available for girls from age 7 and local transport links are provided for day pupils.

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September 2015 I THE BSA GUIDE TO UK BOARDING SCHOOLS

Senior schools: single-sex or co-education? | School life and home life complement each other

staff on duty to pass on a message. Houses are manned 24/7 and even if parents have to leave a voicemail message, answering machines are cleared frequently. Looking after girls is our job and we love doing it. Boarding school can never be a substitute for family life but it can be an incredible experience for children and an invaluable resource for parents. Our promise to families is that although your daughter will be part of a community, she will always be an individual to us. In partnership with parents, at Downe House we support girls to fulfil their academic potential but, more importantly, they also learn to be themselves, which is as much as any parent or any school can ask. ■

Katie Taylor, aged 14, daughter of Major Neil Taylor I started as a full boarder at Downe House in September 2013. I had been a full boarder for four years at Abberley Prep school, but this did not stop me worrying about starting at a new school. My earlier visits with my parents, the assessment days and the new girls’ day gave me a feel for the everyday running of the school and what it would be like. I moved at the 13+ stage along with about 60 other new girls in my year. To ensure we get a warm welcome, the school assigns a buddy (girls who have been here longer) for us to link up with and tutors and teachers to help us find our way around. I am now in my second year at Downe House and have started doing my GCSEs. My House is great, it is like being part of another family. My new Housemistress is lovely and it is great to have her family living within the house and to have pets as well, it all makes it feel more like home. There are lots of activities and sports to keep me busy when I am not in lessons, but even if I do feel a bit homesick, which is rare with such a busy day, there is always a hot chocolate and chat available to make you feel better. Of course there is a much more grown up approach to school life in general – I am expected to use my own free time and prep sessions to complete my prep and hand it in on time. Thankfully, I am really well supported by my subject teachers and a personal tutor. I really enjoy my languages and Downe House has worked with my parents to make sure I am happy with my lessons and enjoying my studies, I am even hoping to do my French GCSE and Spanish IGCSE early. I am really enjoying being a Downe House girl.

Major Neil Taylor

Emma McKendrick studied German and Dutch at Liverpool University and obtained postgraduate qualifications at Birmingham University. She started her teaching career at the Royal High School, Bath, and was Head of Careers and the Sixth Form, a Housemistress and Deputy Head, before taking on the Headship in 1994. In 1997 she became Head of Downe House in Newbury. She is a governor of King’s School Canterbury and Radley College and a number of prep schools. For many years she was Chairman of the Languages Committee of the Independent Schools Examination Board and she is a Fellow of the RSA.

I am the same as every parent I have met and discussed boarding school with, academic achievement is important, it is probably the primary motivation when considering any

school. Nevertheless, as a Service parent I believe this must take place in a stable environment, where my daughter is happy as a full boarder and therefore able to achieve her full potential, irrespective of where the family home is currently located or where I am serving. From our very first visit to Downe House, everyone involved has listened to our comments and addressed any questions or concerns we have had. Since our daughter joined the school in September 2013, the level of communication and support has continued to grow. This has not only been from the House Staff. We have also worked closely with academic staff to refine timetables and subjects including crucial GCSE selections, with her Individual Tutor as a focal point for all studies, with the Heads of Departments when we have felt it necessary to escalate a concern and with the nurses in the medical centre when the inevitable ‘lurgy’ strikes. No matter how trivial the issue, the House Staff, Academic Staff and the Management Team have all engaged us as parents and helped us resolve it. Regular newsletters from the House Mistress keep us up to date with in-house activities, the weekly 'Olive Branch’ informs us of whole school events, and emails or the occasional phone call keep us directly informed about our daughter. The Parents Zone is great for tracking reports, seeing any rewards earned, checking the various sports matches and occasionally booking appointments for peripatetic teachers or tickets for the latest school production. We have also been very fortunate this year to attend the Silver Ball, a really magnificent charity event in aid of the Armed Forces Fund, raising money to provide an education for the sons and daughters of Service men and women killed or seriously wounded while serving their country. The whole school is hugely encouraging of the individual. Now our daughter has started her GCSEs she has a unique timetable to match her academic abilities and interests, with extra classes and teachers added to support her passion for languages. The wide choice of extracurricular activities, clubs, weekend trips and social ties with Radley College guarantee there is always something fun and enjoyable to be involved in. No matter where I am serving or wherever my career takes me, I am confident our daughter is in a stable and happy environment, one that will challenge her to do her best and give her an incredible foundation for the future.

THE BSA GUIDE TO UK BOARDING SCHOOLS I September 2015

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Senior schools: single-sex or co-education? | Boarding makes the difference: a girls-only perspective

Boarding makes the difference: a girls-only perspective – Rhiannon Wilkinson, Headmistress of Wycombe Abbey

Many people may still think of boarding schools as intimidating places with harsh regimes and cold showers but the reality of modern boarding could not be more different. Today, boarding schools offer an unrivalled lifestyle and a ready-made community enabling young people to feel supported, explore their talents and develop deep friendships. We all know humans are social beings. We need to feel connected to people to feel happy and secure and to lead a flourishing life. Communities play a crucial part in allowing a person to give and receive support and interact positively with others. Girls in particular,

we know, thrive when they are emotionally connected to others. Boarding naturally and deeply develops pupils’ social skills. Community living teaches a great deal about tolerance, being sensitive to other people’s needs, and the importance of compromise. At my own school pupils care deeply for one another and there is no evidence of the ruthless competition which can sometimes be seen among youngsters at similarly high achieving day schools. We know girls can be very competitive, comparing their achievements to others and wanting to outdo each other and to be ‘perfect’. Being in a boarding environment really

does help with this as pupils live and work so closely together they genuinely want to help and support one another. Girls form lifelong friendships at boarding school. Having lived in close proximity with each other for many years, sharing one another’s highs and lows, deep personal connections are inevitably made. Most girls who leave my own school retain friends for life.

House ‘mothers’ and ‘daughters’ The girls are also in positions where they are looking out for younger girls – in my own school every girl is a ‘house mother’ and is responsible for helping her ‘daughter’ to settle in and find her feet. Houses often have their family trees on display, showing the connections between girls in the house such as who is the ‘house great grandmother’ of a younger girl. Girls are proud of these connections and are quick to tell you who is their ‘mother’. We also have senior girls responsible for small year groups of girls in house and in school generally. These leaders receive training and know when to flag up an issue to an adult.

THE BSA GUIDE TO UK BOARDING SCHOOLS I September 2015

Pupils have a lot of people looking out for them and taking an interest in their wellbeing. A girls-only environment also offers some relief from the highly sexualised world in which teenage girls live today. Girls’ schools like ours offer a liberating environment where girls can remain girls for longer and become comfortable with their own identities and aspirations without feeling the pressure to conform to gender stereotypes. We focus on girlcentred education, which enables us to implement educational strategies to suit girls of all interests and talents. Such an appropriately focused education produces confident young women who go on to do marvellous things with their lives and are more than ready to hold their own in the outside world. Medicine, Engineering and Law are among the most popular university courses chosen by leavers. At Wycombe Abbey usually a third of the Upper Sixth year group will receive Oxbridge offers. Of course, a single-sex education does not mean a single-sex life and socialising with boys is also very important. At Wycombe Abbey

Boarding makes the difference: a girls-only perspective | Senior schools: single-sex or co-education?

there are frequent socials with local boys’ schools including Eton, Radley, Harrow and the Royal Grammar School in High Wycombe. They meet for dinner, dancing, a joint management conference, interview exchanges, and academic forums. They therefore get to know a particularly varied group of boys and very wide friendships groups are widened. Today’s pastoral care in boarding schools is second to none. Pastoral staff are welltrained specialists and for many of the staff their key role is to oversee and monitor a pupil’s wellbeing and champion her interests to ensure she is happy and progressing well. They are usually in close contact with parents and they work in partnership with them. Inspectors frequently extol the high standards of pastoral care they find in boarding schools. Pastoral care is truly at the

heart of modern boarding schools.

Preparing girls for adult life Boarding schools are joyfully busy places and young people engage in many different and varied activities in a day. The phenomenal day-long cocurricular life of my own school, and many boarding schools, ensures there are opportunities in sport, drama, music, art as well as many societies (led by pupils themselves) and other enrichment activities. The sheer choice available far exceeds that which is possible in life outside of a boarding environment. Pupils learn early in life how to transition between the pursuits they enjoy and to take a holistic approach to their learning, to manage a lifestyle where different aspects of their life overlap. Girls at my own school

are experts at finding the gaps in their daily schedules and filling them with the things they love such as a street dance practice, film-making, running a society, or even having a ‘spa afternoon’ at the weekend. This is all invaluable preparation for managing a busy and rewarding life as an adult. Girls can accomplish much more at a boarding school than they would if they were commuting to school or to after-school or weekend activities when so much time is lost in travelling. In a world where families and parents are much busier working longer hours, it is not always easy to provide children with the opportunities and support they need. Boarding schools stand out and can do this as they offer 24/7 wrap-around care. Boarding offers a breadth and depth of education in its truest sense which is simply not

possible in day schools. Boarding really does make the difference. ■

Rhiannon Wilkinson was appointed Headmistress of Wycombe Abbey in 2013. She read History at Oxford and has also completed an MEd in Educational Leadership and Management at Manchester University. She has worked in the maintained, international and independent sectors. Prior to Wycombe Abbey, she was Principal of Harrogate Ladies’ College. Rhiannon is married to Donald Wilkinson, also a Headmaster.

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September 2015 I THE BSA GUIDE TO UK BOARDING SCHOOLS

Senior schools: single-sex or co-education? | Girls thrive in science

Girls thrive in science

Photograph courtesy of Cheltenham Ladies’ College

– Eve Jardine-Young, Principal of Cheltenham Ladies’ College

an understanding of increasingly intriguing and sophisticated scientific theory. Academic studies suggest girls benefit from strong and early advice from careers advisers and teachers, so it is important to ensure we provide the tools necessary for girls to make an informed choice regarding furthering their studies in science. Prejudices that suggest physics and chemistry are subjects for boys must be challenged at every opportunity. If allowed to go unquestioned, these assumptions can become self-fulfilling.

Festival, which uses our venues and provides unique opportunities for our community. The teaching of science is deeply embedded in the pioneering history of this college. Indeed, until Dorothea Beale (our second Principal, suffragette and educational reformer) broke with tradition and began teaching science lessons, it was taught to very few girls anywhere in the world. Even she had to introduce science gently to the CLC curriculum under the socially acceptable banner of ‘physical geography’. Schools were reluctant to offer the subject for fear it would harm a girl’s

Co-curricular activities Girls studying Physics and Mathematics have visited NASA’s Kennedy Space Centre, where they met with retired NASA astronaut Richard Searfoss and explored the rocket garden. Girls who may be considering a career in biomedical surgery, as a medic, vet or dentist, have a programme

Girls choosing science Nationally, girls have tended to opt out of science subjects at 16+, but the number of science classes being taught here at the college continues to rise. In the past five years, the proportion of sixthform pupils taking at least one of the three science subjects has increased steadily and more than 50% of our current sixth form (300+ girls) choose to study chemistry. We are delighted to be a major education partner of the annual Cheltenham Science

THE BSA GUIDE TO UK BOARDING SCHOOLS I September 2015

Photograph courtesy of Cheltenham Ladies’ College

Girls today have grown up in an era where Hermione regularly outsmarts Harry Potter in the ‘potions’ lessons. GCSE data reveals that in 2014 the national figures for the numbers of girls and boys sitting GCSE sciences were broadly similar. As a generation, we are witnessing major developments in fields such as quantum biology and the frontiers of science are areas of international collaboration, inspiration and imagination as well as rigour and methodical analysis. Having originally trained with Arup as a structural engineer before moving into teaching, I feel there is a great deal to be excited about as regards the future for jobs and employment in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). Emerging developments in materials science, nanotechnology and research physics point to a future which will feature new and currently unimagined jobs. Biodiversity, resource and energy security challenges are of profound importance to us all. These will require creativity and strong communication skills alongside

prospects of finding a husband and we have letters of protest from fathers in our archives to prove it! Despite pressure from social norms, Dr Clara De Brereton Evans (CLC 1884) became the first woman in Britain to take a doctorate in Chemistry, and Dr Helen Mackay (CLC 1906) was the first woman fellow of the Royal College of Physicians. Dorothea Beale’s empowering vision for women’s education continues to endure, with science remaining at the heart of the college curriculum today, alongside contemporary and innovative lessons supported by a rich programme of exciting activities that would perhaps be considered unusual elsewhere. One of the first schools to have a working observatory and telescope in the nineteenth century, today our giant inflatable domed Starlab allows the heavens to rotate without light pollution even on a sunny day!

Girls thrive in science | Senior schools: single-sex or co-education?

to help them prepare, including working on their skills of observation and dexterity in the facial reconstruction club. Our synthetic chemistry group gives girls a chance to delve into real wet chemistry, and use modern analytical techniques to probe their synthesised molecules. Through the Engineering Education Scheme this year, one team of girls is working with L3TRL Technology to research and develop a model industrial system in order to further develop their product, IGUANABlue, on a lowcost platform. The other team is working with Safran MessierBugatti-Dowty and has investigated bio-mimicry in aircraft landing gear joints. We recently joined forces with the South Devon Chilli Farm and the University of Oxford for Red Hot Science. Girls grew their own chilli plants to test for capsaicin – the substance that causes hot flavours in food.

Passion for conservation Our Wildlife Gardening Club helps girls to pursue their passion for conservation and biodiversity. The girls have built a bug hotel in a secluded corner of the college grounds to encourage key pollinating species, undertaken a spring bulb planting programme, volunteered with the local Wildlife Trust and are monitoring wildlife in and around the College site. In a recent expedition 17 girls helped to rehabilitate and track orphaned orangutans released back into the wilds of primary rainforest in Borneo, Indonesia. They were the first school group ever to reach the remote release site. Every two years we invite other schools to join our MedSTEM Conference, at which we welcome dozens of leading scientific figures and organisations who provide a day of inspiring advice for senior pupils. Girls are given a free

choice of seminars and can access expert speakers drawn from across industry and academia, helping them to make informed choices unburdened by expectation. To meet our shared global challenges for the future, it is vital women are able to play an equal role in all sectors of the world economy, and STEMrelated careers are at the forefront of the drivers of economic growth. This year we are launching a new Engineering, Enterprise and Technology Department, where business awareness, design, coding, problem-solving and use of different materials will all combine together to develop real confidence and skills. Our commitment to science signals our clear intent to give girls an unparalleled opportunity to explore the physical and natural world around them, and we are all enjoying the adventure together! ■

Eve Jardine-Young became Principal of Cheltenham Ladies’ College in September 2011 having been a pupil at the College. Eve has a degree in Engineering Science from Cambridge and started working for Ove Arup & Partners, Structural Engineers, before following her heart into the teaching profession. She began her career at Radley College teaching Economics and subsequently spent 10 years at Epsom College where positions held included Housemistress and Head of Sixth Form. Most recently, Eve was Director of Studies at Blundell’s School in Devon before returning to the College as Principal. She is married to James, is widely travelled and has a broad range of interests including theatre, music, horticulture and sustainability initiatives.

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September 2015 I THE BSA GUIDE TO UK BOARDING SCHOOLS

Senior schools: single-sex or co-education? | The best of both worlds – the ‘diamond model’

The best of both worlds – the ‘diamond model’ – Ian Davies, Headmaster of Brentwood School

There is a conventional wisdom that single-sex schools are better academically and co-educational schools are better socially. However, I don’t see this as an ‘either-or’ debate. Actually, at Brentwood School, we provide both. Along with nine other schools in the country, we follow what is known as the ‘Diamond Model’ where girls and boys are taught together up to age 11, separately from 11 to 16, and together again in the sixth form. In this way boys and girls are taught in separate classes during the crucial and formative teenage years but have many social opportunities to mix together outside the classroom on a single campus. Essentially the benefits of the Diamond Model result from the ability to tailor academic teaching and pastoral care more acutely and sensitively to meet the gender-specific needs of young people. A single-sex classroom structure from Year 7 helps pupils develop with peers going through similar changes – emotional, physical, hormonal and social. It gives them space to focus on their studies without, what can often

100

THE BSA GUIDE TO UK BOARDING SCHOOLS I September 2015

be, immense peer pressure to perform in mixed classes. By the time they reach the sixth form, students have sufficiently matured and established themselves academically. They can cope with a mixed gender classroom environment and become better prepared for their life at university or in the world of work.

Advantages From both a teacher’s and a pupil’s perspective, there are distinct advantages to teaching adolescent boys and girls separately. It is generally acknowledged that girls and boys have different learning styles and different interests, particularly in adolescence. In Diamond schools teachers are able to adopt a more sophisticated and focused approach, tailoring their teaching accordingly. At the risk of generalising again, I would argue that girls often find spatial awareness quite difficult and so teachers can orientate their lessons with girls to improve this. Similarly, communication skills are not naturally so obvious in boys and teachers can actively

The best of both worlds – the ‘diamond model’ | Senior schools: single-sex or co-education?

promote these skills in boys’ classrooms. There are more subtle, but just as significant, advantages too. At Brentwood, the same curriculum is taught to both teenage boys and girls, and because the classes are single-sex, their experience of subjects is gender neutral. In this way we avoid the risk of certain subjects becoming genderlabelled. There are no ‘boys-only’ or ‘girls-only’ subjects. In fact the issue of gender preference for subjects just does not come up. Many of our girls thrive in the traditional male-dominated subjects such as physics, chemistry, biology and maths, while many of our boys enjoy cookery, the arts, modern foreign languages and music. Indeed, when it comes to subject options at GCSE level, we find no obvious gender trends to subject selection and the university destinations of our sixth formers reveals a similar collection of budding scientists or artists among the girls and boys.

Social mix But it’s not all about the academic side of school life – the social side of school is equally important. A major part of what any good school should do is to help their pupils form respectful relationships with those of the

opposite sex. For obvious reasons this is more difficult to support in single-sex schools. In Diamond schools, however, although teenage boys and girls are taught separately, because they share the same campus, they have many opportunities to develop in this way. By rubbing shoulders with each other at break and lunchtimes and participating together in a wide range of extracurricular activities, they learn to have mutual respect for each other and, first and foremost, to treat each other as human beings. At Brentwood School the extracurricular programme includes music, drama, trips and excursions, the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award and the Combined Cadet Force; the latter

being just as popular with girls as with boys across all divisions – army, navy and air force. Leadership roles within the Combined Cadet Force and generally within school are awarded on merit and achieved equally by girls and boys. These positions, including praepostors (prefects), heads of houses and head of school, provide important role models to younger pupils of successful young men and women across many aspects of school life. As with all schools, teachers are also important role models for pupils and in Diamond schools; as with co-educational schools, there is usually a high preponderance of high profile men and women among the staff. The benefits of Diamond schools are not confined to just teachers and pupils, however. Parents often comment on the advantages of having a single ‘drop off’ point for their sons and daughters, that the school run is less frazzled since brothers and sisters can share the same school bus, or in the case of boarding that their sons and daughters are living close to each other. In addition, there is a certain familiarity and understanding that parents develop over time about a school; an understanding about the reporting system, how the parents’ evenings work or who to contact for certain matters. This knowledge helps parents, particularly those working away or with long hours, to get the best out of their

partnership with teachers, the senior management team and the head teacher. Indeed, this experience becomes a vital ‘currency’ in their relationship with the school to ensure the best education for their child. If that same currency can be put to good use for all their children, regardless of whether they are boys or girls, then so much the better! ■

After reading Theology at St John’s College, Oxford, and a PGCE in Cambridge, Ian Davies taught for 10 years in the maintained sector before becoming Head of the Lower School at Latymer Upper, and the Headmaster of St Dunstan’s College in London in 1998. He has been Headmaster of Brentwood School since 2004. He served for 10 years as Independent Schools’ Advisor to the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award Scheme, is a Governor of St Aubyn’s Preparatory School in Woodford Green, and is Chairman of his local theatre. In his spare time he enjoys the occasional game of cricket and golf.

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Senior schools: single-sex or co-education? | Girls’ sport: challenging, competitive and passionate

Girls’ sport: challenging, competitive and passionate – Pauline Stott, Director of Sport at Kilgraston School

The past two years have seen women’s sport reach greater levels of coverage and achievement than ever before. After the 2012 London Olympics, where the women’s events brought passion, drama, and a rather impressive haul of medals for Team GB, those of us immersed in the sporting scene felt the time for women’s sport had well and truly arrived. I’m always taken aback when I come across the assumption that sport at an all-girls’ school will be a rather gentle, refined affair – somehow lacking in the excitement, passion or fierce spirit of competition you would expect in a mixed or boys’ environment. My family and I moved to Kilgraston over six years ago from a mixed school, so I could take up a newly created role of Director of Sport – along with my two daughters who joined the school as pupils. And yes, we found the sport in a girls’ school to be different, but perhaps not in the ways we might have expected. In a mixed school, boys’ physical strength and the greater likelihood they’ve grown up immersed in sport means they’re likely to rise more quickly to the upper ranks of school sporting achievement and to dominate many of the traditional school sports. In a self-enforcing cycle, girls who believe they are unlikely

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to excel at sport are less likely to get involved in the first place – perpetuating the notion that ‘girls aren’t really sporty’. By contrast, in a girls-only environment, the very best sportspeople are – and can only be – female, creating a culture where female role models in sport are very much the norm, rather than the exception. Our girls quickly lose their selfconsciousness, and are more likely to take risks, push themselves, and really throw themselves into their sport.

Sports Leader Awards Sports Leader Awards, where girls use their PE lessons to develop skills in coaching, encourage sporting excellence to be passed down through the year groups of the school, and creates a culture where girls who excel at sports like hockey and football are utterly commonplace. It’s true, of course, that some girls (and some boys) simply aren’t ‘sporty’ in the traditional sense of team and ball sports. However I’m yet to meet anyone – of either gender – who can’t be supported to find some sort of exercise that they enjoy. From the youngest pupils in the Nursery, to our soon-to-be university girls in the Upper Sixth, sport at Kilgraston is compulsory and taught exclusively by specialist

sports staff. From the age of 14 upwards, girls choose which sports they participate in, which means they are more likely to really immerse themselves in activities, instead of slogging through a session in which they’re simply not interested.

other across the finish line, I really couldn’t be prouder. And judging by the quality of school sports for girls right now, the future of women’s sport is in safe hands. Whether our girls are focusing on the clashes on the hockey pitch or the exhilaration of tennis, they’re grasping with both hands the opportunity to truly excel in the sporting arena. As our girls stand triumphant on a medals podium, collapse across a finish line, battle for a goal or complete the perfect clear round, the notion that ‘girls aren’t really into competitive sports’ is well and truly quashed. ■

Inspiring positive habits There really is nothing like taking part in a sport you love to inspire young people to develop positive habits for the rest of their life. Those habits aren’t just about getting off the sofa and going for a run, but are also about ensuring girls are able to win (and lose) with grace and resilience, helping them to develop a spirit of adventure, an ability to push their boundaries, and a willingness to throw themselves into whatever opportunities come their way. These issues are so much bigger than school PE lessons, which is why it’s so vital we encourage and inspire our girls to get involved in sport. Something like 94% of our girls participate in our annual cross country run – some to compete and excel, others to dress up, paint their faces, and join in with the sense of community and excitement. Each year, as I watch close to 300 girls, aged from 3 to 18, turn out for the run in all weathers, often smiling through the rain and encouraging each

THE BSA GUIDE TO UK BOARDING SCHOOLS I September 2015

Pauline Stott became Director of Sport at Kilgraston in 2009. A former Scotland and Great Britain International hockey player, Pauline captained the Great Britain Ladies Hockey team at the Sydney Olympics in 2000, and also captained the Scottish Ladies team for over seven years over a 12-year career. Pauline retired having gained 203 International caps at Senior level. In addition to her role at Kilgraston, where she leads 16 members of staff in championing sporting participation and excellence at the school, both through the school day and evening, Pauline delivers ‘Champion in Schools' talks to schoolchildren across Scotland, motivating them to be the best they can be. Pauline is still coaching girls at Under 14, 16 and 18 Midland hockey teams and coaches through her own company HPC (Scotland) Ltd over holiday camps and Sunday sessions. She is committed to helping future Scotland and Great Britain players.

Inspiring confidence in girls | Senior schools: single-sex or co-education?

Inspiring confidence in girls – Dr Felicia Kirk, Headmistress of St Mary’s Calne It is an obvious but crucially important point that girls need confidence to do well. I have long held the belief that confidence plays a pivotal role in unlocking girls’ potential. In fact, it matters just as much as knowledge, skills and competence. However, it was not until I read Katty Kay and Claire Shipman’s article, The Confidence Gap (www.theatlantic.com/feature s/archive/2014/04/theconfidence-gap/359815), that I understood the full extent of this issue. Kay and Shipman argue convincingly that there is a serious crisis of confidence for women in our time which hugely limits potential – it effectively leads to inaction and stifles progress. Research in the field of neuroscience has shown that both brain chemistry and social conditioning mean that, generally, girls lack confidence in comparison to boys. A boarding school provides a perfect environment for girls, a holistic education where they can be challenged and offered opportunities to grow and fulfil their potential, becoming more confident as they do so. Sport plays a pivotal role in this and studies have shown girls who play team sports are more likely to graduate from university, find a job and be employed in maledominated industries. Sadly, girls are still six times as likely as boys

to drop out of sports teams during their adolescence. Sport England has recognised this issue and in October 2014 launched ‘This Girl Can’ – a national campaign to inspire more women and girls to participate in sport. Here at St Mary’s Calne, we encourage competition via a huge range of sports at all levels. The girls learn to own victory and survive defeat in sport, and this is excellent training for owning triumphs and surviving setbacks at work. Sport helps them build their self-worth, determination and resilience. It is not just on the sports field that their confidence grows. The school has a close relationship with RADA and we offer the sixth-form girls a RADA Advanced Communication Course, ‘Speak Out!’. The programme offers classes in individual vocal and physical techniques, as well as classes ranging from political oratory and speaking with passion on emotive issues. All visiting practitioners on the course are RADA experts whose career profiles include the training of legal, medical and business professionals as well as people in the civil service and government. Girls also have the opportunity to increase their confidence and leadership skills through the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award, Model United Nations and the Young Enterprise programme.

No ‘stereotypically’ boys subjects Some of these programmes are also available to girls at coeducational schools. However, there is a difference as at singlesex boarding schools, the girls have all these opportunities open to them, they are not deterred from choosing subjects or courses which are seen as ‘stereotypically’ boys subjects and they are not distracted by the presence of boys. In research conducted by Mungo Dunnett Associates (involving 47 independent girls’ schools and 250 parents) one of the key reasons cited by parents for choosing a single-sex school was the issue of how the presence of boys can impact on a girl’s selfconfidence: ‘she had a huge confidence boost when she arrived and didn’t have to worry about her appearance.’ Former St Mary’s Calne girls have referred to the importance of learning how to be confident at school and have attributed this to their later success in life. Last year, Laura Tomlinson came back to St Mary’s to talk to the girls. Laura, who won a team gold and an individual bronze medal in dressage at the London Olympics, told the girls ‘the support and security I got at St Mary’s Calne gave me the confidence to go and do what I did later on.’

Being unafraid A key factor in encouraging confidence in girls, is encouraging them to take risks, to speak out and not to be afraid of getting things wrong. The one-to-one tutor system we have here focuses on personalised learning and ensures that each individual receives the attention they need. Being a boarding school, the girls have access to teachers out of hours and this support system is key in helping them to achieve their personal goals and to encourage them to aim high.

Being unafraid and taking these ‘risks’ whether in the classroom or on the sports field, is an important skill for a girl to learn. Confidence is not something that develops overnight. But I truly believe girls at a single-sex boarding school are in the best place to learn how to become stronger, how to challenge and speak out and not to be afraid of making mistakes. This will serve them well as they move on to university and into their careers. As Katty Kay and Claire Shipman correctly point out following their extensive research, ‘success, it turns out, correlates just as closely with confidence as it does with competence.’ ■

Dr Felicia Kirk has been Headmistress at St Mary’s Calne for two and a half years and is a passionate advocate for girls’ education. She has 20 years’ experience of teaching and managing at a senior level in independent day and boarding schools in the UK (Ipswich High School for Girls where she was Head of Sixth Form, Director of Higher Education at Wycombe Abbey and Head of Modern Languages at Royal Hospital School, Suffolk). An American citizen, Dr Kirk was educated in Maryland, USA and has a BA Summa Cum Laude in French and Latin (University of Maryland), an MA in French Studies with Latin (Brown University, Rhode Island) and a PhD in Romance Languages and Literature. Dr Kirk is a keen equestrian and, along with her husband John and their dog Lily, she also enjoys the English countryside.

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Specialist schools | Specialist schools – arts, drama, music

Specialist schools – arts, drama, music The specialist schools programme is a UK government initiative that encourages secondary schools in England to specialise in certain areas of the curriculum to boost achievement. The Specialist Schools and Academies Trust is responsible for of the programme. Currently there are nearly 3,000 specialist schools, or 88% of the state-funded secondary schools in England. The Government plans that eventually all schools in England will specialise. In the independent sector the term ‘specialist’ tends to focus more on developing outstanding talents mainly in a range of extracurricular activities such as drama, music and the arts. The principal independent boarding schools in music, dance and drama are covered below.

Music and dance The Music and Dance Scheme (MDS) is a government-funded scheme to provide support for talented musicians and dancers. You can find out more at www.education.gov.uk. There are nine MDS specialist schools throughout the UK, committed to the highest teaching standards in music and dance, alongside an excellent academic education. MDS schools are listed below.

Music and Dance Scheme schools Chetham’s School of Music www.chethams.com Elmhurst School of Dance www.elmhurstdance.co.uk St Mary’s Music School www.st-marys-music-school.co.uk The Hammond School www.thehammondschool.co.uk The Purcell School www.purcell-school.org

The Royal Ballet School www.royalballetschool.co.uk Tring Park School for the Performing Arts www.tringpark.com Wells Cathedral School www.wellscathedralschool.org Yehudi Menuhin School www.yehudimenuhinschool.co.uk

Choir schools The Choir Schools’ Association (CSA) represents 46 schools attached to cathedrals, churches and college chapels around the country. Pupils have unlimited access to first-class schooling and musical training, giving them an excellent start in life. More than 1,200 of the 21,500 boys and girls in choir schools are choristers. Some CSA schools take children from 7–13, others are junior schools with senior schools to 18. The majority are Church of England foundations, but the Roman Catholic, Scottish and Welsh churches are all represented. The majority are fee paying, with nine out of ten choristers qualifying for financial help with fees from the school or through the Government’s Choir Schools’ Scholarship Scheme. To find out more, go to www.choirschools.org.uk. The choir schools offering boarding are listed in the table below.

Choir schools offering boarding School

City

Website

Northern England The Chorister School Lincoln Minster Prep School Chetham’s School Ampleforth College St James’ School

Durham Lincoln Manchester York Grimsby

head.teacher@thechoristerschool.com enquiries.lincoln@church-schools.com chets@chethams.com admissions@ampleforth.org.uk enquiries@saintjamesschool.co.uk

www.choristers.durham.sch.uk www.lincolnminsterschool.co.uk www.chethams.com www.college.ampleforth.org.uk www.saintjamesschool.co.uk

Central England Dean Close Preparatory School Hereford Cathedral School Lichfield Cathedral School Christ Church Cathedral School Magdalen College School St George’s School

Cheltenham Hereford Lichfield Oxford Oxford Windsor

sabell@deanclose.org.uk schoolsec@hcsch.org thepalace@lichfieldcathedralschool.com schooloffice@cccs.org.uk admissions@mcsoxford.org registrar@stgwindsor.co.uk

www.deanclose.org.uk www.herefordcsch.org www.cathedralchoir.org.uk www.cccs.org.uk www.mcsoxford.org www.stgwindsor.co.uk

London St Paul’s Cathedral School London Westminster Abbey Choir School London Westminster Cathedral Choir School London

admissions@spcs.london.sch.uk headmaster@westminster-abbey.org office@choirschool.com

www.st.pauls.co.uk www.westminster-abbey.org www.choirschool.com

Eastern England King’s College School St John’s College School King’s Ely

Cambridge Cambridge Ely

office@kingscam.demon.co.uk admissions@sjcs.co.uk admissions@kingsely.org

www.kcs.cambs.sch.uk www.sjcs.co.uk www.kingsely.org

Southern England St Edmund’s School The Prebendal School The Cathedral School King’s Rochester Preparatory School Salisbury Cathedral School Polwhele House School Wells Cathedral School The Pilgrims’ School

Canterbury Chichester Exeter Rochester Salisbury Truro Wells Winchester

juniorschool@stedmunds.org.uk www.stedmunds.org.uk secretary-prebendal@btconnect.com www.prebendalschool.org.uk hmsec@exetercs.org www.exetercs.org prep@kings-school-rochester.co.uk www.kings-school-rochester.co.uk admissions@salisburycathedralschool.com www.salisburycathedralschool.com info@polwhelehouse.co.uk www.polwhelehouse.co.uk admissions@wells-cathedral-school.com www.wells-cathedral-school.com hmsec@pilgrims-school.co.uk www.thepilgrims-school.co.uk

Wales The Cathedral School

Llandaff

registrar@cathedral-school.co.uk

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www.cathedral-school.co.uk

Specialist schools: nurturing special talents | Specialist schools

Specialist schools: nurturing special talents – Stefan Anderson, Principal of Tring Park School for the Performing Arts Hardly a day goes by when we are not confronted by a tale in the press of yet another young person who has won a ‘talent’ competition and is about to become the next big star of the West End. There is often a perception that these young performers have ‘come from nowhere’. This is sometimes true, but more often it is the result of hard work and dedication from an extremely young age. We are all familiar with the small child who is desperate to start ballet lessons or burning to play the violin. This might be a whim or it could be the first step in a process that may lead to the stage or the concert platform many years later. It is a process that requires enormous dedication and commitment from the child – and sensitive support from parents and teachers. If a child shows a particular talent in any of the performing arts, great care must be taken to find the best and most appropriate teacher who can support and develop the child’s particular skills. In the case of dance or music it is vital early technical training is of the highest standard. Many young people have had their hopes of achieving their goals dashed because poor technical training has hampered their development to such a degree that it becomes impossible to catch up at a later stage so demanding are the rigours and the competition. It is sad but true that many highly talented youngsters feel like outsiders (and are often bullied) in mainstream education because they are perceived as ‘different’ by their peers. These youngsters have to spend hours of their day practising and taking classes, which makes it harder for them

to maintain a broad circle of friends.

Strong academic education If you are the parent of a child aged eight or over who is showing signs of exceptional talent in any of the performing arts, you should consider a school that provides them with access to the highest standard of vocational training. Full account should be taken of the fact that these professions are precarious and fraught with the risk of injury or the whims of casting agents and audition processes. This means the vocational training should be accompanied by a strong academic education, which will provide the balance required to maximise your child’s potential and develop them as a wellrounded individual who is also equipped for life outside the artistic world.

Music and Dance Scheme It makes sense to consider one of the boarding schools supported by the Government’s Music and Dance Scheme (MDS), which was started in 1981. The diversity of these schools means parents and children can choose between schools specialising in a single discipline such as music schools like Chetham’s or the Purcell School for Young Musicians or ballet schools such as the Royal Ballet School or Elmhurst School for Dance, or schools offering broader performing arts options such as Tring Park School for the Performing Arts, which offers vocational training in dance, drama, musical theatre or commercial music. These schools vary in size and location – some are in rural

settings, while others are embedded in the heart of a city centre. All are co-educational. Choir schools play a significant part in the musical life of the nation. The Choir School Scholarship Scheme was set up in 1991 to help boys and girls from lower-income families wishing to train at any of the 36 independent choir schools in England. The scheme facilitates access by talented children to the opportunities available, while maintaining Britain’s renowned choral heritage. For each child who has a unique talent, there is a specialist school to train, educate and support them. It is an education that will give them the confidence and the versatility to achieve at a high level – either within or outside

the world of the performing arts. ■

Stefan Anderson has been Principal of Tring Park School for the Performing Arts since 2002. He was previously Director of Music at the King’s School, Canterbury, and before that Assistant Director of Music at Wellington College. His musical specialism is choral conducting.

GIVING TALENTED CHILDREN A HEAD START TO A SUCCESSFUL FUTURE Tring Park for young people with outstanding talent in Ballet, Dance, Drama, Musical Theatre and Commercial Music Co-educational boarding and day school for children from age 8 – 19 Outstanding academic education to A Level

OPEN DAYS 9, 15 & 16 OCTOBER Book online at www.tringpark.com/opendays

www.tringpark.com info@tringpark.com or tel. 01442 824255 Photo: Brian O’Carroll

Registered charity no. 1040330

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Specialist schools | Choristers sing for their supper

Choristers sing for their supper – Jane Capon, Information Officer ofthe Choir Schools’ Association (CSA)

‘We no longer sing and dance. We don’t know how to. Instead, we watch other people sing and dance on the television screen. Christmas, which was once a festival of active enjoyment, has turned into a binge of purely passive pleasures,’ says Tom Hodgkinson, a writer and cofounder of The Idler magazine. Some of what he says is true. Indeed, it is borne out every Christmas Eve when millions worldwide tune in to watch or listen to King’s College Choir, Cambridge, getting the festive season underway with their festival of lessons and joyous carols. At Christmas and Easter there will be opportunities to enjoy broadcasts from other choral foundations. However, ‘live’ shows, be it regular sung services or concerts, go on daily, giving members of the congregation or audience a chance to participate. Many choristers are also actively engaged in promoting singing in primary schools. Boy choristers have sung the daily liturgy in our cathedrals and collegiate chapels for fourteen hundred years but it was only in 1990 that girls began

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to have the same opportunities as their brothers when Salisbury Cathedral introduced the first girls’ ‘top line’ in an English cathedral. Some 1,200 boy and girl choristers are educated in the 45 choir schools belonging to the Choir Schools’ Association (CSA). They are part of this country’s centuries-old choral heritage which is the envy of the world. Each year 200 seven to nine year olds take their places in the choir stalls for the first time – embarking on some of the finest musical training in the world. At the same time they benefit from

a first-class academic and allround education in the choir school. They acquire selfdiscipline and a passion for music that stays with them for life, whatever career path they choose to follow. Sportsmen Alastair Cooke and Lawrence Dallaglio have both publicly declared what they owe to their time as choristers. Other wellknown former choristers include Aled Jones, actor and comedian Alexander Armstrong, and actor Simon Russell-Beale. Back in 1928, only 14 of the 32 schools in the Choir Schools’ Association insisted their

New recruits at Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford(Photo by K T Bruce)

THE BSA GUIDE TO UK BOARDING SCHOOLS I September 2015

choristers (all boys then) should be boarders. By 1986 threequarters of the CSA’s member schools required them to board. Twenty-first century choir schools are more flexible. Some still insist on all choristers boarding and many only admit day choristers. However, a growing number are offering the choice.

Help with fees Most choristers qualify for financial help with fees from the school or its foundation in return for the singing. Combine this with the Continuity of

Choristers sing for their supper | Specialist schools

Education Allowance (CEA) and choir school for the young singer in the family may be an attractive option. Choir schools are part of the government’s Music and Dance Scheme (MDS) which helps talented young musicians and dancers with additional means-tested financial support at specialist schools. Being a chorister demands time and energy from child and parent, but it is rare to find any regrets. If a child can sing, and enjoys doing so, there is no finer training. Choristers revel in the regular broadcasts, recordings and concerts they take part in during the year, on top of their daily workload. During term time the routines of each day are carefully structured to enable choristers to get the maximum out of their work, their free time and their choral and instrumental duties.

But there is a downside. Remember the choristers are contracted to work on Christmas Day and Easter Sunday. The children love the preparation and thrive on the additional challenges these very special times in the church’s calendar present. It does, however, make it even more important family members or friends are nearby to support them.

Great fun As Roger Overend, Headmaster of King’s Rochester Preparatory School, says: ‘Boarding at Christmas and Easter time is great fun, with not only wonderful music to sing, but parties, trips and entertainment just for the choristers. A boarding chorister really does have an excellent chance to make long-lasting friendships with children who share their interests.’

To be a chorister is the most fabulous opportunity for a youngster who enjoys music and singing. For many, it opens doors that would otherwise be far beyond a child’s wildest dreams. Singing, in itself, is one of the most natural acts in the world, and choristers learn naturally. They learn by experience the importance of teamwork, of self-discipline, of concentration and of managing their busy lives – quite apart from learning specific musical skills to an extremely high level. Anyone who has sung in a choir will recognise these facets, and choristers develop them as easily as blinking. Visit our website www.choirschools.org.uk to read more about choir schools, look at the checklist of what is required and then we hope you will contact the school or schools of your choice directly. ■

Jane Capon is Information Officer of the Choir Schools’ Association (CSA). As well as supporting the day-to-day work of choir schools, CSA also promotes chorister outreach programmes, using choristers to boost singing in primary schools. The Government adopted the Association’s model as part of its National Singing Programme from 2007–10 and Jane managed 45 Cathedral and Choir School projects on their behalf. The good news is that most of the projects are continuing with local funding. Her career began at one of the country’s leading PR firms before she moved ‘in house’ to set up the press office for the Independent Schools Information Service (ISIS). On becoming freelance she worked for several educational organisations before concentrating on choir schools.

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Special educational needs and disabilities | Provision in the independent sector

Provision in the independent sector for pupils with special educational needs and disabilities As a result of new law from September 2014, statements of special educational needs are to be replaced by Education, Health and Care (EHC) plans. However, increasing numbers of maintained schools – including free schools and academies – as well as independent schools, fall outside local authority control. Will these schools be accountable for children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND)? Will the admission of children with SEND be enforceable? Currently parents of children who are refused a place at a maintained school have the right to appeal to First Tier Tribunal SEND. The opportunities for continuing to develop SEND provision within the independent sector remain obvious. Many parents of a child with special educational needs and disabilities take them out of the maintained sector because the class sizes are too big and they feel there is not enough individual support for their child.

Pupils with SEND continue to be very well educated within the independent sector and this is undoubtedly one of the sector’s strengths. The independent sector offers a range of choice not available within the maintained sector. There are Specialist Provision Schools (SPS) approved for specific learning difficulties, with associated language difficulties, such as dyspraxia and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). There are Dyslexia Specialist Provision Schools (DSP) established primarily to teach pupils with dyslexia. There are also around 30 mainstream boarding schools with designated units or centres providing specialist tuition on a small group or individual basis. In January 2015, 66,026 pupils (33,311 boarders) were identified as having SEND. The most common SEND is dyslexia (321,169) followed by information processing (9,053), dyspraxia (5,459), gross and fine motor skills (3,720) and Asperger’s syndrome (3,597).

Independent schools providing support for pupils with SEND Specialist Provision Schools (SPS) are approved for specific learning difficulties, and associated language difficulties, dyspraxia and ADHD. Category

School

Town

Website

SPS SPS SPS

Appleford School More House School Northease Manor

Salisbury Farnham Lewes

www.applefordschool.org www.morehouseschool.com www.northease.co.uk

Dyslexia Specialist Provision Schools (DSP) are established primarily to teach pupils with dyslexia. Category

School

Town

Website

DSP DSP DSP DSP DSP DSP DSP DSP

Bruen Abbey School Frewen College Mark College Moon Hall School Moon Hall College Nunnykirk Centre Shapwick School St David’s College

Chesterton Rye Highbridge Dorking Dorking Morpeth Bridgwater Llandudno

www.bruenabbey.org www.frewencollege.co.uk www.priorygroup www.moonhallschool.co.uk www.moonhallcollege.co.uk www.nunnykirk.co.uk www.shapwickschool.com www.stdavidscollege.co.uk

Some mainstream boarding schools have a designated unit or centre providing specialist tuition. School

Town

Website

Barnardiston Hall Preparatory School Bedstone College Bethany School Bloxham School Bredon School Clifton College Preparatory School Cobham Hall School Ellesmere College Fulneck School Hazlegrove Preparatory School Holmwood House Preparatory School Hordle Walhampton School Kingham Hill School King's School Kingsley School (The Grenville Dyslexia Centre) Kingswood House School Lavant House School Lime House School Mayville High School Millfield School Millfield Preparatory School Moyles Court School Newlands School Ramillies Hall School Sidcot School Slindon College St Bees School Tettenhall College Wycliffe College Preparatory School Wycliffe College

Barnardiston, Suffolk Bucknell, Shropshire Cranbrook, Kent Banbury, Oxfordshire Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire Bristol, Avon Cobham, Kent Ellesmere, Shropshire Leeds, West Yorkshire Yeovil, Somerset Colchester, Essex Lymington, Hampshire Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire Bruton, Somerset Bideford, Devon Epsom, Surrey Chichester, West Sussex Carlisle, Cumbria Southsea, Hampshire Street, Somerset Glastonbury, Somerset Ringwood, Hampshire Seaford, Sussex Cheadle Hulme, Cheshire Winscombe, North Somerset Arundel, Sussex St Bees, Cumbria Wolverhampton, West Midlands Stonehouse, Gloucestershire Stonehouse, Gloucestershire

www.barnardiston.com www.bedstone.org www.bethanyschool.org.uk www.bloxhamschool.com www.bredonschool.org www.cliftoncollegeuk.com/prep www.cobhamhall.com www.ellesmere.com www.fulneckschool.co.uk www.hazlegrove.co.uk www.holmwood.essex.sch.uk www.hordlewalhampton.co.uk www.kinghamhill.org.uk www.kingsbruton.com www.kingsleyschoolbideford.co.uk www.kingswoodhouse.org www.lavanthouse.org.uk www.limehouseschool.co.uk www.mayvillehighschool.com www.millfieldschool.com www.millfieldprep.com www.moylescourt.co.uk www.newlands-school.com www.ramillieshall.co.uk www.sidcot.org.uk www.slindoncollege.co.uk www.st-bees-school.org www.tettenhallcollege.co.uk www.wycliffe.co.uk www.wycliffe.co.uk

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THE BSA GUIDE TO UK BOARDING SCHOOLS I September 2015

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S LINDON L I N D O N COLLEGE COLLEGE ““HAPPY H A P P Y PUDDING” PUDDING” www.crested.org.uk www.crested.org.uk

Council ffor or tthe he R egistration of Council Registration School s Teachi ng Dysl exic pupi ls Schools Teaching Dyslexic pupils

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Contact CReSTeD via email: admin@crested.org.uk www.crested.org.uk

S L I N D O N COLLEGE C O L L E G E IS I S A CreSTeD C r e S T e D CATEGORY C A T E G O R Y DU D U SCHOOL S CHO O L SLINDON

Registered charity charity no. 1052103 Registered Council for fo or the the Registration Registration of S chools Teac hing D yslexic P upils Council Schools Teaching Dyslexic Pupils

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Special educational needs and disabilities | Why early intervention matters

Why early intervention matters – Nick Goodman, Principal of Frewen College

A visiting boy sits in my office and blurts out, ‘I’m stupid!’ He is 14-years-old and cannot effectively read or write. He explains how he copes at his present school by engaging in disruptive behaviour in the classroom. In this way he spends his time in the corridor without the shame in front of his peers of failing to read from the board or write an essay. For him the goal was survival not success. Parents want their children to be successful and hold high hopes for their future. But a special educational need may be evident from an early age or emerge gradually as the demands of school become greater through reception, preprep and in to the junior years. For those whose special needs are underplayed or not recognised at all the fate of my

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young visitor is too often repeated. It is imperative these scenarios of failure are prevented by early intervention.

What is early intervention? Early intervention is a practice which seeks to minimise the effects of a child’s special needs through support which is additional to or different to that offered to normally developing children and delivered as early as possible. Extensive research shows a child’s development is most rapid during the pre-school years and problems identified here and in the first years of education by parents, GPs, health visitors, specialist paediatricians and early years (EYFS) practitioners can be

addressed to greatest effect. Dyslexia and literacy difficulties cannot be properly identified until the junior years, though the indications may be there, and without intervention, speech and language difficulties, dyscalculia and dyspraxia continue to have an impact on learning at Key Stage 1 and 2. The term ‘early intervention’ can and must be extended in a relative sense to include special provision before the start of secondary education. Where a pattern of minimal improvement is repeated year on year in reading and writing skills, speech or motor proficiency, the curriculum can quickly become inaccessible. Does your child struggle to follow the teacher’s instructions through a language difficulty and find it equally hard to express themselves in speech or writing, with word finding difficulties or poor memory? The class work can move on too quickly if processing is slow and auditory memory limited. Organisational problems are common for children with dyslexia or other specific learning difficulties. Lost books, forgotten homework or untidy writing may lead to discipline for supposed laziness or disobedience.

THE BSA GUIDE TO UK BOARDING SCHOOLS I September 2015

Underperforming is frequently ascribed to lack of effort and the consequence of poor behaviour. Reports which read, ‘Jack must listen more, revise more’ and so on may be indicators of deeper problems. Children with special needs have to expend a great deal of effort to keep up which affects motivation, breeding frustration, boredom and fatigue.

Why is it important? Early intervention can spare your child from developing poor behaviour and lowered school attendance. Home Office statistics reveal children with special needs are more likely to suffer school exclusion, and anxiety, and stress and mental health issues are common even among children of junior age. When a younger brother or sister brings home a harder reading book or writes a letter to Grandma with comparative ease the child with special needs can find this unbearably painful and parents have to expend more time and personal resources to support flagging morale. Action taken early can restore self-confidence that has already been dented. Shortly after her son joined us at Frewen one mum declared, ‘I’ve got my son back.’

Why early intervention matters | Special educational needs and disabilities

The gap between potential and performance can be narrowed with appropriate interventions. New parents are often keen to tell me how bright and clever their children are, yet this is not reflected in their school performance. Why is it that they can discuss the plot of Romeo and Juliet with real insight but cannot tell the time on the classroom clock? Early intervention can improve the functional skills of reading and writing but should do much more. It aims to identify the deficits in the child’s executive functions which regulate the mental processes of planning and organising flexible, strategic, appropriate actions. It will help them to set their own goals, teach the skills to reach them and develop the determination and resilience necessary for life-long achievement. It encourages children to ask, ‘Who am I? What is my unique contribution?’ Having a child with special needs affects the well-being of every member of the family, sapping the energy of parents and isolating siblings. Early intervention can support and restore family life. This was best expressed by one of our parents at a parent consultation evening, ‘Our family life is completely changed – we feel we have won the lottery’. Often as the stress reduces and parents change their attitudes towards their child, family life becomes more manageable. Knowing their son or daughter is at a school where their special needs are properly understood and addressed, where they feel integrated and on a level with their peers makes a significant difference to parents with demanding jobs. As the special needs are remediated there is more time to spend with the other children and enjoy time together.

By intervening early your child can be given the best opportunity to enhance their future employability and economic independence, increasing their contribution to the wider society. Past pupils from Frewen College who entered with limited skills and poor self-image now run their own businesses, exhibit at Chelsea, perform in the theatre at Disneyland, Paris, hold university degrees and fly aeroplanes.

What are the key features of an early intervention approach? Intervention needs to be individually designed, intense, well structured and delivered across the curriculum. Government research has established that specialist teachers make a greater contribution to enhanced performance than the deployment of learning support assistants; the greater proportion of teachers in the school should be qualified in special needs, with some at masters’ level. Enhanced provision makes possible the use of one-on-one support or direct or indirect therapy for the child, with on-site therapists for an integrated,

holistic approach. As well as building a positive academic self-concept early intervention fosters the development of strong social skills which provide a platform for later independence. The adoption of technology at a young age can bypass processing weaknesses in cognitive and motor skills, freeing the child to express themselves in writing or filmmaking, photography or graphic representation. Look for a school which is approved by CReSTeD, a charity providing guidance and assurance to parents about the quality of provision for pupils with specific learning difficulties. Also very important is the involvement of the child’s parents themselves. Although the ability of families to be involved in their child’s education will vary, frequent communication and collaboration will lead to more educational benefit. How is the child supported to cope with their own personal difficulties and those caused by separation from their serving families? The wonderful, deep sofa of matron’s room can be an effective intervention when life gets too much. Above all early intervention should lead to happy children.

And what of my downcast visitor? Though at Frewen College we are keen advocates for early intervention, those who arrive later are cared for with the same passion for the individual by staff able to see what each child could be. A confident young man left Frewen with a clutch of examination passes, including an A grade for ICT, and he is now studying music technology at his local FE college. ■

Nick Goodman took over as Principal of Frewen College in 2014, having undertaken a wide range of senior leadership roles including Vice Principal of an international college in Canterbury, Assistant Head and Director of Specialism at a large and highly successful comprehensive school in Kent, and Head of Creative and Performing Arts at Munich International School. His interests include local history, graphic design, and experimental music.

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Special educational needs and disabilities | ‘Believe. Inspire, Succeed’

‘Believe. Inspire, Succeed’ – David Quick, Headteacher of Slindon College hyperactivity and impulsiveness. Most pupils with ADHD have problems that fall into both these categories, but this is not always the case. For example, some pupils with the condition may have problems with inattentiveness, but not with hyperactivity or impulsiveness. This form of ADHD is also known as attention deficit disorder (ADD), and it can sometimes go unnoticed because the symptoms may be less obvious.

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Here at Slindon College we provide specialist learning support for approximately 100 boys with SEND. The boys are aged between 11 and 18 and include both day pupils and boarders. With a staff-pupil ratio of one to five we provide a carefully structured and tailored education for boys who cannot thrive in a mainstream environment. Pupils require learning support in a variety of areas including attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), dyslexia and dyspraxia but by far the majority of our pupils are diagnosed with autistic spectrum disorder (ASD). However, we do not take severely autistic children or those officially designated as having emotional and behavioural difficulties (EBD). Our approach is specific to each pupil and includes regular individual education plans (IEPs) and continual assessments in both academic and social contexts. The aim is to provide the pupil with strategies to compensate for the constraints that their condition imposes on them, promoting their positive abilities in a lifeskills context at the same time as maximising their academic potential. In line with this individual approach, the academic

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pathway is not set in stone but is tailored to the needs and potential achievement of each boy. Hence our school motto: ‘Believe. Inspire, Succeed’.

ASD ASD can present with a wide range of symptoms, which are often grouped into two main categories: ● problems with social interaction and communication – including problems understanding and being aware of other people’s emotions and feelings; it can also include delayed language development and an inability to start conversations or take part in them properly. ● restricted and repetitive patterns of thought, interests and physical behaviours – including making repetitive physical movements, such as hand tapping, and becoming upset if these set routines are disrupted.

Dyslexia Dyslexia is a common learning difficulty that mainly affects the way pupils read and spell words. Dyslexia is a spectrum disorder, with symptoms ranging from mild to severe. Pupils with dyslexia have particular difficulty with: ● phonological awareness ● verbal memory ● rapid serial naming ● verbal processing speed.

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their lack of co-ordination and may find PE (physical education) difficult walking up and down stairs writing, drawing and using scissors – their handwriting and drawings may appear scribbled and more childish than other children their age getting dressed, doing up buttons and tying shoelaces keeping still – they may swing or move their arms and legs a lot and find it hard to sit still.

Individual programmes of support Pupils with SEND need individual programmes of support provided by a multidisciplinary team. These programmes enable pupils to thrive and have a positive learning experience. At Slindon, programmes include the following.

SEAL Dyspraxia Pupils with dyspraxia may have problems with movement and co-ordination including difficulties: ● with playground activities such as hopping, jumping, running, and catching or kicking a ball – they often avoid joining in because of

ADHD The symptoms of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) can be categorised into two sets of behavioural problems: ● inattentiveness

THE BSA GUIDE TO UK BOARDING SCHOOLS I September 2015

The Social Emotional Aspects of Learning (SEAL) programme at Slindon College provides vital support to enable pupils to develop social and emotional skills within a safe, structured and progressive framework curriculum. The aim is to help them in the following areas: ● self-awareness

‘Believe. Inspire, Succeed’ | Special educational needs and disabilities

managing their feelings ● motivation ● empathy ● social skills. The programme builds selfesteem, confidence and motivation, all vital if barriers to learning are to be removed. This work may be on a one to one basis or in small groups. ●

Speech and language therapy Speech and language therapists work with pupils with a range of communication difficulties. Children are assessed both formally and informally. These assessments include attention and listening skills, social interaction, understanding receptive language skills, expressive language skills, speech sounds, fluency and voice. Once these assessments have been undertaken, the results are analysed and a therapy programme is

established. Therapy is carried out during one-to-one sessions, paired sessions, small group work and at a functional level by supporting the pupil in class to monitor generalisation of skills.

Wave 3 literacy and numeracy Staff work with children with specific learning difficulties to assess, plan and deliver appropriate programmes to support pupils on a one to one basis. This may include phonological training, alphabet work, reading, writing, spelling and numeracy, and using the teaching reading through spelling (TRTS) strategy. A multisensory and holistic approach is used across the curriculum. Pupils are supported in developing metacognitive executive function skills, poor memory functioning skills,

organisational skills and concentration.

Occupational therapy (OT) Occupational therapists take a holistic approach, working with pupils who have coordination, sensory, organisational and behavioural issues. Assessments establish how their needs can be best met and intervention usually takes the form of one to one sessions in our new wellequipped sensory/OT room. For example, purposeful activities challenge the boys to: ● strengthen their core muscles to gain better balance for PE ● practise fluent movements with their hands to have legible handwriting for examinations ● create a ‘sensory diet’ of activities that help them to stay focused in class. ■

David Quick started his career in finance but then went on to qualify as a teacher in 1990 from Swansea University. He has worked in a number of secondary schools both in the UK and overseas. His last two posts were Assistant Headteacher at Windsor School (an MOD Boarding School in Germany) and Vice Principal (Student Support) across the federated schools of St John’s and King Richard School in Cyprus. He has been a member of the BECTa Science working group and an Assistant Examiner in GCSE Physics and A level Chemistry for OCR. He has set up and run the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award and has also been a rugby coach. He enjoys cooking, orienteering, skiing and travelling. David is married to Michaela and they have three children.

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Special educational needs and disabilities | My child has dyslexia. How do I find the right school?

My child has dyslexia. How do I find the right school? – Brendan Wignall, Headmaster of Ellesmere College and Chair of CReSTed

The Council for Registration of Schools Teaching Dyslexic Pupils (CReSTeD) is a charity set up to provide guidance and assurance to parents seeking a school for their child with specific learning difficulties (SpLD) – of these the main difficulty is dyslexia. CReSTeD works with support from the British Dyslexia Association and Dyslexia Action, and is the key reference point and a symbol of quality when seeking a school with SpLD provision. CReSTeD acts as a source of school names parents can use as their first step towards making a placement decision, which will be critical to their child’s

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educational future and is a valuable resource for parents, educational advisers and schools. The CReSTeD Register covers all levels of provision for Dyslexic (SpLD) pupils. There are several lists of schools offering such provision, but only CReSTeD actually visits schools to ensure they meet the basic criteria set by the Council. Schools are then revisited every three years to ensure the criteria are maintained. The main activity of CReSTeD is to produce this Register of schools that provide for SpLD pupils, and provide this Register free of charge to parents.

ROUTE 1 I AM NOT SURE IF MY CHILD HAS DYSLEXIA (SpLD) OR MAY HAVE SOME OTHER SPECIAL EDUCATIONAL NEED. WHAT SHOULD I DO? Approach your child’s teacher. This may lead to School Action or Action Plus, which are programmes within the school to help. If this is not enough, then you may decide with the school SENCo (Special Educational Needs Coordinator) to apply for an assessment by an educational psychologist.

ROUTE 2 I KNOW MY CHILD HAS DYSLEXIA (SpLD). I NEED TO FIND AN INDEPENDENT SCHOOL THAT IS SUITABLE FOR HIS OR HER LEVEL OF NEED.

THE BSA GUIDE TO UK BOARDING SCHOOLS I September 2015

My child has dyslexia. How do I find the right school? | Special educational needs and disabilities

Which school should I choose? The levels of provision at schools are divided into six broad categories, labelled Dyslexia Specialist Provision, Specialist Provision, Dyslexia Unit, Withdrawal System and Maintained Sector. These categories are not a hierarchical grading of the quality of provision â&#x20AC;&#x201C; they are there because children have different needs, and the categories go some way towards matching the level of the pupilâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s needs to the level of provision at the school. An educational psychologistâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s report should offer guidance as to the level of provision relevant to the child. As an example, a child at the severe end of the dyslexia spectrum will probably require a Category SPS school, whereas a child with, say, only some lag in spelling skills may be suitably provided for in a school from Category WS. The categories enable CReSTeD to offer this guidance.

The categories Dyslexia Specialist Provision Schools â&#x20AC;&#x201C; DSP The school is established primarily to teach pupils with dyslexia. The curriculum and timetable are designed to meet specific needs in a holistic, coordinated manner, with a significant number of teaching staff holding nationally recognised qualifications in teaching dyslexic pupils.

Specialist Provision Schools â&#x20AC;&#x201C; SPS The school is established to teach pupils with dyslexia (SpLD) and other associated difficulties. The curriculum and timetable are designed to meet specific needs in a holistic, coordinated manner, with a significant number of teaching staff holding nationally recognised qualifications in teaching dyslexic pupils.

Dyslexia Unit â&#x20AC;&#x201C; DU The school has a designated unit or centre providing specialist tuition on a smallgroup or individual basis, according to need. The unit or centre is an adequately resourced teaching area under the management of a senior specialist teacher, who coordinates the work of other specialist teachers and ensures ongoing liaison with all mainstream teachers. This senior dyslexia teacher will probably have Head of Department status, will hold nationally recognised qualifications in teaching dyslexic pupils, and will certainly have significant input into the general school curriculum design and delivery.

The CReSTeD Register is published annually and is available direct from the CReSTeD Administrator. It may also be obtained from the British Dyslexia Association and Dyslexia Action. Full information is also published on the website: www.crested.org.uk CReSTeD was founded to help parents. It has had and will continue to have influence on the standards of provision for SpLD pupils.

Further information For more information about CReSTeD or for a copy of the Register: Email: admin@crested.org.uk Website: www.crested.org.uk â&#x2013;

Brendan Wignall has been Headmaster of Ellesmere College since 1996 and is currently Chair of CReSTeD. After teaching English at Oakham and Christâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Hospital, he became Head of English and Registrar of Denstone College. His main interests are his family, Ellesmere, Liverpool FC, gardening and culture in the broadest sense (excluding only country music!).

Withdrawal System â&#x20AC;&#x201C; WS Schools where dyslexic (SpLD) pupils are withdrawn from appropriately selected lessons for specialist tuition from a teacher with a nationally recognised qualification in teaching dyslexic pupils. There is ongoing communication between mainstream and specialist teachers.

CReSTeD

Maintained Sector â&#x20AC;&#x201C; MS Maintained schools where the school supports dyslexic (SpLD) pupils to access the curriculum; where there is an effective system of identifying dyslexic (SpLD) pupils; where there is a withdrawal system for individualised literacy support. There is positive ongoing communication between mainstream and special needs staff and the senior management team. This is a new category because lots of maintained â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;stateâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; schools want our validation to prove their support for dyslexics. The Register includes a checklist to help parents decide if a school can meet their childâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s special educational needs, and a geographical index of schools.

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Sixth-form choices | After GCSEs – what next?

After GCSEs – what next? – Richard Cairns, Head Master of Brighton College

fter a summer of nervous anticipation, the GCSE results finally came out in midAugust and every 16 year old started asking – what happens now? Should I retake any of my GCSEs? Should I carry on into the sixth form and study for A levels? If so, what A levels should I be doing? Should I opt to study those subjects in which I achieved my best GCSE grades? And what other factors should I take into account when choosing my A-level subjects? Most students and their parents will already have considered these questions and made their choices. But GCSE results offer an important opportunity to reflect on earlier decisions in the light of the grades actually received. The first place to start is with the results themselves. GCSE grades really do matter because,

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unlike most other countries, university offers are made before students have actually completed their final qualifying exams – their A levels. This means university admissions departments place enormous importance on GCSE grades and leading universities will be looking for a significant number of A* and A grades. Universities will also be looking very closely at the particular subjects taken. GCSEs are not regarded as of equal value. Mathematics, English, Biology, Physics, Chemistry, History, Geography and a language are rated much more highly than Business Studies, Media Studies or Sociology. Let us consider three possible scenarios: a set of poor results, a set of good results in less academic ‘soft’ subjects and a set of good results in traditional

academic subjects. First of all, the poor results. Bluntly, doors to most good universities are slammed shut unless a student is prepared to have another stab at their GCSE exams. So students should consider re-sitting their subjects if they genuinely have university aspirations and also possess the intellectual potential to make a success of a degree course. Do be aware, however, that universities and employers will know that a student sat their GCSEs twice, so they need to have a plausible explanation ready. Furthermore, students should not waste their time re-sitting GCSEs universities hold in low regard. They should use the time to perform better in the core subjects universities really want to see. And if a student really doesn’t want to repeat their GCSEs, they must face up to the

THE BSA GUIDE TO UK BOARDING SCHOOLS I September 2015

fact that further study is not for them. They can use that time instead to consider vocational courses or an apprenticeship. This country needs skilled workers as much as it needs university graduates and we all know people who have made a great success of their lives without a degree.

Good results in the wrong subjects? What about the second scenario: good results but in the wrong subjects? An array of GCSEs in Ceramics, Citizenship and Communication Studies will sadly close almost as many doors as a set of poor results in a string of academic subjects. The initial ill-advised set of choices is often through no fault of the student concerned who may well have been advised to embark on softer options at GCSE to help the

After GCSEs – what next? | Sixth-form choices

school’s league table position. This is a particular problem in certain parts of the state sector where pupils are seven times more likely to take media studies than independently educated children and half as likely to take a modern language. The focus in these schools is also overwhelmingly on students on the C/D borderline such that the gifted and talented are not stretched and challenged, ending up with B grades rather than the A* and A grades of which they are capable and which top universities demand. This is why only 21% of GCSE grades in the state sector last year were at A*/A. Compare that with 87% at my own school, Brighton College. And what about the sunnier third scenario? What should students with a clutch of A*, A and B grades at GCSEs do next? How should they go about choosing the right A levels for them? Here are three pieces of advice for students. First, choose subjects you are passionate about. You will devote an enormous amount of time to the four subjects you study and it is essential you enjoy them and want to discover more about them. And don’t simply opt for the subjects you did best at in GCSE. If you got an A grade in GCSE Physics but actually have no enthusiasm for

it, don’t do it for A level. Second, choose subjects that universities genuinely respect. Cambridge University has historically been very helpful in this area, providing a list of Alevel subjects which ‘provide less effective preparation for our courses’. Their advice is that candidates should certainly do no more than one of the following subjects to A level: ● Accounting ● ICT ● Art and Design ● Leisure Studies ● Business Studies ● Media Studies ● Communication Studies ● Music Technology ● Dance ● Performance Studies ● Design Technology ● Performing Arts ● Drama/Theatre Studies ● Photography ● Film Studies ● Physical Education ● Health and Social Care ● Sports Studies ● Home Economics ● Travel and Tourism. Other leading universities would concur and emphasise in their prospectuses the value of studying subjects like Mathematics, Physics, History and English. Sadly, many young people in poorer areas are not even offered the opportunity to study these subjects. Statistics from 2007 show that 247

comprehensive schools did not enter any pupils for A level Physics, 187 did not enter any pupils for Chemistry and 96 schools did not enter any for Mathematics. Third, choose subjects directly relevant to the actual course you wish to study and the career you want to pursue. These are the most relevant A-level choices for a number of popular degrees: ● Biological Sciences – Biology and/or Chemistry; Maths preferred ● Dentistry – Biology and Chemistry ● Economics – Maths; Economics preferred ● Engineering – Maths and Physics; Further Maths preferred ● English – English and a further essay writing subject ● History – History and a further essay writing subject or a language ● Languages – the relevant language ● Law – at least one essay writing subject ● Maths – Maths and Further Maths ● Medicine – Biology, Chemistry and Maths or Physics ● Physical Sciences – Maths, Physics and Chemistry ● Veterinary Science – Biology and Chemistry. And if you are still undecided about your degree or career

aspirations, the following subjects would be good subjects to take at A level, to keep your options open: Biology, Chemistry, Economics, English Literature, History, Languages (Ancient or Modern), Mathematics (and Further Maths), Physics. The message is clear. Amidst the post-GCSE euphoria, it is wise for every prospective sixth former to pause just for a moment to check the A-level courses upon which they are about to embark will genuinely enthuse them and, in the fullness time, ensure they are well placed to apply for the course and university of their choice. I promise them it will be time well spent. ■

Richard Cairns is Head Master of Brighton College. He graduated from Oxford University with a First in History and worked as a trainee solicitor in Sydney, Australia, and as a volunteer teacher in a refugee camp in the Gaza Strip. He then taught at The Oratory School, Stewart’s Melville College in Edinburgh, and Magdalen College School, Oxford, where he was Usher (Deputy Head). In 2005 he became Head Master of Brighton College. In 2008, he was named one of the 1,000 most influential people in England by the Evening Standard and in 2009, he joined Debrett’s list of People of Today 2010. In 2012, he was named England’s Public School Headmaster of the Year by Tatler. In 2013 Brighton College was named UK Independent School of the Year at the Independent Schools Awards.

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Sixth-form choices | Key post-16 curriculum choices

Key post-16 curriculum choices – Simon Smith, Deputy Head (Academic) of Haileybury

Much has been written about the relative virtues of the different post-16 qualifications. Now with the start of a phased reform of A levels, it is certainly worth revisiting the issue of the differing sixth-form curricula especially now that the General Election outcome has made the future look more certain. The programme of reform will, however, take three years to take effect. A number of subjects such as History and English will start with first teaching in September 2015 but others such as Mathematics will not be until September 2017. A levels remain the most popular, recognised and arguably respected of all post-16 qualifications and if, as promised, the reforms bring about greater challenge and depth of study, they will be even better and remain a qualification welcomed by universities, colleges and employers. The new A levels are returning to something more akin to those seen before 2000; linear with all exams taken in the Upper Sixth and the end of the old AS exams at the end of the Lower Sixth. The removal of compulsory exams in the Lower Sixth provides more time for learning and less time needed for exam drilling. Some schools may continue to offer the new AS examinations in subjects but they are separate from the final A level achieved 12 months later.

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New A levels will be less bite size and offer more time for studying a subject in real detail. Some schools will return to their pupils studying just three subjects over two years. Others will continue with the four to three model after one year of study. The A* grade has already brought about an opportunity for academic ambition and differentiation. The A-level option offers the chance to really specialise with subject choices. For those wishing to study Engineering at university or college, for example, Mathematics and three sciences would provide a good foundation. Many schools are also looking at ways to enrich the A level offer further. A pupil might study, for example, three A levels and take an in-house course in Creative Writing or Ethics.

Further enrichment Cambridge’s Pre-U is another linear, rigorous alternative to A level offered in some schools providing an unashamed academic preparation for university, one which the new A level largely models. Even more encouraging is the opportunity for further enrichment through the Extended Project Qualification (EPQ) for example. At Haileybury all A level pupils have the opportunity to study the IB Theory of Knowledge course or write an Extended

Essay – a 4,000-word research paper on a subject and topic of the student’s choice; I call this A level +. A quality education is one that also fuses the curricular and the co-curricular together. For example, resilience in Latin prep can be learned through violin practice, discipline and organisation nurtured in the Combined Cadet Force can improve self-study skills, while Physics might be better understood through application in cricket.

International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma The fact we are about to start another round of A level reforms (the third in the last 14 years and to be introduced subject by subject over the next three years) highlights the strength of an alternative post-16 qualification – the International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma. Since the Diploma’s inception over 40 years ago the IB has not deviated from its basic principles of global acceptance, transferability and breadth across six key subject areas: English, a second language, a humanity, a science, mathematics and then either a creative subject or an elective to specialise. Pupils must also focus on research and critical thinking, through the 4,000 word Extended Essay and Theory of Knowledge courses, and have an

THE BSA GUIDE TO UK BOARDING SCHOOLS I September 2015

appreciation of a healthy balanced lifestyle through the Creative Action and Service (CAS) programme. The IB also espouses ten qualities or virtues which must be explicitly taught through the programme – these include being Caring, Principled and Open-Minded. The Diploma has also remained largely immune from grade inflation with a consistent global average of 29 points (out of a possible 45) – the UK schools average is around 33 points, Haileybury’s average is typically closer to 37 points. Even when there is subject reform it is part of a carefully scheduled programme and involves teachers rather than politicians – one of our Housemasters is currently part of the History curriculum reform group redesigning the course for 2021. Reform is, therefore, bottom up as part of a six-year cycle rather than top down upon the whim of the in-post Government or Secretary of State for Education. Much is made of the opportunity for breadth in the Diploma and how it suits the allrounder. One must be careful here. Certainly the opportunity to continue with the study of a larger number of subjects is a strength and through the Higher and Standard Level combinations (three of each) students can still specialise.

Key post-16 curriculum choices | Sixth-form choices

Higher Level Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry can prepare a pupil for the most demanding undergraduate science degrees in the same way that Higher Level English, History and Philosophy could prepare one for a humanitiesbased degree. Higher Level Mathematics is regarded as more challenging than A level Further Mathematics and when one adds in the Extended Essay, it is easy to understand why universities are keen to offer places to Diploma applicants. It has been argued that the IB Diploma is not for everyone and the compulsory Mathematics course or the requirement to take a second language prevents access for all. However, the Maths Studies option or the ab initio (beginner) language courses mean pupils are only challenged to a GCSE+ level and, more importantly perhaps, have the opportunity to develop and improve their confidence in

subjects which otherwise might be abandoned at 16 with later regret. The IB Diploma is therefore just as much a preparation for university study in terms of its academic rigour as it is a philosophy of education for life beyond secondary and tertiary education. For those seeking an alternative to traditional schooling the IB also offers a more vocational option – the IB Careers Related Certificate which combines academic study (at least two IB Diploma subjects) with career preparation training and more vocational qualifications such as BTECs e.g. a Level 3 BTEC in business or art.

BTECs BTECs, another post-16 curriculum option, have fewer formal examinations but instead continuously assess the pupils as they develop skills and knowledge in practical, real life

situations such as Sports Science, Construction or Engineering. Such courses offer much more hands on, possibly outdoor, learning opportunities and proactively support future employment through apprenticeships or otherwise but without restricting Higher Education entry. I will close with a point I have made many times to current or prospective parents. The very best schools offer students the chance to flourish, embrace opportunity and challenge while nurturing sporting or cultural interest. Choice is excellent (over the next few years schools will increasingly offer a mixed diet of post-16 qualification), it is what we are used to in modern society, qualifications are important too, but ultimately inspirational teaching, experiences and positive relationships make far more of a difference than the type of certificate one leaves school with. ■

Simon Smith is Deputy Head (Academic) at Haileybury. After graduating from York with a BA (Hons) in History and Economics, he completed his PGCE, also at York, before teaching History at Hurstpierpoint College. He then moved to Worth School where he was Head of History, IB Diploma Coordinator and finally as Director of Academic Administration sat on the school’s Senior Leadership Team during which time the school moved from all boys to fully co-educational. In 2010 he moved to Haileybury, an 11–18 years boarding and day school in Hertfordshire. As well as managing the College’s provision of teaching and learning, Simon is a Tutor in Bartle Frere Boarding House and is working on his NPQH Headship qualification.

*HTIYPKNL *LU[YL MVY :P_[O MVYT :[\KPLZ ( SLHKPUN PUKLWLUKLU[ JVSSLNL VќLYPUN day and boarding places for ambitious 15-19 year olds. Situated in the heart of *HTIYPKNL **:: VќLYZ ÄYZ[ JSHZZ [\P[PVU outstanding facilities and extensive cultural and social opportunities. With two specialist teaching locations and a wide range of supervised residential accommodation, students thrive and results are excellent.

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Sixth-form choices | Sixth-form programmes: the choice

Sixth-form programmes: the choice Students entering the sixth form have a range of options. Some schools may be able to offer a choice between two programmes, usually between A level and IB Diploma or A level and Pre-U. However, most schools have to commit themselves to one of those summarised below.

A level (AS and A2)

International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma

Cambridge Pre-U

AQA Baccalaureate

Who is it for?

16 to 19 year olds

What can you study?

From September 2015 most students will study three or four A levels.

Six subjects (three at Higher Level and three at Standard Level). All students must study literature, a foreign language, a humanities subject, a natural science and mathematics.

Free choice of three separate and distinct principal academic subjects from a list of 25.

Three A level subjects in any academic discipline.

How does it work?

A new two-year linear A level will be introduced for some subjects for first teaching in September 2015. Students can take a freestanding AS level but it will no longer form part of the A level. The A level will be assessed after two years of study. The move to linearity is being phased in from 2015 to 2017 when all subjects will become linear.

Over two years, in addition to their six subjects, students complete a 4,000-word Extended Essay and a Theory of Knowledge course, and participate in the Creativity, activity, service (CAS) programme. All exams are taken at the end of the second year of study, there are no modules. Conceived as a holistic integral programme bound by a clear philosophy.

Besides their three subjects studied over two years, students also complete an Independent Research Report and a Global Perspectives Portfolio. Exams are taken at the end of the second year of study, there are no modules.

In addition to their three A levels, students complete an Extended Project Qualification that aims to make them responsible for their own learning; achieve breadth through an AS level in Critical Thinking, Citizenship, General Studies, Science in society or World development; and undertake enrichment activities outside the curriculum such as the Duke of Edinburghâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Award.

What is it worth?

The A* grade is worth 140 UCAS points; A = 120; B = 100; C = 80 AS level: A = 60; B = 50; C = 40

The top score of 45 IB points is worth 720 UCAS points. A top grade (7) in a Higher Level subject is worth 130; a Standard Level grade 7 is worth 70. The minimum score required for the Diploma is 24 points

The top grade, Distinction 1, marks achievement above A level A* grade; Distinction 2 (145 points) is aligned to A* at A level, and Distinction 3 (130) to A grade

Maximum 550 points for three A* A levels, grade A* Extended Project (70 points) and the AS level at grade A (60)

Where can you study it?

Schools and FE colleges.

138 schools and colleges in the UK offer the IB Diploma.

Most interest has come from a small number of highly selective independent schools.

UK schools which believe A levels are not, in themselves, sufficient preparation for university.

Comment

Still the best-known sixth-form qualification in the UK, and taken by the largest number of students as their means of entry into higher education. Some schools will offer the Extended Project Qualification in addition to A levels.

Internationally recognised and valued. Heavier class-based workload than A levels and more independent learning. The percentage of candidates achieving the different grades has remained constant over the years.

Designed specifically to provide universities with a means of differentiation from A level A grade students by offering a more rigorous and stretching academic programme assessed on a series of higher grades.

AQA Baccalaureate is derived in large part from the spirit of the IB Diploma Programme: depth, some breadth, thinking and research skills, and extracurricular experience.

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Useful contacts | Appendix

Useful contacts This section provides contact details for a selection of organisations able to provide you with further information about boarding schools and studying in the UK. The information below is based on information on each organisation’s website.

GENERAL INFORMATION Boarding Schools’ Association (BSA) 134 Buckingham Palace Road London SW1W 9SA Tel: +44 (0)207 798 1580 Email: bsa@boarding.org.uk Web: www.boarding.org.uk State Boarding Schools’ Association (SBSA) 134 Buckingham Palace Road London SW1W 9SA Tel: +44 (0)207 798 1580 Email: info@sbsa.org.uk Web: www.sbsa.org.uk Independent Schools Council information and advice service (ISCias) First floor 27 Queen Anne’s Gate London SW1H 9BU Tel: +44 (0)20 7766 7070 Email: information@isc.co.uk Web: www.isc.co.uk ISC offers free and impartial advice about the sector Department for Education (DfE) Sanctuary Buildings 20 Great Smith Street London SW1P 3BT Tel: +44 (0)370 000 2288 Typetalk: 18001 0370 000 2288 Contact form: www.education.gov.uk/help/contactus/dfe Web: www.education.gov.uk Independent Schools Show Held every autumn in Battersea Park, London 2015 dates: 14 and 15 November The Education Theatre at ISS London Battersea Evolution Chelsea Bridge Entrance Battersea Park London SW11 4NJ Tickets: +44 (0)203 301 0299 Email: info@schoolsshow.co.uk Web: www.schoolsshow.com

OTHER USEFUL CONTACTS ISCis Ireland 5 Sandycove Avenue East Sandycove County Dublin Republic of Ireland Tel: 00 353 1280 95454 Email: palmercarter@eircom.net Regional Director: Palmer Carter Welsh Independent Schools Council (WISC) 2 Glenview Rise Newbridge Gwent NP11 4HZ Tel: +44 (0)779 189 1593 Email: info@welshisc.co.uk Web: www.welshisc.co.uk General Secretary: Emma Verrier Scottish Council of Independent Schools (SCIS) 61 Dublin Street Edinburgh EH3 6NL Tel: +44 (0)131 556 2316 Email: info@scis.org.uk Web: www.scis.org.uk Director: John Edward Independent Schools Careers Organisation (ISCO) The Inspiring Futures Foundation St George’s House Knoll Road Camberley Surrey GU15 3SY Tel: +44 (0)1276 687500 Email: helpline@isco.org.uk

Web: www.isco.org.uk Provides information and advice on careers and higher education choices for pupils in ISCO member schools Independent Schools Examinations Board (ISEB) Endeavour House Crow Arch Lane Ringwood BH24 1HP Tel: +44 (0)1425 470555 Email: enquiries@iseb.co.uk Web: www.iseb.co.uk Administers exams for pupils transferring to independent senior schools (at ages 11–13+)

Independent Schools Inspectorate (ISI) CAP House 9–12 Long Lane London EC1A 9HA Tel: +44 (0)20 7600 0100 Email: info@isi.net Web: www.isi.net ISI ensures high standards among ISC member schools by carrying out inspections International Baccalaureate Organization (IBO) Peterson House Malthouse Avenue Cardiff Gate Cardiff, Wales CF23 8GL Tel: +44 (0)29 2054 7777 Email: ibca@ibo.org Web: www.ibo.org The IBO administers the International Baccalaureate in schools in over 100 countries around the world Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS) Rosehill New Barn Lane Cheltenham Gloucestershire GL52 3LZ Tel: +44 (0)371 468 0468 Email: enquiries@ucas.ac.uk Web: www.ucas.com UCAS receives and processes applications for undergraduate admission to UK universities and university-sector colleges Educational Grants Advice Independent Schools Council c/o Royal National Children's Foundation Sandy Lane Cobham Surrey KT11 2ES Tel: +44 (0)1932 865619 (answered between 9am and 11am weekdays) Web: www.educational-grants.org/ The SpringBoard Bursary Foundation Portland House Bressenden Place London SW1E 5RS Tel: +44 (0)20 7869 8141 Email: admin@springboardbursary.org.uk Web: www.springboardbursaryfoundation.org.uk

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Appendix | Useful contacts

INFORMATION FOR OVERSEAS PARENTS AND BOARDERS Association for the Education and Guardianship of International Students (AEGIS) Yasemin Wigglesworth/Janet Bowman AEGIS The Wheelhouse Bond’s Mill Estate Bristol Road Stonehouse Gloucestershire GL10 3RF Tel: +44 (0)1453 821293 Email: info@aegisuk.net Web: www.aegisuk.net British Council Bridgewater House 58 Whitworth Street Manchester M1 6BB Tel: +44 (0)161 957 7755 Email: general.enquiries@britishcouncil.org Web: www.britishcouncil.org Children’s Education Advisory Service (CEAS) Trenchard Lines Upavon Pewsey Wiltshire SN9 6BE Tel: +44 (0)1980 618244 (Mil: 94344 8244) Email: enquiries@ceas.uk.com Web: www.gov.uk/childrens-educationadvisory-service The helpline is staffed 8.30am to 3.30pm Monday to Friday; an answer phone is available at all other times Council of British International Schools (COBIS) COBIS represents accredited British Schools abroad, anywhere in the world COBIS 55–56 Russell Square London WC1B 4HP Tel: +44 (0)203 8267190 Email: ceo@cobis.org.uk National Academic Recognition Information Centre (UK NARIC) Oriel House Oriel Road Cheltenham Gloucestershire GL50 1XP Tel: +44 (0)871 330 7033 Web: www.naric.org.uk Provides advice on overseas qualifications accepted by UK institutions; queries should be sent in writing

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UK Council for International Student Affairs (UKCISA) 9–17 St Albans Place London N1 0NX Tel: +44 (0)20 7288 4330 Advice line: +44 (0)20 7788 9214 Textphone: 18001 020 7788 9214 Web: www.ukcisa.org.uk UKCISA looks after the needs and interests of international students; offers free information and advice to international students already in the UK, and to prospective international students around the world. Provides advice by telephone only. The advice line is open 1pm to 4pm Monday to Friday.

SPECIAL EDUCATIONAL NEEDS AND DISABILITIES (SEND) INFORMATION British Dyslexia Association (BDA) Unit 8 Bracknell Beeches Old Bracknell Lane Bracknell RG12 7BW Tel: 0333 4054555 Email: helpline@bdadyslexia.org.uk Web: www.bdadyslexia.org.uk Offers information and help to families, professionals and dyslexic individuals. The helpline is open 10am to 12pm and 1pm to 4pm Monday to Friday, closed on Wednesday afternoons. Council for the Registration of Schools Teaching Dyslexic Pupils (CReSTeD) Old Post House Castle Street Whittington Shropshire SY11 4DF Email: admin@crested.org.uk Web: www.crested.org.uk CReSTeD provides a free list of schools approved for its SpLD (dyslexia) provision. Forces children attending schools listed under categories DSP, SPS and DU may qualify for help with fees from the CEAS Dyslexia Action House 10 High Street Egham Surrey TW20 9EA Tel: 0300 3038357 Email: info@dyslexiaaction.org.uk Web: www.dyslexiaaction.org.uk Carries out assessments of children and adults who may be dyslexic, provides tuition, trains specialist teachers, develops teaching materials and conducts research

THE BSA GUIDE TO UK BOARDING SCHOOLS I September 2015

Disability Rights UK Ground Floor CAN Mezzanine 49–51 East Rd London N1 6AH Tel: +44 (0)20 7250 8181 Email: enquiries@disabilityrightsuk.org Web: www.disabilityrightsuk.org SSAFA Forces Help, CHSS 4 St Dunstan’s Hill London EC3R 8AD Tel: +44 (0)207 403 8783 Direct Line to Special Needs and Disability Advisor: +44 (0)207 463 9234 Web: www.ssafa.org.uk

SPECIALIST SCHOOLS INFORMATION Choir Schools’ Association (CSA) CSA Administrator 39 Grange Close Winchester Hampshire SO23 9RS Tel: +44 (0)1962 890530 Email: admin@choirschools.org.uk Web: www.choirschools.org.uk An association of UK boarding and day schools attached to cathedrals, churches and college chapels Music and Dance Scheme Web: www.education.gov.uk The UK government’s Music and Dance Scheme provides funding for exceptionally talented children to study at specialist schools

RELIGIOUS SCHOOLS INFORMATION Church of England Woodard Schools Head Office High Street Abbots Bromley Rugeley Staffordshire WS15 3BW Tel: +44 (0)1283 840120 Email: jillshorthose@woodard.co.uk Web: www.woodard.co.uk A corporation of 45 Church of England schools in England and Wales Methodist Independent Schools Trust 25 Marylebone Road London NW1 5JR Tel: +44 (0)20 7935 3723 Email: admin@methodisteducation.co.uk Web: www.methodisteducation.co.uk An umbrella organisation for the 14 independent Methodist schools in the UK

Useful contacts | Appendix

Catholic Independent Schools’ Conference (CISC) John Shinkwin General Secretary Laetare Ashampstead Rd Aldworth Reading RG8 9RY Tel: 01635 578817 Email: johnshinkwin@cisc.uk.net Web: www.cisc.uk.net

Headmasters’ and Headmistresses’ Conference (HMC) HMC represents the heads of more than 240 independent senior schools HMC 12 The Point Rockingham Road Market Harborough Leicestershire LE16 7QU Contact: William Richardson, General Secretary Tel: +44 (0)1858 469 059 Email: info@hmc.org.uk

The Society of Heads The Society of Heads represents the heads of independent schools of all sizes, many of which have a long tradition of boarding 12 The Point Rockingham Road Market Harborough Leicestershire LE16 7QU Contact: Dr Peter Bodkin, General Secretary Tel: +44 (0)1858 433760 Email: gensec@thesocietyofheads.org.uk Web: www.thesocietyofheads.org.uk

Web: www.hmc.org.uk/

ISC CONSTITUENT MEMBER ASSOCIATIONS The Council provides a single, unified organisation that speaks and acts on behalf of the associations of governing bodies, heads and bursars by which it was constituted (listed below and on the next page). ISC promotes member schools’ common interests at the political level by making representations to government ministers, politicians of all parties, civil servants and the media. It also has overall responsibility for the Independent Schools Inspectorate, which ensures high standards among ISC schools, teacher recruitment campaigns, the ISC teacher induction panel, which enables several hundred newly qualified teachers in ISC schools each year to obtain Qualified Teacher Status, and other matters. The seven constituent associations of ISC are listed below. BSA and COBIS are affiliated members of ISC. Association of Governing Bodies of Independent Schools (AGBIS) AGBIS represents the interests of the governing bodies of ISC schools AGBIS The Grange 3 Codicote Road Welwyn Herts AL6 9LY Contact: Stuart Westley, General Secretary Tel: +44 (0)1438 840 730 Email: gensec@agbis.org.uk Web: www.agbis.org.uk/ Girls’ Schools Association (GSA) GSA is the main association to which heads of girls’ senior independent schools belong GSA Suite 105 108 New Walk Leicester LE1 7EA Contact: Sheila Cooper, Executive Director Tel: +44 (0)116 2541619 Email: office@gsa.uk.com Web: www.gsa.uk.com/

AFFILIATED ASSOCIATIONS Independent Association of Prep Schools (IAPS) IAPS represents the heads of more than 570 boys’, girls’ and co-educational preparatory schools for children aged from 2 to 13 IAPS 11 Waterloo Place Leamington Spa Warwickshire CV32 5LA Contact: David Hanson, Chief Executive Tel: +44 (0)1926 887833 Email: iaps@iaps.uk Web: www.iaps.uk/ Independent Schools Association (ISA) ISA members include heads of some 300 preparatory, senior and all-through schools ISA 1 Boys’ British School East Street Saffron Walden Essex CB10 1LS Contact: Neil Roskilly, Chief Executive Tel: +44 (0)1799 523619 Email: isa@isaschools.org.uk Web: www.isaschools.org.uk/

Naval Families Federation (NFF) Castaway House 311 Twyford Avenue Portsmouth Hampshire PO2 8RN Tel: +44 (0)23 9265 4374 Email: admin@nff.org.uk Web: www.nff.org.uk Army Families Federation (AFF) IDL 414, Floor 2, Zone 3 Ramillies Building Marlborough Lines Monxton Road Andover SP11 8HJ Tel: +44 (0)1264 382327 (Mil: 94391 2327) Email: us@aff.org.uk Web: www.aff.org.uk RAF Families Federation 13–15 St Georges Road Wittering Peterborough PE8 6DL Tel: +44 (0)1780 781650 Web: www.raf-ff.org.uk ■

Independent Schools’ Bursars Association (ISBA) ISBA represents the bursars of over 800 senior and junior schools ISBA Bluett House Unit 11–12 Manor Farm Basingstoke RG25 2JB Contact: Mike Lower, General Secretary Tel: +44 (0)1256 330369 Email: office@theisba.org.uk Web: www.theisba.org.uk

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Appendix | Boarding schools in this issue, by county

Boarding schools in this issue, by county Name of school

Address

Telephone Type

Website

Page

BEDFORDSHIRE Bedford School

De Parys Avenue, Bedford. MK40 2TU

01234 362200

Bo, D , B, 7-18

www.bedfordschool.org.uk

Downe House

Cold Ash, Thatcham, Berkshire RG18 9JJ

01635 200286

Bo, D , G, 11- 18

www.downehouse.net

Heathfield School

London Road, Ascot, Berkshire, SL5 8BQ

01344 898342

Bo, D, G, 11-18

www.heathfieldschool.net

Horris Hill School

Newtown, Newbury, Berks. RG20 9DJ

01635 40594

Bo, D , B, 7-13

www.horrishill.com

Luckley House School

Luckley Road, Wokingham, RG40 3EU

0118 9784175

Bo, D , M, 11-18

www.luckleyhouseschool.org

LVS Ascot

London Road, Ascot, Berks. SL5 8DR

01344 882770

Bo, D , M, 4 -18

www.lvs.ascot.sch.uk

Papplewick

Windsor Road, Ascot, SL5 7LH

01344 621488

Bo(7-13), D(6-11), B, 6-13

www.papplewick.org.uk

Reddam House

Bearwood Road, Wokingham, Berkshire RG41 5BG

0118 974 8300

Bo(11-18) D, Mixed (1-18)

www.reddamhouse.org.uk

Wellington College

Duke's Ride, Crowthorne RG45 7PU

01344 444000

Bo, D , M, 13-18

www.wellingtoncollege.org.uk

BERKSHIRE

BRISTOL Badminton School

Westbury-on-Trym, Bristol. BS9 3BA

0117 905 5271

Bo(9-18), D, G, 3-18

www.badmintonschool.co.uk

Clifton College

32 College Road, Clifton, Bristol, BS8 3JH

0117 315 7000

Bo, D , M, 2-18

www.cliftoncollege.com

CAMBRIDGESHIRE Cambridge Centre for Sixth-form Studies

4-5 Bene't Place, Lensfield Road, Cambridge, CB2 1EL

01223 707942

Bo, D , M, 15-19

www.ccss.co.uk

The Leys

Trumpington Road, Cambridge CB2 7AD

01223 123456

Bo, D, B, 2-9

www.theleys.net

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Newgate, Barnard Castle

01833 690 222

Bo(7-18), D, M, 4-18

www.barnardcastleschool.org.uk

Holm Hill, Dalston, Cumbria CA5 7BX

01228 710225

Bo, D , M, 3-18

www.limehouseschool.co.uk

COUNTY DURHAM Barnard Castle School

CUMBRIA Lime House School

DEVON Blundell’s School

Blundell's Road, Tiverton EX16 4DN

01884 252543

Bo(9-18), D, M, 2-18

www.blundells.org

Plymouth College

Ford Park, Plymouth PL4 6RN

01752 505115

Bo, D, M, 11-18

www.plymouthcollege.com

Shebbear College

Shebbear, Beaworthy, Devon. EX21 5HJ

01409 282001

Bo, D, M, 3-18

www.shebbearcollege.co.uk

Stover School

Stover, Newton Abbot, Devon. TQ12 6QG

01626 354505

Bo, D, M, 3-18

www.stover.co.uk

Trinity School

Buckeridge Road, Teignmouth, Devon, TQ14 8LY

01626 774138

Bo, D, M, 0-19

www.trinityschool.co.uk

West Buckland School

West Buckland, Barnstaple EX32 0SX

01598 760281

Bo(11-18), D, B, G, M, 3-18

www.westbuckland.com

Clayesmore School

Iwerne Minster, Blandford Forum, Dorset. DT11 8LL

01747 812122

Bo, D, M, 2-18

www.clayesmore.com

Knighton House School

Durweston, Blandford Forum, Dorset DT11 0PY

01258 452065

Bo(7-13), D(3-13), B(3-7), G(3-13), www.knightonhouse.co.uk M(3-7), 3-13

Leweston School

Sherborne, Dorset. DT9 6EN

01963 211010

Bo, D, G, M (1-8), 0-18

www.leweston.co.uk

Sherborne Girls

Bradford Road, Sherborne DT9 3QN

01935 818224

Bo, D, G, 11-18

www.sherborne.com

St Mary’s Shaftesbury

Donhead St Mary, Shaftesbury, SP7 9LP

01747 857111

Bo, D, G, 11-18

www.st-marys-shaftesbury.co.uk

Bede’s Preparatory School

Duke's Drive, Eastbourne, BN20 7XL

01323 734222

Bo(8-13), D(0-13), M, 0-13

www.bedes.org

Bede’s Senior School

Upper Dicker, Hailsham, BN27 3QH

01323 843252

Bo, D, M, SN, 13-18

www.bedes.org www.eastbourne-college.co.uk

DORSET 61 5

EAST SUSSEX Eastbourne College

Old Wish Road Eastbourne BN21 4JX

01323 452323

Bo, D, M, 13-18

Frewen College

Rye Road, Northiam, East Sussex. TN31 6NL

01797 252494

Bo, D , M, 5-18

www.frewencollege.co.uk

Mayfield School

The Old Palace, Mayfield TN20 6PH

01435 874600

Bo, D, G, 11-18

www.mayfieldgirls.org

St Andrew’s School

Meads, Eastbourne BN20 7RP

01323 733203

Bo(8-13), D, M, 1-13

www.standrewsprep.co.uk

www.ukboardingschools.co.uk KEY Bo = Boarding school B = Boys only D = Day school G = Girls only M = Mixed SN = Special Needs

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109 91

Boarding schools in this issue, by county | Appendix

Name of school

Address

Telephone Type

Website

Page

ESSEX Friends’ School

Mount Pleasant Road, Saffron Walden, Essex, CB11 3EB

01799 525351

Bo(11-18), D, M 3-18

www.friends.org.uk

GLOUCESTERSHIRE Dean Close Preparatory School

Lansdown Road, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire. GL51 6QS

01242 258001

Bo, D, M, 3-13

www.deanclose.org.uk

Kitebrook House School

Moreton-in-Marsh, Gloucestershire, GL56 0RP

01608 674350

Bo, D, M, 3-13

www.kitebrookhouse.com

Rendcomb College Cirencester

Rendcomb, Cirencester, Gloucestershire GL7 7HA

01285 831213

Bo, D, M, 3-18

www.rendcombcollege.org.uk

Westonbirt School

Tetbury, Gloucestershire, GL8 8QG

01666 880333

Bo(11-18), D, M, 11-18

www.westonbirt.org

Wycliffe College

Stonehouse, Gloucestershire. GL10 2JQ

01453 822432

Bo, D, M, 2-18

www.wycliffe.co.uk

Bedales School

Church Road, Steep, Petersfield GU32 2DG

01730 300100

Bo, D, M, 3-18

www.bedales.org.uk

Boundary Oak Prep School

Roche Court, Wickham Road, Fareham, Hampshire PO17 5BL

01329 280955

Bo, D, M, 2-13

www.boundaryoakschool.co.uk

Farleigh School

Red Rice, Andover, Hampshire SP11 7PW

01264 710766

Bo(7-13), D, M, 3-13

www.farleighschool.com

Forres Sandle Manor

Sandleheath. Fordingbridge SP6 1NS

01425 653181

Bo(7-13), D, M, 2-13

www.fsmschool.com

Highfield & Brookham Schools

Highfield Lane, Liphook, Hampshire GU30 7LQ

01428 728000

Bo(8-13), D, M, 3-13

www.highfieldschool.org.uk

Moyles Court School

Moyles Court, Ringwood, Hampshire BH24 3NF

01425 472856

Bo, D, M, 2-16

www.moylescourt.co.uk

HAMPSHIRE

Peter Symonds College

Owens Road, Winchester, Hampshire SO22 6RX

01962 857500

Bo, D, M, 16-19

www.psc.ac.uk

St John’s College

Grove Road South, Southsea, Hampshire PO5 3QW

02392 815118

Bo, D, M, 2-18

www.stjohnscollege.co.uk

Walhampton Preparatory School

Walhampton School, Lymington, Hampshire, SO41 5ZG

01590 613 303

Bo(7-13), D, M, 2-13

www.walhampton.com

West Hill Park

St Margarets Lane, Titchfield, Hampshire. PO14 4BS

01329 842356

Bo(7-13), D, M, 2-13

www.westhillpark.com

01707 602500

Bo, D, G, 11 - 18

www.queenswood.org

HERTFORDSHIRE Queenswood

Shepherd's Way, Brookmans Park, Hatfield,

Hertfordshire AL9 6NS The Royal Masonic School For Girls

Rickmansworth Park, Rickmansworth, Herts WD3 4HF

01923 725354

Bo, D, G, 4 -18

www.royalmasonic.herts.sch.uk

Tring Park School for the Performing Arts

Tring Park, Tring, Hertfordshire. HP23 5LX

01442 824255

Bo, D, M, 8 -19

www.tringpark.com

Queen's Road, Ryde. PO33 3BE

01983 562229

Bo(7-18), D, M, 3-18

www.rydeschool.org.uk

105

ISLE OF WIGHT Ryde School

KENT Bethany School

Curtisden Green, Goudhurst, Cranbrook TN17 1LB

01580 211273

Bo, D, M, 11-18

www.bethanyschool.org.uk

Duke of York’s Royal Military School

Dover, Kent. CT15 5EQ

01304 245024

Bo, M, 11-18

www.doyrms.com

Kent College

Whitstable Road, Canterbury, Kent. CT2 9DT

01227 763231

Bo(7-18), D, M, 3-18

www.kentcollege.com

King’s Canterbury School

Lattergate, The Precincts, Canterbury, Kent CT1 2ES

01227 595501

Bo, D, M, 13-18

www.kings-school.co.uk

St Edmund’s School Canterbury

St Thomas Hill, Canterbury, Kent CT2 8HU

01227 475601

Bo, D, M, 3-18

www.stedmunds.org.uk

St Lawrence College

College Road, Ramsgate, Kent. CT11 7AE

01843 572931

Bo, D, M, 3-18

www.slcuk.com

LANCASHIRE Lancaster Royal Grammar School

East Road, Lancaster, Lancashire. LA1 3EF

01524 580542

Bo, D, B, 11-18

www.lrgs.org.uk

Rossall School

Broadway, Fleetwood. FY7 8JW

01253 774201

Bo(7-18), D, M, 2-18

www.rossall.org.uk

01509 891700

Bo, M, 16-18

www.dsfc.ac.uk

01673 843415

Bo, D, M, 11-18

www.de-aston.lincs.sch.uk

LEICESTERSHIRE Welbeck – The Defence Sixth Form College Forest Road, Woodhouse, Loughborough LE12 8WD

LINCOLNSHIRE De Aston School

Willingham Road, Market Rasen, Lincolnshire. LN8 3RF

www.ukboardingschools.co.uk KEY Bo = Boarding school B = Boys only D = Day school G = Girls only M = Mixed SN = Special Needs

September 2015 I THE BSA GUIDE TO UK BOARDING SCHOOLS

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Appendix | Boarding schools in this issue, by county

Name of school

Address

Telephone Type

Website

Page

LONDON DLD College London

199 Westminster Bridge Road SE1 7FX

(0) 20 7935 8411

Bo, D, M, 14-19

www.dldcollege.co.uk

Westminster School

Little Dean's Yard, London, SW1P 3PF

020 7963 1003

Bo, D, B(13-18), G(16-18),

www.westminster.org.uk

M(16-18) 13-18

NORFOLK Wymondham College

Wymondham, Norfolk. NR18 9SZ

01953 609000

Bo, D, M, 11-18

www.wymondhamcollege.org

01604 686 234

Bo(8-13), D, M, 7-13

www.maidwellhall.co.uk

+44 (0) 28 9042 8372 Bo(8-18), D, M, 3-18

www.rockportschool.com

01909 537155

Bo, D , M, 3-18

www.wsnl.co.uk

NORTHAMPTONSHIRE Maidwell Hall

Maidwell, Northamptonshire. NN6 9JG

NORTHERN IRELAND Rockport School

Rockport Road, Craigavad, Holywood, Co. Down, Northern Ireland BT18 ODD

NOTTINGHAMSHIRE Worksop College

Worksop. S80 3AP

OXFORDSHIRE Bloxham School

Bloxham, Near Banbury, Oxfordshire. OX15 4PE

01295 724301

Bo, D, M, 11-18

www.bloxhamschool.com

Dragon School

Bardwell Road, Oxford. OX2 6SS

01865 315405

Bo(8-13), D, M, 4-13

www.dragonschool.org

Rye St Antony School

Pullens Lane, Oxford. OX3 0BY

01865 762802

Bo(9-18), D(3-18), B(3-11), G(3-18) www.ryestantony.co.uk

Shiplake College

Henley-on-Thames, RG9 4BW

0118 940 2455

Bo(13-18), D, M, B(11-18),

www.shiplake.org.uk

www.uppingham.co.uk

G(16-18), 11-18

RUTLAND Uppingham School

Uppingham Rutland, LE15 9QE

01572 820611

Bo, M, 13-18

SCOTLAND Kilgraston School

Bridge of Earn, Perthshire. PH2 9BQ

01738 812257

Bo(8-18), D, G, 3-18

www.kilgraston.com

Gordonstoun

Elgin, Moray, IV30 5RF

01343 837837

Bo, D, M, 7-18

www.gordonstoun.org.uk

Strathallan School

Forgandenny Perth Perthshire PH2 9EG

01738 812546

Bo, D, M, 9 -18

www.strathallan.co.uk

The Schools, Shrewsbury, Shropshire. SY3 7BA

01743 280552

Bo, D, M, 13 -18

www.shrewsbury.org.uk

SHROPSHIRE Shrewsbury School

SOMERSET All Hallows Preparatory School

Cranmore Hall, Shepton Mallet, BA4 4SF

01749 881600

Bo, D, M, Bo(7-13), 3-13

www.allhallowsschool.co.uk

Bruton School For Girls

Sunny Hill, Bruton, Somerset. BA10 0NT

01749 814400

Bo, D, M, B(3-7), G, 3-18

www.brutonschool.co.uk

Hazlegrove Preparatory School

Sparkford, Yeovil, Somerset BA22 7JA

01963 440314

Bo, D, M, 2-13

www.hazlegrove.co.uk

Taunton School

Staplegrove Road, Taunton, Somerset TA2 6AD

01823 703703

Bo(7-18), D, M, 0-18

www.tauntonschool.co.uk

www.ukboardingschools.co.uk KEY Bo = Boarding school B = Boys only D = Day school G = Girls only M = Mixed SN = Special Needs

126

THE BSA GUIDE TO UK BOARDING SCHOOLS I September 2015

Boarding schools in this issue, by county | Appendix

Name of school

Address

Telephone Type

Website

Page

STAFFORDSHIRE Abbotsholme School

Rocester, Uttoxeter, Staffordshire ST14 5BS

01889 590217

Bo, D, M, 2-18

www.abbotsholme.co.uk

Denstone College

Denstone, Uttoxeter, Staffordshire. ST14 5HN

01889 590484

Bo, D, M, 11-18

www.denstonecollege.org

Orwell Park School

Nacton, Ipswich, Suffolk. IP10 0ER

01473 659225

Bo, D , M, 3-13

www.orwellpark.co.uk

The Royal Hospital School

Holbrook, Ipswich, Suffolk. IP9 2RX

01473 326210

Bo, D, M, 11-18

www.royalhospitalschool.org

Woodbridge School

Burkitt Rd, Woodbridge, IP12 4JH

01394 615041

Bo(13-18), D, M, 4-18

www.woodbridge.suffolk.sch.uk

SUFFOLK 75 131 57

SURREY ACS Cobham International School

Portsmouth Road, Cobham KT11 1BL

01932 869744

Bo(12-18), D, M, 2-18

www.acs-schools.com

132

Feltonfleet School

Byfleet Road, Cobham, Surrey KT11 1DR

01932 862264

Bo(7-13), D, M, 3-13

www.feltonfleet.co.uk

Frensham Heights

Frensham Heights Road, Rowledge, Farnham GU10 4EA

01252 792561

Bo(11-18), D, M, 3-18

www.frensham.org

Gordon’s School

West End, Woking, Surrey GU24 9PT

01276 858084

Bo, D, M, 11-18

www.gordons.surrey.sch.uk

Royal Alexandra and Albert School

Gatton Park, Reigate, Surrey. RH2 0TD

01737 649000

Bo, D, M, 7-18

www.raa-school.co.uk

Whitgift School

Haling Park, South Croydon, CR2 6YT

0208 688 9222

Bo, D, Boys, 11-18

www.whitgift.co.uk

Penn Road, Wolverhampton. WV3 0EG

01902 341230

Bo(10-18), D, M, 2-18

www.theroyalschool.co.uk

Cottesmore School

Buchan Hill, Pease Pottage, RH11 9AU

01293 520648

Bo(7-13), D, M, 4-13

www.cottesmoreschool.com

Lavant House School

West Lavant, Chichester, West Sussex, PO18 9AB

01243 527211

Bo, D, G, 4-18

www.lavanthouse.org.uk

Slindon College

Top Road, Slindon, Arundel, West Sussex. BN18 0RH

01243 814320

Bo, D, B, 11-18

www.slindoncollege.co.uk

2 51

WEST MIDLANDS The Royal School Wolverhampton

WEST SUSSEX 95 109

WILTSHIRE Chafyn Grove School

Bourne Avenue, Salisbury, Wiltshire. SP1 1LR

01722 333423

Bo(7-13), D, M, 3-13

www.chafyngrove.co.uk

Dauntsey’s

West Lavington Devizes SN10 4HE

01380 814500

Bo, D, M, 11-18

www.dauntseys.org

St Mary’s Calne

Curzon Street, Calne, Wiltshire. SN11 0DF

01249 857200

Bo, D, G, 11-18

www.stmaryscalne.org

The Wellington Academy

Tidworth, Wiltshire SP11 9RR

01264 405060

Bo, D , Mixed, 11-18

www.thewellingtonacademy.org.uk

Warminster School

Church Street, Warminster, Wiltshire BA12 8PG

01985 210100

Bo, D, M, 3 -18

www.warminsterschool.org.uk

WORCESTERSHIRE Bromsgrove School

Worcester Road, Bromsgrove, Worcestershire. B61 7DU

01527 579679

Bo, D, M, 7-18

www.bromsgrove-school.co.uk

Malvern College

College Road, Malvern, Worcestershire. WR14 3DF

01684 581515

Bo, D, M, 13-18

www.malverncollege.org.uk

The Downs Malvern

Brockhill Road, Colwall. WR13 6EY

01684 544100

Bo, D, M, 3-13

www.thedownsmalvern.org.uk

Ashville College

Green Lane, Harrogate, HG2 9JP

01423 566358

Bo(7-18), D, M, 3-18

www.ashville.co.uk

Aysgarth School

Newton-le-Willows, Bedale, DL8 1TF

01677 450240

Bo(8-13), D, B, G(3-8), 3-13

www.aysgarthschool.com

Barnard Castle School

Newgate, Barnard Castle

01833 690222

Bo(7-18), D, M, 4-18

www.barnardcastleschool.org.uk

Fyling Hall

Robin Hood's Bay, Whitby. YO22 4QD

01947 880353

Bo(7-18), D, M, 4-18

www.fylinghall.org

YORKSHIRE

www.ukboardingschools.co.uk KEY Bo = Boarding school B = Boys only D = Day school G = Girls only M = Mixed SN = Special Needs

September 2015 I THE BSA GUIDE TO UK BOARDING SCHOOLS

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Appendix | BSA schools members

BSA schools members UK MEMBERS Abberley Hall School Abbots Bromley School for Girls Abbotsholme School Abingdon School Ackworth School ACS Cobham International School Adams' Grammar School Aldenham School Aldro School Aldwickbury School All Hallows School Ampleforth College Appleford School Ardingly College Ardingly College Prep School Ardvreck School Ashby School Ashdown House School Ashfold School, Aylesbury Ashford School, Ashford Ashville College Atlantic College Aysgarth School Badminton School Barnard Castle School Battle Abbey School Beachborough School Bedales School Bedford School Bedstone College Beechen Cliff School Beechwood Park School Beechwood School, Sacred Heart Beeston Hall School Belhaven Hill Bellerbys College, Brighton Bellerbys College, Cambridge Bellerbys College, London Benenden School Berkhamsted Collegiate School Bethany School Bilton Grange Birchfield School Bishop's Stortford College Bishopsgate School Bloxham School Blundells School Bootham School Boundary Oak School Box Hill School Bradfield College Brambletye School Bredon School Brentwood School Brighton College Brockhurst School

128

Bromsgrove School Bruton School for Girls Bryanston School Brymore School Buckswood School Burford School Burgess Hill School Caldicott Cambridge Arts & Sciences Sixth Form College Cambridge Centre for Sixth Form Studies Campbell College Canford School Casterton School Caterham School CATS Canterbury CATS College London Chafyn Grove Charterhouse Cheam School Cheltenham College Cheltenham College Junior School Chethams School of Music Chigwell School Chorister School Christ Church Cathedral School Christ College Christ's Hospital School City of London Freemen's School Clayesmore Preparatory School Clayesmore School Clifton College Clifton College Prepratory School Cobham Hall Colchester Royal Grammar School Concord College Cothill House Cottesmore School Cranbrook School Cranleigh Preparatory School Cranleigh School Culford School Cumnor House School Dallam School Dauntsey’s School De Aston School Dean Close Preparatory School Dean Close School Denstone College DLD College London Dollar Academy Dorset House School d’Overbroeck’s College Downe House Downside School Dulwich College Dulwich College Preparatory School Dulwich Preparatory School Dunhurst School

THE BSA GUIDE TO UK BOARDING SCHOOLS I September 2015

Durand Academy Durham School Eagle House School Eastbourne College Edge Grove School Edgeborough Ellesmere College Elmhurst School Elstree School Epsom College Erskine Stewart’s Melville Schools Eton College Farleigh School Farlington School Farringtons School Felsted School Feltonfleet School Fettes College Forres Sandle Manor School Framlingham College Framlingham College Junior School Frensham Heights School Frewen College Friends’ School Fulneck School Fyling Hall School GEMS Bolitho School Giggleswick Junior School Giggleswick School Glenalmond College Godstowe Preparatory School Gordon’s School Gordonstoun Gosfield School Great Ballard School Great Walstead School Gresham’s Preparatory School Gresham’s School Haberdashers’ Monmouth Girls School Haileybury Hampshire Collegiate School Handcross Park School Hanford School Harrogate Ladies’ College Harrow School Hatherop Castle School Haydon Bridge Community High School Hazlegrove School Headington School Heath Mount School Heathfield St Mary’s School Hethersett Old Hall School Highfield School Hockerill Anglo-European College Holmewood House Holmwood House Holyport College Hordle Walhampton School

BSA schools members | Appendix

Horris Hill School Hurst Lodge Hurstpierpoint College Hurtwood House School International College, Sherborne Ipswich School Junior King’s School Kent College Kent College Infant and Junior School Kent College Pembury Keswick School Kilgraston School Kimbolton School King Edward’s School King William’s College Kingham Hill School King’s College, Taunton King’s College School, Cambridge King’s Hall School King’s Junior School King’s School, Bruton King’s School, Canterbury King’s School, Boley Hill King’s School, Winchester Kingswood Preparatory School Kingswood School Kirkham Grammar School Kitebrook House Knighton House School Lambrook Lancaster Royal Grammar School Lancing College Langley School Lavant House Leaden Hall School Leighton Park School Leweston School Lichfield Cathedral School Lime House School Lincoln Minster School Liverpool College Llandovery College Lockers Park School Lomond School Longridge Towers School Lord Wandsworth College Loretto School Loughborough Grammar School Luckley House School Lucton School Maidwell Hall Malvern College Malvern St. James Mark College Marlborough College Marlborough House School Marymount International School Merchiston Castle School Mill Hill School Millfield Preparatory School Millfield School

Milton Abbey Moffats School Moira House Girls School Monkton Junior School Monkton Senior School Monmouth School Moor Park School Moorland School More House School Moreton Hall Moulsford Preparatory School Mount Kelly Mount St Mary’s College Mowden Hall School Moyles Court School New Hall School Northbourne Park School Northease Manor School Oakham School Ockbrook School Old Buckenham Hall School Old Swinford Hospital Orley Farm School Orwell Park School Oswestry School Oundle School Packwood Haugh School Padworth College Pangbourne College Papplewick School Perrott Hill School Peter Symonds’ College Pinewood School Pipers Corner School Plymouth College Pocklington School Polam Hall School Port Regis School Prestfelde School Prior Park College Prior Park Prep School Prior’s Field School Queen Anne’s School QE Academy Trust (Queen Elizabeth’s) Queen Ethelburga’s College Queen Margaret’s School Queen Mary’s School Queen Victoria School Queen’s College Queen’s College Junior School Queenswood School Radley College Ranby House Ratcliffe College Read School Reading School Reddam House Bearwood Reed’s School Rendcomb College Repton Prep School (Foremarke Hall) Repton School

Riddlesworth Hall Ripon Grammar School Rishworth School Rockport School Roedean School Rookwood School Rossall School Royal Alexandra & Albert School Royal Russell School Rugby School Ruthin School Rydal-Penrhos School Ryde School Rye St Antony S. Anselm’s SABIS International School UK Saint Michael’s College Salisbury Cathedral School Sandroyd School Scarborough College Seaford College Sedbergh Junior School Sedbergh School Sevenoaks School Sexey’s School Shaftesbury School Shebbear College Sherborne Preparatory School Sherborne School Sherborne School for Girls Sherfield School Shiplake College Shrewsbury School Sibford School Sidcot School Sir Roger Manwood’s School Slindon College St Andrew’s School, Eastbourne St Andrew’s School, Pangbourne St Bede’s Prep School St Bede’s School St Bees School St Catherine’s School St Christopher School St Clare’s, Oxford St Dominic’s High School for Girls St Dominic’s Priory School St Edmund’s College St Edmund’s School St Edward’s School St Felix School St Francis’ College St George’s School, Windsor St George’s School, Ascot St George’s VA School St Hugh’s School, Woodhall Spa St Hugh’s School, Faringdon St James Independent School for Senior Boys St James’ School St John’s College St John’s College School

September 2015 I THE BSA GUIDE TO UK BOARDING SCHOOLS

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Appendix | BSA schools members

St John’s Beaumont St John’s School, Sidmouth St John’s School, Leatherhead St John’s-on-the-Hill St Joseph’s College St Lawrence College St Leonard’s St Leonards-Mayfield School St Margaret’s School St Martin’s Ampleforth St Mary’s Hall St Mary’s School, Cambridge St Mary’s School, Ascot St Mary’s School, Calne St Mary’s School, Shaftesbury St Olave’s School St Paul’s School St Peter’s School, Lympstone St Peter’s School, York St Richard’s St Ronan’s School St Swithun’s School St Teresa’s School Stamford School Stanborough School Steyning Grammar School Stoke College Stonar School Stonyhurst College Stover School Stowe School Strathallan School Summer Fields Sunningdale School Sutton Valence School Swanbourne House School Talbot Heath School Taunton Preparatory School Taunton School Terra Nova School Terrington Hall The Cheltenham Ladies’ College The Downs, Malvern College Prep School The Dragon School The Duke of York’s Royal Military School The Elms The Godolphin School The Hammond School The Harefield Academy The Leys School The Licensed Victuallers’ School The Mount School The New Beacon School The New Eccles Hall The Oratory School Association The Park School The Pilgrims’ School The Prebendal School The Princess Helena College The Priory Academy The Purcell School The Rikkyo School in England

130

The Royal Ballet School The Royal Grammar School The Royal High School The Royal Hospital School The Royal Masonic School for Girls The Royal School Armagh The Royal School, Haslemere The Royal School, Hampstead The Royal Wolverhampton School The Skegness Grammar School The Thomas Adams School The Wellington Academy The Westgate School The Yehudi Menuhin School Thornton College Tockington Manor School Tonbridge School Trent College Tring Park School for the Performing Arts Trinity School Truro High School for Girls Truro School Tudor Hall School Twyford School Uppingham School Vinehall School Warminster School Warwick School Welbeck - The Defence Sixth Form College Wellesley House School Wellington College Wellington School Wells Cathedral School Wentworth College West Buckland School West Hill Park School Westbourne House School Westminster Abbey Choir School Westminster Cathedral Choir School Westminster School Westonbirt School Whitgift School Winchester College Winchester House School Windermere School Windlesham House Woldingham School Woodbridge School Woodcote House School Woodhouse Grove School Wrekin College Wychwood School Wycliffe College Wycliffe Preparatory School Wycombe Abbey School Wymondham College

THE BSA GUIDE TO UK BOARDING SCHOOLS I September 2015

EUROPEAN MEMBERS Aiglon College, Switzerland Brilliantmont International School, Switzerland Caxton College, Spain College Beau Soleil, Switzerland College Champittet, Switzerland College du Leman International School, Switzerland Gstaad International School, Switzerland Institut Montana Zugerberg, Switzerland King’s College, Spain Leysin American School, Switzerland Open Gate Boarding School Babice, The Czech Republic Robert College, Turkey Sigtunaskolan Humanistiska Laroverket, Sweden St Columba’s College, Ireland St George’s School, Switzerland St Gilgen International School, Austria Surval Montreux, Switzerland Transylvania College, Romania

WORLDWIDE MEMBERS Avi-Cenna International School, Nigeria British International School, Phuket, Thailand Bromsgrove International School, Thailand Day Waterman College, Nigeria Frensham School, Australia Graded English Medium School (GEMS), Kathmandu Hangzhou Greentown Yuhua School, China Harrow International School, Thailand Hilton College, South Africa Hwa Chong Institution, Singapore Jerudong International School, Negara Brunei Darussalam Kincoppal Rose Bay, Australia Knox Grammar School, Australia Michaelhouse, South Africa Miles Bronson Residential School, India Nexus International School, Malaysia Peponi School, Kenya Prem Tinsulanonda International School, Thailand Presbyterian Ladies’ College, Australia Pymble Ladies’ College, Australia Regents School, Pattaya, Thailand Ruamrudee International School, Thailand Singapore Sport School, Singapore St Cuthbert’s College, New Zealand St George’s College, Argentina The International School Brunei, Brunei Darussalam The Regent Secondary School, Nigeria Trinity Grammar School, Australia United World College of South East Asia, Singapore ■

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Inspire, i ire Chall h llenge & Lead L d

For more information contact Kate Evers, Registrar on 01473 326136 or admissions@royalhospitalschool.org or visit www.royalhospitalschool.org

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Boar Boarding ding at ACS. ACS. Welcome Welcome e to our world. world. ACS ACS Cobham’s Cobham’s boarding boarding is an outstanding school school residency residency programme programme offering offering the prestigious prestigious International Baccalaureate Baccalaureate Diploma, US Advanced Advanced Placement courses, courses, and the AP International and Capstone Diplomas – helping our graduates graduates secure secure places at the finest universities universities around around the world. world. W With ith a 7:1 student/staf student/stafff ratio, ratio, our boarders boarders benefit from from experienced experienced resident resident teachers teachers and house parents parents who encourage encourage independent learning who learning,, guide academic pr progress, ogress, and promote promote a sense of global citizenship citizenship that celebr celebrates ates the 30 plus we represent. represent. A perfect boarding boarding experience experience balances academic success with rich nationalities we Att ACS ACS we we believe believe the perfect rich extra-curricular extra-curricular activities around campus, London, Europe, minutes from from London on our magnificent 128-acre around Europe, and the world world beyond. beyond. Located 30 minutes 128-acre Surrey Surrey campus, ACS boarding boarding offers offers separate separate wing accommodation for for boys boys and girls, girls, aged aged 12 to 18, private ACS private rooms rooms for for two, two, wireless wireless internet, bathrooms, bespoke sporting facilities facilities including a competition-class pool. en suite bathrooms, bespoke dining, dining, and superb sporting xperience aavailable we are are delighted to announce that 2015 will see the start start of an ambitious project T o mak To makee this eexperience vailable to more more students, we project to build a ne w boar undergoes a complete rrefurbishment. efurbishment. Both houses will ultimately new boarding ding house – while while the existing existing dorm undergoes ultimately provide provide an enhanced w orld-class sc rooms for for all Grade Grade 12 (17–18 year year old) world-class school hool residency, residency, with single en suite rooms old) students. T o find out mor progrrammes, a To moree about us, and our world-renowned world-renowned programmes, please call +44 (0)1932 869744, or visit acs-schools.com acs-schools.com ACS ACS Cobham Cobham is a non-sectarian, non-sectarian, co-educational school school (day (day and boarding) boarding) for for students 2 to 18 years years of age. age.