Summer 2023
Strategic Plan Update
From the Head Master
It is my great pleasure to bring you a new update to our strategic development plan, following recent announcements on our new International School in Hainan, the Keys for Life fundraising campaign and about the changes to the senior leadership to help facilitate our strategy in the future. Many thanks to those of you who have been in touch with questions and comments, and I am delighted that you are taking such a strong interest in the future of the school.
This latest news in our strategic development plan focuses on educational excellence and placing the school on firm foundations for the future.
St Peter’s has been in existence for nearly 1400 years and one of the reasons behind our long and successful history is our ability to change, adapt and evolve to the world we live in. We are in a position of strength at the moment, with thriving pupil numbers and a justly deserved reputation for participation and excellence, whether in academics, pastoral care or co-curricular activities.
However, the world has changed and the best time to make robust plans for the future is when we are in a position of strength.
The Board of Governors and Senior Leadership Team have been discussing a move from a three to a two school structure for some time with much detailed research and planning having taken place. We are now at a stage in our planning where we are able to share some initial plans with you.
Our aim is that from September 2025, St Peter’s will continue to operate as one school with two distinct but closely aligned sections: St Peter’s Junior School educating children from Nursery to Year 6 and St Peter’s Senior School educating children from Year 7 to Sixth Form. Phil Hardy will be Head of the Junior School with Antonia Clarke as Senior Deputy of the Junior School.
The Junior School would be based on the current site of 8-13 with the Senior School being on the site presently occupied by 2-8 and 13-18, while continuing to use some facilities on the Junior School site.
In making this move, our driving goal is to have the best possible flow of education
academically, pastorally and on the co-curricular front. While we have made
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good progress on that front, having the school split into three sections creates a number of challenges, while a two school structure presents a number of opportunities.
Another key focus of the change is that the experience of pupils and their families at St Peter’s must be easily as good and demonstrably better than it is at present. We are now at the stage where architects have been engaged to advise on the best way to repurpose existing facilities. We now need to broaden the discussion and draw wider groups of colleagues in to discuss operational details which will take place in the autumn. I look forward to sharing more details with you.
Background
St Peter’s has never stood still and, since its foundation in AD627, has been on a number of locations in York before coming to the present site in 1844, and structured in a number of formats. In 1901, St Olave’s was acquired to be the junior school of St Peter’s. The school went co-educational in 1987 and in 1994, Clifton Preparatory School was purchased so that St Peter’s could offer an education from the age of 3 to 18. In 2001, St Peter’s purchased the site of Queen Anne’s Grammar School leading to the current configuration of a three-school structure on the campus with St Peter’s 2-8 and 13-18 based on the top site and St Peter’s 8-13 based on the Queen Anne’s site. In 2020, following the closure of the Minster School, St Peter’s became the Choir School for York Minster in an agreement which ensured the education of the choristers and re-affirmed the historic relationship between school and Minster, going back to our shared foundation in AD627. At that point, the naming of the school(s) was confirmed as St Peter’s throughout to emphasise that we educate pupils in one school, from the ages of 2 to 18 with shared vision, goals, ethos and leadership.
The three-school model currently in operation at St Peter’s is based on a traditional approach in the independent sector, reflecting historic transition points between phases of education. The breaking point of 13+ reflects the notion that pupils were not ready to go to a senior boarding school until the age of 13. Around that came the establishment of Preparatory Schools taking in pupils from the age of 8, the age at which it was felt they were ready to board away from home, and preparing them for entry to senior schools. Over time many such schools started taking in younger pupils.
Today the educational landscape is very different. While there are a small number of areas where the state system operates a ‘first school, middle school, secondary school’ model, overwhelmingly education in the UK is based on primary education to the age of 11 and secondary education from the age of 11 to 18. This model is now the most prevalent one in the independent sector with only a minority working on a three school or 13+ transitional model. Where that still takes place, it is in ‘through schools’ such as St Peter’s where the structure is based on historic reasons or stand-alone senior schools which have retained a 13+ start point although an increasing number of those have moved to an 11+ starting point to capitalise on that being a far more significant entry point than 13+.
To put that in context, stand-alone 13+ prep schools have been in significant decline for many years due to senior schools taking pupils at 11+, making the last two years economically unviable. Some have converted to educate only to 11+, many have closed. In our region, following the closure of the Minster School, the nearest stand-alone 13+ prep school is Terrington Hall (15 miles away), the next closest is Aysgarth (42 miles away) and the next is Mowden Hall (101 miles away). There are, however, a number of stand-alone prep schools in the region which educate to 11+ alongside all of the state primary schools.
There are advantages to the three-school model and we have naturally promoted this as a distinctive strength. St Peter’s is demonstrably in a very strong shape as demonstrated by growth in pupil numbers, level of applications for places and performance in academic qualifications and the co-curricular which has been recognised in a number of national awards over recent years. However, there are clear advantages to moving to a two-school model.
Educational Rationale
It is important to note that we deliver a very high quality of education under the current model and our results in public examinations (both raw results and value added) are excellent. However, we could provide a stronger model and one with less disruption to pupils and parents if we had two schools rather than three.
Having one significant break of structures rather than two will enable a more streamlined approach to education through the school and enable us to align with the stages of education now common across the country. It will also make it easier for pupils to join the school as our structure does not cohere with typical breakpoints in education. At present, the structure of St Peter’s is out of kilter with education in the United Kingdom.
Our major points of entry in terms of numbers of pupils are Reception, Sixth Form, 11+ (J4) and 13+ and this issue is seen most starkly at 11+. Pupils join at 11+ not for two years at St Peter’s 8-13 but for seven years at St Peter’s. Under our current model, their entrance process including examinations and visits to the schools works through 8-13. The child then has two years at 8-13 before having another transition to 13-18 including a new House system, uniform and structure of the cocurricular. They then need to make choices about their optional GCSE subjects after only a term and a half getting used to subject departments at 13-18 where all their teachers for academic subjects have been new to them that year, with the exception of some teaching in Classics and Modern Languages.
A similar issue can occur if a child is moving from another school into St Peter’s at the end of Key Stage 1. This means they have one year at 2-8, before moving to 813, making three different experiences for the child in under two years.
No matter how good the communication between different sections of the school, it makes it much more effective to write a curriculum which covers Years 7, 8 and 9 with a gradual overlapping to GCSE work starting in Year 10. Likewise, to be able to plan a curriculum from Early Years to Year 6. Planning the flow of curriculum and development of skills across the whole school is also made easier if colleagues only need to liaise with one other section, rather than two.
At 2-8 we currently have a thematic, class-based approach to learning with some specialist teaching in areas such as music and physical education. At 8-13 we have a hybrid system in the younger years. In J1 and J2 one third of the curriculum is delivered by the Form Teacher and the remaining two thirds by subject teachers. Among the challenges of the current model is that subject specialist teachers often have to teach whole year groups which creates challenges for parents’ evenings and report writing. It also provides challenges in recruiting replacement teachers as colleagues move on or retire as teachers ordinarily specialise in either primary or secondary education. Over time, the pool of teachers able and willing to teach between the ages of 8 to 13 has been declining and will continue to do so as this has become an increasingly unusual age range for specialist teachers. From J3 all teaching has been done by subject specialists which is also the case at 13-18 although we are moving to a transitional model from September to enable better flow in the current pattern.
It is natural that pupils and parents become used to each school setting in terms of environment, staff and points of contact. We know from the parent survey in 2019, and concerns raised formally and informally from time to time, that the transition between sections can be difficult, especially into Year 4 at the end of St Peter’s 28 and pupils in J5 are typically more than ready to move up to 13-18. This would therefore support a much clearer sense of flow for pupils and parents as they move through the school.
It would also strengthen pastoral care and any safeguarding issues as a child and their family would only need to be ‘passed on’ once rather than twice. While children naturally develop at different rates, going from being an 11 year into teenage years represents a particular stage in line from pre-adolescence to adolescence. The experience of schools which start senior school at 11+ is that they can provide a more effective structure for pastoral development if they go
through that process in one school setting. We have met with other schools which have recently moved from a three school to two school model, and they have noted this as being one of the drivers and advantages of the change.
Thinking more widely, areas such as sharing best practice, arranging staff training and development and enabling staff to feel more unified and know each other better would be much more effective than under the present model. No matter how much effort is put into these areas, the reality is that staff are busy and spend almost all of their time with colleagues in the section of the school where they are based. Linked to this, internal as well as external communication would be much easier and more effective.
Going back to the importance of 11+ as an entry point, we have already made the decision to increase year group sizes in Year 7 and Year 8 (J4 and J5). We are looking to increase the number of boarders joining at 13+ by promoting the school further afield but the decline of the regional 13+ market makes growing at 11+ ever more important. For families looking to join St Peter’s at 11+, the current structure can be confusing and it would support entrance procedures if it was contained clearly in one school.
We do make the case that the last two years at 8-13 provide the opportunity to feel like a Sixth Form pupil in a Prep School with opportunities for leadership and responsibility while pupils prepare for the transition to 13-18 but the positives of moving to an 11+ senior school are deemed to be stronger. We will want to retain those elements but within the setting of the senior school.
Opportunities for St Peter’s
A move to a two-school model would also present a number of opportunities for development, some of which exist regardless of the structure, but do not make sense to bring forward until we have decided on the structure of the school.
A decision to move to a two-school structure will support a coherent master plan for the campus as we look to resolve existing limitations of facilities for areas such as sports, dining, music and drama as well as planning for increased pupil numbers. Improved facilities would also have a positive impact on our external lettings market, and we can plan use of facilities between the timetable and programme of two schools rather than three.
In preparing for a new structure we can review staff responsibilities in areas such as the co-curricular / clubs and pastoral roles to bring greater harmony across the school. The leadership of the school will also be more effective and provide a much better platform for collaborative working.
The first step in our new leadership structures is already underway from September 2023 as Andy Falconer moves to his new role of Director of External Relations. From September 2025, Phil Hardy will move from being the Head of 8-13 to Head of the Junior School. Antonia Clarke will move from being the Head of 2-8 to become Senior Deputy Head of the Junior School.
Other Considerations
We need to plan closely for the experience of 11 year olds joining the senior school rather than 13 year olds. We would not want them to feel anxious or over-awed when moving to the senior school and maintaining some separation of space at break and lunch between the oldest and youngest pupils would be important.
We will be taking a detailed look at pupils’ transition through the school and will take particular care that those who will be reaching Year 7 and Year 8 in September 2025 do not miss out on any of the exciting opportunities they are now offered, such as leadership roles, the opportunity to achieve citizenship awards and school trips.
This in turn feeds into the opportunity to further enhance the Sixth Form as a preparation for life after school. We have made good progress in recent years in reviewing and enhancing the Sixth Form programme in this area. Many schools have a Sixth Form Centre, which we have experienced in an unexpected way through the Sixth Form being accommodated in ‘the tent’ during the pandemic. Such a facility is made possible in the campus plans for the Senior School and will bring considerable benefit.
In a similar way, we would want to use the physical areas at the Junior School to give more space to pupils in Nursery through to Year 6. Having those pupils on a dedicated Junior School site will give many opportunities for that as well as removing the congested feel of the current 2-8 location, lovely though it is.
Our uniform is being reviewed across the school. This was much needed in any case and presents an excellent alignment of timing as we move into the new structure with differentiated uniform for the Junior and Senior Schools. We plan to have an initial launch of the school uniform in September 2024 and that will become embedded in September 2025.
Looking outside the school this will facilitate partnership and communication with other schools by being in alignment with the structure of primary and secondary schools. One example being the York Independent State School Partnership and our links with local primary schools.
Next Steps
We realise that this is a lot of information to digest, and we are announcing a new structure before we enter into discussions on the fine details. Our timing on this update was deliberate to ensure that we can widen the input into our plans, and we will be involving many stakeholders in discussions as we refine how we will deliver this huge and complex project. At the same time, we need to ensure that the school remains focused and in the moment over the next two years – it is essential that all pupils continue to experience excellence in lessons, pastoral care, and co-curricular activities throughout this time.
Please be assured that we will be doing all we can to keep you informed and updated on the changes ahead. In the meantime, we invite you to send your feedback and questions by clicking this link which will be used to collate responses to FAQs and to shape our detailed planning. Please bear with us while we go through this process which will run through the summer, and we will share much more information in the new school year.