EDUCATION AUTUMN / WINTER 2014
ETON’S NEW SCHOOL
BRIGHT BUT BROKE
HOW TO BAG A BURSARY
INSIDE HOLYPORT COLLEGE
‘I WALKED OUT OF SCHOOL”
RAFFAELLA BARKER, REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE
ON THE UP THE SCHOOLS MAKING STRIDES IN ASSOCIATION WITH THE INDEPENDENT SCHOOLS SHOW
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A B S O L U T E LY E D U C AT I O N
Autumn / Winter 2014
CONTENTS FOUNDER’S LETTER
PICTURES COURTESY OF CANFORD SCHOOL
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by David Wellesley Wesley
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SCHOOL NEWS Education round-up
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IN REMEMBRANCE Abingdon School’s First World War
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FASHION The best winter styles
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HOW TO BAG A BURSARY by Lisa Freedman
20 HOLYPORT COLLEGE by Walter Boyle
23 TALKING HEAD PICTURES COURTESY OF HARROW SCHOOL
Felicity Lusk, Abingdon School
24 FINDING A SEN SCHOOL by Charlotte Phillips
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THE MAKING OF ME by Raffaella Barker
33 PEN LICENCES by William Stadlen
36 SHOW GUIDE Highlights of ISS
Ben Vessey, Canford School
48 BEST WW1 BOOKS by Julia Eccleshare
53 THE BRITS WHO BOARD ABROAD by Janette Wallis
39 TALKING HEAD
56 AC GRAYLING INTERVIEW
Richad Backhouse, Monkton Combe School
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47 TALKING HEAD
by Alexandra Jones
THE MAKING OF ME
62 CREATING A BUZZ
by Ed Smith
by Christopher Middleton
42 CONFIDENCE TRICK
66 60 SECONDS WITH...
by Amanda Constance
David Wellesley Wesley
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“I loved Stonar from day one. Being a boarder is the best part as I’ve learned to cooperate with the people I live and work with; the integration between younger and older pupils is very special. Communication between staff and pupils is exceptional; the teachers are always there to help. Stonar has provided me with many opportunities to develop independence and strength of character; I feel ready to start my journey in life beyond School.” Tilly, Deputy Head Girl SENIOR BOYS FROM 2016
Contributors
CHRISTOPHER MIDDLETON Christopher Middleton is an award-winning journalist. He was educated at St Paul's School and Trinity College, Cambridge. What advice would you give your school age self? “Stand up when you're making a difficult phone call; it makes it easier to adopt a jaunty, persistent attitude when people are trying to give you the brush-off.”
INTERNATIONAL PARTNER SCHOOLS RENOWNED FOR RIDING EXCEEDING PARENTS’ EXPECTATIONS SINCE 1895 WALTER BOYLE
OPEN MORNING FRIDAY 6 MARCH 2015
Walter Boyle is the founding headmaster of Holyport College, England’s first boarding free school and sponsored by Eton. He was educated at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow and Queen’s University, Belfast. What advice would you give your school age self? "Learn to relax and not take life too seriously."
JULIA ECCLESHARE
A British school with a global perspective Girls 2–18 Boys 2–11 Atworth Wiltshire
Exceed Shine Belong www.stonarschool.com
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Julia Eccleshare is the Guardian’s children’s books editor. She rounds up the best childrens’ book on the First World War for AE. She went to Camden School and Girton College, Cambridge. What advice would you now give your school age self? “ Be yourself and keep doing the things you enjoy rather than what is thought to be good for you.
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A B S O L U T E LY E D U C AT I O N
FOUNDER’S l e t t e r
WELCOME
W
hen choosing a school for your child, the options can seem overwhelming. Below are a few of my key pointers on the types of school available to help you start the process State versus private: The argument of state versus private education is unending and unanswerable. The simplest conclusion is to perhaps agree that, ‘one size does not fit all’. Finances are often the driver in the decision of whether to place your child in a state or independent school. To privately educate a child from nursery through to university costs an average of £150,000. This exorbitant figure means it is an option available to few. As such, mixing and matching between state and private schools during the formative years, can provide a valuable balance. Supporting a child at state school with private tuition can also be a fantastic way to ensure they have access to one-to-one teaching. State education: Depending on where you live, the public sector can provide fantastic opportunities and often a wider view of society. Schools in Buckinghamshire and Kent are notable examples. There are more than 30 boarding state schools in the country, at which the education is still state funded but fees are paid for boarding. Private education: The advantages of a private education tend to allow pupils greater success in public exams. As well as receiving a higher level of academic care due to smaller class sizes, independent schools tend to offer a wider range of ‘extras’ and higher standard of facilities. They push a broader range of subjects and enable an earlier start with foreign languages. In spite of much controversy, independent schools do have a higher success rate of pupils going on to higher education than the state sector. So, if only an option for sixth form, going private at this stage could be hugely beneficial to your child. Faith schools: These are another very worthy option, particularly Catholic schools. It is vital that admission
“WHEN IT COMES TO EDUCATION, ONE SIZE DOES NOT FIT ALL” requirements are identified early on though – often the child must have been baptised before 6 months old. At the very least, the school will require you to attend church once a week. And remember, there are scholarships and bursaries available: both are excellent options for making private education more accessible. Whereas scholarships tend to provide a small reduction to those who excel in academics, music, art or sport, bursaries can offer significant support. Due to their nature, both are extremely competitive but definitely worth exploring. These are just some of the issues we discuss at the Independent Schools Show, where, this year, more than 200 schools will be exhibiting. Now in our eighth year, the ISS is the largest showcase in the sector. If you are looking for a school for your child, come to the Battersea Evolution on the 8th and 9th November this year. We look forward to meeting you there.
DAVID WELLESLEY WESLEY Founder u Independent Schools Show
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Number One Girls’ School for A Level Results in North of England*
Contributors
She believes she can. WILLIAM STADLEN William Stadlen is the founder and managing director of Holland Park Education. He writes about the pros and cons of the pen licence on page 33. He was educated at St. Paul’s and Brasenose College, Oxford. What advice would you give your school age self? “With hindsight, nothing is as serious as it seems.”
ED SMITH Ed Smith is an author and journalist and former professional cricketer. He writes about his schooldays on page 41. He was educated at Tonbridge School and Peterhouse, Cambridge. What advice would you give your school age self? "There is no hurry!"
So she will. www.queenmargarets.com *
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Daily Telegraph
CHARLOTTE PHILLIPS Charlotte Phillips is an adviser at the Good Schools Guide Advisory Service. She was educated at Godolphin and Laytmer and Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford. What advice would you give your school age self? “It's fine to keep your top shirt button done up even in summer if it makes you happy - but do lose the grey socks well before sixth form.”
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A B S O L U T E LY E D U C AT I O N
T‘S ON A H G W OIN HE D OF ON G N T RL TI I O CA W DU E
SCHOOL News ART SCHOOL
S
usanne du Toit, the winner of last year’s BP Portrait Award is exhibiting at Harrow School for a month from Wednesday 12 November to Wednesday 10 December. The exhibition collects portraits of family, friends, friends of friends and commissions that Du Toit has painted in the last three years. Du Toit, who is originally from South Africa, won the BP Award last year with a portrait of her son Pieter. Du Toit likes to keep her portraits free of clutter. Most of the painting is occupied with a seated figure, brought into focus by strong outlines and a plain background. Her subject matter has always been personal and mainly figurative. Laurence Hedges, Director of Art at Harrow said: “We are absolutely thrilled to be exhibiting the work of BP Portrait Award winning artist Susanne Du Toit. This will be Susanne’s first one person show; a collection of portraits which reflect her incredible skill as a painter, as well as her unique ability to capture the character and personality of her sitters.”
Above Some of Susanne du Toit's portraits that will be exhibited at Harrow. Clockwise from left: Elize, Stephen Campbell Moore, Mark and Tim - Sunday Afternoons, Simon
we are absolutely thrilled to be exhibiting susanne’s workd at harrow
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T‘S ON A H G W OIN HE D OF ON G N T RL TI I O CA W DU E
SCHOOL News WRITE ON ollowing the huge success of last year’s inaugural Connell F Guides Essay Competition, the second essay prize for 2014-15 is underway and award-winning novelist Philip Pullman (pictured, below) will be picking the winners. The Connell Guides Essay Competition is open to all sixth-form pupils in the UK. Entrants must write about a novel, play or poem that has made an impact on them and explain why they found it interesting. Written by leading academics, Connell Guides are short intelligent guides to great novels and plays. They are the brainchild of The Week founder, Jolyon Connell. The Essay Prize aims to foster a lifelong love of reading and writing. Jolyon Connell said: “A former teacher himself, Philip Pulman will be well equipped to spot young talent, and after the incredibly high standard of writing from our first annual prize, we are expecting to attract a fantastic field this year.”
ON TRACK The cycling club has already had some successes this year with pupils picking up their first medals at Dulwich College’s track competition. But Mr R Greaseley, the driving force behind the cycling club says his ambitions do not end there. “The plan now is to get national and international cyclists from Forest,” he said. He hopes to entice pupils away from Forest’s more traditional sports and get them on the track at the Lee Valley. “Everyone who has been down to the Velodrome so far, staff and pupils, they’ve just come out buzzing. It’s fantastic.” Surely the Olympics await?
K T BRUCE
een cyclists at Forest School are able to follow in the tracks of Chris K Hoy after the school’s cycling club secured a coveted weekly slot at the Lee Valley Velo Park, one of the state-of-the art facilities used for London’s Olympic Games. Forest Cycling Club is only five years old but it has already established itself as one of the most popular sports at the school – London’s only diamond structure school near Epping Forest. Forest pupils will now be able to make use of the track, mountain bike circuit, road circuit and BMX track at Lee Valley.
● Essays must be between 1,200 and 1,500 words long. The closing date for submissions is 15 January 2015. The winner will be announced on 2 March and receive £500. For more information visit www.connellguides.com
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A B S O L U T E LY E D U C AT I O N
S
STONAR TO GO CO-ED
tonar, the independent school near Bath, will admit boys to the Senior School from 2016. The school, famous for being very horsey, has been educating girls since 1895 and the prep school is already co-ed. From 2016 boy can join the Senior School at 11+ as day or boarding pupils and
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Stonar will become co-eductional from nursery to sixth form. “We are carefully planning the gradual move to full coeducation,” said Toby Nutt, Head of Stonar. “Parents of boys in the Prep School want their children to continue their education at Stonar, and now we can offer that.”
TOP TUTORS
here’s a new kid on the block in the competitive world of London supertutors. William Clarence Education opened a few months ago and aims to bring a fresh approach to one-to-one tutuoring. “Our USP is that we deal with professional tried and tested tutors who all have personal recommendations and literally thousands of hours of tuition experience," says managing director Stephen Spriggs. “We don’t operate on a model of 500+ tutors who work part time. We look for and insist on a track record of achieving real results with a range of clients.” Spriggs says, "We will match the right tutor to the right child with the right subject.” All tutors are vetted by the company’s head of tutor placements, an exhead of a top public school with abundant education experience at all levels. “We find that the peace of mind that comes with dealing with someone who has clearly been there and done
NOT GOOD ENOUGH ead teachers of leading schools say that H “appalling” standards of marking have left highly academic teenagers with poor results in this year’s GCSEs and A levels. A pupil at Latymer Upper in west London missed out on a university place at Durham after an examiner wrongly added up the
We deal with tried and tested tutors who have thousands of hours of experience
it countless times before is immense, and to have an expert in your corner as part of your ‘team’ can really make the difference.” ● William Clarence Education is offering Absolutely Education readers 15% off 11+ and 13+ full academic assessment and consultation. Offer lasts until 1 December 2014. For more information please visit www.williamclarence.com
marks in his French A-level paper. He is one of thousands of pupils whose exam results were found to be inaccurate. There are now real concerns about the calibre of examiners and speculation that exam boards are struggling to cope with more end-of-course marking, after the scrapping of modules in GCSEs. Richard Harman, (pictured, right) chairman of the Headmasters' Conference, which represents 260 leading independent schools, said that Ofqual, the exams regulator,
TALK TIME ulwich College staged its popular Upper School D Symposium for the fourth year. A cross-curricular day of talks and seminars for pupils in the Sixth Form, this year it included talks from comedienne Jo Brand who spoke about power in a number of contexts and political cartoonist and Martin Rowson explored the role of the satirist in politics. Other topics on offer this year ranged from Dickens, Ibsen and James Watt to race, class and gender in World Wrestling Entertainment. Dr Jo Spence, Master of Dulwich College said: "This much anticipated annual event invites our Sixth Formers to be provoked into new ways of thinking by their peers, their teachers and guests who are at the forefront of their professions. Intellectual curiosity is piqued and ideas explored deeply without reference to the inevitable constraints of the examined curriculum. It’s been heartening to hear, every year, of boys whose university or career plans have been changed or challenged by the experience of a symposium. This is what education is all about.’
had admitted that six per cent of examiners were inadequate, and calculated that they were responsible for almost a million scripts. Harman, the headmaster of Uppingham School in Rutland, said: “It’s not good enough in terms of standards of marking.” David Goodhew, headmaster of Laytmer Upper, said: “We requested 206 re-marks at A level, compared with 127 last year. Parents are annoyed and we will be putting in an official complaint.”
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group of young men pose for a photograph on a chilly afternoon by the river Thames. It was a gathering of past and present members of the Abingdon School Boat Club, posing for a photograph to mark the annual School versus Old Abingdonian boat race. The date was 4 March 1914. The picture shows 21 healthy young men; four years later, nine of them were dead. To mark the centenary of the First World War, Abingdon School is releasing all its records from the time online at www.abingdon.org.uk/1ww. It includes a collection of letters and photographs of young men in uniform, together with wartime editions of the school magazine and a roll of service. Sarah Wearne, the Abingdon School Archivist, said “My aim has been to show people the raw material of history, a counterbalance to the big published histories of the war. This is one school’s war in its own contemporary words together with those of the families of the bereaved.”
Twenty-one young men pose for a picture; four years later, nine of them were dead
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IN REMBRANCE
A B S O L U T E LY E D U C AT I O N
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DS KI
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Kent College Canterbury
An outstanding school for boys and girls aged 3 - 18
Fast Track to the Country One hour away from London Quality education all week Quality family time at the weekend Accompanied rail travel on a Friday and Sunday
Senior School 01227 763231www.kentcollege.com
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A B S O L U T E LY E D U C AT I O N
By Any
MEANS You want your child to have the very best education but you can’t afford it? Consider applying for a bursary, says Lisa Freedman – but plan early and choose your schools carefully
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mother rang me recently to share the exciting news that her son had won a place at a leading independent school. Then she said: "Now, all I have to do, is work out how to pay for it." She will, of course, not be the only parent in this position, but I would have advised her to have started looking earlier. If you want an independent education for your child at a subsidised rate you have to plan carefully and match your circumstances and your child’s skills to the school resources. Many parents of able children assume that a ‘scholarship’ is what they’re looking for, and, in the past, they would have been right. Schools like Eton, always generously endowed and open handed, use to offer ‘full scholarships’, which paid for the entirety of the fees. Today, a scholarship is more likely to be a token of distinction, worth often as little as a ten per cent discount. The impact of the Charity Commission’s recent insistence that independent schools provide benefits to ‘people of modest means’ has definitely altered the thrust of funding, and bursaries, intended for the able
Today a scholarship is likely to be only a token of distinction
Below In general, the largest pot for fees assistance is available at the richest schools such as Harrow
but genuinely struggling, are the now the primary trunk of ‘fees assistance’. Some parents of ‘modest means’ can still feel ashamed of asking for this type of support, but do remember schools are primarily judged on publicly-listed exam results, and these are not called ‘league tables’ for nothing. A bright child, like a star striker, can make all the difference to those official statistics. According to the Independent Schools Council, whose schools handed out over £300m in meanstested support in the 2012/13 academic year, roughly one in three children at fee-paying schools are now on some form of ‘fee remission’. Competition for funds is, unsurprisingly, fierce, and nowadays the biggest hurdle is generally the process of ‘means testing’, which has
become significantly more rigorous over the past few years. Applicants will often need to fill in lengthy forms, detailing their annual income, size of their mortgage, and the car they drive. Eton College distributes £5.5m in bursaries and scholarships each year, with about 21 per cent of pupils receiving some funding. Currently, 60 boys at the school pay no fees at all. Only the truly deserving, however, will be eligible for aid. "Our entrance assessment in Year 6 is the proverbial level playing field," says Charles Milne, Eton’s Tutor for Admissions. "It’s only if a boy is offered a place that parents should ask for bursary help. This will depend not just on income, but on assets. So, if you have a house worth £1.5m or a holiday home, there’s no way you’d be considered for a bursary, even if you’re earning sixpence." Increasingly, schools are farming out the process of financial assessment, and the cap-in-hand ‘squeezed middle’ can sometimes find the
USEFULL CONTACTS GOOD SCHOOLS GUIDE ADVICE SERVICE
Offers a tailor-made bursaries and scholarships advice service for a small fee www.gsgexpertschoolsconsultants.co.uk
THE EDUCATIONAL TRUSTS FORUM
List a range of trusts, from actors to the textile trade, which offer some form of charitable trust for educational purposes.
www.educational-grants-org
STATE BOARDING SCHOOLS ASSOCIATION
A comprehensive website with information and a full search facility for British state boarding schools
www.sbsa.org.uk
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A B S O L U T E LY E D U C AT I O N
process, particularly ‘the home visit’, discomfiting. "When they came round, they asked us if we would mind our child being 'the poor boy' in the school." said one parent, a playwright. Her ‘absolutely not’ was clearly the correct response, as her son was eventually awarded a 40 per cent scholarship topped up to full fees with a 60 per cent bursary at this independent London day school. The fortunes of playwrights, however, like those of many selfemployed parents, can be uncertain, and applicants should be aware that bursaries, unlike scholarships, are often reviewed annually and can be removed abruptly if the family’s income improves. In general, the largest pot for fees assistance is available at the richest schools. These tend to be the allboys, or formerly all-boys, public schools, which have received generous bequests from wealthy benefactors over the centuries. Girls’-only schools, with less in the way of historic endowments, tend to be more strapped for cash. Some schools, too, definitely see it as part of their mission to attract the bright whatever their circumstances. City of London School, for example – which is not a registered charity has always welcomed ‘talented boys from a diversity of backgrounds’, and, of its 945 pupils, 105 receive full-fees, means-tested bursaries. In addition, the school has 229 boys with generous academic, sports and music scholarships. Many parents think of funding being available only at the start of secondary school, but a surprising number of prep schools also offer financial assistance - schools belonging to the Independent Association of Preparatory Schools gave out £60m or more last year - and the majority of schools also have a good range of awards for sixth-form entrants. If boarding is a priority or a necessity, UK and EU parents can consider one of England’s 36 state boarding schools, including the ‘outstanding’ Hockerill AngloEuropean College in Hertfordshire or
Above There are all sorts of unexpected scholarships out there - for chess champions included - so do your homework
Cranbrook School in Kent, where fees are charged to board but not to study. Knowing what the financial criteria are can make the process significantly less intimidating, and some schools, like Manchester Grammar (with a strong reputation for admitting boys ‘regardless of their social, cultural, religious and financial background’) publish all the determining factors on its website. Others are undoubtedly less forthcoming, and the Good Schools Guide, aware of the complexity of the subsidies landscape, has now launched a specialist service for those requiring help to navigate it. "It can be very hard to find out what is on offer," says Susan Hamlyn, Director of the Good Schools Guide Advisory Service. "There is no comprehensive list, so we collated a database of 500-600 schools that offer funding. The alternative was to ring up each school individually and many people don’t want to expose themselves in that way. This puts the
control in their hands." The Guide charges a nominal fee of £120/£180 to carry out a tailor-made search. An investigation like this can uncover recherché awards for vegetarians or the children of the clergy, as well as for champion golfers and future chess grandmasters. If you’re looking for the gold at the end of the admissions round, it certainly pays to do your homework.
Lisa Freedman ◆ runs the education advisory service At The School Gates www.attheschoolgates.co.uk
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SCHOOL TIES Last month, the country’s first boarding free school opened, sponsored by Eton. The founding headmaster of Holyport College, Walter Boyle, outlines how the two schools have formed an exciting new partnership
P
arents know the value of a quality education. Unfortunately, not all of them can access the sort of education they want for their own children. Prices of properties close to outstanding state schools often put excellence out of the reach of those who could benefit most from it. The independent sector is often seen as too expensive and boarding schools presumed to be the preserve of the wealthiest in society. But this is no longer the case. Many top independent schools offer bursaries to children who would otherwise not have had the chance of a boarding school education.Many leading independents also have well established partnership arrangements with neighbouring state schools. To suggest that independent schools are not sharing their expertise and facilities is not entirely accurate. But one is leading the way in its support of the country’s first boarding Free School. Simon and Sue Dudley live in Berkshire and were fortunate enough to be able to send three of their children to boarding schools. The fourth will come to Holyport College, the first state boarding Free School in England. Simon, the Deputy Leader of the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead, believes passionately in
the power of education to open doors and create opportunities for young people. He also knows that boarding schools help to establish ambition, confidence, academic excellence, lifelong friendships and principles and values in those who board. With the advent of Free Schools, he and a few others set about establishing Holyport College. State boarding schools put boarding within the reach of a greater audience. There are nearly forty of them scattered throughout the country and many of them are amongst the highest achieving schools in the state sector. The government funds the day school - teachers’ wages, books and other educational resources - the boarding fee covers the costs incurred by the school from say 5pm to 8am the next
the holyport proposal was exciting to us because it envisaged an approach to education which eton believes in profoundly. Below Holyport college will share some of Eton's famous facilities
Tony Little Headmaster of Eton
morning. That means the fees offer excellent value for money. The founders of Holyport College realised very quickly that opening a Free School would be a challenge in and of itself. Opening a boarding school took that challenge to another level. They therefore sought a strategic partner, someone who shared the vision of extending the privilege of boarding education to a wider audience and approached one of the oldest schools in the world, Eton College. To those who know Eton College, they will not be at all surprised to hear
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A B S O L U T E LY E D U C AT I O N
that the Provost, Fellows and Head Master were all keen to learn more of this exciting new development just 15 minutes’ drive from their very own doorstep. Simon and his co-founders set about carefully explaining the vision of Holyport College to those at Eton - the day school would take children from the Windsor and Maidenhead areas and the admissions criteria had been designed to ensure that children in receipt of the Pupil Premium had a realistic chance of gaining admission, and for boarding, there would be a bursary scheme to support service children, children on the edge of care and others who could benefit from a boarding education but who otherwise could not afford it. The Head Master of Eton College is on record as having advocated greater access to boarding education and so the vision of Holyport sat well with him. So perhaps Eton’s agreement to partner with Holyport wasn’t that big a surprise. However, Eton went far beyond that and asked to become the sole educational sponsor of Holyport College, committing itself to the governance of the new school. Since that decision, the Eton community has thrown itself wholeheartedly into this new venture. Tony Little, the Headmaster of Eton, is forthright about his reasons for Eton’s involvement with Holyport. “Eton has a tradition of supporting initiatives with the state sector. The Holyport proposal was exciting to us because it was envisaged as a boarding school and boarding offers an approach to education which Eton believes in profoundly. Also, having a site so close to Eton makes practical co-operation viable. We have a great opportunity to extend the benefits of boarding school education to more young people and this, we believe, is a very good thing.”
Above an artist's impression of the new school buildings Below Home Secretary Theresa May at the new school's topping out ceremony
So far, Eton has helped with the recruitment of the Senior Management Team and other senior staff at Holyport. Its legal and estates teams have helped us navigate our way around a £16 million building project and the Old Etonians have generously funded the all-weather pitch at Holyport. Eton has also accommodated me during the pre-opening months, affording me the opportunity to raise awareness of the project amongst Eton staff, boys, parents and supporters. Living and working at Eton means that I have become much more closely acquainted with what makes Eton tick. This is most important, for whilst we don’t want to re-create a mini-Eton at Holyport it is essential that we represent the values of our educational sponsor. Moving forward, we have planned an annual ‘Welcome to Eton’ for our Year 7 pupils, a 10 week programme of activities which will allow our youngest pupils to get to know the history and heritage of our sponsors. We will have access to some of the sports facilities at Eton and our pupils will be able to attend Societies, lectures given by high-profile guest speakers. Eton beaks and Holyport teachers will benefit from working with each other and when our Sixth Form opens, the Careers Team at Eton will be there ready to assist us in finding places at good universities for our pupils. . We started the new term ready and with great confidence. Our teaching staff is complete with staff coming from both state and independent schools. This balance wasn’t deliberately
engineered but I must admit to being very pleased with the outcomes of our recruitment campaigns. As Head Master, however, I am most excited about our new pupils. They represent so much life, energy and potential that I am at the same time awed and humbled at the privilege of being their founding Head Master.w Like our staff, they come from the independent and state sectors with many of our boarders joining us in Year 9 straight from prep school. We have worked closely with the local authority and other partners to ensure too that we have identified a proportion of children who might otherwise not have had the chance to join us. All of us who work in education, be that in the state or the independent sector, do so because we believe in children and young people and their potential to do great things in their adults lives. Hopefully the partnership between Eton College and Holyport College will pave the way and serve as an example of what can be achieved when the state and the independents combine their expertise and resources.
Walter Boy le ◆ Founding Headmaster of Holyport College
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London’s only diamond structure school 1,300 boys and girls aged 4-18 who are taught in single-sex classes at key stages of their education. www.forest.org.uk info@forest.org.uk 020 8520 1744
Forest School is located on the very edge of Epping Forest and is the only diamond structure school in London. Our school buses go into north London and the city.
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A B S O L U T E LY E D U C AT I O N
TALKING HEAD
Felicity Lusk is head of Abingdon School. She is the first female head of a boys’ independent boarding school.
I’ve just clocked up 17 years as a head; I’m now into my 4th year at Abingdon – it’s the most wonderful job. Being a head of a school like this is about running a business. You are actually a CEO. They should change the title. It’s about numbers, exam results and money. I love every aspect of my headship. I love being a strategist, looking for the next opportunity. I don’t do detail, I would drive myself to an early grave if I did. I trust other people to get on with it. I am thinking about where this school will be in 20 years time – nobody else is. Am I a powerful lady? Men always say that about high-achieving women. I’ve always been very confident and comfortable being a leader. Growing up in New Zealand I had a very English education; I knew I wanted to be a head from the age of 9. I think being an outsider has helped me enormously. I’m don’t identify with the British class system. I think it holds back people’s understanding of themselves.
Part of the ethos here is playing to your strengths. How can we work as a team? When people work together, its extraordinary what you can do. We do very well at Oxbridge but it’s not our main focus. Exam results here are fantastic, they are a consequence of the education, they are not the be all and end all of what we are doing. I absolutely believe there is a future for independent education. I still think the sector offers the ‘gold standard’. We are very oversubscribed and have lots of ‘first time buyers’. But I think in the future independent schools will need to be large institutions. We need economies of scale and we need to offer a wide and diverse curriculum. People describe me as tough because I’m a woman – I will take the hard decisions. I’ve also learnt that kindness goes a long way. This job is 24/7. During term time it’s very intense but I make sure that I have very good holidays. On Sundays I take the day off and go to my house in Oxford.
People describe me as tough because I'm a woman I can never have an off day. There are very high expectations of me; I have to be very visible and can’t look vulnerable. It can be quite isolating. I’m very interested in the boys with quirky characters. I’m less concerned about where they fit academically. What am I going to do in my sixties? I want to secure Abingdon’s future in perpetuity. When I left Oxford High I’d done what I set out to do. I want to do the same here. The secret of my success in five words? Motivator, leader, trust, kindness, enjoyment.
I’ve made radical changes at Abingdon. I removed Saturday morning lessons - it was ridiculous, everyone was exhausted. It’s different being a role model here. I can’t have the same conversations with the pupils as I would have done with the girls at Oxford High. But I try to teach these young men that they will get on much better in the world if they have good emotional intelligence.
Felicit y Lusk ◆ Head of Abingdon School. She was previously head of Oxford High School for Girls
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I llu st ration phil couzens
NEEDS MUST
Finding the right school for a child with special educational needs (SEN) can be hugely daunting. Charlotte Phillips has some advice on where to start
F
or mother of four Sarah Driver, who lives in South West London, the crunch point came when her son’s year 1 teacher told her that he had ‘had to get cross’ with six-year old Archie because he ‘wouldn’t’ write. Other parents, understandably, would assume their child was simply not trying and take the school’s side. Not Sarah. Similar experiences with two older children meant she had the confidence to tell the teacher he had got it wrong. “I said: ‘It’s not that he won’t write; he can’t’,” she recalls. Like his older siblings, Archie was dyslexic. A big class with a recently qualified teacher in charge meant the school couldn’t help. Instead, Sarah joined forces with another parent to fund a dyslexia specialist to come in for an hour a week to give them some individual help. When Archie started junior school, however, things took a turn for the worse. “After a battle, they let the lady come in for an hour a week but they didn’t take on board his needs at all,” says Sarah. “His first set of spellings home were ‘white, grey, blue’ when he couldn’t spell ‘cat, mat, sat’.” His confidence quickly plummeted. “Six weeks into term he came out, completely devastated, and said, ‘Mum, I’m on the dumb table’.” she says.
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With an estimated 1.5 million children in the UK with some form of learning difficulty, headed by dyslexia, ASD (autism) and ADHD, many thousands have similar problems to Archie. Useful though labels can be in helping to pinpoint the problem, it’s vital not to let them define the whole child, particularly when it comes to finding a school. As in every other area of life, individuals differ and parents, with their unparalleled understanding of their child’s personality, are the best champions they have. While some children with Asperger’s will thrive in a mainstream secondary school and it’s a given that most highly academic establishments, including some of London’s top-performing schools, both state and independent, have their fair share of autistic but highly gifted pupils others with seemingly identical needs will find the pressure, noise or social interaction intolerable. Even with a report from a good educational psychologist – essential in pinpointing your child’s difficulties and details of the support needed to meet them - working out where your child is most likely to flourish will, almost inevitably, be time-consuming, often involving you in energy-sapping tussles with schools who, though theoretically on your child’s side, can sometimes appear anything but. “The best schools in my experience are those which recognise that children can have any number of disabilities or impairments but can perform brilliantly academically and must be given all the support they need to do so,” says Susan Hamlyn, director of the Good Schools Guide Advice Service. “Those that are weaker, more timorous or pusillanimous will only want the trouble-free bright buttons who they can take and not put themselves out too much.”
An estimated 1.5 million children in the UK have some form of learning difficulty With a little inside knowledge, it’s not hard to spot which is which – often before you set foot across the threshold. Take websites, where the deeper you have to dig to uncover the word ‘inclusion’, the less of a priority it is likely to be while with state schools, parents should beware if money seems to be the only thing that matters. “Quite often the first thing [head teachers] ask is, ‘Does the child come with resources allocated to them already?’” says Sean O’Donoghue, president of the Association of Educational Psychologists. Schools worth their salt, on the other hand, will want to hear the good things about your child, rather than seeing them as a special need with arms, legs - and cash - attached. “A good, inclusive school will be welcoming of children who may be a little outside the box in terms of their presentation, learning and behaviour.” A school’s willingness to cope emanates from the top down. Encounter a head unable to remember how many learning support staff they employ, as happened to one parent recently, and it’s a reasonable bet that SEN is unlikely to become a priority any time soon. Most London-based parents will, understandably, shop locally for schools, though it’s not necessarily the 25
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Above all, don’t subject a child with learning needs to pressure they can’t manage most obvious that excel. Within the state sector, for example, the Brit School in Croydon, best known for nurturing stars as Leona Lewis, works wonders with dyslexic pupils. Westminster School, meanwhile, one of the highest profile independents around, is a dab hand at bringing out the best in the highly able but quirky. Other children with severe or complex difficulties are sometimes better served by a more specialist environment. Centre Academy in Clapham, for example, caters for children with ADHD, ASD and speech and language difficulties while Abingdon House School features on the CReSTeD educational website (the Council for the Registration of Schools Teaching Dyslexic Pupils) for the quality of support offered to able pupils with specific learning difficulties. Given its pressure-cooker atmosphere and hugely oversubscribed schools, London doesn’t have to be the educational be-all and end-all, however, and many parents whose children have learning needs are exploring options elsewhere.
Left Sarah Driver, founder of the Driver Youth Trust
With its gorgeous outdoor space and high expectations - children are prepared for Common Entrance exams at 13 - Bruern Abbey School, a short distance from Oxford, looks the very model of a traditional boarding prep. All its pupils are dyslexic, however, and it specialises in moving them on successfully everywhere from Bryanston and Charterhouse to Stowe. So great is the influx of Londoners that it now offers a weekly bus service, picking up boys from Sloane Square and Marble Arch each Monday and dropping them back again on Friday afternoon. Archie, a former pupil, is proof of the difference the right help can make. Now thriving at Brighton College, whose dyslexia centre allows very academically able children to fulfil their potential, he is predicted top grades in his GCSEs. Sarah Driver has gone on to found the Driver Youth Trust, which campaigns to increase resources and special needs training for all teachers. She suggests parents ask schools what training their SENCos (special needs coordinators) have received in their child’s particularly learning need – until just a few years ago, none was required to hold the post - as well as finding out not just what support is on offer, but whether it will involve your child missing favourite subjects such as art and PE. Above all, she says, don’t subject a child with learning needs to pressure they can’t manage. “As a parent, you will know which those schools are. It’s a really hard thing to do because you want the best for your child and don’t want them to be different.” Bernadine Walsh, head of learning support at Brighton College agrees. “If children wouldn’t cope without the learning difficulty, coming here would dent their self-esteem,” she says. Get the school right, however, and the effect can be life-changing. At Brighton College, such is the transformation that when some older pupils gave a talk about their uniquely different dyslexic-coloured view of life, the entire audience voted to be dyslexic, too.
FURTHER SOURCES OF SUPPORT SOS!SEN
Independent, free helpline for parents of children with learning needs with advice on everything from getting the right help to dealing with schools and local authorities, including tribunal appeals.
www.sossen.org.uk
DRIVER YOUTH TRUST
Campaigning charity aimed at helping children and young people with literacy difficulties, particularly dyslexia, to gain confidence and realise their potential by getting the right educational support with reading and writing.
www.driveryouthtrust.com
DYSLEXIA SPLD TRUST
Links to voluntary and community dyslexia organisations as well as providing specific information and guidance on how to support children and young people with dyslexia. www.thedyslexia-spldtrust.org.uk
PARENT PARTNERSHIP SERVICES (PPS)
Local advice and information for parents and carers whose children have special educational needs.
www.parentpartnership.org.uk
Charlotte Phillips ◆ An adviser at the Good Schools Guide Advice Service
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24/09/2014 18:05
A B S O L U T E LY E D U C AT I O N
Promotion
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Whether learning to type or getting extra tailored support, children flourish at The McLeod Centre for Learning
C
hildren who struggle with reading and writing often compare their own achievements with those of their peers. They feel less intelligent, isolated and have low self-esteem. At the McLeod Centre for Learning, children address their learning needs within a nurturing environment, and find their way in the academic world again – or even for the first time. Before starting, children are assessed by specialist teachers and an individual programme is designed. Children enrolled in the Morning
School receive English (dyslexia), maths (dyscalculia) and touch-typing/ handwriting (dyspraxia) lessons. Groups are no larger than three and often individual. Dependent on needs, children usually attend one to five mornings a week, for usually one to three terms. The McLeod Centre for Learning runs after-school sessions for 5-18 years. A wide range of subjects to A-level is offered, as well as remedial handwriting, touch-typing and tutoring for 4+, 7+, 8+, 11+ and 13+ entry exams. Specialist support for dyslexia,
children address their learning needs in a nurturing environment, and find their way in the academic world dyspraxia and dyscalculia is also available. Their teachers, experienced in selection processes, provide interview practice for independent preparatory and senior schools. The McLeod Centre for Learning’s touch-typing classes are after school and at weekends during term time. Intensive courses run during holidays. Many children choose to continue to work on spelling while building typing speeds. Amanda McLeod is the author and series editor of the Scholastic Handwriting series (Recreation to Year 6). She is a committee member of the National Handwriting Association, one of their trainers and also their representative in the media.
McLeod Cen tre u 74 Lupus Street, SW1V 3EL; 020 7630 6970; amandamcleod.org
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OPEN DAY Saturday 25th April 2015
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24/09/2014 15:27
A B S O L U T E LY E D U C AT I O N
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The Making Of Me By R a f fa e ll a Ba r k e r
The novelist on her rebellious days at Norwich High School for Girls
Raffaella Barker’s new novel From A Distance is published by Bloomsbury
rom the first lunch, curried eggs, the smell of which mingled with the overpowering fragrance of polished parque floor, and the sight of which, resting, yellowed in a rusty sauce the colour of our dinner lady’s hair, I will never forget, I was aware of my school as a pantheon of sensory experiences I had not previously imagined could exist. Norwich High School for Girls was a temple of excellence and old fashioned academe, cut through with a twang of yearning plucked straight from the heart strings of the clever, etiolated school mistresses whose sensibilities belonged to another era, and who wished for the motley bunch of girls, the opportunities they’d never known themselves. We deserved none of their kindness. Well, my particular gang didn’t. We were as silly and naughty as school girls can be, and I paid scant heed to what I was taught, and spent a lot of time mapping out ways to pretend I’d done work rather than going to the trouble of actually doing it. Rebellion was no big deal in my family, where my father, George Barker was a very anarchic poet, whose formal education had ended when he was eleven, although he went on to teach as Writer in Residence at many of the most august universities in the world. My mother, whose schooling had been the absolute antithesis of this, including St Leonard’s Girls School in St Andrews and then Somerville College, Oxford, had made newspaper headlines for falling asleep in her finals. Small wonder that I had scant regard for authority. I didn’t really know what it was. The Norwich High School radiators, huge cast iron things, belted out heat on every landing, packed with girls at every moment that we were not in lessons. They are more clearly focused in my memories than the interiors of our classrooms. Though I do remember one Latin lesson, and an evil spell cast by us Lower 5th girls upon our highly strung teacher Miss Dyball. We conspired beforehand to sway with increasing momentum, and in time with one another, and to pretend we weren’t moving if she challenged us. Poor unhappy Miss Dyball. It was only when she took off her glasses, and her white bony knuckles balled in her eyes that we realised we had gone too far. I did everything at school to excess,
except work. Play was different, and I loved lacrosse, an appropriately arcane game played by Norwich High and almost no other schools in Norfolk. We didn’t play hockey, so our lacrosse team was our face to the world. I was part of it. The only time we had matches at home was when we challenged the boys school, Norwich Cathedral School, to a so-called friendly. Terrifying. The opportunities for making an idiot of oneself were legion, and I remember running off the edge of the pitch (there are no boundaries in lacrosse) in full flight, sure the ball was in the net of my stick, and that glory was following me. I rapidly discovered that no one was in pursuit, and I had dropped
Rebellion was no big deal in my family; my father, George Barker, was an anarchic poet the ball miles back. Worse still, the wing attack of the boys school had now got possession of it and was heading for the goal. Ignominy. Scarlet faced, indelible. For my final act of defiance, I walked out of school on my 18th birthday, having become so pleased with myself that I had requested an audience with the headmistress on that very morning. I announced to her that I would no longer be attending my classes, although I was half way through my A-level studies. The whole event took me by surprise as much as it probably did her. I was caught up in the romance of being a rebel, and once again, the only person who would really notice this was me. My parents were briefly furious, but they found me tutors and my A-level studies continued. A month later, no one was particularly bothered. I struggled, however. I missed out on leavers ceremonies, university advice and a final soupcon of naughtiness and camaraderie among my peers. I traded it all for freedom. Regrets? Yes. But who doesn’t have a few? 31
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A B S O L U T E LY E D U C AT I O N
Licence to
William Stadlen examines the positives and negatives of the pen licence phenomenon spreading across an increasing number of London schools.
A
s with so much in education policy and pedagogical approach, the key to the success of pen licences in primary and prep schools is in their application. The idea of a pen licence is simple enough and makes sense in theory. To encourage and expedite a neat and legible cursive style, children are encouraged to strive for the right to replace a pencil with a pen. The thrill of graduation to the 'promised land' of grown-up writing tools combines with the public honour of being awarded a licence, and therefore results in more children perfecting good handwriting quickly. Both sexes seem to react to the challenge of the pen licence in different ways. Boys, on one hand, tend
to respond well to the competition to gain their licence before friends. Girls, on the other hand, tend to find it easier and more naturally-appealing to reach the requisite standards of presentation. However, neither of these gross generalisations – though true in my professional experience – take in the considerable and negative impact of the sometimes undue premium placed on gaining one’s pen licence by teachers in London’s competitive prep schools. Most obviously, children presenting with special educational needs such as dyspraxia can find themselves at a significant and demoralising disadvantage in comparison to their peers. This is clearly only relevant to those children with learning requirements mild enough not to preclude them from the mainstream
Pen licences offer the thrill of graduating to the grownup land of writing tools classroom, but the vast numbers of these children thereby accentuates the problem. Another group at risk of alienation in classrooms obsessed with the pen licence is pupils of above average academic ability yet below average organisational and presentation skills. To generalise again, our experience dictates that there is a certain group
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Rugby School
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A B S O L U T E LY E D U C AT I O N
of very bright prep school boys who develop later as learners than their counterparts, particularly the girls, and whose lack of confidence is exacerbated. These children are therefore punished by the inflexible nature of the pen licence, with no consideration for differences in age or gender. Perhaps most paradoxically, the third group of at risk children is the perfectionists. Our consultants meet many pupils, largely girls in the prep school environment, whose confidence is severely dented by the pen licence. These girls strive tirelessly to produce academic work of the highest order presented to almost professional standards of copy formatting. Despite this, the result is often that they lose out to their peers in tests and exams on
Late learners can be punished by the inflexible nature of the pen licence account of the prioritisation of flawless scripts over completing the paper and answering all the questions. In each of these cases, the central issue is that of the damaging effects caused by a lack of confidence. As Holland Park’s confidence coach Gary Leboff says, “It is important not to place too much pressure on the child to perform well, as the child often fears they will be thought of badly if they do not reach high expectations.” Pen licences can easily become a source of academic, teacher-led, social, personal and domestic pressure, especially if the child is among the last in their class to be awarded the licence. To quote Gary once more, “These pressures can be enormous and can affect even the most academically capable students.” It is vital that children do not get buried beneath the weight of expectation, and that they do not invent any links
between their temporary failure to achieve a pen licence and other areas of school life (such as other school subjects, sport, music and social life). There is a direct link that we see between this obsession with aesthetics and the frantic race to be awarded the honour of using a ballpoint. Those who cross the line and gain their “licence to quill” can be burdened by preference for form over function. Those who fall short, through no fault of their own, are burdened by a system that at times promotes the superficial over real educational merit. Performance incentive schemes in schools are conceived of with good reason and do work well, but the examples we have seen where such programmes work best are where the focus is on recognising individual progress. Both tortoise and hare must finish the race and be rewarded for the effort they have put in.
William Stadlen ◆ Managing director of Holland Park Tuition & Education Consultants.
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DON’T MISS OUT
T
his is the mustattend event for any parent considering private education for their children. The longest running exhibition of its kind, it’s now back for its eighth year with more than 200 schools to
SATURDAY 8TH SUNDAY 9TH NOVEMBER Register for free entry at
WWW.SCHOOLSSHOW.CO.UK Opening Times: Saturday 10.00 ˜ 17.00, Sunday 10.30 ˜ 16.30
choose from. Come and meet the heads and staff of nursery, prep, senior schools, specialist schools and sixth form colleges. Time and again we are told that it is personal conversations at the show that clinch the deal for many prospective parents. ◆
BATTERSEA EVOLUTION CENTRE Chelsea Bridge Entrance Battersea Park, London SW11 4NJ
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EVENT HIGHLIGHTS SATURDAY AM
SUNDAY AM
BARNABY LENON ALISON FLEMING Headmistress of Newton Prep ‘London’s educational maze, charting your child’s passage from 3-13’
Chair of the Independent Schools Council ‘Academic reforms 2015-2020’
DR KATY RICKS Head of Sevenoaks School ‘The Changing Face of International Education’
Group Debate
RICHARD HARMAN
THE CASE FOR RURAL SCHOOLS
Chair of the Headmasters' Conference and Headmaster of Uppingham School in conversation with Emma Taylor, Headmistress of Christ College, Brecon
SATURDAY PM
RHIANNON WILKINSON Headmistress of Wycombe Abbey and Rachel Kelly, author of Black Rainbow ‘The stresses and strains of teenage years’
RALPH LUCAS
SUNDAY PM
Editor-in-chief of the Good Schools Guide
CAROLINE JORDAN
DR BILLINGSLEY
Headmistress of Headington School Oxford and Jenny Dwyer, Headmistress of Sherborne School for Girls ‘Girls’ Schools and STEM subjects: The Facts'
US College Director at Bonas MacFarlane ‘Universities: US or UK?’
MAGNUS BASHAARAT Headmaster of Milton Abbey
it really is an amazing one-stopshop for all things education
BENEDICT DUNHILL Headmaster of Port Regis School and Tom Dawson, Headmaster of Sunningdale School ‘Boarding at prep school’
Programme may be subject to variation. please check the website
2013 Visitor
w w w.s c h o o l s sh o w.c o.u k
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Inspire your child with a magical education Open Days – 11th October (3–13 years) Using your School Branding System© th 8 November (13–18 years) The logo This is the new logo for all members of the Jesuit Institute group of schools and should be used across all communications materials within the school to help promote the links with the Jesuit Institute. It is designed as a unit with the ‘sunburst’ crest and the lettering. They must be kept as one unit. These 2 elements should never be used in different proportions to those shown below. They can appear discretely and we would recommend they feature no smaller than 35mm wide. There are 3 versions of the logo supplied on your CD, including a black version. They are shown below. The logo should not be used in any other colourway or distorted. However it can be scaled in proportion. We have also created an extra logo artwork for use when applied to uniform and is being stitched or embroidered.
PMS 1945 U red and 425U grey
White out of 425U and 1945U
Black solid
A Co-educational Catholic Boarding and Day School for 3–18 year olds 01254 827073 admissions@stonyhurst.ac.uk www.stonyhurst.ac.uk Stonyhurst Clitheroe Lancashire BB7 9PZ
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A B S O L U T E LY E D U C AT I O N
TALKING HEAD
Richard Backhouse is Headmaster of Monkton Combe School, a Christian, co-educational school near Bath
E
arlier this year Michael Gove announced that state schools should seek to become more like independent schools by emulating their activity outside the classroom. Gove has some unexpected allies: James Heckman is Professor of Economics at the University of Chicago. A Nobel Laureate, Heckman’s work evaluated the causes of success in adults. His research appears to show that the development of cognitive skills only explains about half the success of school leavers in their post-school lives. Non-cognitive skills, or ‘character’, account for the other half. And yet in many schools nearly all the time and effort of the school is poured into the former. Many independent schools have – for centuries – promoted character education as important, but the idea that it is beneficial to one’s chances in life may be newer. One former Monkton Combe pupil recalled, when speaking to the pupils to whom she had given the school’s annual prizes,
that the lessons of resilience and perseverance learned from playing hockey in freezing rain had equipped her more for success in politics than her Oxford degree. At Monkton, we deliberately blur the edges between the curricular and the extra-curricular, by organising ‘voluntaries’ when pupils may attend departments for help, enrichment or extension; we declare to pupils and parents alike our ambition for pupils to grow in character as well as in intellect, and we describe those aspects of character which we seek to equip them with: confidence, integrity, sensitivity to others and ambition. Breadth of extracurricular activity is therefore a key part of the noncognitive development that schools undertake – for us, rowing, CCF (shared with a local state school), beekeeping, learning to use a recording studio, a choir for ‘Boys Who Can’t Sing’, environmental and political action groups, among many others, and in addition to the more traditional sporting and aesthetic pursuits. This breadth gives wider opportunities to learn, to ‘light fires’ of interest in pupils. The quality of relationships between pupils and staff is hugely important in character education. These two are more interdependent than they may seem: it’s impossible to quantify the increase in the effectiveness of a teacher with a pupil whom they have helped on a Duke of Edinburgh expedition, or coached on a netball court, but those teachers have done it will know the benefit I am describing. The third key to character education is the quality of the role-models, and specifically the role models among the pupil body. One new member of staff at Monkton observed that the senior
At Monkton character development is as important as the intellect pupils were the most impressive he had seen in all the schools (and there were many) at which he had taught. Once established, really impressive role models create the picture in younger pupils’ minds of what young adulthood and leadership are really like. I believe that good character education is what parents are looking for when they refer to all-round education; I also believe it’s what will win our pupils their first promotion, after their excellent qualifications have won them their first job. And it’s what Michael Gove is seeking to add to a state system that is already improving its cognitive education. Heckman should be pleased.
Richard Back house ◆ Headmaster of Monkton Combe School
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Sexey’s
Established 1891
The best performing state school in Somerset “Outstanding pastoral care” Ofsted
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Boarding Open Morning Saturday 16th May 2015
A leading CofE co-educational state boarding and day school for ages 11-18 Come and see us at Cole Road, Bruton, Somerset The Independent Schools Show A leading CofE co-educational state school Tel:boarding 01749 813 and 393 day Fax: 01749 812for870 ages 11-18 (Stand 712) Come and see us at The Independent Schools Show (Stand 712)
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A B S O L U T E LY E D U C AT I O N
S The Making Of Me By ED SMITH
The former professional cricketer turned author and journalist on the incredible kick start he got at Tonbridge School
Ed Smith is an author, journalist and broadcaster. His latest book is Luck – a fresh look at fortune is published by Bloomsbury
chool, home; work, play; teachers, parents: the problem is that I find it very hard to separate the strands. My Dad taught English at Tonbridge School, which gave me the opportunity of studying there myself. Our home was two doors away from my ‘house’ at school, where I signed in each morning. (This meant I was late most days.) Our garden backed on to the school playing fields, so I could see the cricket nets from my bedroom window. My parent’s social and professional lives were inevitably intertwined. Aged 13, when I started at Tonbridge, I had to learn to address teachers formally after years of knowing them by their Christian names. I’m often asked if it was difficult for me having a parent who was a teacher at my school. The honest answer, I’m afraid, is that it was possibly harder for him, easy for me. I was a cocky, opinionated and out-spoken teenager. Dad was the laidback and liberal-minded English teacher, whose classroom was kitted out with photos of Miles Davis and Bob Dylan. If anything, people probably gave me a second chance on account of my Dad. From a cricketing perspective, Tonbridge offered an incredible kick start. We had more cricket nets – ten artificial ones, and ten grass ones – than any professional team I ever played for. And the quality of the 1st XI cricket pitch was astonishing. Lord’s, the most famous ground in the world, has the smoothest outfield I ever fielded on. The second best is my school ground. Think about that for a moment. In 13 years as a professional cricketer – despite playing in India, Australia, South Africa and Malaysia – I only experienced one outfield better than my school pitch. Playing a cricket match at Tonbridge was like playing football at Anfield. That’s how good the facilities were. The only problem with sport at my school was the recurrent problem with educational privilege: how could things possibly get better after you left? But it is always people, just as much as facilities, who make the real difference. Tonbridge cricket was lucky to be entering a purple patch. Two outstanding masters-in-charge, Ian McEwen and Paul Taylor, were helped by the excellent cricket professional Chris Stone. Between them, they mastered a classic educational
trick; they set the bar just higher than you could reach, but not so high that it was out of sight and intimidating. They set high standards, but never put pressure on us. Sport was always fun, though also serious. In fact, because it was taken seriously, that deepened the sense of fun. And it was never – which I observed at some other schools – an exercise in winning at all costs. I owe Tonbridge even more in another area. I was allowed to carve out my own space. I was just as interested in history and the arts as I was in sport. There was no pressure to feel I had to ‘decide’ or choose between the two. I feel that many kids specialise too early and then burn out. My Dad always believed the opposite: he put his faith in curiosity, encouraging children to develop deep interests. He avoided over-managing or predicting how that curiosity would find expression or direction.
Playing a cricket match at Tonbridge was like playing football at Anfield Finally, I escaped the ridiculous overscheduling that I now hear about. At a glance, it looked like I was busy at school because I balanced sport, study and drama. Beneath the surface, however, all that activity all relied on the most important lesson of all: enjoying being on my own, day-dreaming and idling. I think teachers turned a blind eye to me absenting myself from quite a few ‘compulsory’ activities. Instead, I’d be in the CD shop in town, buying Prince albums. Or I’d be sitting in the library, alternating between reading The New Statesman and The Cricketer. Or, most likely of all, I’d be looking out across the famous cricket pitch, drifting in and out of focus, letting my thoughts follow their own path. As a self-confessed flâneur, the best line I’ve read on education is by the Harvard biologist E.O.Wilson, “Let’s have free range children.” 41
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CONFIDENCE TRICK In the increasingly high-pressure world of education, one super-tutor agency has an ace up their sleeve. Amanda Constance meets performance coach extraordinaire Gary Leboff
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ew York city 1990. The Daily Telegraph’s rock critic nearly dies when the lift he is in plummets from the 14th floor. He only survives because the lift stalls, miraculously, between the 8th and 9th floors. What’s this got to do with education you ask? Bear with me. The rock critic is happy to be alive but suffers with crippling PTSD for 18 months – he’s British and attempts to cling on to that stiff upper lip. But when the lip starts to wobble dangerously the rock critic seeks psychological help. After just one session the eminent psychologist turns to his new patient and says, “You should be doing my job.” And so he did. Which is how Gary Leboff, performance coach to Premier League footballers, PGA golfers and Olympic athletes found his calling in life. Sporting success led to him being noticed by the business world and Leboff now has private clients all over Europe. He is a very busy man. But, again, what’s this got to do with education? “I’d been asked to work with children for years,” Leboff says now “but I always just said it’s not what I do.” That is, until a chance meeting a couple of years ago with the team at super-tutor agency Holland Park Education led to Leboff turning his attention to younger clients.
HPE had long been looking for the right person to come on board to help children with their confidence and help them negotiate what William Stadlen, managing director of HPE calls, “the increasingly pressurised ‘exam factory’ world of education”. As Leboff says: “There is a gap between knowledge and performance.” Many of the children who come through HPE’s doors are as bright as buttons and have the best education money can buy but when it comes to the high-pressure situations, some children can become crippled with anxiety or feel unable to perform to the best of their abilities. Leboff has worked with the Royal College of Music for years. As he says, “Music is all about performing in the moment. You can’t imagine how good these people are, but that doesn’t mean they can always do it when it counts.” It’s exactly the same when you take an exam. Stadlen believes Gary is perfectly placed to get the most out of children: “His vast experience across a multitude of disciplines allows him to relate directly to children and adults of all ages, with an extensive arsenal of anecdotes, methods and models tailored to extract each individual’s full potential”. That said, Leboff is absolutely not interested in fine-tuning the highly pressured mini-mes of over-
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A B S O L U T E LY E D U C AT I O N
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I llu st ration phil couzens
you helped our daughter turn that final and difficult corner in her transformation to a happy, enthused & well-spirited child Parent, W11
achieving parents. But, he says, “It does matter if a child is happy, it matters that they function well in the world.” And he does this by using a very therapeutic and highly personal approach. “I do not have a one-size fits all solution,” he says. “People bring me problems that are personal to them – I’m not going to waste their time with theory.” Leboff uses methods such as visualization, role play and the externalising of feelings (e.g writing lists) to reduce anxiety. His treatment aims to find in every child that golden ticket that all parents search for – confidence. When Gary visits our home (he’s a twinkly-eyed doppelganger for the BBC’s Jeremy Bowen) he
immediately strikes up an easy rapport with my 10-year-old son William, our guinea pig for the day. We have a quick chat. I explain that William has no performance anxieties as such but he is concerned about being out and about independently in the less than salubrious area that we live in. I leave them to it. For over an hour all I hear from behind the closed door is much laughter, a little shouting and some feet stamping. Afterwards William simply shrugs and says it was fun. Then a few days later he starts talking to me about body language and how you hold yourself as you walk along the street can affect the way other people interact with you. When I catch up with Leboff, he
Above Gary Leboff, 'a twinklyeyed doppelganger for the BBC's Jeremy Bowen' Right Gary Leboff has worked succesfully with Olympic athletes, Premiership footballers and top golfers
says, “That’s exactly how it works. I might cover five or six issues in a session and the child will absorb what they need for their lives. They listen and then use it.” Leboff explains that he and William discussed his fear of ‘big boys’ on the street. They then ‘catastrophised’ the event; Leboff got William to imagine the very worst that could happen (ie a big boy threatening or hitting William) and then they looked at what had ever actually happened and William realized that no big boy had ever shouted at him, indeed the one time he had any direct interaction with a teenager on the street, he’d asked to get past and larger boy had politely moved out of the way. Gary concentrated with William on all his good ‘strong’ points, asking him to write a list of all his best bits.
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A B S O L U T E LY E D U C AT I O N
They then gave a name to the big scary boy and listed his qualities too. Gary also asked William who his favourite superhero was. William chose The Hulk because he was big, muscular and strong. It doesn’t take a huge leap of understanding to see how Gary’s work – if given more time - would build up William’s strong sense of himself, whilst reducing the anxiety about these imaginary bad boys. It is often the case that in order for Gary to make headway with a child, he will need to involve their parents, too. He tells me the story of a 9-yearold London girl whose parents were trying to get her into a top private school. She was very low on selfconfidence and concerned about the upcoming entrance exams. Leboff quickly identified that the source of the girl’s stress and low-self esteem was coming from her mother who was a member of a competitive Kensington mother’s group who spent all their time comparing their children, and she was transferring that stress to her daughter. “So I immediately said to mum, we must get you on board as well.” Gary discovered that the child - let’s call her Francesca - was a magnificent skier. So Gary got her to visualise herself at the top of a slope where she felt at her most powerful, energised and happiest. He then got Francesca to stand and imagine herself in that state.
Gary’s vast experience with sporting stars allows him to relate directly to children
And then Gary asked Francesca to think about her upcoming exams whilst inhabiting this other, incontrol ‘happy’ character. Together they then drew this character, gave it an identity and Francesca was increasingly invited to step into that character. Soon she began to ‘step into’ that character on her own. After a while of practising something like that, says Gary “you get to be a certain way, it changes you”. Gary then went to work on Francesca’s mother. Gary asked her to imagine what was the very worst that could happen? The worst thing for Francesca’s mother was her daughter not getting into the school of her (the mother’s) dreams and having to listen to all the other mothers crowing about their daughters getting in. Gary then got her to work out that the actual likelihood of that happening was about 2%. By dissecting the mother’s anxiety and
decreasing it, she was able to relax. “So her daughter relaxed,” says Gary, “and she sailed into the school.” HPE has nothing but glowing words for Gary, and their website is littered with slavish praise from parents. As Stadlen says: “Gary provides children with the mental tools and skills so that they are able to realise their full potential in high pressure situations – for instance: exams, sport and music performance – as well as to enhance their general feelings of confidence and self-belief” Gary puts it more simply. “Working with children now means the most to me – much more than sports psychology.”
u An hour's confidence coaching with Gary Leboff costs £200. For more information or to book contact Holland Park Education, 020 7034 0800 www.hollandparkeducation.com
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15/09/2014 15:13
24/09/2014 18:05
A B S O L U T E LY E D U C AT I O N
TALKING HEAD
Ben Vessey is starting his second year as headmaster at Canford School in Dorset
W
hat is education? According to the dictionary, ‘Education is the wealth of knowledge acquired by an individual after studying particular subject matters or experiencing life lessons that provide an understanding of something.’ Rather a sterile perception, I think – it gives no insight into the true value of a meaningful education and the power it offers to transform lives and the wider world. But sadly it is an interpretation that many educational policy-makers seem happy to follow. At Canford, we aim for individual excellence in all that we do. We get brilliant exam results (61 pupils with Oxbridge offers in the past five years) – yet education is more than simply exam results. For a more invigorating and holistic insight, look back almost three millennia to Plato. He saw the need for differing educational requirements associated with various life stages. It is a model for what we today describe as ‘lifelong education’. Entwined with the dramatic increase in accessibility
of education via the technological revolution, it is this model which is perhaps placing our current educational structure under the most pressure and has prompted deep soul-searching as to what an ‘education’ should look like in the future. A broad educational experience lays firm foundations and this may be achieved not only through formal, subject-based academic study – but also through myriad off-piste intellectual experiences which inspire curiosity and engagement. I want pupils to learn the connections between all aspects of an on-going educational experience which is not defined by an institution. I want them to be able to collate and articulate their own learning and experience and relate it their own development and to the opportunities and challenges of life. At Canford, pupils reach for the highest levels, break boundaries and achieve beyond what they thought they were capable of. Sport, music, drama, community service and CCF are among co-curricular experiences you will hear offered at every independent school. Through the extra dimensions our pupils are offered, we hope they will make the right choices about their working and personal lives. Our current and future young people are more likely to consider higher education abroad at some point. They are more likely to re-engage with relevant formal educational development throughout their lives. They are more likely to consider entering the workplace straight from school and are likely to have three, four or more varied careers in very different sectors dotted around the globe. Many will work for themselves. In essence they will need to be career chameleons with a global outlook. Through our careers mentoring programmes and emerging work
We have myriad off-piste intellectual experiences to inspire curiosity and engagement experience programme at Canford, I believe we can make a real difference in providing insights, opening doors and challenging preconceptions. Ensuring that independent schools remain dynamic, relevant and stimulating learning environments is vital. We must endeavour to ensure the young people we educate have the insight and versatility to follow their favoured paths. At Canford we strive to create a coherent and connected experience which will equip them with the best possible academic results, underpinned by an ingrained sense of intellectual engagement.They should have the confidence, the insight and the skills for the best chance of making their dreams a reality. For me, that is education.
Ben Vessey ◆ Headmaster, Canford School
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22/09/2014 15:41
A B S O L U T E LY E D U C AT I O N
Best Books on the
FIRST WORLD WAR By Julia Eccleshare Children’s Books Editorial Expert for Lovereading4kids
T
he First World War shaped the world we live in and affected the lives of every person in the country. Its legacy has been handed down through personal memories of those who fought and those who were left behind. For most, understanding the realities of such a terrible war can best be captured in fiction, nonfiction and even in illustrations.
Fortunately, enough first hand evidence remains, including the famous war poems of Wilfred Owen and Siegfried Sassoon, to give the writers and poets who have come after the chance to give fresh insights into war, including the many individual acts of exceptional humanity. The result is spellbinding stories for all ages which bring alive the past and ensure those who sacrificed their lives will never be forgotten.
must read
9+
SEE INSIDE THE FIRST WORLD WAR
STAY WHERE YOU ARE & THEN LEAVE
Usborne Flap Book
John Boyne D a vi d Fi c kl i ng B o o k s
P
owerful illustrations, each revealing more as you lift the flaps, give young readers a powerful introduction into how it might have felt to be fighting in the First World War. Eight double page spreads show life in the trenches, early warfare in the air as well as the vital battle fought at sea.
ward-winning Boyne tells a touching story of a little boy trying to make life easier for his mother after his father has signed up to be a soldier. Gradually Alfie uncovers the truth about his father’s whereabouts and so reveals the terrible cost of the war.
9+
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ARCHIE’S WAR
WAR HORSE
Marcia Williams Wa l ke r
Michael Morpurgo Egm o n t
ow the First World War felt to a schoolboy is recorded on this delightfully personal scrapbook. Archie is ten when the war breaks out. He has an uncle serving in France from whose letters he gets glimpses of what the fighting is like. But he also captures what the war felt like to those left at home in his collection of postcards, newspaper cuttings and family photographs.
ormer Children’s Laureate Michael Morpurgo’s classic story of the war as told in the voice of Joey, a young farm horse sent out to the Western Front to play his part in the conflict. Joey serves in the British cavalry from where he sees at first hand all the anguish of the campaign and the horror of the frontline. The result is a deeply moving story that has also been brilliantly adapted for the stage.
A
7+
War Game Michael Foreman Pavilion
Signing up seems the right thing to do for a group of football-mad schoolboy friends. Everyone says the war will soon be over. But the boys are unprepared for the horror of life in the trenches – or for the game of football played between the British and German soldiers at Christmas. Michael Foreman’s brilliant illustrations bring this historic event vividly to life.
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F
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Promotion
A WINNING COMBINATION layesmore Prep and Senior offer outstanding boarding and day education in an idyllic Dorset setting. The school aims to develop the unique gifts of every girl and boy, encourage an enduring love of learning and build the confidence to adapt to an everchanging world. According to The Good Schools Guide, there’s ‘never a dull moment’ at Clayesmore Prep and small classes with individual attention ensure speedy progress. Opportunities for sport, music and drama, coupled with endless activities, mean your child’s days at Clayesmore really can be the happiest of their lives.
C
Clayesmore’s ‘all through’ provision means pupils are soothed by familiarity when they step up to senior school and siblings can go to school together – a real advantage for busy parents. The Senior School, deemed ‘excellent’ across the board following a recent ISI inspection, buzzes with activity, both in and out of the classroom. Academic results are impressive at all levels and the learning support department offers individual attention and effective study skills – in fact The Good Schools Guide describes Clayesmore as ‘caring, happy and successful across all ability levels’. When you add welcoming boarding accommodation and nurturing pastoral care
to the mix, it’s clear that Clayesmore offers a winning combination. But it doesn’t stop there: a £2.8m Business School and girls’ boarding house were recently completed and there are even more Sixth Form subjects on offer. So with more opportunities, more space and more sixth formers getting into their chosen universities, Clayesmore is perfect for children of all ages.
Clayesmore Clayes for your child Just call to arrange a visit at any time to find out more about our outstanding boarding and day education. Or meet the Headmaster and our new Head of Prep at the Independent Schools Show in London on 8-9 November 2014.
Prep 01747 813155 Senior 01747 812122 www.clayesmore.com
“Caring, happy and successful across all ability levels” - The Good Schools Guide
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A B S O L U T E LY E D U C AT I O N
9+
11+
14+
9+
FRIGHTFUL FIRST WORLD WAR
THE SILVER DONKEY
PRIVATE PEACEFUL
THE FORESHADOWING
Terry Deary and Martin Brown Schol a st ic
Sonya Hartnett Walk er
Michael Morpurgo Ha rp e rC o l l i n s
erry Deary has an exceptional gift for making even the most horrible events entertaining. Masses of familiar and obscure facts are packed into his easy to read text which is brilliantly illustrated in Martin Brown’s cartoons. Despite Deary’s light touch he never obscures or trivialises the reality of war.
truggling to get home from the war, a blind soldier is found by two children whom he entertains with stories. But the stories the soldier tells are not directly ones about war; they all connect to the tiny silver donkey he carries in his pocket. Each beautifully told tale has a quietly made point as the soldier reflects on the war.
or some soldiers, their experiences were unendurable. Here the tragedy of a soldier who has deserted unfolds. As he waits to be executed, the soldier recounts some of the terrible things he has seen and the sadness this provokes in him. It is a story about
Marcus Sedgwick O ri o n ne girl’s gift for seeing into the future brings her nothing but dread as her brothers go off to fight on the battlefields of the Somme. Few believe in Sasha’s visions as attitudes to the war remain steadfastly optimistic. How can Sasha convince her family about what she knows?
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S
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friendship and loyalty.
11+
11+
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POEMS FROM THE FIRST WORLD WAR
LINE OF FIRE
REMEMBRANCE
Tanslated by Sarah Ardizzone, Phoenix Yard Books Barroux
Teresa Breslin D o u b l e day
in association with Imperial War Museum, Macmillan G aby Morga n (selector)
A
thoughtful collection of poems reflecting the impact of the conflict on everyone. Well-known poems by soldiers including Wilfred Owen, Rupert Brooke and Siegfried Sassoon are well-matched by poems written by those left at home and by others, including nurses, who were serving in different ways. The poems chart the enormous range of emotions the war engendered from initial optimism to total despair.
T
his diary of an unknown French soldier tells of his experiences in the very early days of the fighting at the Front. Told as a matter-of-fact catalogue of events, it records the strange journey from normal civilian life into the life of a solder with all the hardship that brings. Through Barroux’s wonderful illustrations readers emphasise absolutely with the soldier’s experience.
O
the events of ww1 have resulted in spellbinding stories for all ages
F
or a group of young people growing up in Scotland, the war is physically a long way away. But the effect of it is felt in their small town as every family waits for news from the Front or struggles with their conscience about the justice of the fight. Teresa Breslin paints a powerful picture of living at home through the First World War and the lives of ordinary people caught up in the war machine in this carefully researched work.
Julia E ccleshare ◆ For guidance on children’s books visit
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A B S O L U T E LY E D U C AT I O N
Bye Bye
BRITAIN Our private schools attract pupils from around the world. But what about the Brits who board abroad? Janette Wallis investigates
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T
he excellence of Britain’s best boarding schools attracts children from the four corners of the world. Why then are some pioneering British parents starting to look elsewhere? Is it just perversity ... or is there something deeper? Forget the antiquated idea of the Swiss finishing school. “Parents aren’t precisely spoilt for choice once off UK or US shores, but most of the boarding schools abroad that people would bother with are superb, and no longer for the thick rich”, says Harriet Plyler who runs the Good Schools Guide International (www.gsgi.co.uk). “They have a lot to offer the 21st century global family.” Costs can be a big factor in looking beyond the white cliffs of Dover. A blue chip boarding school in the UK will charge close to £11,000 per term. Hilton College in South Africa, nestled on a 4,350 acre estate that includes a 1,400 acre wildlife reserve, charges roughly that amount per year. Some overseas boarding schools charge even less. Climate – and the possibilities that warmer (or colder) weather brings – is another pull. “Swiss boarding schools these days tend to attract kids who want lots of healthy outdoor life, probably to wear out their hormones!” says Harriet Plyler. All children at Geelong Grammar School in Australia spend year 9 (roughly age 14) roughing it at the school’s Timbertop campus in “the foothills of the Victorian Alps”. The menu there is full on outdoor education, physical challenge and resilience, alongside standard academics.
Right Hilton college in South Africa charges only £11,000 a year, nearly a third of some top British boarding schools
Cost can be a big factor in looking beyond the white cliffs of Dover
Hopes of being the next Andy Murray also drive families abroad. Tennis academies in Spain, Florida and other warmish countries attract British school-age players, ready to put all their balls in the tennis basket. Proximity to the slopes attracts competitive skiers to Switzerland and Canada. Richard McDonald, head of Aiglon College, says that around 10 per cent of his pupils have British passports but few have parents based in the UK. “Some are children of staff, others live locally. But we do have some British children who are competitive skiers – we provide a highly developed outdoor
education which appeals to families who want their children to have an outward bound, active experience. A few parents are also looking for high levels of security.” Producing global citizens also appeals, according to Anne Miller, director of admissions at the Madeira School, a girls’ boarding school in the USA. “Our 10 mile proximity to Washington, DC allows us to use the DC area as a classroom – all girls are required to participate in internships in the city for three of their four years. This same proximity to Washington allows families from the
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UK to fly easily into any of the three Washington DC airports.” “We see more parents beginning to think about the international dimension,” says Mr McDonald. “They want their children to have an international network, not be turned into little Englishmen.” Often, the parents of British children boarding abroad will have a connection with the country where the school is located. One parent may originate there, or the family may have lived there during a work posting and decided to let the child stay on. The desire for a child to get to know his or her roots, or to learn their parents’ language can also be alluring. A few families look abroad for more specialist reasons. “Some boarding schools in Nigeria and elsewhere are recruiting black British students from families who want to help their kids out of housing estates and poor local state schools by sending them to private, affordable boarding schools in Africa”, notes international schools consultant, Mary Langford. Therapeutic boarding schools aimed at helping troubled teens is an educational niche that has not yet caught on in the UK. But it’s a booming market in the States, attracting parents from around the world including the UK. British public schools have themselves caught the global bug, opening satellite campuses far and wide. Harrow was first, opening its partner school in Bangkok in 1998, and since then Dulwich College, Wellington College, Haileybury College, Brighton College, Repton, Shrewsbury, Marlborough and North London Collegiate have spread wings abroad. Some of these offshoots, like Dulwich College’s whopping seven international schools, are day-only. Others, like Wellington’s namesake in Tianjin (and its soon-to-be-opened school in Shanghai) offer boarding and frequent pupil and teacher exchanges with the UK. “Fostering an international outlook is not just an attractive luxury, we regard it as entirely essential in a world where the centres of economic, political and
Often, the parents of children boarding abroad will have a connection with the country where the school is located
Above Harrow was the first british public school to start an international school, opening Harrow in Bangkok, Thailand in 1998
cultural power are shifting so rapidly,” says Jane Lunnon, Wellington’s deputy head. So what should a parent considering the Great Abroad do? Glossy marketing, beautiful websites and promising names won’t tell you the whole story. Parents will probably steer clear of a school calling itself Miss Zsa Zsa’s Academy for Little English Lambs, but a Google search will reveal a glut of “British International” schools – no one owns a copyright on those words. Parents may gain some reassurance through the launch of the Department for Education’s new British Schools Overseas (BSO) inspection programme. Seven agencies have been authorised to perform “accreditation against standards
similar to independent schools operating in Britain”, complete with published inspection reports that show how well individual British schools abroad measure up against British standards. Still, for most British youngsters, university provides the first, best opportunity of studying abroad. The British Council reports a big increase in UK students choosing to earn their degrees overseas. Uni in the USA, a British guide to American universities written by students, has sold out three printings. And if a degree abroad is too big a step, most British universities allow anything from a term to a year overseas. Some programmes, like many language degrees or Exeter’s ‘English with a Year in North America’, include a compulsory stint of study abroad. Nottingham University now has campuses in China and Malaysia and students at its UK campus can spend up to a year at one of the others. The Erasmus Programme, an EU-funded student exchange, enables students to spend from a term up to a year at a university in Europe. Applicants are eligible for a grant of between E275 and E375 a month, and if you go for a full academic year you will pay no university fees at all for the whole year. What could be easier?
Jan ette Wallis ◆ Senior editor of The Good Schools Guide. www.goodschoolsguide.co.uk ◆ For more information on studying abroad check out. www.gsgi.co.uk www.uniintheusa.com
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Portraits Leanne Dixon
GRAY AREA
A. C. Grayling’s New College of the Humanities opened in 2012 amid huge controversy. He tells Alexandra Jones why he thinks NCH represents the future of higher education.
I
n her introduction to the Penguin edition of the Walter Trevis classic The Queen’s Gambit, Lionel Shriver points out that "one of the greatest achievements of a good novel is its ability to draw you into an alien world in which you did not realize you were interested". In the case of The Queen’s Gambit, this is chess. Boy, does Trevis make chess seem interesting. Speaking to philosopher A. C Grayling, who has a particularly mesmeric way of imparting knowledge, is a little like this. I suspected that this might be the case after reading a couple of his books and discovering a latent interest in philosophy (he was once quoted as saying that his greatest achievement was that he had 'opened up the great philosophical treasure chest and made it available to a wider readership’). But then, books can have that effect even when the authors do not. This author did. If I were asked to quantify this ability I’d do it like this: one part his voice, which has a particularly listenable, Radio 4 cadence; one part the quality of his arguments, which are fluid and well formed; one part, an attentive way of being questioned. He often ‘unpacks’ my questions, that is to say, addresses a number of nuances; this I can tell is a form of flattery (some questions really
don’t deserve that much attention), but it’s engaging nevertheless. Physically, he has the presence of the master of a college; he is tall, imposing even, though sufficiently crinkle-eyed and smiley, so as not to be intimidating. He is dressed in a sharp blue suit and crisp white shirt, not a hint of the madprofessor. Put simply: he gives good interview. Anthony Clifford Grayling was born in (what is now) Zambia in 1949, the youngest of three children. His father was a banker and the family lived as part of an expatriate community, a life beloved by his father and loathed by his mother. ‘We were living in a kind of exile; we’d get an airmailed edition of The Times two or three days late, that’s how long it would take to find its way to those dark interior places. And my mother would say, ‘Ooh, look what we’re missing at the West End.’ So I used to think, ‘The minute I can get out of here, I’m off to London.’’ And off to London he went at the age of 18. After undertaking two undergraduate degrees (one at Sussex University and the other as an external student at University of London), he continued to climb the academic ladder, completing an MA at Sussex, then a doctorate at Magdalen College, Oxford. He stayed at Oxford, lecturing at St. Anne’s College, until 1991. He then moved to Birkbeck where he
A lot of people thought I'd gone over to the dark side
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would eventually become a Professor of Philosophy, before resigning in 2011 to found the New College of the Humanities. And it is this newest role, at this newest of institutions, that we are here to discuss. Now on the cusp of its third intake of students, the New College of the Humanities (NCH) was co-founded by Grayling and Matthew Batstone, and opened in 2012. ‘One motivation was to
This more demanding model of education is producing first- rate humanities scholars
offer a richer, more demanding, model in higher education,’ explains Grayling, cup of tea in hand, from his bright, book-lined office. And certainly NCH’s USP has proven to be its exceptionally rigorous courses. As well as their BA, which is awarded through the University of London (NCH has yet to gain university status), students are expected to study the college’s three ‘core’ subjects of Applied Ethics, Logic & Critical Thinking and Science Literacy, and ‘minor’ in a secondary (complementary) BA subject. This is supplemented by more contact hours than at most universities (with at least one hour of one-onone tutoring time per week) as well as markedly smaller class sizes. Of course Grayling is effusive about this style of tertiary learning (‘At many places [students] don’t get enough of the demanding stuff, where they’re asked questions or pushed on a topic by their tutors’) but, it seems, so are the
students. When I catch up, a week later, with third year Josh Dell, he explains it like this: ‘At NCH your voice is heard at every moment. In lectures there’re a maximum of 15 people so you can have an ongoing discussion with the lecturer. You’re not just listening to someone, you have the opportunity to ask questions, to really comprehend stuff.’ By all accounts, this more demanding model of education is producing first-rate humanities scholars. But given that its fees are £17,814 per annum, NCH needs for this to be the case. I had gone into the interview feeling not exactly cynical but certainly not convinced. The problem is this: if we agree that NCH is sufficiently superior to warrant double the fees of other institutions, then what NCH is offering is a superior education only to those who can afford it. ‘Welcome to Doshbridge’, screamed a headline in The Sunday Times, while in 2011 a number of Grayling’s former 59
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colleagues from Birkbeck signed an open letter (published in the Guardian) decrying his efforts: ‘NCH is at the vanguard of the coalition’s assault on public education.’ ‘It was a kind of paradox,’ Grayling says quietly, ‘because my politics...have always been on the left. A lot of people thought that I had betrayed those principles, that I’d gone over to the dark side.’ The criticism that he faced was fierce and, I imagine, difficult to handle. ‘Yes, I was quite hurt by some of the personal vilification. There were some beastly things said…’ (Addressing the furore, the Independent last year ran a piece entitled ‘A. C. Grayling: Whatever happened to the most hated man in academia?’) ‘What really surprised, and kind of upset me, was the ignorance that my colleagues had about their own institutions. They said – shocked – ‘you’re starting a private fee paying institution!’ But, I mean, Oxford University, UCL, they’re private institutions…no university in the country is publicly owned…they all charge fees, they all engage in commercial activity. UCL owns 11 or 12 companies, the most successful of
which manufactures socks. They sell millions of pairs every year, because footballers like them.’ Though Grayling concedes that the vilification wasn’t wholly unfounded (‘I actually agree with the motivation’), he is adamant that we’re living in a period where a ‘£9.99, supermarket price’, has been put on university education. ‘In the next five years you’re going to see…some of the very top universities in this country cut their chord from government…’ And indeed, last year Professor Andrew Hamilton, the vice-chancellor of Oxford University, suggested that fees needed to be raised to better reflect the cost of educating an undergraduate. He had in mind £16,000 a year. Grayling nods gravely, ‘Yes, well, it’s in the public domain that at Cambridge the £9,000 fee is half what it costs them to educate undergraduates. And they subsidise undergraduate teaching to the tune of £60million a year, that is the figure told to me by [Leszek] Borysiewicz, the vice-chancellor. It is unsustainable for them to [keep taking undergraduates]; the only way they can is if they charge the kind of fees that Eton charge.’ His proposed solution is to follow the Americans in adopting an endowment model. Currently around a third of students at NCH are given full or partial scholarships that cover the costs of tuition and living. ‘My ideal would be to have a means-blind system, based solely on academic merit,’ says Grayling. ‘This was my motivation in setting up a new institution: let’s make it incredibly good so that people will support it, through donations to the Trust. Harvard has $30billion of endowment. When I’ve got $30billion you can all come forever for free and it’ll be brilliant. Harvard started in two small cottages on a swampy site in Cambridge, Massachusetts in 1636 and I’m in a mansion in Bedford Square in 2014. In 400 years what will we have achieved?’ His intentions are unarguably good, and it is clear that his ideal system would mean that anyone, from anywhere could come to the college. Still, though, affordability is a nagging question. Bear in mind that students
are not yet eligible for government loans; putting myself in the scenario, even if I had been offered a reduced fee, could I have afforded to feed and house myself in London? No. Having said that, it is clear that students who currently attend don't feel short-changed by NCH. They are taught in a beautiful building in central London, they are offered unrivalled support and stimulation and they are continually challenged to be better, to think more. For the right type of student, this would be an incredibly inspiring environment. And perhaps, if the current trend continues, questions of affordability will become defunct in a future where everywhere is just as expensive as everywhere else. ‘Already in our first few years we’ve had a fantastic response from big City law firms, from banks and big consultancies who are interested in our students,’ Grayling tells me when I ask what a degree from NCH means, fiscally. ‘We get very good internships. From the Oscar Wilde perspective – ‘knowing the cost of everything and the value of nothing’ – we’re very good.’ If I were being completely honest, he won me over. Money aside, NCH does look like a rigorous and challenging environment in which to study the humanities. Much as Shriver said of The Queen’s Gambit, Grayling and the college have that certain magical quality of drawing you into worlds you never knew you’d be interested in. Just being there for a morning, leaves me certain that I would have loved to study there – if I’d had the chance to go. nchum.org
A lex an dr a Jon es ◆ Freelance journalist
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CREATING A BUZZ
Honeybees are having a tough time of it, but as Christopher Middleton discovers, some of our public schools are doing their bit for bees
B
ees aren't having it easy in Britain. As if it wasn’t bad enough, having lost 97 per cent of wildflower meadows over the past 80 years, a combination of bad weather, pesticide use and a nasty little mite called the Varroa reduced the amount of honey produced by 75 per cent in 2012. That’s the bad news. The good news is that 2013 figures saw an increase, although the British Beekeepers Association say honey volumes are still nearly 40 per cent down on what they were 20 years ago. No doubt about it, then, bees need help from wherever they can get it, and in recent years, a small swarm of independent schools have rallied to the cause. You might think Health and Safety Officers would have something to say, about having 40,000, stingbearing insects sharing premises with schoolchildren. Not that this is a problem at Walhampton School, a prep school for 2-13-year-olds near Lymington, in Hampshire. “We are lucky enough to be in 100
acres of grounds, in the New Forest, looking out across to the Isle of Wight”, says the school's marketing director Becky Williams. “Which means we can put our three hives in a nice, quiet area that is relatively out of the way.” Meanwhile, at 950-pupil Kimbolton School, a co-ed near Huntingdon, in Cambridgeshire, the bees live in full view of everyone, in the courtyard of the school’s science block. “Pupils can watch from a nice, safe distance, inside a glazed corridor,” says Anne Rushton, who as well as teaching modern languages, is also the school’s resident apiarist. “As you can imagine, though, we only allow those pupils who are trained to work with the bees to go near the hives. No one is just allowed to go out there willy-nilly.” At Yarm School, near Stockton-onTees, beekeeping is an off-site activity, “I'm trying to get the bees back onto school grounds, but for the moment, we have a couple of hives on a nearby farm”, says master-in-charge-of bees Stuart Hardy. “We made a plea to our Parent Teachers Association, and got some money to buy some beekeeping suits. Plus a couple of flatpack hives which we put together ourselves; we then stocked those hives with a couple of swarms which came right to the site. “I'm very fond of bees, but it's amazing how many misconceptions there are about them. Half the time, when children see a honey bee these days, they go 'Oh look, a wasp'. “Once they've been around the hives for a while, though, pupils get to understand what bees do for us, in
Bedales has even devised a whole beekeeping curriculum terms not just of honey, but of their pollination work.” Indeed, it seems the term ‘worker bee’ is a 100 per cent accurate job description. According to the British Beekeeping Association, some 70 different UK crops depend on bees for pollination. Estimated value of this service? Some £200 million per year. That said, the winged labour force has diminished greatly over the past 70 years. At the end of World War Two, there were some 400,000 bee colonies in Britain, and 80,000 beekeepers. Today, it is estimated there are 210-275,000 colonies, and 40-46,000 beekeepers. So concerned is the Department of the Environment that it has called for an urgent review of bee health. While accepting that bees' lives aren't long ones (a worker may only live for 30 days), both farmers and civil servants are worried abut the reduction in the population. This in addition to the inevitable, natural losses that occur in a hive over the winter period (up to 30 per cent of the hive can die). “When spring comes round, and the time comes to open up the hives, we always do so with crossed fingers”,
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says Anne Rushton. “This year, we'll be especially nervous, as we are very aware that this is a species which is having a tough time. “That said, you have to approach the hives with care, at any time of year. We never open them up when the weather is wet and cold, because the bees get very tetchy in bad weather. “They get particularly cross in thunderstorms, and what they dislike the most, is having their hive sited next to power lines. It's not hard to tell when they're in a bad mood, either. You can't mistake the sound of 80.000 angry bees!” As well as learning to pick up on bees' moods, though, pupils who look after the hives get a fascinating insight into how bees co-operate. “We've studied the way in which bees navigate their way towards the pollen, and how they gauge where they are from the position of the sun”, says Stuart Hardy. “What's amazing is how they then pass on this information to their fellow bees, in this wonderful, little figure-of-eight dance. “And when giving their directions, they even make allowances for the movement of the sun throughout the day.” At Bedales School, ner Petersfield, in Hampshire, head of outdoor education Peter Coates has even devised a whole beekeeping curriculum, with his young apiarists being marked both on their coursework and their knowledge. But it's not just information that beekeeping imparts, says Coates - it’s confidence.
Above Students learn the art of beekeeping at Walhampton School
“Even when you’re wearing the protective clothing, you still need to be calm and collected when you're around the hives, ” he says. “Once you get flustered and frightened, you can't do the work. There are members of staff, for example, who have been stung once, and won't come back.” Plus, of course, as well as acquiring a certain sang-froid under pressure, and a glimpse into the world of queen bees and their retinue of attendants, young beekeepers also get one other reward. Honey. And each school produces a slightly different flavour, depending on the kind of plants and flowers - or even fruits – that they pollinate.. At Bedales, for example, the grounds are full of apple trees, at Walhampton it's wall-to-wall lavender, and at Yarm, the flavour du jour is either lime (there are scores of lime trees) or rapeseed, which makes for a beautifully clear, runny honey. “Our bees will travel three miles in any direction, and go for absolutely anything in flower,” says Anne Rushton, whose pupils incorporate beekeeping into their Duke of Edinburgh awards projects. “They usually go out and do their foraging at around midday, and as beekeeping is a lunchtime club, that gives us the
opportunity to work on the hives while they're out. Very handy, really!” And just as human motorists clock up food miles, so bees put in a lot of honey miles: it’s estimated that each jar of honey requires some 40,000 miles’ worth of flying time. “We are very aware of this, which means that all the 60 jars of honey we produce per year, are given out as prizes,” says Becky Williams. “When you are presented with a jar of Walhampton honey, you know you have done something to be really proud of!” The British Beekeeping Association Website is full of information and lesson ideas for schools, www.bbka.org.uk.
Christopher middleton ◆ An award-winning freelance journalist
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Q& A
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What made you launch the Independent Schools Show? v A chance encounter with my old school in 2006, coupled with knowledge of exhibition organising. At the time I thought there was a real lack of information for families to choose the right school for their child based on his or her characteristics and strengths. It was all too much about league tables and the prospectuses all seemed to say the same thing. I also have a strong belief in the power of face-to-face conversation.
60 SECONDS
With
D av i d W e l l e s l e y W e s l e y founder of the Independent Schools Show
How does ISS help potential parents make their decision? v In the Education Theatre we stage talks designed to be of maximum value for parents, whether they are old hands or completely new to the UK private school system. The ‘Wise Heads’ area provides free, independent and impartial advice for parents on all matter of concerns and representatives from the 200 exhibiting schools are all there for parents to discuss and consider. You can have all your questions answered in a two-hour visit. What was your experience of schooling? v I first went to the Mall school in Twickenham then Ashdown House at eight-years old and then The Kings School Canterbury and I loved them all. I don’t think London is the best place for teenagers, so I strongly believe in weekly boarding at that stage. At boarding school you can fit vast amounts into a school day, surrounded by your best friends, nurturing your interests, confidence and imagination.
The responsibility of finding the right school for your child is terrifying
What will be the next big education trends? v Hopefully school curricula will start to take more account of the international world in which we live, for example, by introducing study plans that address this. There will be more teaching in the round - teaching smaller groups with far more student-teacher interaction. The idea of vertical classrooms (bringing together different year groups for lessons) is still pretty left field but there is likely to be an increase in the student-student teaching and mentoring (peer-peer learning) that many schools are already encouraging. There will also be an increase in 'super-curriculum' work in public school sixth forms and non-examined courses of study for university preparation. What do you hope parents will take away from a day at ISS? v Hopefully they will find the perfect school for them! Or at the very least some attractive solutions to the crazy competition for places in London and an understanding of the vast variation in school choice; the different curricula and varying ethos etc. Education is the greatest gift, but the responsibility of finding the right school for your child is terrifying. It’s too important to get it wrong. A visit to the Independent Schools Show is a significant step towards making the right choice.
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