ABSOLUTELY EDUCATION PREP & PRE-PREP • SPRING 2019
ABSOLUTELY
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P &EP E PR -PR E PR
THINK
LEFT
Helping a left hander to thrive
STEM heroes
Games to inspire young scientists
JOIN A
CLUB
Happy
A parents’ guide to youth organisations
WWW.ZEST.LONDON
PLACES EARLY YEARS & PREP SCHOOLS TO BRING OUT THE BEST IN YOUR CHILD
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SPRING 2019
CO N T E N TS upfront
14 WHAT'S ON
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Fun family events for spring
16 SCHOOL NEWS
Out and about in the world of education
20 BACK TO THE FUTURE The 400th birthday of Dulwich College
24 SUPERHERO SCIENCE Old-school games to inspire young people to dream of a science career
29 STAGE CRAFT
A brilliant scheme to bring drama into schools
33 NEWS ROUND
Engaging children in current affairs
pre-Prep
38 LEFT BEHIND
What does being left-handed mean for a child's development? Absolutely Education investigates
43 ACTION STATIONS
Why active learning is great news for boys
45 TAKE IT OUTSIDE
Sandpits and secret gardens for young learners
Prep
48 11 YEARS OF 11+
Expert advice on tutoring children for the 11+
50 WRITE ON?
How important is penmanship in a computer age? Our experts decide
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57 CONFIDENCE BUILDING
How lessons both inside and outside the classroom are the key to building confidence in children
65 A WIDER OUTLOOK
Parenting tips from an expert for building a growth mindset in your child 6
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EDITOR
Libby Norman EDUC ATION GROUP EDITOR
Amanda Constance
M AGA ZINE M A NAGER
Donna McCafferty
GROUP A DV ERTISING M A NAGER
Nicola Owens
SA L ES DIR ECTOR
Craig Davies
DIGITA L STR ATEGY DIR ECTOR
Leah Day
A RT DIR ECTOR
Phil Couzens
SENIOR DESIGNER
Pawel Kuba
MID-W EIGHT DESIGNER
Rebecca Noonan DESIGNER
Catherine Perkins M A R K ETING M A NAGER
Lucie Pearce
FINA NCE DIR ECTOR
Jerrie Koleci DIR ECTOR S
Greg Hughes, Alexandra Hunter, James Fuschillo PUBL ISHING DIR ECTOR
Sherif Shaltout
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S c h o o l’ s O u t
70 JOIN THE CLUB
A parents' guide to youth organisations and the fantastic adventures they offer
76 SPRING BOOKS Great reads for spring
ABSOLUTELY-EDUCATION.CO.UK
84 AICHA MCKENZIE
LEFT
Helping a left hander to thrive
JOIN A
Happy
WWW.ZEST.LONDON
98 SUGAR CRUSH
STEM heroes
Games to inspire young scientists
CLUB
90 PARK LIFE
Now that sugar is public health enemy number one, how do we control the cravings?
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The former Team GB gymnast who found her athletic feet at Putney High School
The fairytale theme park in the Netherlands that parents really should know about
ABSOLUTELY
ABSOLUTELY EDUCATION PREP & PRE-PREP • SPRING 2019
80 ROYAL BATTLE
One parent of three boys gets to grips with the craze for Fortnite
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A parents’ guide to youth organisations
PLACES EARLY YEARS & PREP SCHOOLS TO BRING OUT THE BEST IN YOUR CHILD
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F R O N T C OV E R The Study Prep, Wimbledon is a leading prep school for girls aged 4-11 thestudyprep.co.uk
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IS YOUR CHILD FUTURE READY?
CON T R IBU TOR S
Aicha McKenzie
> CREATIVITY & CODING CAMPS
Team GB gymnast, choreographer and wellness guru
FOR CHILDREN AGES 5-12+
The former British gymnast, dancer and choreographer – and now wellness guru – talks about how she found her athletic feet and her confidence to succeed at Putney High School
> THE FUTURE OF PERFORMANCE WITH CODE - MUSIC, DANCE, SPORTS, CIRCUS, FILM & PRODUCTION
Camilla Hood Founding director of The Parent Practice
Camilla Hood talks about the steps parents can take to nurture a growth mindset in their children, keep communication lines open and also help them to succeed – whatever their talents and career ambitions.
Will Orr-Ewing Founder and director of Keystone Tutors
Harrow- and Oxford-educated Will Orr-Ewing answers the questions parents typically ask about the 11+, and discusses how they can ensure their child (and their family life) maintains a steady course through the stress.
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Boys & Girls 3 - 11 years old Please join us for our special
Open Morning
Tuesday 26th March
to hear all about our future plans and get a sneak preview of the new building Book your place online today!
We are Confident, Creative and Kind 2019 will be an exciting year for the Lyceum as we move around the corner into our new five story building on Worship Street (EC2A).
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FROM THE
EDITOR
S
pring is always a time to look forward. With that in mind, we meet Katy Alexander’s The Remarkablz – old-school-games to inspire both girls and boys to see themselves in STEM careers (page 24), and review the National Theatre’s Let’s Play scheme to give original drama to primary schools (page 29). One of my biggest learning curves for this issue was researching left-handedness for Left Behind (page 39). Even today, there is a surprising amount of misinformation, and also a surprising amount to learn about how and why the brain favours left or right. Writing is one of the first issues that can challenge left-handers, but there seems to be unanimous support for the inherent value of developing penmanship skills from our panel of experts (page 50) – surely that's good news in a computer-driven age. If you are exercised about your child’s preference for screen over outdoor time, check out our guide to the major youth organisations (page 70). The sheer variety of skills and adventures on offer to young people makes them as relevant today as they ever were.
L I B BY N O R M A N Editor
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Up Front W H AT ’ S O N p . 14 • S U P E R H E R O S C I E N C E p . 2 4
A PUPIL AT SAINT CHRISTINA’S SCHOOL saintchristinas.org.uk
PHOTO: SIMON JONES FROM BONJOUR PHOTOGRAPHY
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W H AT ’ S ON Our pick of great family-friendly shows and events taking place this spring
3 CLASSIC FA M I LY S H OWS From a rapping octopus to a banyan tree, three classic shows to catch
The Boy and the Mermaid 2 March Little Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith
In a small fishing town a boy dreams of the ocean. Can his unlikely friendship save the town from disaster? A rapping octopus and original songs add up to a magical play. lyric.co.uk
Wind in the Willows Until 17 February Polka Theatre, Wimbledon
Editor’s Pick
Gardens at
When Mole heads to the riverbank, he has no idea of the adventures ahead. Last chance to catch this classic retold. polkatheatre.com
EDEN
Ongoing • Cornwall
The Eden Project has a variety of family-friendly events taking place throughout spring. Children can explore five continents in one day and pick up stamps for their passport with the Passport to the World event (16-24 Feb). Easter at Eden starts on 6 April, featuring a farmyard theme. Expect a Golden Egg Hunt and lots of outdoor games and activities. edenproject.com 14
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Three Sat Under the Banyan Tree 20th-23rd February • nationwide
In the foothills of the Himalayas, three refugees sit under a Banyan tree to read a magical book. This is the first UK stage adaptation of The Panchatantra. tara-arts.com
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Up Front
EVENTS
Imagine Children’s Festival 13-24 February, Southbank Centre
Manna for families looking for fun activities over half-term, Imagine returns to the Southbank Centre with a series of great shows and events, over half of which are free. From We’re Going on a Bear Hunt (with live soundtrack from the City of London Sinfonia) to puppets and dinosaurs in the Les Petits production of Captain Flinn: The Magic Cutlass, the shows are crowd pleasers. southbankcentre.co.uk
BABBLE BEDFORD
Squish
T
Various dates The Bedford, Balham
SPACE
ED Talk-style events at the iconic Bedford pub, Balham make a great meeting point. It has teamed up with Babble Talks to offer parents something to stimulate their minds – babies and toddlers welcome. The Bedford is also host to Screaming With Laughter, a daytime comedy club where children are welcome. A further bonus, the venue has a fast and fresh kid’s menu.
Ongoing
Barbican
or a multi sensory adventure, head to the Barbican’s new Squish Space. It offers a safe environment to experiment with versatile material, giving under 5s the freedom to redesign the space. In this playground for the senses, children and their families have the chance to connect through creative construction play. barbican.org.uk
F
thebedford.com
Gallery highlights
FAUSTO MELOTTI: COUNTERPOINT
G O O D G R I E F, C H A R LI E B ROW N !
RO C K ET BAC K PAC KS
A beautiful place to explore and easy to navigate – even with a buggy. Merlotti’s playful artworks inspired by the harmonies of maths and music are engaging and surprising. estorickcollection.com
Enjoy interactive installations including the Snoopy Cinema, complete with bean bags on a baseball pitcher’s mound. Children will adore the bright colours and life-size doggy cartoons. somersethouse.org.uk
Blast off into the Tate! Designed to encourage maximum engagement with the art in the Constellations display, the rocket backpacks are jampacked full of fun props and games. tate.org.uk
Until 7 April Estorick Collection
Until 3 March Somerset House
Ongoing Tate Liverpool
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SCHOO L N EWS Top Story
DOG THERAPY
MONEY M I L E STO N E Pupils, parents and staff at Beaudesert Park School in Gloucestershire are celebrating, having hit a massive £100,000 fundraising milestone. The school organises many initiatives to support good causes. Its annual Autumn Fair shopping event is the biggest fundraising event, and has been donating funds it raises to local charities since 2004.
NEW HEAD Joanna Wright will be the new head of King Edward’s Witley and principal of Bridewell Royal Hospital from September 2019. Currently deputy at St Peter’s School York, Wright says: “I feel privileged to take over the stewardship of King Edward’s, working with a dedicated team to fulfil the School’s future aspirations and ambitions". Her predecessor John Attwater becomes principal at King’s Ely.
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A head teacher’s pet has become the school's ‘pupil whisperer’. Selkie, 4, has been helping pupils at Bickley Park School with cynophobia (fear of dogs), as well as acting as a talking therapy provider for those who need extra support in difficult times. Head Patrick Wenham says: “She is a very calm, good natured dog who is happy to take on the role.”
Stormy Success
OPEN DOORS
Hazlegrove's Year 7 have taken on ‘The Tempest', delivering a stunning production in their first brush with the Bard.Head of drama Kimberley Arnold says: “Revenge, magic arts, love and blessings of marriage – as with most of Shakespeare’s plays, it has it all. The pupils embraced the challenge with such determination and professionalism.”
The Study Prep Wimbledon, which is located by Wimbledon Common, is to host its annual open morning on 9 March. The school for girls aged 4 to 11 is renowned for its caring, creative ethos and academic results. Last year saw a record number of senior school offers, and a record 39 scholarships awarded – beating the previous year’s record of 35.
G R OW I N G STRONG Falcons Prep in Richmond is adding Reception and Year 1. Headmistress Olivia Buchanan says: "We have been thinking about our school and the community it serves... for many parents, a Reception through to Year 8 pathway is the most attractive and we believe that we can offer a first-class education for boys from as young as four”.
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Up Front
NEWS
Role Models President of the Girls’ School Association Sue Hincks has called for public figures to remember that they are role models. She says: “More than ever, we need to work together to provide children with skills to enable them to navigate the 21st century.
HELPING HAND
Y O U N G S TA R T Gordonstoun Junior School will open a Year 1 class this autumn. Head Robert McVean says: “We've had many requests ... so we are very pleased to be expanding and creating a new Year 1 class. Our main aim is to encourage a love of learning and knowledge."
Talented Twins
Pupils at Bassett House School are helping out their community. The children, assisted by parents and staff, have organised a ‘hot water bottle network’. The aim is for hot water bottles to be distributed to local homeless people and to partner with businesses and organisations – including cafés, and churches – prepared to display a sign and then refill bottles for free.
St Benedict’s pupils, twin brothers George and Mark, have been accepted into the National Youth Boys’ Choir. The brothers are choristers in Ealing Abbey Choir, and sing in other choirs at St Benedict’s. They will attend two National Youth Choir residential courses later this year.
B u r s a r y S ch e m e Abercorn School’s bursary scholarship is available to all pupils entering Year 7 – including new and existing families at the school. Assessment is via a written exam in English and Maths as well as a taster day in class, individually arranged with each family. The school for girls and boys aged from 2 to 13 is located across three sites in Westminster.
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Prepared. To grow somewhere new.
Our new preparatory school opens in September 2020 Prince’s Gardens is a new independent preparatory school, in the heart of Kensington, for children aged 3 - 11 years. It will be a school where every one of our pupils is prepared to step out into the world with confidence, assurance and an open, inquisitive mind. To think for themselves whilst exploring their ideas and creativity. To develop not just all-round academic excellence, but the all important strength of character essential for success in our fast changing world. Call 020 7591 4620 or contact admissions@princesgardensprep.co.uk To reserve your place at our launch event, go to princesgardensprep.co.uk/event
Prepared for everything.
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Up Front
NEWS
E A R LY O F F E R
R AC I N G F O R M S Rose Hill’s racing prowess is a source of pride to both pupils and their families. RHS Motorsport was born in 2012. Since then, the garage at the Tunbridge Wells school has grown to accommodate two Goblins and one Formula 24 car. The club attracts boys and girls equally to build, repair and improve the cars. Last year RHS Motorsport attended ten race meets, – from HMS Excellent in Portsmouth right up to Ford’s technical centre in Essex.
Westonbirt is expanding its early years provision, offering all-year-round care from Easter and accepting children at age 2 from September 2019. The co-ed nursery and reception classes are located on the same campus as the prep and senior schools. Westonbirt is set in 210-acre grounds in the heart of the Cotswolds. Its early years curriculum includes swimming lessons, languages, phonics and numeracy, as well as lots of outdoor and extra-curricular activities.
NEW NURSERY TO P S C H O O L Kensington Prep School has been named ‘Independent Prep School of the Year’. At the Fulham Road GDST school for girls aged 4-11, classrooms have been transformed into dynamic learning spaces. Ultra-contemporary facilities include an immersive high-tech Explore Floor with multi-screens and moveable furniture. There’s also a multimedia recording studio on site and the grounds include an ecogreenhouse.
St James Preparatory School (formerly St James Junior) will extend its provision from September with the opening of a new nursery. The Kensington Olympia school has expanded into a building in Marcus Garvey Park, creating an open-plan space with free flow to the adventure playground and access to St James’ forest school. Head Catherine Thomlinson says: “The space is absolutely stunning”.
Top Story
NEW ADDRESS The Lyceum Prep School is on the move. Headmistress Hilary Wyatt says: “The Lyceum’s heart has always been in the bustling and vibrant Shoreditch... We wanted to seek out an environment that would enable us to increase our capacity to take on more students.” Currently located on St Paul Street, the school for children aged 3-11 will head just around the corner to Worship Street.
S TA R B R I G H T Year 5 Alleyn’s pupil Lottie scooped the top prize in the junior category of the Empiribox ‘Win a Star’ competition, which invited children across the country to invent an alien. Lottie was presented with her prize at a special school assembly, winning a star in her name, and another named after Alleyn’s.
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FUTURE The Master of Dulwich College tells Absolutely Education that his school’s 400th anniversary celebrations this year are not just about past glories. He has his sights set on new horizons W o r d s A M A N D A C O N S TA N C E
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n 2009, when Dr Joe Spence arrived at Dulwich College as the prospective new head, he spotted an opportunity. “I saw we were 10 years from a milestone anniversary,” he says. So as part of his pitch to the governors he said: “I’m here for the long game, I’m sticking around’. I promised I would have a clearly defined message as to what a Dulwich College education is by 2019.” “And so what you will see this year is the work of a decade which we are now harvesting,” he says. Spence is referring to Dulwich College’s impressive 400th Anniversary Programme, a blistering roll-call of events throughout 2019 that involves and includes past and present pupils and staff, international pupils and the wider community. Highlights include the Dulwich Olympiad in March, the Service of Thanksgiving at St Paul’s Cathedral in June, and the unveiling of two newly commissioned artworks, Gerard Stamp’s Dulwich College
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– which will sit alongside Camille Pissarro’s 1871 painting of the school – and Helen Whittaker’s commemorative stained glass window which will be installed in the school's Lower Hall. While the huge array of events on offer has clearly been the work of the whole school community, Spence has been the engine behind it. “It has been very personal,” he says. “This is what I promised on arrival.” But he is at pains to point out that the school’s 400th birthday will not just be about looking back over past glories. "What I want from this very special year is that balance of celebrating the best moments from our history but also looking forward, not missing the chance to think about where we go next – for me it’s about what the 2020s are going to look like.” The event that Spence thinks most symbolises this coming together of the past and present is Old Alleynians Day in Founders Week (June).
"It's not the most ‘wow’ day, but it’s at the heart of the year. The College is in touch with more than 3,000 alumni; leaders from every vocation imaginable will come back to their old school and give masterclasses to our current students. They will reflect on the past but also look to the future,” he says. Dr Joe Spence is not a man to stand still. Arriving at Dulwich via a first headship at Oakham and ten years as a History and Politics teacher and housemaster to the King’s Scholars at Eton, he fizzes with intellectual energy. And there's a palpable sense of moral duty; he clearly feels he must continue the remarkable legacy of the school’s founder Edward Alleyn. Alleyn – allegedly known as Ned to his friends – was one of the first celebrity actors, playing lead roles on the late Elizabethan and Jacobean stage. A darling of the theatre world, it is said that when he retired at the height of his fame circa 1598, Queen
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RO OTS
“THIS YEAR WILL BE THE WORK OF A DECADE WHICH WE ARE NOW HARVESTING” SPRING 2019
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DR JOE SPENCE
DULWICH'S RUGBY TEAM
Elizabeth I personally requested his return to the stage. Through a good marriage and sound business sense, Alleyn amassed a small fortune and in 1619 he founded the College of God’s Gift in Dulwich village for ‘12 poor scholars' with letters patent from King James I. From those small beginnings grew a successful independent school for boys aged 11-18. Nowadays Dulwich College is an international global brand. There are now 1,800 pupils in London at Dulwich College and James Allen’s Girls’ School (JAGS). And 11 partner schools with some 7,000 pupils overseas. The roll call of alumni is long and impressive: the actor Chiwetel Ejiofor, Turner Prize-winning artist Jeremy Deller, authors Graham Swift, Michael Ondaatje, Tom Rob Smith and Tom McCarthy; TV executive Sir Peter Bazalgette. Then, further back in history, writer PG Wodehouse and explorer Ernest Shackleton were alumni. Starry indeed, but the school still has the same social mission at its heart as it did 400 years ago: to provide access to an outstanding education to pupils regardless of their ability to pay. Spence is positively evangelical about the need for fee relief in the form of scholarships and means-tested bursaries. Thirty five per cent of boys from 11 to 18 are currently in receipt of some form of financial assistance at Dulwich and Spence wants this to grow to 50 per cent. Even this ambition doesn’t match that of Christopher Gilkes, Master during the 1940s and '50s. During his tenure, the academic standing of the College not only grew but it also took 22
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in large numbers of boys whose fees were funded by the London County Council (LCC) – this was known as the Dulwich Experiment and, at its peak, some 85 per cent of the boys entering Dulwich College were in receipt of fee assistance and the College roll rose from 700 to 1,000 boys. Another of Spence’s predecessors Master Canon Carver (1858-1882) resented the prescriptive public examinations of the age and instead aimed to identify the right subjects for a boy rather than a syllabus of shallow breadth. Today, Dulwich College has 'Free Learning' at its core, the second tenet of a College education about which Dr Joe Spence is, well, evangelical. “When I first coined that term half the Common Room would have said, 'Nice Blairite soundbite’, and looked doubtful – now those very same staff are coming to me with ideas,” says Spence. Free Learning, he explains, is learning that is free from a syllabus, free from teaching to the test, and free to challenge pupils into the worth of thinking for its own sake. It is fed by intellectual curiosity, often supported by the interests and enthusiasm of a teacher, and takes place both in and outside subject lessons. Examples of Free Learning at Dulwich are 'Creative Weeks’ (an entire week off timetable, e.g., Political Week, Linguistics Week) and the Upper and Junior School Symposia. “We’re not all about Oxbridge here,” says Spence. “We’re not all about attainment. Yes your sons will do well in public exams, but if you send them here they won’t strain
every sinew to get every grade.” And just as the College archives show many 18th century OAs heading into the recognisable trades of the time – tailors, carpenters, wheelwrights, drapers, dyers and stationers – so today Dulwich College supports the many and varied routes for pupils after school, including apprenticeships. “We don’t have a crystal ball; we don’t know what the future holds, but we aim to prepare our students for the world of work in the 2030s,” says Spence. He believes developing students' empathy and original thinking, their IT competency, leadership and communication skills are paramount. He says this will become even more the case with the death of the passive CV (when the listing of top exam grades will not be sufficient to secure a top job). And, he adds, the school isn’t afraid to back a boy who has chosen an alternative route. “We’ll encourage the boy who wants to do a CAMILLE PISSARRO'S 1871 WATERCOLOUR OF THE COLLEGE
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THE DULWICH OLYMPIAD
Foundation Course, even if his parents are still wanting him to choose STEM,” he says. For Spence, it is vital that the same core ethos of a Dulwich Education – the Social Mission and Free Learning – runs through the 400th Anniversary Programme. “I’d like to think it isn’t too rah rah,” he says. “This isn’t us saying how fabulous we are.” The grandest of all the events will be the June Service of Thanksgiving at St Paul’s Cathedral, at the beginning of Founders Week. More than 2,000 people, including all pupils aged 11 and above, will gather at St Paul’s. But the day will begin somewhat earlier for 18 Dulwich rowers from the school who will deliver a letter of
ONE OF THE NEWLY PUBLISHED QUARTERCENTENARY SERIES
RO OTS
when Spence took 110 London pupils to Beijing. This time 600 pupils from the international schools will travel to London and it is hoped that the Olympiad will continue every four years. “It’s a way of bringing us together,” he says. “We really are a community, not just a franchise.” While there are many events planned for this year, the two that Spence is especially proud of are the unveiling of a newly commissioned artwork of the school by architectural portraitist Gerard Stamp and the Quatercenternary Series – four newly published books concerned with, and inspired by, Alleynians. Stamp’s work, which Spence personally commissioned, will be unveiled alongside Camille Pissarro’s 1871 watercolour of the Barry Building, the neo-Classical, neo Gothic New College built by Charles Barry Junior in the mid-19th century. Stamp, an architectural portraitist, “plays off Pissarro’s watercolour,” says Spence, but has included the Laboratory, the College’s newest building, thus “brilliantly capturing both the old and the new". This year will see the last two books of the Quartercentenary Series published: a collection of 11 short stories from OAs, staff and pupils (Spence is writing one) and a book about five of the best known Alleynian authors by Patrick Humphries to which he is contributing an afterword. “The idea of Dulwich as a cradle of writers is very important to me,” he says. 2019 will be a chance for Dulwich College to spread the message about what it is and
“THE OLYMPIAD IS A WAY OF BRINGING US TOGETHER. WE ARE A COMMUNITY NOT JUST A FRANCHISE” congratulation from the Queen, rowing the Queen’s rowbarge, Gloriana, from Putney to Westminster, before entering the Cathedral and processing down the aisle with blades. “That will be our moment of pomp and circumstance,” says Spence. But he likes to think that the Friday before – Community Service Day – is: “more emblematic of what the school is". On that day, every pupil will be involved in a service project helping others. "We are not about looking inwards and
gazing at the collective naval,” he says. Perhaps the event that most typifies this wider outlook is the Dulwich Olympiad 2019. Taking place in March, it is a celebration of sport, music, drama and art that brings together students from the Commonwealth of Dulwich College International (DCI) Schools to participate in workshops and events and showcase their talents in competitions and performances. The first Olympiad took place in 2015,
what it stands for. “We have a very historic sense at this school, a tribal loyalty which perhaps my predecessors had trouble articulating," says Spence. "I think we have got better at that.” And while Dr Joe Spence isn’t one to blow any sort of trumpet about the accumulated wisdom of 400 years of educating young people, he will admit to “some pride in getting to this point,” before hastily adding the proviso: “there is still much to do”. SPRING 2019
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SUPERHERO
SCIENCE The Remarkablz has developed new twists on traditional card games to help children – especially girls – engage with science and envisage themselves in exciting STEM careers Wo r d s LIBBY NORMAN
THE MAE JEMISON REMARKABLZ CARD
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aty Alexander is creating educational games designed to help children aim high – superhero high – and it all started with her daughter’s confusion over whether girls could inhabit the world of science. She says: “We were walking home one day and my daughter asked me if she could be an astronaut – she wanted to know if this was a job that girls could do.” Alexander recognised that her daughter, then aged three, had picked up on a real issue. “If you can’t see yourself in a role you are less likely to engage with or pursue the subject matter”, she says. “Even at the age of three children attach labels to themselves – ‘I’m a girl, and girls do/don’t do that’.” What made Alexander’s realisation more poignant is that she has a career in STEM herself. She attended medical school (leaving when she decided she was too squeamish to be a doctor) before moving into scientific publishing at journals such
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Up Front STEM
IF YOU CAN’T SEE YOURSELF IN A ROLE, YOU ARE LESS LIKELY TO ENGAGE WITH OR PURSUE THE SUBJECT MATTER
as BMJ and Nature. Now she is marketing and communications director at Digital Science, which provides investment and support to cutting-edge science and technology research sectors. Alexander says female STEM pioneers still tend to be overlooked. While people may now know about the work of Ada Lovelace and Mary Seacole, chemist Alice Ball (developer of the first modern leprosy treatment) and physicist ChienShiung Wu (after whom the Wu parity experiment is named) have had only recent credit for their achievements. In a blog post for Digital Science Alexander noted that: “We need to start much, much earlier in helping young boys and girls of any ethnicity or ability to understand that STEM-related professions can be their future”. As a past Wikimedia volunteer on the regular ‘edit-a-thon’ events that seek to improve the skewed gender balance of biographies on Wikipedia, Alexander had an existing knowledge of lesser-known female pioneers. Her daughter’s comment set her wondering how she could help change the future landscape – and that’s how The Remarkablz came into being. She has always enjoyed creating art as a hobby, but also the experience of playing traditional card and board games. She began by designing simple cards for her daughter to play with, working in the evenings to create the images and stories around them. She initially envisaged them as trading cards, but over time they morphed into Top Quarkz, a version of the card game Top Trumps. While it was originally designed just for her family, this custom-made pack of playing cards attracted interest. “Friends
with children started asking about it, and we got feedback from parents when we took the cards out with us to restaurants." Originally she had designed the cards with a muted palette, but she soon realised that children became much more engaged when colours were vibrant, so added a bolder Pop Art style to the superhero portraits. “Whereas adults will be polite, getting feedback from children is tough,” says Alexander. “If they hate something they will throw it back at you!” After around five months’ testing, the prototype went into production. The Top Trumps method of play is maintained in Top Quarkz, so picking the highest or lowest number is key to beating your opponents. Each of the pack’s 40 superheroes is assigned numeric values for scientific field, superpower (Einstein’s superpower is ‘space-time control’, while Mary Seacole’s is ‘empathic healing’), location, sidekick and weakness. The superhero’s weakness can be something related to their field or their life story – asteroids for palaeontologist Mary Anning and horses for inveterate gambler Ada Lovelace. Four joker-style cards add extra spice – Gluon Superpower Enhancement enables you to win a hand, while the Up Quarkz card lets you skip your turn. Each superhero’s achievements are described briefly on their card and in a way designed to encourage curiosity. Who wouldn’t want to find out more about curator of reptiles at London Zoo Joan Beauchamp Procter after finding out that she once took a pet crocodile to school – St Paul’s Girls’, incidentally – to show to her classmates? While the stories are engaging, Alexander believes one of the game’s chief benefits is that families can play together and on the move. To fuel the ambitions of would-be space travellers, including Alexander’s daughter, a female astronaut role model is in the mix – the first African-American to travel into space Mae Jemison. She sits alongside a diverse body of scientists, engineers, inventors and researchers in a gallery
stretching from current pioneers to ancientworld astronomers Hypatia and Zhang Heng. Some superheroes in the pack gave us everyday, but nonetheless life-enhancing, advances. Developer of the first wheelchairaccessible vehicle Ralph Braun is in, alongside the inventor of liquid paper Bette Nesmith Graham. Cards can be switched around as more current and past pioneers join the Top Quarkz hall of fame. In the meantime, Alexander has developed two further games within The Remarkablz portfolio. Newton’s Rainbow is a colouring book of science superheroes, while Black Hole is an updated version of Old Maid – with a cool space twist and without the spinster stereotype. Alexander is planning to grow The Remarkablz portfolio still further and believes that parents, scientists and educators need to engage all children in STEM, do it more creatively and start when they are very young. As she put it in a recent blog, we all need to: “consider how we can encourage more high quality, diverse role models to inspire the next generation of science superheroes”. * THE REMARKABLZ games cost from £4.95-£9.95; theremarkablz.com
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Thrive
(verb)
1. To grow or develop well; to flourish 2. To be successful; to prosper
W W W.R O S E H I L L S C H O O L.C O.U K
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admissions@rosehillschool.co.uk
02/07/2018 14:04
Prep-Prep
OPINION
Musician making The head of music at St Nicholas Prep in Kensington Mark Batten believes teaching children to enjoy playing and listening is far more important than ensuring they take graded music exams
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arents are often surprised when I tell them that I only took two graded music exams during my time at school. All things considered, I don’t think my musical education was harmed. I was offered a place to study at the junior department of one of the London schools of music, and later I auditioned successfully for a top music college, picking up a scholarship along the way. Neither my teachers, nor my parents suggested I take graded music exams until I was well into my teens. Looking back, I’m grateful for this approach. My teachers guided me into learning pieces that they thought would interest me and I learnt that music was about communicating with an audience. When deciding to prepare for any exam it is important to consider what exactly the exam facilitates. Students with ABRSM qualifications at Grades 6 to 8 benefit from UCAS points. Additionally, a number of universities accept Grade 8 Theory as a substitute for A level Music. Beyond these two examples, music exams do not directly facilitate progression in education. Various London schools of music – including the Royal College of Music – offer junior departments where young musicians have the opportunity to take part in a programme of lessons, concerts and other activities. Entry is by audition and, while institutions may use graded music exams as a guide to the standard, there is no formal requirement that children should have taken the exams. Similarly, most senior school
MUSIC EXAMS ARE BEST VIEWED AS MUSICAL HEALTH CHECKS
scholarships are for children who show a genuine interest, so schools primarily look for potential. For children who are not aiming for a music award, extracurricular interests undoubtedly enhance their applications. But extracurricular interests should be just that – interests. I would much rather meet a child who, despite not having taken any music exams, can speak enthusiastically about the school music groups they’ve taken part in than a child who has passed music exams but can’t remember the composers of their exam pieces! Sometimes a parent will ask me to teach their son or daughter to sight read or cover the aural test requirements a month or so before a music exam, because they have
spent so much time learning exam pieces at the very limit of their technical ability. The result is that children often do not fulfil their potential in the exam and are left disheartened. To be an all-round musician, students need a range of skills, including in performance, technique, notation, listening and musical perception. Just like language acquisition, these are developed incrementally over time. There are no short cuts. In my view, music
exams are best seen as musical health checks – something children might be encouraged to take every few years, when they have progressed well beyond that standard. Music exams then becomes a recognition of what has already been completed, not the end point of a race to the finish line. SPRING 2019
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Up Front
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aunched last year, Let’s Play is an initiative from the National Theatre that aims to put drama centre stage in state primary schools. What makes it encouraging for anyone who cares about arts provision in education is that it is delivering both original plays and training for teachers in professional theatre-making skills. Apart from addressing the ongoing debate about an over-focus on SATS and curriculum goals to the detriment of creative space, the scheme stands out because of its refreshing approach. Here we have an outreach programme that aims to embed drama within the primary-age curriculum and let children explore the mechanics of putting on a play, as well as developing their critical thinking and performance skills. Another key issue it seeks to address is that, while the school play remains a
Stage
CRAFT The National Theatre’s Let’s Play initiative targets primary schools in areas where there is least access to the arts, giving children opportunities to stage original plays while also developing skills beyond acting Wo r d s LIBBY NORMAN
DRAMA
cherished institution, it often sits in its own silo. Deputy director of learning for the National Theatre Paula Hamilton says: “Most schools still value a school play and make time for it. It’s just that it tends to sit separately from other learning activities”. Let’s Play has been five years in the making and started life as an original idea from renowned theatre and opera director Katie Mitchell, who was watching her own child’s school play. She felt – as a parent and audience member – that schools might benefit from a bit of professional support. “Teachers are not necessarily from an arts background,”adds Paula Hamilton. “They may be unconfident or don’t really know how to set about staging a production.” In other words, the school play can be a bit of a 'stress fest' – shoehorned into an already packed school day and carrying the artistic goals of pupil actors and their proud audience of parents. From Katie Mitchell’s idea, the Let’s Play initiative gained SPRING 2019
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Up Front
DRAMA
ONE KEY ISSUE IS THAT, WHILE THE SCHOOL PLAY REMAINS A CHERISHED INSTITUTION, IT OFTEN SITS IN ITS OWN SILO
momentum, bringing together professional theatre artists, teachers and senior leaders from primary schools up and down the country. It attracted grant funding from, among others, Paul Hamlyn Foundation. Integral to the initiative is the perspective of teachers – not only in developing the original idea to make it practical in a school setting, but in being given the chance to develop their own skills as theatre makers. Schools that sign up for Let’s Play (which costs £350 per academic year) get access to teacher training courses led by professionals. These, says Hamilton, are all about skilling them up. “The CPD is designed to make putting
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on a play less stressful, more enjoyable. The whole production process becomes important and the skills they learn have a legacy, cascading down to colleagues.” While the training and workshop materials they take away are a vital part of the mix – giving teachers the confidence to be bolder directors and producers – so too are the plays schools can access. There are eight entirely new scripts, including musical scores and easy-to-learn songs. “Let’s Play supplies everything they need to put on a play,” says Hamilton. “It’s brilliant.” The original scripts and scores include Erich Kästner’s children’s classic Emil & The Detectives (two versions for different age groups), a ripping retelling of Arthurian legend called A Quest for Arthur and a new play about friendship called Megaball. Hamilton says these scripts are incredibly flexible – adapting to the size of group and specific needs of the school and year. They are also designed to engage all the talents. A carefully balanced script focuses more on ensemble work to inspire team working and a collegiate atmosphere (as opposed to the small number of lead roles typical in many old-style school plays). There’s also a strong emphasis on the value of behind-the-scenes roles – from stage manager, props and costumes to lighting and sound. “It’s about encouraging children to step up without pressure,” says Hamilton. “Rather than a focus on just acting, the aim is to help them create a theatre company.” The pilot took place in 2017, and the extensive testing and feedback continue as the programme is rolled out. The team from the National Theatre continue to attend a variety of school plays. Hamilton says it’s about watching how Let’s Play works for schools, never critiquing individual school productions. Their team have seen firsthand the impact on individual pupils – from the Year 6 pupil at one school who took on the
role of director to the child with specific learning needs at another who acted as sound operator for the show, with both fulfilling those roles brilliantly. What underpins this whole project is the idea that the opportunity to participate in drama can offer children lifelong benefits – from building confidence and helping with communication skills to fostering a love of the arts, even sparking the desire to pursue a career on the stage or behind the scenes. Since all the plays are linked right back to the curriculum, offering opportunities to expand learning from the production back into the classroom, Let’s Play ticks a lot of boxes for schools. It also helps with areas that are hot topics in education, notably oracy. Commenting at the launch, deputy head of Hill Mead School in Brixton Becky Lawrence – whose pupils participated in the pilot – said the impact on the children has been huge, adding: “It has developed their speaking and listening skills, supported their reading and writing skills and their confidence and empathy grew rapidly.” The objective is to sign up 400 state primary schools across the country over the next three years. There is an implicit goal to recruit especially strongly in areas where there are higher levels of deprivation and in areas where children have least access to the arts. That, surely, has to be good news for the wider arts scene, as well as for future generations of artists and play-makers just waiting in the wings.
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