AB SO LUT E LY B R I T I S H E D U C AT I ON | H O N G KO N G E D I T I O N
BRITISH
EDUCATION HONG KONG EDITION
S P R I N G 2 01 9
WRITE OFF Is this the end of handwriting?
Mind Your Manners PROMOTING KINDNESS AT ETON
SPRING 2019
WE ARE FAMILY BRITISH BOARDING GOES GLOBAL
I G C S Es BETTER OR WORSE?
WWW.ZE ST.LONDON
SMART THINKING
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DEVELOPING A GROWTH MINDSET
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CONTE N SPRING • 2019
upfront
12 NEWS
What’s going on in the world of education
19 BOOK BONANZA
Cranleigh Prep School’s Awesome Book Awards, by Amanda Constance
20 BACK TO THE FUTURE
As Dulwich College turns 400, British Education talks to its Master, Dr Jospeh Spence
PREP
24 WRITE OFF?
Prep heads and education experts on the future of handwriting
29 LEFT BEHIND
Are left-handed children being let down? By Libby Norman
32 SUPERHERO SCIENCE
Libby Norman discovers a STEM card game
34 11 YEARS OF 11+
Will Orr-Ewing of Keystone Tutors has some sage advice for parents
32 SENIOR
38 COOL TO BE KIND
The unexpected benefits of teaching a growth mindset, by Eton’s Jonnie Noakes
20
43 A WIDER OUTLOOK
Tips on bringing a growth mindset to raising children, by Melissa Hood
53 ALL ABOARD
The benefits of UK boarding, by Jo Sagers of Dauntsey’s School
62 MARKET FORCES
The controversy over unconditional offers, by Lisa Freedman
s c h o o l’ s o u t
73 POLE POSITION
A STEM project with va va voom, by Dr Richard Phillips of Loretto School
38
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NTS
21 EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Amanda Constance EDITOR I A L ASSISTA NT
Flora Thomas
M AGA ZINE M A NAGER
Donna McCafferty
GROUP A DV ERTISING M A NAGER
Nicola Owens
SA LES 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 KETING M A NAGER
Lucie Pearce
FINA NCE DIR ECTOR
Jerrie Koleci DIR ECTORS
53 76 ALTERNATIVE ASCENTS The charity teaching inner-city kids to ski, by Flora Thomas
Greg Hughes, Alexandra Hunter, James Fuschillo PUBLISHING DIR ECTOR
Sherif Shaltout
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@AB SOLUTELY_EDU ‘AB SOLUTELY EDUCATION’
80 ROYAL BATTLE
AB SOLUTELY B R I T I S H E D U C AT I ON | H O N G KO N G E D I T I O N
How are schools coping with Fortnite? by Sophie Pender-Cudlip
84 MOUNTAIN HIGH
98 SAM ANTROBUS
60 seconds with the founder of Wishford Schools
19
PROMOTING KINDNESS AT ETON
IGCSEs BETTER OR WORSE?
SMART THINKING DEVELOPING A GROWTH MINDSET
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15
Mind Your Manners
WE ARE FAMILY BRITISH BOARDING GOES GLOBAL
WWW.ZE ST.LONDON
l a s t wo r d
SPRING 201 9
Hong Kong
HONG KONG EDITION
WRITE OFF Is this the end of handwriting?
British Education heads to Austria, by Pendle Harte
90 UK EDUCATION EXPO
BRITISH
EDUCATION
S P R I N G 2 01 9
11/02/2019 12:55
F RO NT COV E R Pupils at Stonyhurst College, a coeducational Roman Catholic independent school in the Jesuit tradition for 13-18 year olds in Lancashire, England. Stonyhurst College, Clitheroe BB7 9PT 01254 826345, stonyhurst.ac.uk
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We l c o m e
From the
EDITOR
I
really wanted to make a positive start to the New Year with a shiny happy ed’s letter. But then Dominic Floyd, Head of Mount Kelly prep school in Devon, had a nibble at my Achilles heel. He’s spoken out against the “forum of negativity” that is the dreaded class WhatsApp group. Floyd thinks that the “worrying” trend towards large group conversations on social media platforms for parents has undermined the “critical” relationship between parents and their child’s teachers. I've been banging this particular drum to anyone who will listen for a while now. I have observed the once-assumed trust between school and parents being rapidly eroded. When my eldest son, now in Year 10, was at primary school, there was no
As Floyd says: “Minor complaints become amplified to an unintelligible degree” as issues take on a life of their own and these groups can often end up becoming “home to vitriolic tirades". His suggestion, is face-to-face conversations with teachers. I don’t really have a solution, just a grump - but I am struck by what Julian de Bono, Director of Studies at Port Regis says about the art of handwriting in this issue (page 24). He says: “Handwriting forces us to take responsibility for what we put on the page.” Maybe we should learn to pause for a moment and take more care with these digital forums. If we want our children to behave responsibly on social media, shouldn’t we? Right, I’ve dismounted from my high horse…. In happier times we went to a fascinating conference at Kingston Grammar School about
“IF TONE AND NUANCE ARE HARD ON EMAIL, IT’S EVEN WORSE ON WHATSAPP” WhatsApp group, it didn’t exist. In contrast, my youngest, in Year 3, has a highly active WhatsApp group which at best is somewhat neurotic and at worst, downright rude. When his teacher for this year was announced at the end of the summer term, her abilities were questioned and roundly trashed, before she’d set foot in the classroom. All in the name of ‘bants’ apparently. I thought it disrespectful and offensive. We know from email that tone and nuance can be problematic, it’s even worse on WhatsApp where people ping messages to each other instantly, with little thought.
Growth Mindset. We left with our neural pathways fizzing and decided to focus on this hot– but often misunderstood – issue in the magazine. I’m very pleased that two Mindset gurus, Jonnie Noakes of Eton College and Chris Hildrew from Churchill Academy have both written on the subject for us. I hope you enjoy this issue.
A manda Constance EDITOR
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• A B S O L U T E LY E D U C AT I O N ’ S •
CON T R IBU TOR S
Jonnie Noakes
Director of Teaching and Learning, Eton
Described by his peers as 'Mr Growth Mindset', Jonnie Noakes was educated at Eton and Cambridge. He is both the Director of Teaching and Learning, and the Director of The Tony Little Centre for Innovation and Research in Learning at Eton. He writes about Growth Mindset on page 38. What arena of your life would benefit from a growth mindset? My use of social media which, as my children will attest (between chuckles), I haven’t mastered (yet)!
Julian de Bono
Director of Studies, Port Regis
Julian de Bono is Director of Studies at Port Regis where he teaches English and History. He read Medieval and Old English and Icelandic at Oxford, and has worked at Winchester College, Bruern Abbey and The Oratory School. He writes about handwriting on page 24. What arena of your life would benefit from a growth mindset? There is no part of my life that would not benefit from it.
Sally-Anne Huang
Headmistress, James Allen's Girls' School
Sally-Anne Huang is Headmistress of James Allen’s Girls’ School. She was educated at Bolton School and Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford. Her first headship was at Kent College, Pembury, and she has worked at Sevenoaks School and Roedean. She writes about social media on page 71. What arena of your life would benefit from a growth mindset? One day I will manage all my paperwork in an orderly and organised fashion!
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We l c o m e
From
ACADEMIC ASIA
T
here was a time when international families had limited options available when looking for a summer course for their son or daughter but nowadays they really are spoilt for choice. Institutions up and down the country are offering a wide range of opportunities including specialist sports academies, technology programmes and presessional courses as well as English language tuition. There are many wonderful schools in the UK with stunning locations and impressive buildings. Offering holiday courses allows schools to showcase their location and facilities, promoting them as a possible destination for long term study. Some schools run their own bespoke summer programmes and use their own teachers, others hire out their campuses to external course providers. Now there are so many options, families can search for courses that
can introduce an institution to a student and their family and also gives the student a gentle introduction to the UK boarding experience. Here are some tips on choosing a course: · Location – where do you want your child to be in the UK? England, Ireland, Scotland or Wales? · Proximity to airport – does the school offer an escort service on arrival and departure? What are the travelling times and is the transport charge included in the fee or is it an added extra? · What is the daily structure, especially at the weekends? · Does the school cater for all dietary requirements? · Will your child leave with any formal certificate of achievement? · Carefully check just exactly what is included in the fee, especially if it is advertised as an all-inclusive charge. · Request details of the international mix and number of students from any one country. · Take up any references and read reviews from previous participants. · Read the small print!
“BECAUSE THERE IS SUCH FIERCE COMPETITION, THE QUALITY OF THE COURSES HAS TO BE MAINTAINED AND IMPROVED” best suit their child’s needs and wishes. Up until about 10 years ago, the majority of summer programmes were designed for international students but many courses are now equally appropriate for UK boys and girls. Those schools with outstanding sports facilities, for example, can offer sports academies and training programmes for a whole range of sports including golf, football, rugby, hockey and riding. Choosing independent education is an expensive, long-term commitment for overseas families. A two or three week stay on a summer course
There are some exceptionally good courses offered all over the UK. Because there is such fierce competition, the quality of the courses has to be maintained and improved - this helps to ensure that the students have a good time and receive excellent tuition and instruction whether in the classroom, on the sports field or exploring the great outdoors.
Battie Fung
MANAGING DIRECTOR ACADEMIC ASIA
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Expa nding Gordonstoun Junior School will welcome a new Year 1 class in September. Robert McVean, Head, said: “We've had many requests for younger children to join Gordonstoun, 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."
ART SALE On 4 December, Christie’s presented a stand-alone sale comprising approximately 200 lots from the collection of Rugby School. Lucas van Leyden’s rare drawing, A Young Man Standing, sparked fierce competition resulting in a sale of £11.5m. The school’s governing body will use the proceeds, totalling nearly £15m, to benefit the current and future students, including building a new museum space on the school site for the unsold art works.
“The Christie's sale raised nearly £15 million for the benefit of students”
WO R L D P R E M I E R E
Crafty Work
St Mary’s Shaftesbury pupil and Elite Dance Scholar, Isabelle Evans, will perform in the world premiere of Matthew Bourne’s Romeo and Juliet in May. “It's a wonderful achievement and testament to Isabelle's hard work and commitment to dance alongside her academic studies,” said Headmistress, Maria Young,
Writer Karen Bennett and photographer Julian Calder travelled across the UK to capture the passion of the craftsmen and women whose education was funded by the Queen Elizabeth Scholarship Trust. The result is a fantastic book: A Celebration of British Craftsmanship. Available from qest.org.uk
OX B R I D G E ADMISSIONS Published figures reveal the schools and colleges with the highest number of Oxbridge admissions are: Westminster School; Eton College; Hill Road Sixth Form College; St Paul’s School; Peter Symonds College; St Paul’s Girls’ School; King’s College School and Magdalen College School.
“The government doesn’t realise it's way behind when it comes to AI in education... they're still locked in the 20th-century mindset without even realising that they are. What needs changing is the mindset.” ETON COLLEGE A N T H O N Y S E L D O N I N T H E S P E C TAT O R
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UPFRON T / NEWS By FLORA THOMAS
R elocation The Lyceum School will relocate later this year. Headmistress Hilary Wyatt said: “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.”
DNA Directed by Dominic Bell, Head of Academic Drama, students at The Ley's staged Dennis Kelly’s dark drama, DNA in the Great Hall. The cast of 12 worked hard and in a short space of time to realise Kelly’s script, which in the words of the director “turns the semi-incoherence of ordinary street speech into a highly original repetitive cross-talking poetry”.
NEW N U R S E RY St James Preparatory School in Kensington will open a nursery in September. The new space will share the school’s use of its Forest School, in addition to specialist performing arts, music and language teaching. Newly appointed Head of Nursery, Minisha Bist, brings a wealth of experience in Montessori techniques.
T E AC H E R TRAINING Instead of swapping typical Secret Santa presents this year, girls at Kilgraston School raised money for the Scottish Catholic International Aid Fund which works with impoverished people across the globe. Pupils managed to raise £830 through donations, which is how much it costs for the charity to train a teacher.
Apple Awa rd Southbank International School’s Hampstead Campus has been named an Apple Distinguished School. The award recognises innovation, leadership and educational excellence in schools that use Apple products to inspire creativity, collaboration and critical thinking.
“I want my kid frolicking, drawing and playing football. Who knows more about stopping this madness and can help me? So nuts.” R O B D E L A N E Y, AC TO R , D E C RY I N G H O M E W O R K F O R S E V E N -Y E A R - O L D S O N T W I T T E R
SOMETHING THEY SAID “Young people are self-censoring because, unable to differentiate between critiquing an argument and criticising a person, they believe that disagreeing with someone may be a 'cultural crime'.” F R A N K F U R E D I , E M E R I T U S P R O F E S S O R O F S O C I O L O G Y AT K E N T U N I V E R S I T Y
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H igh pra ise
S TAT E O F THE ART
G R E AT VA L U E Stonyhurst’s Sixth Form students are celebrating outstanding ‘value-added’ scores in a government audit. John Browne, headmaster of the UK Catholic co-ed day and boarding school said: “We are delighted by the progress our students make in Higher Line [Sixth Form]. The mark of true educational excellence in school is not raw grades of students, but rather the progress students make individually to be the best that they can be. This is what we focus on here at Stonyhurst – achieving what our school motto demands of us: Quant je puis – as much as I can.”
Tonbridge School has built a state of the art science centre. Named after distinguished British organic chemist Sir Derek Barton, an Old Tonbridgian and Nobel Prize winner, the Barton Science Centre is an ambitious development. Central to the design is an atrium space for lectures, experiments and events. There are areas for group work and private study, project rooms, a greenhouse and even a roofgarden. Bill Burnett, Head of Science, said: “We’d like the new centre to be a regional hub and a centre of excellence that the wider community will share in.”
Renowned actor, screenwriter and novelist Lord Julian Fellowes attended the opening night of the Lower School production at Benenden and declared it "marvellous". Lord Fellowes said: “I think it’s marvellous but, of course for my generation, quite surprising in its content as a school play – there were one or two moments that made me jump!”
G I R L R AC E R Babington House student Esmee Hawkey has been selected from hundreds of applicants as one of five British women to compete for places on the new, all-female, motor racing championship ‘W Series’. The W Series carries a prize fund of £1.15 million and is likely to lead to the first female Formula One racing driver. Esmee is a fantastic role model for present pupils and as an Ambassador for Babington House School, she proudly wears the Babington Logo on her racing kit.
G I R L S A L LOW E D Lancaster Royal Grammar School will admit Sixth Form girls as boarders in September 2020. The news follows the decision to welcome day girls in September this year. Dr Chris Pyle, Headmaster, said: “Boarding at LRGS will create an exceptional opportunity for Sixth Form girls from across the region, the UK and overseas." Applications will open in September 2019.
Top Story
B E G , B O R R OW STEAL Pupils at Beaudesert Park School in Gloucestershire looted friends’ and families’ wardrobes to stage a Year 8 production of Bugsy Malone in the school's performing arts centre. With gangsters in fedoras and dancing girls bedecked in feathers, the vast cast required 150 costumes and even a vintage Austin car on loan from a teacher.
SOMETHING THEY SAID “About 10 independent schools have significant wealth and another 300 have buildings and land of considerable value. That leaves 2,000 independent schools with no endowment and little in the bank. These schools save the taxpayer £3.5 billion a year by taking children who would otherwise be educated by the state.” BARNABY LENON , CHAIRMAN , INDEPENDENT SCHOOLS COUNCIL , IN THE TIMES
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T H E VO I C E O F YO U T H P O L I T I C S Wellington College student and member of UK Youth Parliament, Khadeejah Hullemuth, is working to set up a junior Prime Minister’s Questions. How does she juggle school work with being a MYP? "It’s all down to organisation and knowing what you’re doing," she said. With such clarity there is no doubt that she will go far in the world. of politics.
“It's all down to knowing what you're doing”
BOTSWANA CHARITY
CRICKET WIN
Queenswood School in Hertfordshire has been sending girls to Mara-a-Palu, a school in Botswana, since 2016. The trips focus on community service, and involve spending time with Ray of Hope, a charity supporting orphans and vulnerable children in the village of Gamadubu. Now, Queenswood girls are establishing a link with a new initiative called ‘Hope for Her Botswana’, which focuses on women’s empowerment. Late last year, the school welcomed former Maru-a-Palu student Thato Mauco, who spoke with girls about the initiative.
Malvern College has named 13-year-old Grace Seedhouse as the inaugural winner of the prestigious Rachael Heyhoe Flint Cricket Award, set up in memory of the pioneering cricket star. Grace was selected from dozens of talented young cricketers who attended trials last week; she will join Malvern College in September. The award is worth thousands of pounds plus specialist menotring, and it is the first dedicated girls’ cricket scholarship offered by any school.
T R A D E S H OW In response to global interest in reducing the use of plastic, Hurst College’s Young Enterprise team, TOK, have launched a range of compact glass water bottles. TOK went along to Carfax Marketplace in Horsham to sell their products. Each practical bottle has been hand-etched with an animal at risk from the destruction of our oceans. The eco-conscious bottles even come with recyclable leaflets about the featured animal.
GOOGLE THIS 16-year-old Abingdon School student Freddie Nicholson has been crowned Google Grand Prize Winner in the global tech giant's annual competition for young coders. Freddie’s prize includes the chance to visit Google headquarters in sunny California this summer. Freddie said of his win: “When the email arrived saying that I was a Grand Prize Winner I couldn’t believe it!"
Top Story
GOING UP
OPEN DOORS
Falcons Preparatory School in Richmond will grow to include Reception and Year 1. Olivia Buchanan, Headmistress, said: "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 strongly believe that we can offer a first-class education for boys from as young as four."
The Study Prep Wimbledon is to host its annual open morning on 9 March. The school is renowned for its caring, creative ethos and superb academic results. Last year saw a record number of senior school offers and scholarships, with a record number of 39 scholarships awarded, beating the previous year’s record of 35.
SOMETHING THEY SAID “It is a shame that parents feel they have to justify choosing private education. If the alternative is that you sacrifice the interests of your children’s education for some kind of political ideology or some kind of virtue flagging, that doesn’t seem to be authentic parenting.” S H A U N F E N T O N , C H A I R O F T H E H M C A N D H E A D O F R E I G AT E G R A M M A R S C H O O L
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UPFRON T / FOCUS
BOOK bonanza The Awesome Book Awards is a brilliant scheme for young readers, created by the Head of English at Cranleigh Prep School A M A N DA C O N S TA N C E
T
he Awesome Book Awards is, well, awesome. The brainchild of Kate Schutte, Head of English at Cranleigh Prep School, it began in 2016 specifically to inspire children aged 7-10 years about books and reading. It offers pupils the chance to vote for their favourite books from five shortlisted authors in order to select the winner. Previous winners are Peter Bunzl (2018) with Cogheart and Ross Welford (2017) for Time Travelling with a Hamster. “It’s been very successful,” says Schutte, “because it’s about children, for children, aimed at children - that’s why all the authors want to be involved.” And it is for all children. While it's run by Schutte and CPS librarian Alison Fenton, the school has little involvement other than staging the ceremony. Schools can register online so their students can vote on the books and receive resources and updates such as book club blogs and Q&As with the authors. Registered schools are invited to take pupils to the awards ceremony itself in May. “It’s about creating a community of readers,” says Schutte. “We want children to explore different genres and to enjoy new authors’ adventures.”
them down to a five-book shortlist. The awards are launched in September. Participating students are then encouraged to read the shortlist - “if they read one or two, that’s fine,” says Schutte, “if they read all five, they are encouraged to vote”. Voting opens in March and culminates with the ceremony in May. “It’s like the Oscars for children - there’s real glitz and glamour,” says Schutte. Schutte admits the awards night “is already a victim of its own success. It’s too popular, more than 60 schools brought students last year,” which means they now have to limit numbers. “We’re trialling tech this year so that in 2020 we can live stream and take it national.” For something that is essentially a two-man band - plus great support from ABOVE Cranleigh’s IT and Marketing Kate Schutte with the 2019 shortlist department - the Awesome Book Awards already looks like The process to find this year’s the real deal. “It’s a lot of work, winner began last Easter. There are but great fun,” says Schutte. “With certain rules: the books must be by UKchildren you don’t want to do something based authors, it must be their debut novel half hearted. If we’re going to do it well, and it must appeal to a co-ed audience. we’re going to do it really well.” Fenton keeps an eye on all debut novels, “she’s hugely proactive,” says Schutte. They create a longlist, then a group of Voting for the 2019 Awesome Books pupils and adults read all the books over Awards opens on Monday 11 March 2019 the Easter holidays - that’s 15-20 books and closes Friday 26 April 2019. Sign up at before meeting in the summer to whittle awesomebookawards.com.
2019 Awesome Book Awards Shortlist
The Starman and Me by Sharon Cohen
Being Miss Nobody by Tamsin Winter
Brightstorm
by Vashti Hardy
Running on the Roof of the World by Jess Butterworth
The Ice Garden by Guy Jones
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Back to the
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 A M A N D A C O N S TA N C E
I
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. Dr 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 - 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 Lower Hall. While the huge array of events on offer has clearly been the work of the whole school community, Dr Spence has been the engine behind it. “It has been very personal,” he admits. “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 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 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 leading 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 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
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11 partner schools with some 7,000 pupils overseas. The roll call of alumni is long and impressive: the actor Chiwetel Ejiofor, artist Jeremy Deller, the authors Graham Swift, Michael Ondaatje, Tom Rob Smith and Tom McCarthy; TV executive Sir Peter Bazalgette and further back in history, writer PG Wodehouse and explorer Ernest Shackleton. Starry indeed but the school still has the same social mission at its heart as it did 400 years ago: to provide access TOP to an outstanding education to Dulwich's rugby team pupils regardless of their ability ABOVE to pay. Spence is positively Dr Joe Spence evangelical about the need for fee BELOW Camille Pissarro's 1871 relief in the form of scholarships watercolour of the College and means-tested bursaries. Thirty five percent 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%. 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 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% 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 Dr 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 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 Dr Spence. Free Learning, explains Dr Spence, is learning that is free from a syllabus, free from teaching to the test, and free to challenge pupils to thinking for its own sake. It is fed by intellectual curiosity, often supported by the interest and enthusiasm of a teacher, and takes place both within subject lessons and without. 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 Dr 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.
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LEFT The Dulwich Olympiad BELOW One of the newly published Quartercentenary series
“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 Dr Spence. He believes developing students' empathy and original thinking, their IT competency, leadership and communication skills are paramount. “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), he says.
events and showcase their talents in competitions and performances. The first Olympiad took place in 2015 when Dr 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,” says Dr Spence. “We really are a community not just a franchise.” There are many events planned for this year but two of which Dr Spence is especially proud 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 Dr 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 (son of the architect of the Houses of Parliament) in the mid-19th century. Stamp, an architectural portraitist, “plays off Pissarro’s watercolour,” says Dr Spence, but has included the Laboratory , the College’s newest building, thus “brilliantly capturing both the old and the new.”
“THE OLYMPIAD IS A WAY OF BRINGING US TOGETHER. WE ARE A COMMUNITY NOT JUST A FRANCHISE” 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 Foundation Course even if his parents are still wanting him to choose STEM,” he says. For Dr Spence, it was important 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,” says Spence. “This isn’t us saying how fabulous we are.” The grandest of all the events will be the Service of Thanksgiving at St Paul’s Cathedral, at the beginning of Founders Week in June. 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 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 Dr Spence. But he likes to think that the Friday before, Community Service Day, “is more emblematic of what the school is,” he says. 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
This year will see the last two books of the Quartercentenary Series published: a collection of 11 short stories from OAs, staff and pupils (Dr Spence is writing one) and a book about five of the best known Alleynian authors by Patrick Humphries to which Dr Spence is adding 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 what it stands for. “We have a very historic sense at this school, a tribal loyalty which perhaps my predecessors had trouble articulating," says Dr Spence. "I think we have got better at that.” And while he isn’t one to blow any sort of trumpet, he will admit to “some pride in getting to this point,” before hastily adding the proviso, “there is still much to do”. SPRING 2019 | B R I T I S H E D U C AT I O N | 23
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