Independent School Parent Senior Spring 2024 - Sample Issue

Finding your Passion

From astronomy to art, music and maths…

Brave new world

The three-year sixth form at Thomas’s College

Character education

Why it should be at the top of your wish list

Stand-out SEND at senior school

How to find the help you need

Expert advice

Making the most of the holidays Win an afternoon tea at The Goring in London

Whitgift has a room of small exotics to inspire budding veterinarians

Gordonstoun students can be part of the local coastguard rescue service

Edinburgh’s Merchiston Castle School has an outward-looking approach

Conservation is one of nine community service options at Gordonstoun

A performance of Bedales’ production of One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest

FIND YOUR NICHE

From astronomy to art, drama to debating and music to maths, independent senior schools are igniting passions in pupils that can last a lifetime – and helping inform sixthform choices in the process, writes Katie Hughes

“P

assing the wow factor on is what I get the most buzz from,” says Rossall School’s resident astronomer, Dr Nick Lister, whose astronomy lectures, lessons and talks inspire pupils and public alike. “It’s fantastic seeing people of all ages getting hooked on this amazing subject.”

As the UK’s only school to boast an astronomy and space science centre, with a Victorian observatory and planetarium, Fleetwood-based Rossall is unique. Its newsletter even showcases a student who settled on its sixth form so that she could indulge her passion for astronomy.

Along with other pupils, she could take on Olympiad competitions or scrutinise the night’s sky in the planetarium, whatever the weather or time of day.

Like Rossall’s Dr Lister, Erin Badhan has an unusual job. Her role as Lead in Animal Care for Science at Croydon’s Whitgi School includes managing a room of “small exotics”. ese range from a royal python and bearded dragon to leopard geckos and axolotls (or salamanders).

ere’s even a tortoise table.

Erin also helps promote pupils’ enthusiasm for animals. “One of the highlights of my job,” she explains, “is guiding the prospective veterinary students here at Whitgi and

Bryanston has a rich art and design heritage, teaching various niche disciplines

Dr Nick Lister shares his astronomy passion with lectures and lessons at Rossall School’s dedicated space science centre and observatory

PHOTOGRAPHY: PETER JOLLY NORTHPIX; PAUL WATT; MATT AUSTIN

TCelebrating excellence

Our awards campaign is back and in its seventh year. Read on to fi nd out how you and your school can enter the Independent Schools of the Year 2024 Awards

he Independent Schools of the Year 2024 Awards, brought to you by the team behind Independent School Parent magazine, are recognised as the leading awards campaign for the UK and overseas independent schools’ sector, resulting in a surge of new enquiries to schools from prospective parents.

As with last year’s awards campaign, the focus for 2024 is to celebrate the demonstrated benefits of an independent-school education and showcase the student experience.

With a general election in the forthcoming months – and when the role, purpose and value of the sector has been and is continuously under debate in certain quarters – we believe that the 2024 awards provide the ideal platform for schools to celebrate and promote everything they’re achieving in the many and varied areas of school life. Every school makes a di erence to the lives of young people, and empowers them to make the very most of their experience in school and in life beyond it.

bringing the awards total to 24: the first, Independent School of the Year for Best Use of Education Technology is to acknowledge how wide-ranging the use of education technology – or EdTech – has become in our schools: from Google Classroom to live-video streaming and online collaboration spaces and tools. The second new award is the School Travel Award for the Best School Trip of the Year.

The judges are hugely looking forward to hearing about how both education technology and the wide-ranging trips that schools and pupils take are enhancing the student experience in your school.

This year, two new categories are being introduced,

The awards are free to enter for every independent school that’s a member of the Independent Schools Council. The 2024 awards judging panel is comprised of leading headteachers including Gavin Horgan, Head of Millfield School in Somerset and membership association heads, such as Julie Robinson, CEO of the Independent Schools Council. The panel also comprises leading educationalists and is chaired by Dr Helen Wright, an international education advisor and former Vice-Chair of the ISC.

To find out more about the awards and to download your entry form, log on at:

in independent-school education

For 2024, the categories are...

• Independent Pre-Prep School of the Year

• Independent Prep School of the Year

• Co-educational Independent School of the Year

• Independent Girls’ School of the Year

• Independent Boys’ School of the Year

• Independent Boarding School of the Year

• The British International School of the Year

• Small Independent School of the Year

• London Independent School of the Year

• Independent School of the Year for Best Use of Education Technology

• Independent School of the Year for Student Careers

• Independent School of the Year for Outstanding Educational Partnerships

• Independent School of the Year for Diversity, Equality, Inclusion and Justice (DEIJ)

• Independent School of the Year for Sporting Achievement

• Independent School of the Year for Performing Arts

• Independent School of the Year for Environmental Achievement

• Independent School of the Year for Student Wellbeing

• Independent School of the Year for International Student Experience

• Independent School of the Year for Contribution to Social Mobility

• The Marketing Award for Brand Communication

• Development Award for an Outstanding Fundraising Achievement

• Rising Star of the Year Award

• Unsung Hero of the Year Award

• The School Travel Award for the Best School Trip of the Year

Judging panel Chair Helen Wright presented Royal Grammar School, Newcastle with the Overall Winner award at 2023’s ceremony

PHOTOGRAPHY:

JEFF GILBERT

Rite of passage

Igor Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring is one of the most difficult musical repertoires to perform, so how does a school orchestra do it? Dr Martin Leigh, Director of Music at King Edward’s School, Birmingham, explains…

There’s a great deal of talk about high expectations in education. But what happens when schools expect the impossible?

The first performance of Igor Stravinsky’s ballet The Rite of Spring caused a riot. Audiences in 1913 were not prepared for music of such power, energy, and complexity, reacted viscerally and loudly. Stravinsky’s piece takes innocuous little folk-songs and transforms them into things elemental, dangerous, revolutionary. It’s one of the most difficult pieces in the orchestral repertoire, making huge demands on huge forces.

An impossibly high expectation, then, that any school orchestra could perform it. Perform it four times, once in one of the world’s great concert halls.

It’s what KES/KEHS Symphony Orchestra, the orchestra drawn from pupils of King Edward’s and King Edward VI High School for Girls, is doing this term. And it’s totally impossible.

Well actually, no. Quite possible, and something from the example of which every school could learn.

How then? First culture, then time and space. There’s little children can’t do. As we get older, the watershed of impossibility is something which

surrounds us, coming ever closer. Tell a child that they can, and very often they do. If you build a culture which supports and promotes this, then all things are possible. The Rite ends with a ‘sacrificial dance’, fiendish in its rhythmic complexity. Break it down, however, into its component parts, then practise each; then slowly assemble them, one-by-one; and the orchestra could play it by the end of the first rehearsal. It’s a perfect model of teaching and learning. Balance this with feedback (the right kind) and encouragement (not too much) and there’s much that we can all learn from music teachers.

WHOSE IMPOSSIBLE IDEA WAS ALL THIS?

This credit is due to Ben in year 13. He suggested it, told us how it might just be possible. THE FINAL LESSON IS: LISTEN

TO OUR PUPILS

required in a rehearsal, or needed only briefly, then they’re not required to be there, or do their work and are quickly sent away. In this we treat them as professionals. Expectations again.

The time and space continuum matters, too. Work like this needs a space, chairs, music stands, and instruments. We couldn’t be more fortunate in our Ruddock Performing Arts Centre, but for 54 years rehearsed in our schools’ halls. Time, too. Give staff time to prepare, and pupils time to rehearse. Our orchestra rehearses together for 90 minutes each week; in sections for a total of about three hours. There’s also a music residential trip, a three-day long rehearsal. Our cocurricular time is respected by the whole school — particularly by the brilliant Directors of Sport and Drama, our Deputy Head, and their counterparts at KEHS. We work together every day to make it possible for every pupil to do almost everything — look to their wellbeing and academic success, too. Time matters, and rehearsals are planned to the second. If there’s a section of the orchestra not

There are resources beyond spaces and chairs. It’s too easy to overlook the potential of people around you, people you see every day. We have an excellent team of visiting teachers here. They knew about the project before anyone, have been there every step of the way. There’s only so much any of us know, and to call on their experience, enthusiasm, and encouragement is a tremendous resource. They know the endpoint, are fully invested in its success, and are marvelling at what their pupils are now doing because of them. There are underused people in every school. Perhaps our expectations should extend to them, too.

It’s wonderful to share, too, an education when you do it. The English and art department of both schools are busily creating away to the stimulus of the music, to the modernist aesthetic it represents, too. Eliot and Pound and Joyce are part of the work in English; cubism and abstract expressionism in art. We share beyond our gates, too.

Six state primary schools are working with us. We’re training non-music specialists in them to help their pupils to learn instrumental composition — composition based on the music of The Rite. Around 180 of their pupils will come to us next month, perform their own Arrival of Spring to our orchestra; which will reciprocate with the Stravinsky. An illustrator, James Mayhew, is going be on stage with us, dancing brushes illustrating live the events of the ballet. We do this because we’re lucky and we know how much we learn by sharing.

And whose impossible idea was all of this? This credit is due to Ben in year 13. He suggested it, told us how it might just be possible. The final lesson is this: listen to our pupils, they often have better ideas than do we.

So, because of our culture, time, and space; because we make the most of our people; because we share generously; and because of our impossibly high expectations, something truly remarkable is happening here. If you find yourself in Birmingham in March, come to Symphony Hall, and hear our concert. Hear the truth that nothing is impossible for our pupils when the teachers get it rite

Dr Martin Leigh and the full school orchestra practise The Rite of Spring together

LEVELLING THE FIELD

Graeme Miles, Director of Finance and Operations at Burgess Hill Girls, explains how bursaries and scholarships work and shares additional funding options available to families

There’s excellent physical education participation at Burgess Hill Girls, and accordingly, there are sports scholarships available at three entry points

You might have noticed that mainstream media, whenever they mention independent schools, tag on an exorbitant fee, o en more than £40,000 per year. Combine this with ongoing cost-of-living pressures faced by most households, I’m not surprised that families believe independent schools to be more out of reach than they’ve ever been before.

However, most independent schools, depending on their access to donations and funding, attempt to level the eld by o ering scholarships and bursaries. ere are a number

of powerful reasons why we do this, but chie y we realise the whole community of our school is enhanced by greater diversity of outlook and the inclusion of students from a wider variety of backgrounds.

Scholarships are awarded in recognition of the recipient’s exceptional talent and the value they can add to the school. Scholarship students, by nature of their individual talent and determination, are fantastic role models and, certainly at Burgess Hill Girls, are happy to play a more active role in helping their peers and younger students develop. Prep schools do o er scholarships, but they’re

more widely available for entry into years seven, nine and 12. Most schools will o er academic scholarships, as well as for sports and creative arts encompassing music, art, and drama. ere may be further, more individual scholarships on o er, according to the school’s particular strengths and values. For example, at Burgess Hill Girls, we have our BOLD award, which is a 100-per-cent scholarship awarded to a student joining our sixth form from a state-school background (see page 42 to meet Grace, our most recent recipient).

Most schools administer the scholarship process with entrance exams in the year

Sports Day is a big event at the West Sussex school, with plenty of friendly competition

Girls here enjoy a number of sports, from volleyball and hockey to tennis and athletics and even Zumba

HOW I DID IT

Grace Dobson is in Year 12 at Burgess Hill Girls’ School. Here, she details her experience of applying for and receiving a sixth form scholarship

When did you apply for a scholarship?

I didn’t originally consider Burgess Hill Girls as a sixth form option but came across the opportunity when my previous school informed me about the possibility. This was in February 2023.

Can you give me a rough timeline of your application process?

I submitted a written application in February 2023. After my application, I took part in a taster day of the A-level subjects I was interested in and had a tour of the school to get a better feel for the environment. In addition, my friends were given a tour of the school in March as they’d never visited before. This was followed by a formal interview with the Head and Deputy Head of Sixth Form as well as undertaking written tests in English and maths. In late March, I had a final interview with the Head of Sixth Form and Head of School.

How much did you know about scholarships before you applied for one?

Before applying, I had little knowledge of what Burgess Hill Girls’ BOLD scholarship consisted of. My two older sisters had gone to state sixth-form colleges and my original plan was to do the same as them.

How easy or difficult was it to secure the scholarship?

I’d say that securing the

What impact has receiving the scholarship had on you and your family?

I’ve had so many great opportunities since receiving the scholarship, such as: the networking dinner, where we met with professionals from different fields, from which I’ve secured work experience. Receiving the scholarship has allowed me to take on new responsibilities, such as mentoring and tutoring younger students, as well as standing as a candidate for the UK Youth Parliament (UKYP).

AFTER MY APPLICATION, I TOOK PART IN A taster day of the A-level subjects I was interested in AND HAD A TOUR OF THE SCHOOL TO GET A BETTER FEEL FOR THE ENVIRONMENT

scholarship was something of a challenge. Maths had always been one of my weaker subjects, so I found the test quite difficult. However, I found the English very manageable.

Do you have scholarship provision for the entirety of your sixth-form study?

I joined as a lower sixth student, and the BOLD award will run for the duration of my sixth form studies.

What qualities do you have to have to consider applying for a scholarship?

I think you have to be

relatively confident in your own ability and believe that you can achieve your goals. In addition, I believe that it’s helpful and beneficial to have a passion, as this makes for a productive conversation during interviews. My hobby, football, was discussed during my interview.

Which members of staff know that you have a scholarship, and do the other pupils know?

It’s no secret that I’m the recipient of the BOLD award, as there’s only one given out every year. I think that my subject teachers are aware of this, as are my peers.

Any tips for those hoping to apply for a scholarship at their chosen school?

It sounds like a cliche but in applying for a scholarship, you really have nothing to lose. Apart from potentially not getting the scholarship, you can only gain experience from the application process. It’s important that you like the school environment you’re going into, so I’d recommend to anyone interested in a scholarship, to visit the school. And in the interview stage of the application process, just be yourself.