T E A C H I N G a n d L E A R N I N G

Repton sits comfortably among the top coed boarding schools for academic achievement and shines particularly brightly in terms of value added. But now, more than ever, teachers are kept on their toes and are heavily praised for being ‘happy to go over anything that’s not understood in class –they are very open to kids that maybe don’t get it the first time round.’ Inspiring too –‘My eldest hated history at prep but came out of Sixth Form with an A at A level.

’Science facilities stand out thanks to impressive glass-fronted Science Priory with labs, seminar rooms, reptile room and a much-loved university-style (better than some universities, actually) lecture theatre with 3D projector (imagine animated images of a human kidney inches from your eyes). Plus, there’s an observatory on the roof –great for those dark Derbyshire skies But does the teaching match up? ‘Oh yes,’ say students, who also pull out history as a top department Maths, until recently, considered a weak spot ‘but now brilliant thanks to three new amazing teachers,’ according to a student We watched one in awe as he made trigonometry sound fun

All are streamed on arrival then set in almost every subject –‘with plenty of movement,’ we were assured Spanish, German and French from year 9, with at least one taken at GCSE Latin optional, again from year 9 Of the 10 or 11 GCSEs that pupils take, English and maths results top the bill, but only just Among the most popular A levels (of which most students take three) are economics and English Numbers have fallen in Latin and Greek, but the school will run the tiniest of classes, as we saw for ourselves with a German A level class featuring just one

BTec in sport recently introduced. EPQ has 50 per cent take-up but head (who was instrumental in creating the original business and economics EPQ at Rugby) is pushing for a full house. ‘It’s wonderful for them to have in-depth knowledge on something other people don’t –great for university and job interviews and you can carry it through your whole life.’

All pupils have their own Win10 device with access to every note made in every lesson, as well as being used for targeted pastoral care. The director of digital development is one of the original six Microsoft Fellows, and there are six more Microsoft Innovative Educator Experts on the staff. Did the school no harm at all during Covid when it bagged the Education Business Award for outstanding remote learning provision, though some students would like computing to feature as a standalone subject