April 2015 the Lady 55
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Lancing College Senior School & Sixth Form Open Morning Saturday 2 May 2015 at 10.45am Please contact our Admissions Office or visit our website for more details AN EXCEPTIONAL INDEPENDENT EDUCATION FOR BOYS AND GIRLS AGED 13 TO 18 www.lancingcollege.co.uk Tel 01273 465805 West Sussex BN15 0RW [email protected] Registered Charity Number 1076483 00DISPLAY AD Template.indt 1 10/04/2015 16:03 independent schools special Meet the (neW) heads St Margaret’s School, Bushey, is a ‘hidden gem’, says its new head Few better here can be few more test- a big responsibility,’ says lambon. ing or worthwhile jobs ‘the school has been run very effec- understand the than becoming the head tively by monks, but the community’s of a large school. con- role is pastoral and faith development. needs of students tstant governmental tinkering with in this current era of targets, it seemed exam syllabuses, tidal waves of pa - better to appoint someone from out- than the heads of perwork, parental expectations and side to look at the professional run- social media are just a few of the prob- ning of the school.’ Britain’s best lems any head now faces. We talk to lambon spent his first three or four heads who have been in the post four months in the role just listening. schools. Vanessa since september 2014 to see what they ‘the student voice is very strong,’ he Berridge speaks to are making of their new jobs. says, ‘and the pupils have a deep af- fection for the school. Uniquely, we some recent Dav iD offer 24-hour parental retreats and Lambon is in a forums. that gave me an opportu- arrivals… unique position. he nity to listen to parents as well.’ is the first lay head- this is lambon’s 15th year as master of ample- a head (he was previously at forth college in st Malachy’s college in Belfast). ‘the Yorkshire in its 200- pace of change is greater than it was year history; all his predecessors have when i took on my first headship,’ he been Benedictine monks. the deci- tells me. ‘there are more bumps in sion to appoint a layman is, in a way, the road than there were even seven a sign of the times. years ago, so the biggest challenge ‘the community has handed over now is to teach young people resil- w 17 april 2015 The Lady 55 Schools.NewHeads.indd 55 13/04/2015 16:18 North Bridge House Preparatory School Regent’s Park, London Inspire InspireAn outstanding education for a bright future An outstanding education for a bright future SUMMER OPEN MORNING Saturday 6 June 2015 North Bridge House Preparatory School SUMMER OPEN MORNING Nurturing confidence and academic success Saturday 6 June 2015 Upcoming open mornings: 8th May & 19th June 2015 www.northbridgehouse.com/prep 020 7267 6266 Outstanding boarding and day school for boys and girls, 4 to 13 years Outstanding boarding and day school for boys and girls, 4 to 13 years INVITATIONS T: 01865 315405 INVITATIONSE: [email protected] DragonT: 01865 School, 315405 Oxford E: [email protected] Dragon School, Oxford Inspire An outstanding education for a bright future The Summer Open Evening will be held on Forest School, London Monday 22 June, 2015, from 4.30pm - 7.00pm SUMMER OPEN MORNING www.forest.org.uk Saturday 6 June 2015 Outstanding boarding and day school The Lady Magazine.indd 1 01/04/2015 09:45:56 00DISPLAY forAD Template.indt boys and1 girls, 4 to 13 years 10/04/2015 16:12 INVITATIONS T: 01865 315405 E: [email protected] Dragon School, Oxford independent schools special There is an aspirational culture at Blackheath High School ience. We are trying to produce lead- ers with a strong moral compass who will change the world for the better because of their faith and the way they have been taught.’ the worst part of the job is the ceo aspect, he claims. ‘the best part is contact with pupils. of course, you have to focus on the bottom line, but anyone who forgets to filter decisions through the perspective of a 14- or 15-year-old is getting things wrong.’ it’s the first year in 15 in whichl am- information, of statistics and regula- uncertain and volatile world. ‘i’m not bon hasn’t taught, but the advantage tions by which she is daily submerged. just interested in producing a set of of ampleforth being primarily a she is also re-acclimatising to working exam results,’ she claims. boarding school is that he can drop at a single-sex day school in london she enjoys working within the in on the children in the evenings. ‘i after her time at a boarding co-ed Girls’ day school trust (Gdst). ‘it’s can help them with their homework.’ establishment in a rural area of south good to have other heads to talk to he adds with gentle humour, ‘i’m a Korea. But, she says, there are simi- and to have the financial and legal maths teacher, so they aren’t always larities: each student needs to be back-up,’ she says. pleased to see me.’ treated as an individual. ‘it was so challenging working for heaTher Carol three years in Korea,’ she says, ‘that hanbury has Chandler- i have come back believing that noth- moved to the lady Thompson ing is insuperable. it has also made eleanor holles Keeping students at me realise that we shouldn’t put arti- school in south- the heart of every - ficial limits on children. one of my west london from thing is also the Korean students could scarcely speak another Gdst mantra of the new english when she joined the school school, Wimbledon high. she no- headmistress of Blackheath high three years ago. i’ve just heard that tices the difference, especially as she school in southeast london. it’s her she’s won a place to read history at has been arranging one-to-one meet- first headship in the UK, but not her cambridge.’ ings to meet all her teaching and sup- first headship: she previously led the like the north london collegiate port staff. t‘ his is endlessly fascinat- Girls’ school at nlcs Jeju, an inter- school, Blackheath high school was ing, but time-consuming,’ she says. national branch of the north london founded, says chandler-thompson, ‘More happens on site here and there are a lot more people to understand and manage. But i feel much closer ‘I’m not just interested in great exam results – to the decision-making process.’ we shouldn’t put artificial limits on children’ hanbury and i spoke when she first became head of Wimbledonh igh school, and it’s interesting to see how collegiate school on the island of Jeju ‘in the era of brilliant 19th-century she is adjusting to the role the second in south Korea. she had liked the idea women’s education. they created an time round. ‘i foolishly assumed it of living in a different culture, but aspirational culture that still exists.’ might be easier,’ she laughs. ‘But i taking with her an ethos she believed her aim is to provide an inspiration- know now what i don’t know. i stepped in from the mother school in london. al, exciting and relevant education in here and i didn’t know anything. What she has been surprised by at for her girls, and to make them flex- it’s been a shock to the system and i Blackheath is the constant flow of ible, adaptable and confident in an realise i have to approach the job as though i hadn’t done it before.’ a management consultant before becoming a teacher, hanbury be- lieves in taking the staff and the girls with her. she is working with them on her plans for the next five years, ranging from larger issues such as curriculum changes down to the mi- nutiae of improving the lockers. i‘ like to build a strategic view from below,’ Ampleforth College in she says. ‘and it’s an effective way to Yorkshire instils a strong find out the key issues.’ moral compass in its pupils she is changing the grey senior- school uniform, a process in which w 17 april 2015 The Lady 57 Schools.NewHeads.indd 57 13/04/2015 16:19 Independent schools specIal Juniors at The Lady Eleanor Holles School in southwest London she is again involving the girls. t‘ hey will meet designers before the end of the summer term,’ she explains. ‘If the girls are going to have to wear a uniform, it might as well be colourful and smart, rather than just comfort- able and casual.’ We talk about the changes that social media have wrought over the past seven years. ‘When I started at Wimbledon, we were still in the age of trying to control the students’ use of mobile technology and It. We had a protective wall around our internet system in school, so we could hon- The new head at The Lady Eleanor estly say that, whatever was happen- Holles School is involving pupils ing on social media, it wasn’t happen- in her plans for the future ing in school. We still confiscated mobile phones and didn’t allow their use during school hours. st albans, which only has girls in the making the decisions,’ she says. ‘I was ‘nowadays, any student with an sixth form. ‘social media affects girls very ready and it’s very enjoyable, but iphone has access to entirely unre- more,’ she says.