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 BN15 0RW [email protected]

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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,

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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. ‘Boys can fall foul of a school is a huge operation. You’re stricted internet use and so we can’t it, too, but it’s an aesthetic problem looking at everything from child-re- protect them from social media. We for girls.’ lated issues to curriculum reviews to are in fact planning more use of the the culture in schools, she sug- bat boxes. It’s rather like being the internet through ipads and laptops. gests, has changed even in the last 12 dean of a cathedral.’ along with this goes ever more work months, so she is bringing with her a her main aim is to improve the to educate young people on how to determination to talk to parents about academic experience of her girls while protect themselves online and how supporting their girls and making remaining inclusive. ‘a new head has to find their way through the maze of education enjoyable rather than fo- to come in sensitively. there’s a loyal, (mis)information online.’ cusing on league tables. ‘parents in committed staff and it’s about making 2015 are lacking in confidence,’ she sure that people have the opportu- Rose HaRdy believes. ‘there is confusion about nity to build their portfolios. For in- is facing similar is- the academic landscape with the lat- stance, I’ve created the role of deputy sues in her first year est exam reforms, so parents are look- head of sixth form, which gives a as headmistress of ing to school heads for reassurance.’ young staff member the chance to st Margaret’s she admits it is a big leap moving move towards senior management.’ school, Bushey. from being a deputy to the one in st Margaret’s, she believes, is a her previous job charge. ‘You can always take a prob- ‘hidden gem. I want to start shouting was as ‘second master’ of boys’ school lem to the head, but now I’m the one about it.’ ■

58 The Lady 17 aprIl 2015

Schools.NewHeads.indd 58 13/04/2015 16:19 Leading girls’ education

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EdgeboroughSchool_17April.indd 1 13/04/2015 11:43 independent schools special

King’s College School, Wimbledon, has been admitting girls to its sixth form since 2010

Better toGether? is co-education beneficial? or are boys and girls better off apart? Vanessa Berridge investigates

n most countries, boys and girls are educated together and there’s little discussion. here, the debate rumbles on. on the whole,i the girls-only brand seems to have held up better, with many lead- ing boys’ schools, such as Westmin- ster and, more recently, King’s college school, Wimbledon, admitting girls in the sixth form, and others, includ- ing rugby and lancing, becoming co-educational throughout. eton, harrow and Winchester are now among a relatively small number of all-boys schools. w

17 april 2015 The Lady 61

Schools.Co-ed.indd 61 13/04/2015 15:19 ST. JOHN’S WOOD PRE - PREPARATORY SCHOOL Shortlisted for TEAM Awards 2014 The Independent School Moor park MoorCo-educational park Boarding and Day School for 2-13 years Moor Co-educational Boarding and Day School for 2-13 years Park

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00DISPLAY AD Template.indt 1 13/04/2015 12:19 independent schools special

At Forest School, London, reception to year two and the sixth form are co-educational

Broadening admission and admit- ting girls in the sixth form makes fi- nancial sense, with staff and facilities costs ever on the increase. this is acknowledged by andrew halls, headmaster of King’s college school, Wimbledon, which admitted its first sixth-form girls five years ago. ‘We had enough staff and classrooms, so it was cost-effective and we could make a better surplus to invest in the fabric of the school.’ the admission of girls was phased in at lancing, with the first sixth- form girls arriving in the 1970s. ‘it was a very competitive entry, with 200 applicants for 40 places,’ says hilary dugdale, senior deputy head. ‘there was blue water between the girls and boys then. the girls were self-determined, completely grown-up and feisty, interesting individuals. at one point, lancing’s academic suc- lot of local weekly boarding, being of boys and girls are awkward, and cess was resting too much on the girls’ co-ed helps with family cohesion.’ that awkwardness shouldn’t be al- achievements.’ andrew halls, meanwhile, be- lowed to get in the way of education. lieves there were good reasons – if you are highly academic as a wom- A visible difference besides economic ones – for introduc- an, you are going to be told you are there is more of a level playing field ing girls to the sixth form at King’s. bossy and aggressive. i don’t want the now that girls are integrated through- ‘at this age, it offers a better education will to lead knocked out of girls at out the school, something dugdale for boys and girls, who will be off to school.’ oversaw. ‘it involved two years’ prep- university interviews in the upper the other advantage of single-sex aration. We had to consider the house sixth, often to be interviewed by education, believes phillips, is that structure, different learning and bright women. it’s good socially and there is no problem with subjects – or teaching styles, and whether to intro- the boys accepted the girls very eas- instruments – being perceived as the duce new subjects, such as drama, at ily. it’s important that the sixth form preserve of one gender. Matthew Gcse and a levels. should we change feels different from the rest of the Burke, headmaster of all-girls st Mar- the uniform at 16? Boys don’t care, but girls like to observe these physical rites of passage.’ ‘In mixed sixth forms, subjects such as maths ninety per cent of the planning and physics are not perceived as just for boys’ was unnecessary. ‘Girls arrived natu- rally with the boys from their co-ed prep schools,’ dugdale recalls. ‘sib- school. Girls certainly make a visible tha’s, near Barnet, agrees. ‘there is lings could come, and, as there is a difference.’ King’s has no plans, how- a substantial take-up here of maths ever, to go co-ed further down the and physics, partly because there is school, and indeed the number of no perception that they are boys’ sub- sixth-form places for boys has not jects.’ been reduced, while the girls’ places the counter-argument is that girls are usually capped at about 45 in in an all-boys school get the chance academic years of 200 pupils. to flourish at traditionally male sub- alice phillips, headmistress of jects. andrew halls argues that the st catherine’s, Bramley, emphasises seriousness with which King’s takes that she’s ‘a great friend of single-sex sport has rubbed off on the girls, and, for both genders’. ‘it’s always trotted because the cohort is smaller, more out that such schools are not a real get the opportunity to play for school preparation for being grown-up. But teams. at Felsted school in essex, children are not real grown-ups. they the director of cricket, Jason Gallian, make all sorts of mistakes and it’s best has successfully promoted girls’ crick- to do so where it’s least damaging. et over the past few seasons: one Fel- ‘We are still enmeshed in stereo- sted pupil, nancy hebron, recently types and girls come off worst.s peak- scored three consecutive centuries ing as a sometime plain Jane, we live for essex girls’ under-13s and is play- in a society that doesn’t like plain ing for the england under-15s. ‘it was At Felsted Janes. there is an exacting national a new challenge introducing girls to School, Essex, standard of good looks. the majority cricket,’ explains Gallian. ‘Boys w girls’ cricket is encouraged 17 april 2015 The Lady 63

Schools.Co-ed.indd 63 13/04/2015 15:19 independent schools special

the old adage is that you should educate your boys co-educationally and girls single-sex. the advantage of the diamond system is that you can do that. ‘our pupils are ethnically diverse,’ says Kerr-dineen, ‘and some families might not be happy about sending their daughters to a mixed school, but here their girls get single- sex pastoral care.’ Co-education makes Kerr-dineen has appointed direc- pupils more confident tors of ‘co-curriculum’ and teaching at Forest School and learning to give proper direction and cohesion to the teaching of both sexes. staff teach both boys and girls, that leaves the vexed issue of dif- a strength in recruitment and devel- ferent learning styles. it’s a familiar opment. ‘staff have experience of story: boys speak out even when they three types of teaching in one school don’t know the answer, while girls – it could take them years to get that keep quiet even if they do. Girls write elsewhere,’ she says. Meals, orches- screeds but won’t get to the nitty- tras, the duke of edinburgh’s award gritty of a problem; boys write less but programmes and other elements of spot the salient points. that’s the case the co-curriculum are all co-ed, for the ‘diamond structure’, in which allowing the students to build what Social skills are improved girls and boys are educated together Kerr-dineen calls ‘workaday friend- at King’s College School’s at the beginning and end of their ships’. mixed sixth form education and separately in the mid- some further adaptation is needed dle years. st James schools in london at 16, but, she says, ‘i would rather and surrey have a mixed junior school they did it here. Moving to the sixth tend to play a traditional game the and separate senior schools. ‘the form is a big shift in any school. We traditional way, but girls employ dif- younger boys and girls mix for their put a lot of energy into making it ferent skills and tactics they bring early-years activities,’ explains cath- work.’ from other sports. they listen better erine thomlinson, headmistress of peter Green, headmaster of co-ed and pick up things faster. Many of st James Junior school, ‘but they are rugby, quibbles with the idea that, at them will have played cricket with taught separately in parallel classes 16, boys and girls will suddenly work boys at their prep schools, which helps of boys and girls. You can accommo- together smoothly. ‘it seems nonsense when they continue in co-education.’ date different learning skills within to me – are their hormones supposed Given that many boys’ schools of- our system, yet the children socialise to have died down at that point?’ fer places to girls at 16, is that the best over lunch and on school trips.’ When girls were introduced to the age to combine the sexes? not neces- sixth form while he was at Upping- sarily, says Jonathan Bartlett, head- Flexible education ham, says Green, they were seen as master of Moor park school in shrop- at Forest school in northeast lon- a reward for the boys who had slogged shire, which is fully co-ed from three don, reception to year two and the through a single-sex school. andrew to 13. ‘it is very natural for small chil- sixth form are co-educational, while halls of King’s laughs at the sugges- dren to work and play together, and the years in between are single-sex. tion: ‘here, at best only a third of them in years two and three, their best ‘there are arguments to separate can get that reward!’ ■ friends are often members of the op- them from the start,’ says the warden, posite sex. as they get older, they do sarah Kerr-dineen, ‘but co-education Girls are encouraged to try gravitate towards their own sex, but gives flexibility in the early years to different subjects at Forest School educating them together fosters move children between classes ac - healthy respect both academically cording to their development.’ the and in sport. the 13-year-olds will school was set up as a boys’ grammar often play football and rounders to- school in 1834, introduced a separate gether in the evening.’ girls’ school and a mixed sixth form rupert anton has two boys at a in 1981 and has gradually developed co-ed public school. ‘they both went over the past 30 years into a school to a co-ed prep school and so have with equal numbers of boys and girls. been around girls from the age of ‘the diamond structure enables three. there is no embarrassment, adaptation to difference,’ continues no “feeling uneasy”. it has been par- Kerr-dineen. ‘it allows us to encour- ticularly interesting seeing the change age the students not to conform to in relationships with girls for my sexual stereotypes. languages, 18-year-old. as he has developed, so maths and oxbridge entrances are have the girls, but they have done so all 50/50 here. We can support boys together and it’s no big deal for either.’ and girls to feel they can do anything.’

64 The Lady 17 april 2015

Schools.Co-ed.indd 64 13/04/2015 15:20 independent scHools special

address Book Useful contact information for independent schools and educational organisations

SchoolS u Lancing College, West Sussex u St Margaret’s School, Bushey, u Ampleforth College, York 01439- 01273-452213, www.lancingcollege.co.uk Hertfordshire 020-8416 4400, 766000, www.college.ampleforth.org.uk u Moor Park, www.stmargaretsbushey.co.uk u Blackheath High School, 01584-876061, www.moorpark.org.uk u St Martha’s School, Barnet London SE3 020-8853 2929, u North Bridge House, 020-8449 6889, www.st-marthas.co.uk www.blackheathhighschool.gdst.net London NW1 020-7267 6266, u The Lady Eleanor Holles School, u Dragon School, Oxford www.northbridgehouse.com Hampton, Middlesex 01865-315400, www.dragonschool.org u Rugby School, Warwickshire 020-8979 1601, www.lehs.org.uk u Edgeborough, Surrey 01788-556216, www.rugbyschool.net 01252-792495, www.edgeborough.co.uk u St Catherine’s School, Bramley, organiSationS u Felsted School, Essex Surrey 01483-893363, u Girls’ Day School Trust (GDST) 01371-822600, www.felsted.org www.stcatherines.info 020-7393 6666, www.gdst.net u Forest School, London E17 u St James Junior School, London W14 u Girls’ Schools Association (GSA) 020-8520 1744, www.forest.org.uk 020-7348 1777, www.stjamesschools.co.uk 0116-254 1619, www.gsa.uk.com u King’s College School, Wimbledon, u St John’s Wood Pre-Preparatory u The Headmasters’ and London SW19 020-8255 5300, School, London NW8 Headmistresses’ Conference (HMC) www.kcs.org.uk 020-7722 7149, www.sjwpre-prep.org.uk 01858-469059, www.hmc.org.uk

Felstead School, Essex Lancing College, Rugby School, West Sussex Warwickshire andrea gonzalez/istock andrea

17 april 2015 The Lady 65

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