Prep School SPRING TERM 2010 ISSUE 67 5 From the Editor 24 Learning how to think Emma Worley 6 No more heroes in the head’s study Paul Ainsworth 25 Insider 7 Back to the future Chas Cochand 26 Improving life for children in a far-away Indian village 8 Bringing languages to life Penelope Kirk Lee Perkins 8 Turning a lesson into real French 28 Jeans for Genes Andrew Davis Caroline Sharp 10 Spelling their way to triumph 29 Capturing a world of dreams Linda Crook Kate Atkin 11 The life and times of Charles Darwin Thomas Hill 30 A very special remembrance in the battlefields of World War One 12 The sheer hard graft behind that joyful noise Nigel Taylor Neil Chippington 14 Making singing fun 32 The value of team building day Tim Williams Robert Boughton 15 Taking a brass band to Italy 35 Welcome to the head’s study 16 Create your own nativity play 36 How my world has opened up Charlotte Phillips Scott Quinnell 17 Pearls of historic wisdom 37 Scotland wins shooting match 18 Breathing new life into a small country prep Chris Laughton school Moira Laffey 38 Welcome, Trinidad and Tobago 20 It is the fittest who survive Fiona Cumberland Paddy Heazell 39 Sports 22 Not sure about boarding? John Baugh 49 IAPS/SATIPS Front cover photography: Boarders at the Dragon School: Page 22. ISSN: 0963 8601 Printed by Wyndeham Grange, Butts Rd, Southwick, West Sussex BN42 4EJ Spring term 2010 PREP SCHOOL 3 Personal Accident Cover £2 millionmillio benefitnefit Coverver for brokenken bones Includesudes dentalntal cover Pupilpil and staffff cover New market leading benefit of £2 Million£2 HSBC Insurance Brokers, Education Practice is the leading intermediary in the field of education. Our long standing Personal Accident scheme has provided schools with peace of mind for nearly 30 years, having paid benefits exceeding the sum of £57 million. Contact us to find out what we can do for your school. Call: 01444 313160 Click: [email protected] Web:eb:W www.schools.hsbc.com WorldwideWorldwide cover • 24 hours a day • 365 days a year HSBC Insurance Brokers Limited is a Lloyd’sLloyd’s broker and is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority.Authority. Firm reference number 310240. LETTER FROM THE EDITOR Prep Charity does not School necessarily begin Editor with the Tories David Tytler, Abbey Cottage, Blythburgh, Suffolk IP19 9LQ. t has not been the best of years for independent schools but the troubles may not be Tel: 01502 478521. Iover yet even if the recession lifts and it becomes clear that its effect on fee-paying Email: [email protected] parents has not been as dire as predicted. Let us hope that the optimists are proved right. Joint Editorial Board Rumbling along in the background is the continuing stand-off with the Charity Stuart Thackrah (Chairman), Commission and in particular its chair, Dame Suzi Leather, whose message to the Michael Denton annual meeting of HMC seems to have got rather distorted. She certainly said that Pat Harrison, schools that failed to pass the public benefit test could be given up to five years to Moira Laffey, meet the demand. This had apparently always been the case, but nobody had bothered Henry Phillips. to tell the schools or the media; so it appeared as if she was giving a major concession. Readers She was not. The big problem remains that the central litmus test is going to be in the Donald Sewell, quality of bursaries provided. Christopher Bromley-Martin, Some independent school heads will seek comfort by pointing out that there could David Beaton. well be a Conservative Government in the next few months and that Old Etonian Publishers’ Notice David Cameron will look more kindly on independent schools. (I wonder, though, PREP SCHOOL is published three whether Mr Cameron may be slightly nervous about his educational history and be times a year, in January, May and very careful before making life easier for independent schools.) September, by the Independent In any event, any incoming government is going to have enough on its plate without Association of Preparatory Schools worrying about independent schools. I am sure that private conversations are taking (IAPS) in conjunction with the place between Michael Gove, shadow education secretary, and the leaders of Society of Assistants Teaching independent schools but I can find nothing of substance on the record to indicate the in Preparatory Schools (SATIPS). £25 for a two year subscription, Conservative approach to independent schools. post paid; discounts for bulk There is plenty to be found on the Tory website about its approach to state orders are available. education, with at its heart the desire to set up a large number of ‘independent’ state Opinions expressed in PREP schools, which could be seen as being in direct competition with fee-paying schools. SCHOOL are not necessarily The country that provides the closest model for what Mr Gove wishes to do is Sweden. endorsed by either organisation; Over the past 15 years, Sweden has introduced a new system that has allowed the likewise advertisements and creation of many new high quality state schools that are independent from political advertising features are printed control. All parents have the power to take their child out of a state school and apply to a in good faith. Their inclusion does not imply endorsement new independent state school. The money that went to the failing state school is by the organisations. transferred to the new ‘independent’ school. They are free and non-selective. The upshot has been the creation of around 900 new ‘free’ schools educating about ten Subscription Details per cent of all the children in the country (not very much more than the seven per cent The Business Managers are educated in independent schools in the UK). The schools cannot levy any further fee on John Catt Educational Ltd, 12 Deben Mill Business Centre, top of the voucher but they are allowed, under the Swedish system, to make a profit out Old Maltings Approach, Melton, of running their schools. The British equivalents will not be allowed to make a profit. Woodbridge, Suffolk IP12 1BL. With the exception of the introduction of the assisted places scheme, history Tel: (01394) 389850 suggests that Conservative governments have never been great promoters of Fax: (01394) 386893, independent schools. On the other hand, whilst New Labour did scrap the assisted to whom communications places scheme, independent schools enjoyed relatively friendly relationships when regarding advertising, subscription Lord Adonis was schools’ minister. (Things have cooled since Ed Balls became order forms and correspondence about subscriptions should be sent. Secretary of State.) Contributions to PREP SCHOOL So it would be wise for independent schools to raise only two cheers if the Tories do should be sent to the Editor, win the next election. David Tytler, at Abbey Cottage, Blythburgh, Suffolk IP19 9LQ. David Tytler News items for the spring edition Editor should arrive no later than 28th February 2010. www.prepschoolmag.co.uk PREP SCHOOL Spring term 2010 5 NEW ROLE MODELS No more heroes in the head’s study By Paul Ainsworth t is often fascinating to read the despondent dependency from their Iobituaries of prep school heads or staff. listen to old stagers in the staff room If hero heads are seen as a dinosaur describe the first head that they worked in today’s educational world, they are for. A common link between these fêted not extinct. However, the rise of parent leaders of yore is the way that they led power could see their final demise. In their schools as heroic head teachers by the current economic downturn, Heads, charismatic example. trying ever harder to maintain We can all think of examples of numbers, will feel they cannot afford to heads, who could stand in an assembly lose any pupils. Parents are used to hall and entrance the whole school, being consumers and some first time pupils and staff, with the power of buyers will bring a similar viewpoint to their oratory. They could take paying school fees as they do for other command of the school and expect products. instant obedience. Hearing such a So, if something is not to a parent’s character in full flow could be an liking, they expect to be able to pick up inspiring experience. It can be easy to the telephone, speak to the head and attribute this style only to male have it changed. This could range from leaders but I have worked for two hero a disciplinary punishment, to an Heads, the first a charismatic woman. extracurricular issue, to the They both dominated the assembly arrangement of the curriculum. One hall or staffroom by the force of their Illustration by Linda Ashwell director of studies I know, would plan a personality alone. The female head, course of action with the head and find begun to share this opinion and use though, seemed far more approachable a complete volte face had been ordered caricatures to illustrate such and easier for both staff and pupils to as a result of one parents’ phone call. behaviours. talk to. Hero heads can still exist in their Gerald Haigh memorably wrote of a Most heads believe that they take own schools and many teachers enjoy hero head: “…roaring in, soliciting ultimate responsibility for their school working for them, providing they have approval like a colonel.” However, as and, as a result, we can see from where excellent judgement and teachers feel time moved on cracks appeared and the heroic head style evolves.