After the Black Lives Matter movement in 2020 and Everyone’s Invited last year, Nicholas was determined to bring pupils and staff together to talk about these important, and often difficult to discuss, issues.

This is why he has created a working group called the St Dunstan’s Diapason – inspired by the structure of Barclays’ Spectrum Allies, which brings together representatives from across the organisation to create strategies for improving equality and diversity.

The Diapason focuses on five pillars: sexual orientation; sex and gender; race; religion and belief; and disability. A staff and student lead work together with other students to create an action plan for improving a particular pillar.

The group meets termly and is chaired by Nicholas. “We have agreed their plans and they are now in the middle of implementing them,” he says, following their first meeting in the autumn term. “There are loads of really exciting things happening as a consequence of it.”

Some examples include diversifying the school’s literature, racial equality training for pupils, different religious festivals planned throughout the year and the creation of a multipurpose prayer room.

Do we have an issue as a sector with diversity? It would be ridiculous to suggest anything other than the fact that we do

They are also implementing an initiative where the whole school must write with their non-preferred hand for the day to learn about the challenges that come with disability.

It’s a “huge privilege”, says Nicholas, to be a racially diverse school, and making sure this is reflected in the staff body is one of his top priorities. He has been talking to the Diapason about the mechanisms they can use to attract a more racially diverse pool of applicants.

His own experience of telling his students that he is in a same-sex marriage, which was picked up in the national media, highlighted to Nicholas some of the issues that remain in society.

He says: “Do we have an issue as a sector with diversity? It would be ridiculous to suggest anything other than the fact that we do. Why is the fact that as a gay man me coming out is national news? Because we have an issue.

“We conform, either subconsciously or consciously, to a stereotypical view around school leadership that it needs to conform to a heteronormative style.

“And traditionally, although this has changed a lot, it tended to just be men. That needs to change because it is not representative of the young people that we lead. We all have to come together and work, and not just with a tick-box approach, but with a genuine and sincere commitment to how we engender that change.”

Leading by example

Nicholas grew up in Croydon and was educated at Whitgift School, where his dad was a head of department. It was a “great formative experience”, although, being an independent school in the 1990s, it was “very different from how it is today”.

Following a gap year and time spent working at a stock broking firm, Nicholas attended King’s College London to study geography. During his studies, he not only sang professionally but also worked part-time at John Lewis, where he ended up managing the furniture department.

This breadth of experience gave him many options when it came to deciding what to do after university, including working in the stock exchange, joining the John Lewis graduate programme and even studying opera at the Royal Academy of Music.

“In the end, I decided to go ahead with none of them and take a year to think about it,” Nicholas reveals. There was clearly another avenue he was drawn to – his mum and dad were both teachers, after all.

After studying his PGCE, he went into his first placement school in north London. “I saw quite quickly what the main problem was with the school, which was the leadership, and I felt very strongly that I could do something about that,” he explains.

Ambitious about moving through leadership quickly, Nicholas also spent time at Dulwich College and Magdalen College School in leadership roles. But it was a particularly unique advert that led him to his first senior position.

“I saw this extraordinary advert from North London Collegiate School which was setting up a school on an island in South Korea. I met Bernice McCabe, who was the headmistress – a really impressive head and hugely formative on my development as a leader – and she offered me the job as head of the boys’ school.”

Nicholas admits his time at North London Collegiate School Jeju was particularly challenging. “We were running a school from start-up, in a totally different culture, in the middle of nowhere. I learnt so much. It made me rethink all of my educational beliefs.”

After returning to the UK, Nicholas saw an advert for the headship role at St Dunstan’s College, where he’s been for the past eight years.

‘The idea of a job for life is dead’

Considering his variety of experiences, what careers advice does Nicholas give to his students? “The world is even more uncertain now than it was when I was weighing up all those different options,” he reflects.

“I believe that the idea of going into a job for life is dead. The world of work is moving at such a pace that – and we all know those much-bandied-around statistics – the jobs that children are being trained for now won’t exist. And we don’t know what most of the jobs they’ll be going into are; there’s real truth in that.”

This analysis informs the way that St Dunstan’s educates its pupils. Nicholas adds: “We should be preparing young people to have a toolkit to be able to respond to whatever the jobs market ends up looking like.

“I know a lot of schools use this quite tritely but there’s an inherent truth that a values-driven education, which develops young men and women to be able to adjust to whatever life throws at them and whatever employment throws at them, is not only important for their wellbeing and for the health of society, but on a pragmatic level it’s absolutely imperative because we do not know what jobs they will be going into.

“What we do know is that almost certainly the jobs that they start out with won’t be the jobs they end their career in. They’ll need to be portable and they’ll need to have skills that can cross sectors. My job as an educator is to make sure I prepare young people to do that.

“In my view, we do that by having a broad and balanced approach to the education that we offer these young people, especially being well-resourced independent schools.”

The risk of a school that focuses so narrowly as the driver of its success on quantitative outcomes is that it sterilises the culture, because they’ve stopped thinking about it

But focusing solely on academic outcomes is something Nicholas will never do. “You’ve got two types of school leadership,” he explains.

“One uses quantitative academic outcomes to engender culture, and the other focuses on culture and then as a by-product of that culture has exciting academic outcomes. The second of those two categories is where I sit, but it is more unusual.

“The risk of a school that focuses so narrowly as the driver of its success on quantitative outcomes is that it sterilises the culture, because they’ve stopped thinking about it. That’s where you get these toxic environments where you have all of the issues that we’ve seen of late, because the metric of the success for those schools, and what has defined and shaped their culture and their environment, has been purely league table driven.”

Nicholas’ hopes and concerns for the new year are much the same as heads across the country. “I hope that we can get through the Covid pandemic once and for all, and that we can move on to the healing that needs to be done for these young people, who have in many cases been quite traumatised – the staff too,” he says.

“There are a lot of fires to fight over these next 12 months. Then we can focus in on the quality of the education that we’re offering and redress some of the priorities as to what we’re here for as schools – and that is to develop young people who are able to embrace the challenges of an increasingly uncertain world.”

Nicholas on… the most fulfilling aspect of headship:

“At Dunstan’s, what I find fulfilling is that we’re starting to really challenge educational thinking. I have, like many educators, wrestled with the independent/state debate. Morally, is what I’m doing correct? So, what I love about St Dunstan’s is the fact that I’m able to agitate other schools to ask questions of themselves. What are the important debates around the purpose of independent education? How are independent schools working with local communities, not in a unidirectional way, but in a genuine way that ensures that independent schools are at the heart of post-pandemic societal narrative?”

On the school’s new facilities:

“It was an incredibly brave decision, there’s no doubt about that. I applaud the governors for having the courage to get behind it. And no one could have predicted Covid coming along, but it’s certainly paid off. The buildings are absolutely remarkable and have had a transformative impact on the experience for the children, and the professionalism and tone of the institution as well. Having world-class buildings impacts, disproportionately I have learnt, the tone of the institution, and the way that students and teachers approach their work.”

On education reform:

“In 1888, St Dunstan’s was founded to do education differently. Education in this country was out of date and things needed to radically change. At that time, it was about bringing science and technology into the curriculum, which we did very successfully; we were one of the first schools in the country do it. We were also one of the first schools in the country to bring a co-curricular programme in. We were trailblazing at that time and I’m very proud of that. That’s something I want to bring back because the sector has become quite conservative and it needs to modernise.”

More interviews: ‘I want to rebuild an academic culture’: Rhiannon Wilkinson

‘This is a great opportunity for us to play a meaningful part in the local community’: Mark Mortimer

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Sarah Fletcher, high mistress of St Paul’s Girls’ School and chair of HMC’s already established assessment reform working group, authored the report, which was released in November 2021.

“The world has changed since the curriculum was devised,” Fletcher says. “The challenges we face in the 21st century and the framework within which we work have changed beyond all recognition and we now need to reset the dial.

“While the acquisition of knowledge and qualifications are understood to be important, these are currently limiting broader learning. There needs to be more emphasis on curiosity and a love of learning, so young people develop the flexible, adaptable mindsets they need to upskill and reskill in later life.”

The take-home from The State Of Education – Time To Talk report doesn’t pussyfoot around. Our current education system, agrees almost everyone who took part in the survey, does not prepare young people to thrive in the 21st century. Assessment is “too narrowly focused and is being used for the wrong ends”.

The challenges we face in the 21st century and the framework within which we work have changed beyond all recognition and we now need to reset the dial

Simultaneously, the report argues, the system is in thrall to exams which stress out students and serve few other than university admissions offices. Generally, curricula and assessment fail to “meet the needs of diverse learners, including those with disabilities; neurodiversity, mental health and economic status remain the biggest blockers to securing equal opportunities in education”.

In short, it needs to shape up to respond to the needs and demands of an education sector crawling out from under the debris of the pandemic.

The survey ran throughout the summer of 2021 and was completed by nearly 800 people – 450 of them teachers and members of the senior leadership team from the chalkfaces of independent and state schools.

Ninety-four per cent of the respondents chimed that GCSEs and assessment methods were in urgent need of reforming; 54% said consultation should start immediately. Just five per cent of respondents “strongly agree” that the current education system encourages the banking of skills required for the world of work.

Make-up or break-up

No grade nines for guessing who wants to dump whom, then. It’s not us, say teachers (and parents and students), it’s you.

“Ultimately, teachers want more control over what they teach and how they teach it,” says Chris Fairbank, director of communications at HMC, when asked for his in-a-nutshell take on Time To Talk.

Expanding on this, he says: “We didn’t enter into this with an objective in mind, per se, it was very much about taking the temperature of classrooms and schools.

The idea that curriculum and assessment as it stands isn’t fit for purpose – a phrase that’s popped up a few times – has been borne out by our findings, rather than anything else, but you don’t have to look very far to see the immense unhappiness with how assessment is currently carried out.”

There’s a very real sense from the survey results that, in spite of the adaptations, tenacity and resourcefulness schools have urgently had to come up with to mitigate for the disruption of the pandemic, GCSE and IGCSE requirements are stuck in a different age.

“Take the use of technology in the classroom, for instance – which has, you could argue, completely revolutionised classrooms in the last 18 months, for obvious reasons. Almost every school in the country is using smart boards and iPads and submitting work electronically, yet exams are still done with a pen and paper.

“I think everyone would want to see assessments prepare children for the world which they’re going to go into. Of course, writing, testing, has a place in education, but I think that assessment needs to reflect what’s important, and the [student] progress we’re trying to measure.”

Fairbank says he was fully expecting the report to tell of across-the-sector criticism of the system as it stands – not least given the pandemic-aided disruption to lessons and the exam palaver that followed. Nonetheless, he was taken aback by the consensus of opinion.

“I thought there would be some disquiet with the current education system, the curriculum and assessments. But I wasn’t quite prepared for the extent to which, specifically teachers and senior leaders, were unhappy with how the education system was focused but also how unanimous they were in the need for reform – in fact, urgent reform.”

Demands from the suppliers

The report certainly reads like the opening salvo of that campaign for reform. The vision is, according to Dr Simon Hyde, general secretary of HMC, for an independently developed alternative to the current model.

He says: “[HMC] firmly believes that those working in education, rather than politicians, should be central to this design process. An independent apolitical appointment should lead the consultation process.”

That might once have had a ring of wishful thinking. Recent DfE administrations have been, Fairbank carefully suggests, prickly, to the point of defensive, of their curriculums reforms in office and haven’t wanted to hear otherwise.

But, thinks Fairbank, with Nadhim Zahawi now at the helm, seemingly more popular and open to engagement with the sector, there’s a case for some optimism.

“There’s been this interesting shift in the ministerial group; there does appear to be more openness to looking at what’s happened over the last two and half years and the acceptance that there’s so much to be done to ensure that every child has a brilliant education. I very much get the impression from the present minister that nothing is off the table.”

Nonetheless, HMC aren’t about to impetuously storm the barricades of Sanctuary Buildings. Fairbank says: “The last thing we want to do is implement quick changes, quick fixes that haven’t been fully thought through and haven’t been fully considered by those that would be most affected – the teachers.”

How soon is now?

Over Zoom from his office in Hertfordshire, Dr Nick Dennis, director of studies at St. Francis’ College, tells me he welcomes the report, albeit with some reservations.

“This isn’t a new conversation. The curriculum has been questioned for as long as we’ve had mass education and it’s right that we continually engage in this conversation, but I doubt there’ll be a rapid reform – it’s an unfinished, never finished, piece of work.”

Are assessments and the curriculum fit for purpose? That all depends, thinks Dennis, on what purpose we’re looking at.

“The HMC report, I thought, was very interesting. Especially in terms of the diversity of purpose that the people surveyed seem to have. It’s timely, yes. I mean, there’s always a good time to have a conversation about what the purpose of education is.

The curriculum has been questioned for as long as we’ve had mass education and it’s right that we continually engage in this conversation, but I doubt there’ll be a rapid reform

“It asks if it’s also fit for the age we live in, and clearly, there are issues and things that we haven’t crossed. I think this is where we need to really understand that the examination system that we have is a cultural script.

“And what I mean by that is that because we are used to doing it, it actually informs all the choices, or many of the choices and forms of structure, that we work with.”

Dennis applauds the fact – borne out in the opinions of those surveyed – that inclusion and diversity are moving to the top of the agenda in education.

“Academics and researchers have been talking about these issues for years outside of schools. Now it’s a live debate in schools. I think there are a lot of good things coming to the surface.”

Have we learnt from the past?

So, it’s hitting the right notes but – he’s a history teacher, after all – Dennis says there is an earworm familiarity to the melody.

“It’s a fact, and as a history teacher I can vouch for it, that many of the exam curricula designed for key stage 3 has been fairly narrow. It’s missed huge parts of the British and the world story, and that is something which hasn’t been seriously discussed. But now it’s getting to be part of the conversation and it would be very interesting to hear if the government are open to discussing reform along those lines.”

He says, in spite of his optimism, he’s not sure things will change at the pace many in education might wish for.

“They were talking about exactly these issues in the ’60s, ’70s and ’80s. The Swann Report (1985) for instance, just one of the reports produced by governments at the time, actually discussed the issue of the curriculum not being broad enough and that it needed to include a range of new ideas – which didn’t happen and the work’s been forgotten.

“I think there is more work for us to do to help government be really informed, even about the reports they commissioned themselves.”

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I asked three female directors of sport to share their stories and insights about what needs to change for more women to follow in their footsteps.

Fran Centamore, director of sport at Wychwood School, a girls’ school in Oxford, says: “Sport has traditionally been very male-dominated, so naturally, more men have filtered through to leadership roles. If people are going to feel inspired and confident to step up, they need to have a diverse range of role models to look up to.”

Centamore is in her fifth year of heading the department and is clear about the ongoing barriers women face. “The independent sector can emphasise employing leaders with elite playing experience. Male sport has had a much bigger platform for longer, so this can be a barrier to progression for those who haven’t competed at that level.”

Exposure to strong female role models is key

Centamore continues: “We often see male coaches and PE staff teaching girls, and male directors of sport in girls’ schools, but it is much rarer to see the opposite. We need more women teaching boys and leading boys’ sport.

“And if we’re to inspire girls to consider careers in sport and to take on leadership roles, they must be exposed to strong women who are involved outside of just those performing. We have to place value on and allow them to see that women can coach, referee, manage and lead within the sporting world.”

Centamore says she has been fortunate to have worked in PE departments led by excellent female and male colleagues. The top-down support she receives has made a “big difference” in delivering a successful sporting strategy.

“At Wychwood School, our head and directors genuinely understand the value sport has and are proactive in supporting me in my role. This is not something that I have necessarily experienced in all schools.

“It’s important to challenge stereotypes and not just promote traditional ‘girls sports’ to girls and ‘boys sports’ to boys. The England women’s rugby team is currently ranked number one in the world, yet the sport is underrepresented in girls’ PE programmes.

“We recently welcomed Wales and England Rugby 7s and 15s internationals Gemma Rowland and Jane Leonard to talk about their sporting lives. Experiences like this make a real difference, provide inspiration and instil confidence in pupils to help them step out of their comfort zones. Off the back of this visit, we now have 16 girls attending rugby club training.”

For Centamore, taking the step up to lead has been incredibly rewarding. “I’ve been able to adapt and develop a PE programme that aligns with my values to create positive change, hopefully inspiring young women to fulfil their potential in sport.”

The face of sport is changing for the better

Rebecca Watkins, director of sport at St Dunstan’s College, a co-educational school in Catford, London, said: “At my first group meeting for local directors of sport, I was surprised at just how few females were there – three or four in a room of nearly 30.”

However, Watkins believes departments are improving. “Most are quite good at getting a gender balance. They know it’s essential for students to see role models who represent them.

“I was fortunate enough to go to a school where we played loads of different sports. I played netball for the West Midlands Warriors and at university played for Team Bath in the Netball Superleague.

“In my first job as a graduate assistant, I took on leadership roles such as head of hockey, acting head of girls’ games, all at the ripe old age of 22! These helped me to realise I had the skill set to lead. I joined St Dunstan’s as head of netball, became a house head, assistant director of musicals and a head of year. In 2019, I was promoted to director of sport.

“As a woman in this position, I can connect with boys and girls at all levels, which really helps drive the strategy across the school. It can sometimes be difficult for men to act as role models for younger girls in sport, although it’s not impossible. I’m a massive [Aston] Villa fan, so I can talk with students about how badly we played at the weekend!

“The fact I play a variety of sports and enjoy football and rugby helps me engage with all of our pupils.”

Watkins believes that the increasing number of high-profile female commentators and presenters in sport makes a difference. “Women such as Gabby Logan and Alex Scott have an impact, fronting major sports broadcasts. The face of sport is changing for the better.”

Watkins does not feel that she has faced too many barriers in her career. “I’ve worked really hard to get to where I am, but I’ve been lucky to be given opportunities both at my previous schools and at St Dunstan’s. I think society has come a long way in not underestimating women and their potential, and the schools I have worked in represent that to their core.”

Women show there are a range of ways to be a strong leader

For the last 11 years, Karen Andrew has led sports departments in single-sex and co-educational schools. A teacher for 23 years, she is a former England Rugby international, capped 42 times, including playing in the 2006 World Cup Final against New Zealand.

She is currently in her fourth year as director of sport and head of academic PE at Lancing College in Sussex. “I’ve noticed a real shift in recent years, but directors of sport are still mainly male and often retired top sportsmen,” says Andrew.

She believes that schools do want to appoint women but don’t receive as many applications. “Many would like a female DoS as the final piece in the puzzle of co-education. However, female applications are rare, and often none apply. I’m passionate about changing this and recruitment is vital.

“Early on in my career, many independent schools encouraged all academic staff to coach games, which clearly disadvantaged female teachers. We were in a minority to start with, and most lacked the confidence or skill set to coach a sport or team. This fostered a developing resistance from female staff and a lack of visibility of enthusiastic female sports teachers.

“I realised that I had a responsibility to promote women’s sport amongst the student body. I believe that the sporting experiences that we have at school directly impact the activities that we undertake when we leave. They lay the foundations for a healthy, balanced and active life.”

While she was head of girls’ games and assistant director of sport at Haileybury School between 2001 and 2011, Andrew set a goal of becoming a director of sport in a co-educational boarding school, which was “not a common thing for a female at that time”. It was in 2011 that she achieved this goal by joining St Edmund’s College in Ware as director of sport.

By 2014 she had relocated to Sussex to become the faculty lead in sport at Roedean School, which was her first time working in a single-sex environment. “It had its challenges but was thoroughly enjoyable, and taught me lots about female participation and how sport was a great way to raise confidence and build resilience.”

Andrew comments on her current role at Lancing College: “We are unique at Lancing with two female leads, as Kelly Edwards is my assistant director of sport. We are both strong women and determined to provide a curriculum that helps all our students to achieve their full potential, and creates a lasting and vibrant sporting ethos.

“Having women in leadership roles challenges stereotypes and shows there are a range of ways to be a strong leader. It’s important for boys and girls to see this as it opens up possibilities for everyone.”

“There must be no association with leadership positions being inherently male or female”

Encouraging change

What needs to happen in the sector to encourage more women into leadership roles? Andrew says: “A fundamental culture change is needed to increase the representation of women and bring greater diversity into sports leadership roles.

“This could be through mentoring schemes/levelling up the playing field for women and other underrepresented groups and the power of networks for women.”

Watkins wants to see an intentional shift in thinking around roles. “We do so much in schools to educate our students about things like the gender pay gap or women in power in politics. Sport is just another example. There must be no association with leadership positions being inherently male or female – why does a head of netball have to be female? Or a head of rugby have to be male? They don’t.”

Centamore agrees. “Obviously, I want to see more females leading sport. Ultimately, I hope there will be less emphasis on gender, and these types of discussions will no longer be relevant, as we’ll level the playing field between males and females in the sporting workplace.

In numbers

• 95% of the sport and PE leaders in GSA schools are women

• All but three single-sex girls’ independent senior schools have a female DoS

• Only 10 co-educational senior schools in membership of HMC have a female DoS

• All single-sex boys’ independent senior schools have a male DoS

Sources: Girls’ Schools Association (GSA), Independent Coach Education

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Moreover, one of the few silver linings of the pandemic has been the necessity for many to adapt quickly to new methods and mindsets. As such, we should have more confidence in the power of CPD than ever before. The options for how we develop people are not only expanding apace, they are proving their worth.

Embracing external research and celebrating in-house ability

CPD is undoubtedly on the agenda of all schools, but it is changing. “We’re looking to create a professional learning community,” notes Alex Campbell, assistant head (professional development) at Haileybury, “and research suggests that CPD needs to be sustained, collaborative, have full buy-in from staff and draw on external expertise where possible.”

The deep dive into research – from the Self-Determination Theory of Deci and Ryan to Developing Great Teaching from Higgins, Coe, Cordingley and Greany – is professionalising the attitude to CPD in many settings.

Not that long ago, CPD was the occasional £300 visit to a ‘guru’ in a hotel conference room. Invariably this was specific – if one wanted to be a pastoral lead, one attended that course. Although the involvement of external expertise remains important, such routes are now only the tip of the iceberg. Leveraging in-house ability is an increasingly appealing option.

“There’s great expertise in our schools,” says John Pitt, headmaster of The Royal Grammar School (RGS) Worcester. “If you combine your skills and knowledge, where some will inevitably be stronger in some areas than others, you can create a genuine coaching culture which is hugely powerful.”

Coaching and agency

The idea of coaching is inextricably linked with the idea of agency, which is increasingly underpinning high-quality CPD. By giving staff control of their development – instead of having CPD imposed on them – results quickly show.

Alison Cobbin, head of school at Dwight School London, observes: “We ask people about personal goals, their job satisfaction, their passions and how they could contribute to the school beyond their role.” This can open new doors that add value.

“For example, our head of marketing now coaches the junior volleyball team. He felt that by working with more children in the school, building relationships and better understanding how we operate day-to-day, he could bring more to the table.” This is CPD that notably looks to involve the whole adult community (ie not just teaching staff) in the same culture of development.

Embracing agency can evolve long-established methods. “INSET days are a great example,” Pitt notes. “It’s easy for us, as SLT, to ‘preach’ while people might write things down and may or may not remember them.” Giving staff the ability to directly link theory to practice is vital. “We front-load the training but then provide directed agendas so staff can apply the training to their part of the school and share outcomes with SLT.”

The same is evidently true of appraisal. “We have introduced professional development planning, which is far less judgemental,” adds Campbell. “Staff are encouraged to identify two objectives – one teaching and learning based, one linked to their wider role – and ideas gathered from observations and collaboration are used constructively to encourage reflection.” This move from performance being judged to performance being self-directed and peer mentored is a notably healthy shift.

Student involvement and real outcomes

To create a link between staff development and the needs of students, the two must interface. Involving student voice in CPD is not easy, but what it can achieve is remarkable for both parties. At Inter-Community School (ICS) Zurich, Switzerland, we see this in action.

“The Bridge student group,” head of school Mary-Lyn Campbell tells me, “is a key part of our process. Students are given the time and space to talk about what it is like to learn at our school. This information is invaluable for crafting self-directed development plans amongst staff and has far greater emotional resonance.”

Furthermore, we are increasingly seeing the subject matter of CPD coming from students.  “Student demand can drive CPD,” adds Cobbin, “and it’s arguably one of the best ways to start the conversation. We had a big focus on diversity and inclusion after the death of George Floyd driven by a real well of feeling from students as well as staff.” By changing both the starting point, and the focal point, of CPD its wider benefit to the community can be enhanced.

But how can this translate into meaningful outcomes? Of course, necessity acted as the mother of invention during the pandemic. The instant and disorientating impact of school closures meant not only that new skills were needed, but that they were needed fast. That our sector was able to upskill and cross-skill with online learning so quickly and so effectively is testimony to the power of CPD.

This soon moved, moreover, from the functional to the strategic. “It was incredible to see staff move so quickly from ‘which button do I press’ to ‘how can we use these tools to make our teaching and learning more effective?’” adds Pitt. “One of the best results is that people now talk to each other more about collaborative improvement.” Maintaining this momentum of collective self-improvement is a huge opportunity.

The likelihood of seeing real outcomes from CPD starts with intention. “We’ve made changes that focus on making it more likely that our staff have a positive impact on pupil outcomes,” Alex Campbell reflects.

But what does a positive impact look like? “Performance criteria must be varied,” she adds, “from quantitative, where we see an impact on grades, to qualitative, where we see improved behaviour or wellbeing in students, or even in their own sense of self as a classroom practitioner.” These impacts are difficult to measure but are often more present than schools realise.

Looking for opportunities

CPD is as much about spotting opportunities as implementing systems. Promotions in a teaching career, for example, often require significant jumps in knowledge or experience, so how to smooth the gap? At RGS Worcester, the Middle Leadership Development Programme allows SLT to run sessions for aspiring middle leaders.

“Each member of staff has a coach,” notes Pitt, “and they are both fully involved in the training and get to know senior staff at the same time.” This exercise culminates in a ‘project for change’ from each candidate, focused on pupil progress. The net result is up to 10 different projects per year that make dynamic changes to school provision.

Outcomes also manifest in both recruitment and retention. “If we’re recruiting, candidates want to know what we’re doing with CPD, and how they can improve,” observes Cobbin. “So, alongside IB training in our school, our attitude to CPD can both attract and grow talent.”

Staff who appreciate the imperative need for CPD, moreover, add to the culture of improvement throughout a school community. “Adults have to understand the challenges of the future,” notes Mary-Lyn Campbell. “There is huge urgency for us to educate compassionate, wise young people that can face change, so professionals have to be engaged in this dialogue now.”

Belief from leadership

The drive on CPD must come from leadership. Whether at the highest level of strategic improvement or the introduction of new skill sets, the buy-in of staff is seemingly always proportionate to the passion and involvement of management.

Lydia Greenway, former England Cricket international and owner of Cricket for Girls, sees the success of the CPD her teams provide in upskilling staff rely on the tone set from above. “We quickly see if they’ve got us in ‘just because’ or because they’re really committed to the idea of girls’ cricket.” But this is far more important than the smooth running of a session. “You can’t overestimate the impact this work can have. Staff who have embraced change in our work have given something very special to their pupils.”

It would seem, then, that one of the ingredients of great CPD is leadership that inspires a community to think big. Making outcomes real is about linking them to wider context both in our schools and the world as a whole. “We are touching the future, but the converse is true, also – the future of the world is in our classrooms,” adds Mary-Lyn Campbell, “so why would we not want to give huge importance to developing the professionals who are at that interface?”

The transactional past of CPD seems gone. The pandemic has shown us how powerful versatility can be; and by encouraging agency, thinking about failure positively, involving students in staff development, and appreciating the global significance of our work, we see how vital CPD is for our schools, our staff and society as a whole. Big ideas take time, however. “You have to be patient,” Alex Campbell concludes. “Change management takes time, but if you can bring everyone along with you the results are transformational.”

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For obvious reasons there have been huge leaps made in the quality of digital learning in schools. Teachers have become more proficient in the use of technology, not only in relation to enhancing the curriculum, but also in assessing children’s understanding and achievement.

Schools have also invested in hardware with one-to-one use of iPads, Chromebooks and other devices becoming more common. As a result, outcomes for pupils are much higher because they have been exposed to more creative and dynamic teaching and learning.

Mental health and wellbeing of children continues to be a priority for all schools as we head into the new year, and this has now gone beyond simply providing PSHE lessons and a quiet space for children to seek sanctuary during the school day. Many schools will have full-time counsellors or coaches and a full programme of support in place for both children and parents.

It has become essential to ensure proactive pastoral care; to spot the signs of poor mental health and intervene, rather than to wait for pupils to seek help. Work with external agencies is also more seamlessly embedded into schools’ processes so that professional help is quickly available.

Knowledge-based curriculums are no longer enough

It has become apparent that knowledge-based curriculums are no longer enough. Likewise, the propensity for a skills-based method is not fit for purpose. Schools are now finding a balance between the two and are teaching knowledge-rich curriculums which also develop essential skills for life.

It is now far more acceptable to see the importance of this approach rather than simply preparing children to pass exams, at whatever age. Without doubt, this will continue to be a lively debate as we move into 2022.

The challenges of 2021 have, of course, been plenty, and well-documented, but schools have coped extraordinarily well. Right to the very end of the year, leadership teams and teachers have been battling with government guidance, an increase in positive Covid cases, anxious and disgruntled parents and increased workload due to blended learning and other exigencies.

The majority of online learning in independent schools during the spring term closure was of a very high quality and this meant that children’s levels of attainment were maintained, and progress was evidenced despite eight weeks of school closures.

Undoubtedly, nothing substitutes being in school to learn but the real problems stemmed from a lack of socialisation and being part of a school community. Many children felt isolated and detached from school life and missed the sport, art, music and co-curricular activities that enrich their days.

This has been the biggest challenge for schools; to build kind, respectful and purposeful communities again and regain the excellence in sport, performing and creative arts.

Post-lockdown parent intervention has led to increased pressures

This last year has been a challenging year for everyone and many parents are now viewing their children’s schooling through new eyes. Parents have had greater involvement and oversight of their child’s education during online learning and this approach now continues, which can place additional pressure on staff.

Understandably, parents are keen to ensure that no gaps in their children’s learning have occurred and many are resorting to private tutoring and placing greater demands on schools for intervention, catch-up sessions and additional support.

Throughout this year we have learnt that the majority of teaching staff are resilient, exceptionally hard working and adaptable. Furthermore, they want to provide the best possible education for the children they teach, no matter how that may impact on their own wellbeing.

It is now the job of school leaders to ensure that staff workload is manageable and that they are not placed under significant or unreasonable pressure. For some, it has simply been too much, and they have reassessed their priorities and decided to leave the profession. Most recently, it has been school leaders who are leaving the profession in significant numbers, and this is a very worrying situation.

Many teachers are extremely loyal to their schools, colleagues and pupils. Staff retention is key to ensuring that schools retain a balanced, experienced and committed common room. Staff need to feel valued and to enjoy their roles to the full.

This requires school leaders and governors to look at all areas of school life: teacher workload, pupil behaviour management, appraisal systems, salary scales and benefits, along with CPD and career enhancement.

Leadership and entrepreneurship training will come to the fore

We are all hoping for a normal school year in 2022. A year in which changes and improvements can be embedded and built upon as well as a year to fill any gaps and provide much-needed consistency. Schools will continue to look at assessment and tracking of progress to ensure it is manageable for staff and purposeful for pupils.

Forward-thinking schools will look to incorporate more leadership and entrepreneurship training into their curriculums with greater emphasis on independent learning, problem-solving and future skill development.

Dependent on space and geographical location, there will be further development of outdoor learning, forest school provision and school farms too. Children need to develop empathy and greater responsibility and animal therapy can be the perfect way to achieve this.

Digital learning will also continue to develop both in scope and innovation. Schools will start to explore the use of VR and there is no doubt that this will become transformational over the coming years.

In terms of teaching skills and specialist training, as we head into 2022, although by no means new, more teachers will become mental health first aid trained, and we will see a general proficiency in this area amongst teaching and non-teaching staff. It will, I hope, become a must-have qualification in the role and become part of annual safeguarding training across all schools.

Technology and coding in the spotlight

From a technology perspective, as mentioned, online learning in most schools is now very well developed in terms of the technology and how it is used by staff and pupils. Advances will come in the way that it is used to achieve the highest outcomes for pupils.

The increasing ability to teach whole classes and individual children, the ease of facilitating small group work and quality provision for assessment for learning will all come to the fore.

Coding is a huge area for development, which will require greater resourcing in schools and staff training. It is imperative that all children are able to code and extend their skills to the highest level. This goes far beyond the basic programs such as Scratch, and this will need specialist input from a teaching perspective.

Coding will become far more cross-curricular too, which is so important for children in seeing how it can be used in everyday situations for them to have greater exposure. This is likely to become increasingly embedded into curriculums and schemes of work, once teachers are better skilled.

Children must be front and centre of everything we do

Admission to independent schools has benefited from the pandemic in various ways. Initially, the online provision in the maintained sector was not of a high enough standard in many schools and a number of parents made the jump to the private sectors.

This was less of an issue in the second lockdown, but further restrictions led to many parents reassessing their priorities. They wanted more space and greater opportunities for their children, often only available in independent schools, plus the disruption to learning had led to a number of different anxieties amongst parents.

There is now a far greater need for an individualised approach, smaller class sizes and greater contact from the school. Parents want to be involved in their children’s education and to be part of the school community.

The removal of sport, music, drama and the creative arts during the school closures and lockdowns impacted children and parents negatively. There is now a renewed thirst for children to be involved, learn new skills and grow in confidence and independence. Again, for independent schools, this is often their bread and butter; they have the staffing, resources and time to make it happen.

We would need a crystal ball to predict how schools can best prepare for 2022. Who could have predicted what we have been through, implemented and achieved since January 2020? One thing that is always a constant is the need to ensure children are at the front and centre of all we do.

If schools continue to prioritise pastoral care, mental health and wellbeing and individualised programmes of study and assessment, then they will not go far wrong. Added to this, an innovative approach in always questioning what we do, looking to improve in all areas and never resting on our laurels.

If we follow this, 2022 will be a successful year in which children thrive, teachers continue to enjoy their roles and parents support our efforts by working in true partnership.

The post Education trends for 2022 appeared first on Independent Education Today.

Nicola Huggett – Head, Cheltenham College

Darryl Wideman – Head, Radnor House Twickenham

Alice Lucas – Headmistress, St. Helen’s School

Jonathan Anderson – Headmaster, Merchiston Castle School

Jane Sanchez – Head, Mill Hill School

In a year where the goalposts have shifted so rapidly for students and staff alike, what has been the biggest challenge in keeping your school a happy and successful place?

Nicola Huggett (NH): The key has been thinking ahead, planning very carefully and communicating in a clear, regular and honest way to parents, staff and pupils. We have always focused on the positive aspects of any changes we have had to make – with an openness of dialogue between all of our ‘constituents’ – and made sure we took the time to explain any changes carefully.

It has been wonderful this term to be back to business as normal, but in that, we really have also seen parents, pupils and staff really appreciate aspects of life we used to take for granted. It has been a good reset; we have made some significant changes to policies and processes, thrown out a few sacred cows and become much more innovative.

Darryl Wideman (DW): It’s hard enough to know everything that’s going on when everyone’s in the school, let alone when they’re not! We had everything from poor governmental advice to parents feeling isolated, which meant confusion could easily run riot. Still, by having a common-sense approach and doing things pragmatically, we’ve managed to keep our community achieving and, more importantly, happy.

Alice Lucas (AL): The biggest challenge has been keeping everyone connected – parents, staff and pupils – especially as a relatively new head in post. Primarily, we’ve had to provide reassurance – remotely, most of the time – to all stakeholders when many were especially anxious due to what seemed like constant uncertainty.

Jonathan Anderson (JA): Keeping ahead of the game, staying one step ahead of whatever regulations were coming, and just trying to plot out a course that gave a bit of stability. Much of our time was spent trying to find consistency, and that meant sometimes being a bit cautious and sometimes pushing things a little bit further. Generally speaking, it was about trying to replicate that sense of normality as best we possibly could, even if it was really difficult.

Jane Sanchez (JS): The greatest challenge brought by the pandemic has been the need to develop a high level of agility, responding to the ever-changing landscape of restriction and regulation whilst ensuring continuity of first-rate educational provision.

Do you think any of the adaptations of the past year will prove to have longevity into the future?

NH: Yes, definitely. We have continued to develop our use of digital technologies and the new skillsets that both staff, pupils and parents have acquired have brought some really exciting changes. New options like online parents’ meetings, Teams collaborations, sharing good practice and having face-to-face conversations with parents overseas on Teams, have all really enhanced our communication and led to closer relationships between all those who care for our pupils.

Now we understand how to communicate better we can solve problems more quickly and easily. This has helped us operate more effectively in local partnerships where many of our outreach activities with local schools have moved online and now can also continue to be partly taught that way, which has widened access.

DW: I think we all use Teams and Zoom without thinking now; from everyday meetings to parents’ evenings, which I think will stay on Teams for the foreseeable future. In that sense it’s popular – people can dial in from the office or from home to suit them. Our Parents Association actually get much bigger turnouts on Zoom and people become happier to chip in.

It’s been interesting to see so much more willingness to accept that online learning has a role to play in how we deliver education, but there was still a real euphoria when we swung back into ‘normal’ at the start of term

AL: The strength of the team bonds we’ve formed have been remarkable and much of the ‘tech revolution’ has shown its usefulness. The use of Microsoft Teams as a teaching and learning tool, the upskilling of tech skills amongst staff, and exponential growth in confidence and knowledge of how to use blended learning to maximise children’s progress and deep personalised learning must be part of how we operate going forward.

JA: We already had distance learning systems in place that we could lean on, but this was obviously on a much bigger scale. It’s been interesting to see so much more willingness to accept that online learning has a role to play in how we deliver education, but there was still a real euphoria when we swung back into ‘normal’ at the start of term.

JS: We have developed a flexibility in our boarding provision that we could not previously have imagined, giving boarders the option of remaining on-site over exeats but also during the longer holiday breaks, with appropriate levels of pastoral support and activities.

What have been the biggest ‘wins’ for you this year, in the light of everything you’ve had to deal with?

NH: The increased flexibility in our offering and the openness to changes have been really obvious as we have returned to normal school life again. There is a deeper resilience and a can-do attitude that is more entrenched now. We thought before we could probably do whatever we put our mind to; now we know we can.

DW: Our numbers have grown and we’re in a strong position, but perhaps the biggest ‘win’ has been seeing a certain type of parent gain greater faith in what the sector can do. It’s been great to show we have been able to adapt and be flexible when it’s needed. Ultimately, it shows that we put our children first and will do anything to keep their education going.

AL: There’s no question that word of mouth spread far and wide that our remote provision and our overall response to the pandemic – including communication with parents throughout – was outstanding. I think we can be rightly proud of that response, and it has only gone to show what our school can do when the best interests of the children are threatened.

JA: There’s no question that the disruption gave us time to reflect. We had the chance to use the crisis as an opportunity for change in some areas; that’s been very powerful and very positive. We have a team here that are hungry, that won’t always fall back on the status quo, and who want to bring in new ideas and think differently. That must be seen as a huge win.

JS: With the school roll rising this September, we have achieved excellent levels of both retention and recruitment and, most significantly, our boarding numbers have remained stable.

Yet again our sector is being used as a political football; what is your response to the suggestion that imposing VAT on school fees under a particular government would improve the UK education system?

NH: As a sector we appreciate the need to share our own expertise and to learn from the maintained sector. I cannot see how getting rid of one group, keen and eager to work alongside the other, improves education. It would be far better to allow each to co-exist and to insist on the independent sector working in very close association with the state sector.

We have lots to share, lots to learn and lots to contribute to education. The Cheltenham Education Partnership – a group of the 11 secondary schools in Cheltenham, both independent and state – are already providing a fascinating range of activities for local children in all 11 settings. We see this kind of collaboration as sector-leading and hope that many other areas will develop similar ‘partnerships of equals’ as we have.

DW: It’s not an easy situation. The reality is that VAT on school fees isn’t going to raise very much money anyway. The only people it’ll hurt are parents and children, and there are far more important things for governments to be doing than trying to ‘score points’ with us in the centre.

AL: Put simply, I feel that it would cost the government more than they would gain from revenue should such a policy be enacted. That seems very hard to justify.

There are far more important things for governments to be doing that trying to ‘score points’ with us in the centre

JA: Obviously we’ve had some experience of this and there’s much schools in Scotland could share with our English counterparts. Ultimately, the scrutiny on how we ‘earn’ our charitable status is no bad thing, but the economics of the situation are clear.

Independent schools contribute hugely to local and national economies. In Edinburgh, for example, independent schools actually contribute more than the hospitality sector. We’re not out of the woods yet, but those sorts of facts can’t be ignored.

JS: Quite apart from the well-argued case made by ISC and BSA, amongst others, relating to the net financial benefit which the independent sector brings to the UK, is the ever-expanding body of evidence of the mutual benefits enjoyed through maintained and independent sector school partnerships. The spirit of sharing best practice and providing mutual support sits more naturally in the context of school-age education than does ideological posturing driven by political motives.

What do you feel might be the biggest areas of change for our sector in the coming year?

NH: There are challenges for our sector politically, economically and educationally. The questions around business rates and VAT are not going away, and – quite rightly – the pressure for environmental sustainability will be heightened this year.

Maintaining viable business operation will be at the top of many agendas. Educationally, there is great pressure coming around grade inflation and how that impacts university entry. Change is a given; it’s how we manage it that matters.

DW: Honestly, after everything we’ve been through, I don’t feel there is great appetite for wide-reaching change, especially given we’re only just starting to see what the fallout from Covid-19 really means – particularly for young people. We do, however, need to get our heads around the impact on mental health as a real priority, so a period of consolidation and making sure our children are well in themselves should be our primary target.

AL: The urgent and significant need for mental health support. We are reconsidering the resource we invest in wellbeing support to ensure that our pastoral care meets the challenges of the young people – and adults – in our community.

We do, however, need to get our heads around the impact on mental health as a real priority, so a period of consolidation and making sure our children are well in themselves should be our primary target

JA: I think there will be a degree of stability, but also some rebuilding and fallout in the next 18 months. Affordability is going to be a challenge that will gradually unravel, especially as the cost of living creeps up. There is still a lot of change on the horizon with pensions, too, and so the trend of mergers and acquisitions we have seen for economic purposes could well continue, or even increase.

JS: Not all schools in the sector have survived the effects of the pandemic well; they may face challenges such as location or over-reliance on certain overseas markets. It may well be that we continue to see further mergers, acquisitions and school closures. Equally, working with, and contributing to, the wider community is an increasingly important priority for us and for many others in the sector.

We have, for example, embarked on an ambitious programme to work with maintained sector schools which do not have a sixth form to promote 16+ bursaries with up to 100% fee remission.

If you could go back to the start of this year and give yourself a piece of advice, what would it be?

NH: Be bold, go with your gut feel, make sure your team work well together, watch out for ‘plan early, plan twice’ (though that ended up being an essential) and we certainly made the right decision to buy a Covid testing machine early on!

DW: Worrying won’t help; it will be alright. Things can often look terrifying, but there is great collective resilience in our school, and genuine communities have the power to come together with incredible strength.

AL: Take a few days holiday from time to time to properly switch off; and definitely before two years of a headship have passed!

JA: I would say – and this is advice I continue to follow – that it will never be that bad. More than anything, keep talking to people because it is amazingly reassuring to know it’s been hard for everyone else – not just you.

JS: Remember how complex the inter-dependencies within a school really are; the matrix which includes governors, staff, parents, alumni and pupils. I am increasingly struck by an appreciation of what a long-term process the recovery will be, and as with most post-traumatic stress, we need to build back gradually, relearning the art of social interaction, listening and never underestimating what we have all been through together.

The post A euphoric return appeared first on Independent Education Today.

Ingredients

• 1 ½kg red cabbage
• 2 onions, chopped
• 4 Granny Smiths apples, peeled and cored and chopped
• Zest 1 orange or 2 clementines
• 2 tsp ground mixed spice
• 100g light soft brown sugar
• 3 tbsp cider vinegar
• 300ml dry cider
• 25g butter

Method

• Peel off the outer leaves from the cabbage and discard. Quarter the cabbage, removing the tough stem, then thinly slice.
• Arrange a layer of the cabbage on the bottom of a large saucepan, followed by some of the onions, apples, zest, mixed spice, sugar and seasoning. Continue to create layers until you have used up the ingredients.
• Pour over the vinegar and cider and dot the butter on top.
• Bring to the boil then simmer with a lid on over low heat for 1½ hrs, until tender.
• The cabbage will keep for 2 days, covered, in the fridge or freeze for up to 1 month. Reheat in either a pan or in the microwave.

Many of the team at allmanhall come from a school foodservice background and have been catering managers or chefs previously. This enables them to be hands-on in their advice and recommendations, and to provide practical ideas for school catering teams, really understanding your day-to-day challenges.

Combined with expert buyers and award-winning client services team liaising with suppliers on your behalf, allmanhall enable the best food and the best cost savings, with the best support.

Find out more

Happy Christmas from everyone at allmanhall!

The post Allmanhall recipe: braised red cabbage appeared first on Independent Education Today.

The best thing about being a pastoral lead is having the opportunity to get to know all the students beyond academics. Pastoral for me is about taking a holistic approach when providing support for students. It is like being a parent to all the students in the school. Students will let you know when they are happy and when they are sad. They tell you their fears, share their anxieties.

With every conversation you learn more about each student and how best to support them. I think the most challenging aspect of being a pastoral lead is getting students to understand ‘why’ we do what we do. For students it is not always apparent why particular systems are put in place to safeguard their mental and physical health. But everything we do has the student at the centre.

What was it about Dwight School London that made you accept the job?

Dwight had a strong vision, and it was clear that the school was preparing students to be productive global citizens. In addition to student support and development, it was clear that Dwight had a great CPD programme that promoted life-long learning and inquiry-based pedagogy for staff.

What was your favourite subject at school?

It is hard to think of just one. My favourite subjects at school were maths and physics, hence why I chose to do my PGCE in maths and physics. My physics teacher was incredibly supportive and took her time to make the content relatable. I found that in A-levels, learning about physics made me more intrigued about the real-world applications. It was my time studying maths and physics at school that led me to study engineering at university.

What does your more recent role as diversity and inclusion coordinator entail?

My current role has me coordinating diversity, equity and inclusion initiative across Dwight’s school sites in London, New York, Dubai, Shanghai, Seoul and Global (online platform). It has been a pleasure to see the great work being done by staff across the globe.

All the sites are doing innovative work around DEI and involving experts both in and outside of the Dwight community. The role has allowed me to collaborate with other coordinators to ensure that Dwight is at the forefront of providing an outstanding DEI programme for staff, students and the wider community. Through my role I hope to further connect the Dwight schools, providing a large network that would give schools, staff and students the opportunity to share and learn from each other’s experiences and expertise in all areas of DEI.

What has been the impact of the anti-racism initiatives you have implemented?

With the emphasis on inclusive language in regular CPDs throughout the year, staff feel more confident discussing topics around diversity and inclusion. For the students, I believe that they can see that the school has implemented meaningful and relevant initiatives. All in all, I believe that we have made a huge impact on school culture.

I genuinely believe that by having more conversations and building time in staff training and tutor time for students, we have been able to provide a safe space for all.

What are you currently reading?

I am currently reading Black Skin, White Masks by Frantz Fanon. What I am enjoying about the book is that while the book was written in 1952, it still holds cultural significance today. The way Frantz talks about the lived experience of Black people, and the importance of code-switching to be accepted is fascinating. In addition, I have enjoyed the psychological and sociological approach that Frantz has to racial discourses.

What issue in education are you most passionate about?

I am passionate about racial justice and representation in education.

If you weren’t in education, what would you do instead?

I would most likely have continued coaching elite level gymnastics. I have coached gymnastics for over 12 years, so it will always have a place in my heart.

Aldaine graduated with a degree in engineering and then studied his MA in social justice at UCL, where he began to look at the intersection between social justice and education. He has written a series of blogs on diversity and inclusion in schools.

Follow Aldaine on Twitter: @AldainePase

The post Q&A: Aldaine Wynter appeared first on Independent Education Today.

When Covid-19 hit, e-learning tools helped students to enjoy an unbroken educational experience, even at a time when they couldn’t physically visit the classroom or mingle with other students.

But while tech helped schools to successfully pivot to deal with pandemic learning, what does the future now hold for online learning? Given the choice of returning to learning as normal, should e-learning stick around, post-pandemic, to aid teaching and learning or is face-to-face teaching the most effective method?

That question is one that educators and stakeholders around the UK (and further afield) are now pondering. Get ready for the future of teaching as we know it.

Tech that just works

One piece of unequivocally good news about e-learning during the pandemic was, simply put, that the technology worked.

Whether it was online portals for distributing materials and collecting assignments or Zoom calls for conducting lessons by video, the technological infrastructure put in place worked as well as anyone could hope – at least, so long as pupils had access to it.

“We were delighted that in terms of purely covering the courses and helping people to achieve the grades that they needed, I don’t think we lost an iota [through the pandemic],” says Keith Metcalfe, headmaster at Malvern College.

The proof is in the pudding: while grading had to change during the pandemic, students by and large didn’t see a dip in terms of attainment levels. For example, in 2021 close to 45% of A-level entries across England, Wales and Northern Ireland scored top grades of A or A*.

These figures were up from both 2020 and 2019. Although teachers deserve plenty of credit for going above and beyond the call of duty in terms of rethinking lesson plans and student support, there’s no doubt that Covid showcased that online learning can be effectively used to achieve good results.

However, as Metcalfe noted, education extends beyond exam results. “I think our biggest feeling is that a school like ours has a holistic approach to education,” he says.

“It’s a boarding environment where we have long days, a massive variety of activities and thousands of social interactions during the days. It’s much more than just about qualifications. It does other things in terms of helping people get that sense of inner confidence, of resilience and lots of other areas increasingly recognised as being the things that lead to personal success and fulfilment.”

This is the part that needs to be hammered out in the event that e-learning continues beyond Covid. But Metcalfe said that he was excited about the possibility of incorporating e-learning methodology and in-person educational experiences going forward. The results could involve a hybrid approach combining some of what worked during the pandemic with in-person teaching.

“I think we were already on this journey, slowly, before Covid came along,” he notes. “It has accelerated that path to moving forward and upskilling or up-resourcing in terms of our schools.

“All those things that you were able to do during lockdown [in terms of e-learning] you can still do. But you get the added benefit of also being able to offer teaching with people in the room as well.”

Going full tilt online

For some schools, the future is not a hybrid mix of in-person and online learning: they’re going full tilt on the latter.

Founded during the pandemic, Minerva’s Virtual Academy is a fully online independent school for pupils aged 12 to 16. It offers a full UK GCSE curriculum (A-levels to follow) from the “comfort and safety of your home”.

To date, Minerva’s Virtual Academy has attracted 80 fully enrolled students, paying around £6,500 per year – making it a far more affordable option than many private schools with grounds to maintain and other infrastructure costs.

“We’re attracting a new generation of independent education and privately educated pupils because [those who are paying the bills] see it as an affordable private school,” says Hugh Viney, CEO at Minerva’s Virtual Academy.

At Minerva’s, approximately 30% of teaching is done via live lessons through video streaming services. The remaining 70% is carried out through asynchronous and synchronous learning using an online platform and associated teaching materials. Viney describes this as a “perfect virtual learning environment”.

We firmly believe online learning is a solution for the 10% of children that would otherwise suffer at school

“We firmly believe online learning is a solution for the 10% of children that would otherwise suffer at school, hate school, even refuse to go to school,” he explains.

“Ninety-five per cent of our kids who came to us during the pandemic previously went to normal, traditional schools. They have stuck with us this September rather than going back to traditional schools because pure online learning works so well for them. We’re not for every type of child – you need a self-motivated type of learner – but certainly, we’re a solution for [some].

“Those might be kids who have anxiety, depression or have suffered severe bullying at school. We are completely the solution for them.”

This virtual school approach to teaching has other advantages, too. Viney says that it supports students who are at either end of the educational spectrum in terms of ability.

“This sort of learning can really help the gifted and talented reach ahead of their peers and not be held back by other members of their classroom,” he says. “It also can help those who may struggle to go at a slower pace. It really is tailored to that individual’s ability.”

It could have other advantages as well. Rather than having only a pool of teachers within geographic distance of a school (or willing to relocate), this approach to online-focused learning could mean opening up possibilities for teachers from elsewhere. Want a French teacher living in France? How about a celebrated physics teacher from Germany? Time zones permitting, nothing would be impossible.

The future of tech

Even if schools don’t go all-in on virtual learning in the way that Minerva’s Virtual Academy does, there’s no doubt that cutting-edge technology has an exciting role to play in the future of schools.

Erskine Stewart’s Melville Schools (ESMS), for instance, has been pioneering the use of virtual reality in the classroom: using it as a teaching aid in various senior schools to help teach subjects including history, modern languages, the sciences and more.

If you thought that Zoom transported students from their bedrooms back into the classroom (to a degree), imagine entire classes taking place in virtual environments in which students explore VR scenes.

However, while ESMS head of e-learning, Simon Luxford-Moore, is bullish about the exciting opportunities made possible by technology, he says that it should come down to choice – and what best fits the occasion.

“It’s really about questioning what it is that we want as an end result,” he says. “For example, I may want to share how poetry could convey an image or emotion to an audience. You have to work backwards. You think, ‘OK, I know I’ve got some children in my class who won’t be able to visualise when I read them a story. They can’t get a picture in their head.’

“In that case you may use VR headsets to help put them in that situation. It removes the barrier they would otherwise face which prohibits their access to their learning.”

Luxford-Moore says that, to him (and, likely, many other teachers), the ‘e’ in ‘e-learning’ shouldn’t simply mean ‘electronic’, but rather ‘enhanced’.

“Yes, my role is fundamentally about edtech to enhance teaching and support learners to level the playing field using software and hardware, where appropriate, but it’s really about how can we enhance that learning experience so that every child can access their full potential,” says Luxford-Moore. “That may or may not actually involve edtech at any one time.”

The luxury of choice

At the end of the day, this may be the crux of the e-learning matter. It doesn’t have to be an either/or issue. If the pandemic caused the educational world to suddenly lean heavily into the use of tech-heavy e-learning then the world, emerging from the pandemic, now has the luxury of choice. That means more options for teachers and more options for students. Technology has proven its worth. Now it can be adopted where it makes the most sense.

“We’ve always had a holistic view centred on trying to keep traditional teaching where there is value, but also looking forward to what we need to provide for future generations in terms of enhancing their learning and providing them with essential skills to take forward,” says Luxford-Moore. “That has been our biggest takeaway from the pandemic: realising that we need to be prepared in terms of confidence and competence regarding our own skill set, so that we can adapt to future situations that might arise without much warning.”

No longer under pressure to immediately rely exclusively on tech, educators will now have the ability to more thoroughly assess what they want to keep – and what to jettison – from the e-learning revolution of the past couple of years. While not everything needs to shift immediately, there are some enormous possibilities to take advantage of. To quote Bob Dylan, “the times they are a-changin’.”

You might also like: The upside to long-term online teaching: one size seldom fits all

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In the past, we would have assumed they were indulging in the best of Abba or some classical music, but these days around a quarter of the population are engaging with podcasts. They are particularly popular to listen to whilst at home, during housework and walking, according to Ofcom’s 2021 Podcast Survey.

A podcast, as you’ll know, is a spoken-word episode which can focus on any topic under the sun. Comedy, true crime, business and sport are top of the podcast pops, but wherever there is an interest, there is a podcast.

So perhaps it was inevitable that independent school marketers would soon pick up the mic, with the aim of bringing real-life stories from their schools direct to the ears of a potentially worldwide audience of current and prospective parents and pupils.

Authentic edge

“Schools recognise the importance of authentic marketing more than ever today, and podcasts are ideal for that,” believes Simon Jones, founder of The Bonjour Agency, who works with schools to make their podcasts happen. “Podcasts connect with people at a deeper level than websites or prospectuses ever could, and present the opportunity to tell a real-life story in the words of the person who has experienced it.”

School marketing consultant, and award-winning podcaster, Juliet Corbett agrees. “Storytelling through audio is incredibly powerful,” she says. “Authentic voices from across a school’s community can easily be captured and shared, with content curated to showcase various elements of school life.”

The method Corbett has chosen to advocate podcasting for schools is through her own podcast for school leaders, The Independent School Podcast. She launched the podcast in 2020 to help senior leaders in independent schools think and act more strategically. Fifty-three episodes on, Corbett’s mixture of interviews with school leaders and single handers attracts around 80 listens per week.

“The great thing about podcasts is that they can be listened to from anywhere around the world,” she says. “As a podcast’s popularity grows, listeners start to make a regular spot for your content in their week – whether it’s during a commute, a dog walk or doing the washing-up. Podcasts are food for the brain while the hands are busy.”

Worldwide reach

As we know, the parents of school-age children are eminently busy people, so being able to shoehorn a podcast into the day makes it easier for them to keep up with the goings-on at their child’s school or to find out more about schools they might choose in future. The opportunity to access a podcast from anywhere in the world can also help non UK-based families in particular to feel a lot closer.

“Our school’s podcast series allows us to reach parents internationally as well as nationally,” says Jack Dougherty, director of marketing at Felsted School, which last year launched its FelsTED Talks series of interview-style podcasts.

“The 15 episodes so far have focused on members of the school community, as well as past pupils and staff, who are quizzed by the head of Felsted or the head of Felsted Prep,” explains Dougherty.

“The aim is to show how our subjects have made a difference in the world and what has made a significant impact in their lives. It keys into the strand of our school ethos summarised by the strapline ‘Developing Character, Making a Difference’.”

Although originally an initiative of the marketing department, the podcasts have really taken off and are now a school-wide collaborative project. “The senior leadership team and Old Felstedians liaison office became involved in choosing the right people to feature. The head’s interview with sports promoter Eddie Hearn, who is a Felsted parent, has been the most downloaded episode to date.

“We have also realised the potential to showcase some inspiring and thought-provoking stories from the school’s staff, and have recently started to offer current students the opportunity to tell their own Felsted stories via our podcast series too,” says Dougherty.

Giving members of the school community a voice was the spur for Joanne Sammers, head of marketing at Berkhamsted Schools Group, to launch the school’s weekly podcast, In the Spotlight.

Evidencing the impact is longer term because podcasting is long-form marketing, not a quick-return approach like a Facebook Ads campaign. I only recommend schools progress to podcasting if their basic marketing is in check

“Our podcast series provides a real insight into the various aspects of a Berkhamsted education in the words of those who are currently experiencing it: the pupils and parents,” says Sammers.

“Our listeners tell us they really enjoy the series and have discovered things about the school they were not aware of. Everyone at the school has been supportive – we are never short of volunteers to take part!”

Topics are decided a term or two ahead to make sure they cover all ages and are timely. One popular episode focused on moving up from year 6 at the prep school to the senior school, with the medium proving to be an ideal way for pupils to express their feelings. Another explained the vision for the future of the school and new developments.

So far, 18 episodes have been produced and each one is downloaded up to 200 times.

“The audience mainly consists of our current families wanting to hear a little more about the daily life at the school, but we know prospective families listen too,” says Sammers, who recommends that schools planning to use podcasting for marketing purposes should make sure they carefully curate the content to fit the audience.

“If your priority is to attract potential parents then you may focus on interviewing teaching staff about your school’s unique approach to education and on showcasing pupils who can talk positively about their experience. Alternatively, you may want to engage the alumni and current parent community, in which case you could have pupils asking alumni about the world of work and vice versa about school today.

“Audiences want content to be varied, so you need to be willing to mix it up a bit as you go along, but clarity on your podcast’s purpose will provide you with a golden thread that runs through all the episodes.”

Plunge into podcasting

In common with other methods of marketing and communication, before plunging into podcasting it’s important to settle on the tone, style and content of the series.

“Be light, positive and enthusiastic,” suggests Corbett. “I’ve found a huge correlation between the episodes I had most fun recording and those that listeners enjoyed most.”

Planning the topics is, of course, essential. There is always so much going on in schools it can be easy to feel overwhelmed with potential podcast content, so focusing on a running theme or aspect of the school’s ethos can help rationalise it for listeners and build the momentum to keep them coming back for the next episode.

The technical side of podcasting can be more of a challenge. Corbett started out recording on Zoom and editing the episodes herself using Descript, but later teamed up with a professional editor to help out. Many schools outsource the entire production of their podcasts to an expert, which costs anything from £300 to £750 per episode. Either way, professional sound quality is important.

“If the audio quality isn’t good then someone driving around the M25 listening to an episode will struggle to enjoy it,” points out Jones, who also recommends making the podcast available to download from the platforms people go to for the other podcasts they listen to regularly, such as Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Google Podcasts.

Jones says: “I find that when schools produce their own podcasts, they often put it only on the school website, but the audience is unlikely to go there to listen to it. It has to be where they’d listen to a BBC podcast, a comedy show or a history podcast.”

Understanding how many people have heard your podcast is not easy – many platforms only offer statistics on the number of downloads, rather than listens. “Evidencing the impact is longer term because podcasting is long-form marketing, not a quick-return approach like a Facebook Ads campaign,” says Jones. “I only recommend schools progress to podcasting if their basic marketing is in check.”

Says Sammers: “At Berkhamsted, we’ve noticed that we’ve started to receive more questions from prospective parents around the topics covered in the podcast series, which highlights the fact that many families are taking a keen interest.”

With such a wealth of stories to be told, it seems that podcasting is a way for independent schools to engage parents and pupils like never before.

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