During Clark’s time at the college, Malvern has moved steadily up the academic league tables, and opened four international schools. He has also overseen an ambitious building programme – partly funded by the income from overseas – including a new sports centre, two new boarding houses, and a thoroughly refurbished science centre and theatre.

“I’m proud of how, during my time, Malvern has enhanced its reputation as an IB [International Baccalaureate] school and boosted its national and international profile,” said Clark. “We run the IB alongside the A Level programme and, these days, half our sixth form pupils do each; there are some distinct advantages with the IB, which is academically more stretching. It is highly-prized by Russell Group universities, and gives our IB pupils very favourable offers. We’re now seen alongside the top schools in the country, and people come to us from further afield. Our students are drawn from 27 different countries, including the Cayman Islands and Australia, and numbers are rising, up by 80 this year, to the current roll of 650.”

We want Malvernians to strive for success, but be able to cope with setbacks; to be confident, but not arrogant; to see learning as a lifelong experience and be optimistic about the future – as I am

“We run well-attended language schools over the summer,” Clark continued, “and our sport is on a real high, thanks to excellent coaching and first-class facilities. Worcestershire County Cricket Club come to practise here, and we are a growing centre for girls’ cricket, too; we now offer Britain’s first dedicated cricket scholarships for girls. We have close links with Worcester Warriors rugby, and a number of pupils are in their academy set-up or playing professional rugby with them on leaving school. Our girls’ hockey is particularly strong, and our under-16s recently reached the national finals for the third time in six years. It helps that our head coach, Mark Moss, is the captain and coach of the GB over-35 team.

“Academically, our girls buck the national trend by excelling in STEM subjects. Unusually, as many girls as boys study maths, science and economics here, partly because of a number of strong female role models we have in the different disciplines. I appointed Chey Hooper-West as our first female director of sport, for example, not to make some sexist point but because she was the best person for the job.

“This has been a rewarding, challenging decade for my family and me. The toughest aspect? Having to expel people, particularly when they are lovely kids with a lot to offer, but who have done something very wrong. However painful, though, it’s important to follow the correct procedure and do right in the eyes of the school. Generally, in education and society at large, there is less respect for authority than there was 25 years ago, and we scoop up more issues; IT hacking, for example, to which the police find it more difficult to devote their time. It’s crucial that we maintain a strong sense of discipline and norms of conduct, otherwise we become a society that is less free to operate with choice.”

I’m proud of how, during my time, Malvern has enhanced its reputation as an IB school and boosted its national and international profile

Through winning a Douglas Smith scholarship, which enabled him to attend Downing College, Cambridge in his early 20s, Clark, a modern historian, knows first-hand the transformative effect of academic or sports awards on promising youngsters from cash-strapped families.

“I am really excited by my leaving present, the Clark Scholarships, being launched this spring,” he said. “They are means-tested awards for sixth form entry to Malvern College, and will provide between 60% and 100% of the fees for young people who couldn’t otherwise attend the school but are outstanding academically, and in other areas, too; perhaps sport, the arts, or leadership. The first Clark scholars – who could be from Britain, the Commonwealth countries, or elsewhere – will join the school in September 2019, and I know just how life-changing the opportunity to study here will be.

We want Malvernians to strive for success, but be able to cope with setbacks; to be confident, but not arrogant; to see learning as a lifelong experience and be optimistic about the future – as I am.”

For details on how to apply for the Clark Scholarship, email: giles.vosper-brown@malverncollege.org.uk

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The announcement comes in a year when the number of British independent schools in China is set to skyrocket, increasing by 44% in 2019, according to a report by Venture Education.

At the end of 2017, there were 22 British independent school campuses operating in China. In 2018, 10 more opened taking this number to 32. This year, another 14 are expected to open taking this number to 46 – more than double of that in 2017.

Head of Malvern College Antony Clark told Independent Education Today: “We have already had a number of pupils in China gain places at prestigious universities in the US and the UK, and now our first pupil from Malvern College Qingdao has been accepted at Cambridge.”

He also talked about the financial side of running a British school in China: “In terms of financial reward, this comes much more slowly than might be imagined, these are long-term projects that need to be managed with diligence, accountability and cooperation.

“It is important to us that we have a clear educational motivation for establishing our sister schools abroad. The principle aim is to give those who are educated at our Malvern College schools abroad opportunities that they might otherwise not have had.

“We work in partnership with people we trust to establish those schools and take an active role in the quality of education offered under our name.”

In terms of financial reward, this comes much more slowly than might be imagined, these are long-term projects that need to be managed with diligence, accountability and cooperation

Malvern College is one of 33 independent schools in the UK with sister schools in China. Malvern College Qingdao, Malvern College Chengdu and Malvern College Chengdu are the school’s international branches.

The report showed the British school with the most campuses in China is Dulwich College, which opened its first in 2003 in Shanghai and now has seven. Other schools that topped the list included Harrow School (two, with four planned in the next two years), Hurtwood House (four, with one planned this year) and Wellington College (five).

Venture is a consultancy that supports UK/China education through research, consultancy and partnerships. In its report, the company cited a ‘second wave’ of British schools had been spurred on by economic growth in China creating new opportunities for international schools in second and third tier cities, as well as broader appeal for UK education amongst Chinese students.

There is also a trend for blended British-Chinese curriculums to create access for more students and allow for a faster pace of growth.

Julian Fisher, senior partner of Venture said: “The incredible growth of British independent schools in China shows, first and foremost, that British education is seen as the gold standard at K-13 in China. British schools bring experience, expertise and innovation to a country that is looking for holistic education that inspires the next generation.

“The real challenge, with so many schools opening in such a short space of time, will be recruiting students, recruiting quality teachers and maintaining international standards of quality. This is where support from the home schools, international associations such as COBIS and ACAMIS, the British government’s Department for International Trade and the British Chamber of Commerce in China will increasingly have a role to play.

“The golden age of UK-China relations is truly at its strongest in education.”

Read the full report here.

The post Malvern College Qingdao to send first student to Cambridge appeared first on Independent Education Today.

Extensive grounds enable schools like Orwell Park Prep School, Kingswood School in Bath, Brighton College and Malvern College (which supplied the images for this feature) to offer pupils facilities such as multi-use games areas, cricket nets, floodlit AstroTurf and swimming pools as well as netball and tennis courts.

“Sport is for all at Orwell Park,” explains Headmaster Adrian Brown, himself an ex-county cricketer. “Our pupils love it and every child has the opportunity to represent the school in every sport.

Our floodlit facilities, in particular, mean that winter fixtures can continue beyond dark, which gives us more time for sport.”

Orwell Park is not the only school with the philosophy of ‘sport for all’. Kingswood School makes it quite clear that all boys and girls take part, meaning they can put out multiple teams and offer more opportunities. The games and PE department has six full-time staff led by a director of sport as well as Digby Webb, athletic development co-ordinator. He has played rugby to a high standard and is currently studying towards his master’s degree in performance coaching.

Brighton College goes a step further, boasting anywhere between 85 and 100 staff (many are non-specialist), depending on the sport on offer in a particular term. The range on offer is impressive – rugby, football, cricket, hockey, netball, tennis, athletics, squash, swimming, cross country and fencing. However, Director of Sport Michael Davidson emphasises that, if a pupil arrives at the school with a particular sports specialism that is not already catered for, they will always stretch themselves to meet their requests.

Malvern College in Worcestershire has 16 full-time sports staff, who oversee teams in mainstream sports such as hockey, rugby, football (boys and girls), netball, tennis, cricket (boys and girls), athletics and golf. Director of Sport Chey Hooper-West says performance analysis, small group sessions, one-to-one coaching sessions and guest coaches who provide a different voice for the pupils are a regular part of the strategy, as is strength and conditioning.

Everyone has different motivations so we are always looking for opportunities that allow pupils to achieve whatever aims they set themselves

Schedule it in

The age at which children should start to play sport is not cast in stone. As a prep school, Orwell Park introduces PE lessons from nursery age, while hockey and tennis are available as extra-curricular activities to pupils in Years 1 and 2. The school has changed its timetable for Years 3 and 4 to accommodate sports lessons an hour earlier in the day. This, explains Brown, means that instead of having the same sessions as Years 5–8, younger pupils have the chance to use the same facilities and have access to the best coaches. “Changing the strategy in this way gives the younger children the same opportunities as the older ones,” he says.

Pupils have the expertise of ex-South African hockey player, Ian Haley, to draw on as well as Suffolk cricket captain Adam Mansfield. There are one-to-one sessions for cricket and hockey, and there are now up to 70 boys and girls attending one-to-one cricket sessions throughout the winter.

Using specialist and international coaches is a common theme among independent schools. Malvern College even taps into the expertise of international coaches, particularly professionals from Germany and Holland to find out what the latest thinking is for hockey coaching. ‘White board planning’ has proved successful – Hooper-West leads a small group of coaching staff to plan out a few weeks of training, deciding on themes they want to build on, then planning a drill to see how many different ways they can progress it.

At Brighton College, sport is part of the curriculum, so 100% of the pupils participate. Even outside the timetable, many pupils will play some sport on a Saturday as part of the fixtures, widening participation and enabling anyone who is interested in a sport, no matter at what level, to get involved.

It is normal for them to bring in external coaches for games sessions – people who can bring their own expertise to the pupils’ performances. Scotland and Sussex cricketer Matt Machan, an Old Brightonian, is a regular, as is Irish rugby star, Kieron Dawson and English shot putter Judy Oaks, while Director of Cricket Mike Smethurst played for Lancashire before turning to teaching.

Brown believes sport and pastoral care are intrinsically linked. “We see sport as part of educating the whole person and link it with our school values,” he says. Orwell Park is also leading the way in ensuring equality of opportunity in sport, with all girls and boys now playing cricket as the main summer sport. “There are up to 11 pitches being used on a match day and it is wonderful to see boys and girls enjoying the game. In addition, every pupil in the prep had the chance to play in at least six fixtures this term.”

Brighton College also ensure they don’t limit the barriers to participation and are eager to make all sport available to both sexes. Like Orwell Park, there is a strong tradition of women’s cricket (just as they have keen male dancers) and encourage girls by having two additional full-time female members of staff to act as role models.

Webb agrees that pastoral care and sport are fundamentally linked. “Sport provides a good platform in which to get to know the pupils informally and it gives staff the chance to notice any issues children may be having. Sport makes you a well-rounded person,” he continues.

An integral part of Webb’s role is to introduce physical activity and wellbeing that are supportive of sport, for example age-appropriate strength and conditioning, movement skills, physical literacy, resistance training and yoga. Webb has borrowed a coaching methodology from England Rugby known as CARDS, an acronym for creativity, awareness, resistance, decision-making and self-organisation.

“It’s based on teaching the skills to come up with different solutions to the same problem so we are using sport as an agent to develop the people we send out into the wider world and encouraging them to think for themselves.”

Our approach of wide participation feeds into our school sports strategy – we are trying to engender a love of sport and fitness that lasts long after pupils have left school

Fun and games

Brighton College is known as an innovator and this extends to sport, even the way in which the pupils practise their skills. Instead of focusing on drills, which Davidson says the pupils were less enthused by, they are encouraged to engage in a competitive environment using conditioned games. “They see that as playing and having fun rather than learning a skill,” he explains. There are also regular video analysis sessions and the teams watch their matches back and talk about their performance. Often pupils lead these sessions, overseen by the sports department.

Webb believes sport is a way to have fun with friends, to create special memories and rival social media for attention.

“The fine line is to have teams who can compete on a performance level but not at the expense of those who want to have fun.”

Davidson agrees: “Our approach of wide participation feeds into our school sports strategy – we are trying to engender a love of sport and fitness that lasts long after pupils have left school. In September 2019, a new £55m sports and science building will open, and right in the heart of the building is a space dedicated to spinning, yoga and Pilates. We offer this because we know that not all children are enthused by mainstream sports but are still interested in fitness and healthy living and we want to encourage that for the rest of their lives.”

At Malvern College, all pupils are encouraged to find something they love and enjoy. “Everyone has different motivations so we are always looking for opportunities that allow pupils to achieve whatever aims they set themselves,” says Hooper-West. Examples include improving endurance in swimming, completing the ‘Ledder’ (a traditional cross-country race of 7¾ miles) to playing for a county team, or aspiring to compete at international level. “The challenge for us is to help all of these different pupils achieve their hopes and goals,” she says.

“Helping the pupils love their sport, developing their skills and how to apply these and focus on ‘playing well’ rather than simply ‘winning’ is vital to maintaining children’s interest. We go with the idea that ‘we never lose, we either win or we learn – sometimes we do both’.

“If we focused on winning all the time, sport would no longer be fun.”

The post How to inspire excellence in sport appeared first on Independent Education Today.

As specialists in immigration law, the international law firm Fragomen has advised UK schools on their overseas expansion plans – and are well-placed to observe the growth in overseas expansion, and what is fuelling it. “A British education is renowned worldwide for its high quality and standards,” explains Fragomen solicitor, Naomi Goldshtein. “Demand for places in the top schools remains high.

“The boom in British institutions opening ‘sister schools’ overseas has been fuelled by demand from British expat communities as well as by local families looking for a British education for their children. It’s a creative step, allowing UK institutions to expand globally while giving parents the option for their children to be educated locally, in an international learning environment.”

So, how do schools begin the process of developing overseas branch schools? ISC Research is the leading provider of English-medium international school intelligence, trends and data. The company can provide schools looking to expand overseas with the latest market intelligence, data, benchmarking and research partnerships to help them with their new venture.

Expansion can be achieved in several ways, as Nalini Cook, Business Development Manager at ISC Research, explains: “Most overseas expansions are brand-new school developments, built as sister schools that partner with a local investor and share the same brand name, style, ethos and learning approach as the mothership. Other independent schools provide management services, teaching and learning partnerships, and brand integrity to international schools.”

Regulations and protocols vary, of course, from nation to nation. In order to open a school in the United Arab Emirates, for example, the investor will need to obtain approval from that country’s Ministry of Education. Furthermore, individual Emirates may impose additional requirements for setting up schools and educational institutes, and these will be overseen by Emirate-specific authorities, with local variations. For example, Dubai’s Knowledge and Human Development Authority (KHDA) is responsible for issuing Educational Services Permits (ESP) that allow schools to operate in the city. Depending on the jurisdiction in which the school is being set up, various approvals will be required, including health and safety authority certificate, municipality or free zone authority approvals and more.

Help is at hand

Alongside the advice given by ISC Research, schools looking overseas will also find the Council of British International Schools (COBIS) a helpful ally. Numbering over 500 member organisations, COBIS represents member schools with the British Government, educational bodies and the corporate sector; provides effective professional development for senior leaders, governors, teachers and support staff; and promotes child protection, safer recruitment and employment practices.

COBIS’ services also include the Patron’s Accreditation and Compliance, a system of quality assurance for member schools. The scheme supports British schools overseas on their development journey and actively supports whole-school improvement ensuring the best possible educational environments for children and young people worldwide. By 2022, all COBIS member schools will have been through this scheme and, as of 2017, schools had to meet the scheme’s high standards in order to become a COBIS school.

Merchiston Castle School opened its overseas campus in Shenzhen, China for the start of the 2017–18 academic year, a co-educational school, in contrast to the boys-only parent school in Edinburgh. In Merchiston’s case, the move had been some time in the planning. “At the time of his appointment in 1998, the then Headmaster, Andrew Hunter, told his interview panel that British education growth opportunities lay in overseas expansion,” explains the school’s Director of Development, David Rider. “For Merchiston, this was a strategy that took the school 20 years to deliver successfully.”

The inaugural academic year at Merchiston Shenzhen is going well. “The school opened with 185 students – and by the end of this academic year we expect to be teaching 400 boys and girls from ages five to 18,” David explains. The school is now exploring the possibility of opening further schools across China and possibly into the USA.

Any advice to other schools contemplating their own overseas expansion? “When things don’t seem to be going to plan, check what has been translated: 99 times out of 100 that’s where the misunderstanding will be,” is David’s succinct advice. “We also carried out a great deal of advice and deliberation over how to protect our brand identity, and how to best structure the transaction in order to ensure minimum disruption to the home school.”

In what ways does the new school differ from, or resemble, the parent school back in Scotland? “We have endeavoured to replicate all aspects of life at our ‘home’ school. The only modifications have been made to allow for the co-educational pupil base.”

Expand your horizons

Elsewhere, Malvern College now has considerable experience in opening sister schools overseas, with no fewer than four sister schools – in Hong Kong, Cairo, and Qingdao and Chengdu, both China – alongside its base in Worcestershire. Its first international campus, in Qingdao, opened in September 2012.

“Malvern first started looking to expand overseas around 10 years ago as a key component of our long-term development strategy,” explains Allan Walker, the college’s Director of International Schools. And was this a difficult decision to make? “Whilst there will always be differing voices and opinions on any governing body, we were very fortunate in having a very strong and commercially astute Chairman at the time, Lord MacLaurin (former Chairman of Tesco and Vodafone), who was instrumental in moving this decision forward. In terms of the decision itself, Malvern has always been a forward-looking, entrepreneurial school (our motto, Sapiens Qui Prospicit, means ‘Wise is the person who looks ahead’). Conceptually, and culturally, this did not feel like a difficult decision for us.”

The international expansion programme has, says Allan, succeeded beyond expectations. “This is thanks, again, to strong leadership at management and governing body level, and to a very strong partner in Babylon Education, our East Asian operating partners. We believe that in opening Malvern College Hong Kong, our fifth campus, in September 2018, we became the fastest-growing Headmasters’ and Headmistresses’ Conference (HMC) school group overseas, with five new schools in six years. Other milestones include opening the first HMC overseas branded campus in Africa. We currently educate 1,300 pupils overseas and there are a total of over 2,000 pupils in the Malvern family altogether, including Malvern College UK and The Downs Malvern, our associated prep school.

It has, in short, been a very busy few years for the Malvern College family. So, what’s next: any further international expansion plans in the pipeline? “Our next project is to open an all-through school on a new-build campus in Chengdu, on a separate site to the existing secondary school. The new campus was launched earlier in the autumn and will ultimately have a capacity of up to 2,000. This site will open in stages from September 2019. We are also working on other projects both in East Asia and elsewhere in the world and hope to be able to announce further development over the course of the next few months.

Taking the leap?

What advice can Malvern College’s Director of International Schools, Allan Walker, offer to other schools looking abroad for their next move?

1

Take time to choose and get to know your overseas partners carefully. With a for-profit business model like this, it is essential that both parties share a long-term vision for the school.

2

Understanding your brand identity clearly and being able to articulate this is really important – particularly once you have more than one school overseas, as consistency of branding then becomes more important.

3

Ensure you are clear about the entry model you want to use (direct investment, franchise or other) and the implications that this decision will have in terms of your school’s risk profile and the balance between risk and reward.

4

Be clear about the control mechanisms you want to have in place. For example: who chooses the Headmaster and to whom should he/she report? How many seats will there be on the board?

5

Consider your exit strategy and triggers, and ensure these are clearly articulated in your contract paperwork.

6

Choose sensible lawyers who know their stuff – but are also prepared to be flexible and pragmatic.

7

Finally, always allow more time than you think you need for project development. Everything takes longer than you expect – particularly first time round.

The post New departures appeared first on Independent Education Today.

The ‘Lost’ project is an experiment designed by Malvern College to encourage pupils to develop resilience and self-reliance. Eleven pairs of pupils, each representing a different boarding house, volunteered to be blindfolded and dropped in unfamiliar surroundings 40km from school, camping overnight and using their creativity to find their way back to the college.

The participants raised £2,000, with the first pair home winning the money for their House’s chosen charity. The winners were 15-year-old Jayda Khimji and Chioma Anazoda, who arrived back in 14 hours and three minutes, over an hour ahead of their nearest rivals.

Chioma said: “It was an amazing, confidence-boosting experience, working out a strategy and getting home so quickly. We were surprised at how people helped us whenever we asked: they were very kind to us.”

Jay Watts, Malvern’s Outdoor Pursuits Coordinator, commented: “Many of our pupils fly academically but they’ve never been ‘lost’ in their lives, always having a mapping app to hand, and surrounded by technology. ‘Lost’ made them take the initiative, plan strategically and cope with setbacks. Some went into hotels and shops to ask for directions; others flagged down the police or got hold of maps.” 

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Earlier this year SFP were delighted to announce their approval by the FCA to offer an Appointed Representative (AR) solution to schools·

This groundbreaking initiative was prompted following research carried out by SFP in 2016 which showed that a number of schools were worried about the regulatory aspects of monthly schemes, whether in-house or through a third party·

Seeking to deliver peace of mind to schools, SFP’s Appointed Representative framework was created to allow schools to actively engage with their existing and prospective parents about all of the fee payment options available·

New to SFP this year, Malvern College is a keen early adopter of this initiative·

“We chose to adopt School Fee Plan because it offered an efficient and cost-effective alternative to our existing arrangements· Having used School Fee Plan at a previous school, I was confident that it would reduce the administrative burden of monthly payments and improve the efficiency of the finance department,” says Kate Collyer, Director of Finance at Malvern College and The Downs Malvern· “Most importantly it provides a professional and convenient payment solution to our parent body· Parents have commented on the convenience and the ease of set-up·”

Under the appointed representative framework, SFP takes direct responsibility for all FCA regulatory actions undertaken by the school, leaving them free to talk openly to parents without the concern of inadvertently straying into regulated activity· As well as becoming an additional source of support, training and expert advice for schools, all the tools needed to keep schools on the right side of the regulations are provided·

“We chose the Appointed Representative Status because it enabled us to properly communicate the details of the scheme with our parents· This is key when replacing an informal ad-hoc payment plan scheme with a formal product·”

Kate was also pleased to see that not only does it help the school, but that their parents can also see the benefits· She adds: “It enabled us to have open, informed dialogue with parents, which our parent body have welcomed·”

In terms of helping parents stay on track with their payments, Kate was clear: “I also believe that the AR Status gives the scheme more credibility as parents now appreciate that the commitment to monthly payments is a formal agreement and no longer optional when funds are available·”

Kate is delighted with the results: “The scheme has been well received and the uptake has exceeded our expectations·”

For further info, please visit schoolfeeplan.com

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Keith Metcalfe, currently the Deputy Head at Harrow, will be the new Headmaster of Malvern College from April 2019.

Keith was educated at Monmouth School and Downing College, Cambridge and Malvern College looks forward to welcoming him at the start of the Summer term in 2019.

He succeeds Antony Clark who has been Headmaster at Malvern for 10 years. Antony moves to take up the role of Headmaster of Michaelhouse, a prestigious boarding senior school for boys, in South Africa.

Malvern College is one of the foremost co-educational boarding and day schools in the UK, rated excellent by the ISI in November 2017. It celebrated the 25th anniversary of offering the IB alongside A levels in the Sixth Form and 25 years of becoming a co-educational school this year. The school has an extended network of Malvern College schools abroad in China, Egypt and Hong Kong. 

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Britain’s top schools are architectural treasure-houses: take the grandeur of Marlborough, and Wellington, Stowe’s picturesque, folly-strewn park and Eton’s ancient courtyards. But the combination of historic architecture and crucial modern facilities can bring particular challenges. Shrewsbury School’s impressive main building dates back to 1758 and after earlier incarnations as a foundling hospital and a workhouse, the school arrived in 1882. Over the decades, it underwent successive architectural additions as Shrewsbury expanded and became co-ed. Two vital projects completed last summer have helped to transform the school’s library and convert the late-Victorian Moser’s Hall to a girls’ boarding house.

“Moser’s Hall was originally built as three separate towers and looked pretty ugly because of regulations which meant that fire escape stairs covered the rear of it,” explained Shrewsbury’s Estates Manager Jon Taylor. “We thought very hard about how we could make the buildings connect at every level, then, after consulting fire officers, built one sympathetically designed staircase tower in the middle of the building which allowed us to strip out all the unsightly stairs at the back.” 

“We’ve not tried to build pastiches. Our new buildings look modern but sympathetic to the original ones, usually in traditional materials, as we try to ensure they’re not going to date in 20 years’ time. Some ’60s buildings, for example, look shocking and we’re in a conservation area,” continued Jon. “Our library is in a lovely 1916 Arts and Crafts building but looked dated after multiple makeovers. It had a gallery of important watercolours locked away and not enough space for pupils to study. Our Head Librarian, Jo Elliott, visited other libraries and saw that the most effective were the ones offering spaces for different study styles, so our new-look library has four zoned areas providing silent, quiet, social and group study spaces. We kept the original Arts and Crafts detailing in the windows, doors and beams but commissioned bespoke joinery for adjustable oak bookcases and desks to be in keeping with the room, in a contemporary, linear design. There’s lots of extra seating for study and the watercolours are hung away from damaging natural light behind a glass wall where everyone can enjoy them. It lifts people’s spirits to work there and footfall in library has tripled since the refurbishment.”

Gordonstoun School’s main building is a fine Scottish baronial house, a former seat of the Gordon-Cummings family, with jaw-dropping views of the gardens, lake and romantically wild grounds. The school’s cricket pitch was even voted Britain’s most beautiful. The Italianate Round Square building was built in the 17th century by ‘The Warlock of Gordonstoun’ Sir Robert Gordon who had reputedly sold his soul to the devil and chose a circular construction to avoid being backed into a corner when Old Nick came to claim his own.

“It’s a building of world importance and where the Round Square Conference of International Schools was founded,” explained Gordonstoun’s Principal Lisa Kerr. “There’s a stone block in the centre of it and when it’s hit, the echo goes on for 20 seconds. Round Square is now a boarding house but like many old buildings has limited access and wasn’t planned for modern-day use or to comply with strict regulations over space, light and access. We want to get maximum benefit from it, so we’re planning to make it into a world centre for learning about our founder Kurt Hahn’s educational ideas.” 

“We recognise the passage of time. Each building on our campus occupies its own place in time and isn’t modelled on an earlier era. Our chapel is extraordinary: opened 50 years ago after an architectural design competition won by an Old Gordonstounian, Patrick Huggins. Outside it looks like a ship and inside like a book,” said Lisa. 

“We recently converted an old single-storey wooden WW2 building into our flagship boys’ boarding house, putting an extension on the back and refurbishing the wooden front, unobtrusively leaving the visuals of the campus unchanged. Moray Council is very supportive, recognising Gordonstoun’s vital role in the local community and we work collaboratively to breathe new life into old buildings.”

Flexibility is often the key, with modern techniques and materials used to give far greater choice in how a space is used. The two King Edward’s independent schools King Edward’s School, Birmingham, KES (Boys) and KEHS (Girls) on the Edgbaston campus share the splendid Ruddock Performing Arts Centre, grandly modern but designed to chime with the original buildings around it, intelligently continuing a pattern of wings and courtyards set by the original 1930s construction. Highlighting the contrast between new and old, large windows flanking the Ruddock Centre overlook the beautiful Grade-II* listed memorial chapel, which was rebuilt from an upper corridor at the school’s original New Street site in central Birmingham. The Centre includes drama and dance studios, practice and rehearsal rooms plus a 400-seater concert hall with fine acoustics, adaptable lighting, and seating which can be reconfigured for everything from a dramatic theatre space to orchestra pits for full-scale musicals or stage extensions for concerts by the schools’ renowned joint Symphony Orchestra. 

Malvern College too is currently undertaking a £5m project to transform its old black and white Elizabethan-style Victorian theatre, a former boxing gym, refurbishing it throughout, retaining its atmospheric balcony but adding retractable seating and a glass foyer as a flexible teaching and reception space.

“One problem was that Historic England wanted a glass area between the new build and old,” explained headmaster Antony Clark. “We had to install a frameless glass link, a tiny corridor of half a yard which delayed the project by a year. There are always many lobby groups you have to satisfy as everyone has an opinion on a special place like this. Two of our boarding houses which opened in 2009 won a design award, I think because of the traditional materials used and the gables which are modern but very much in keeping with other Victorian gables on the rest of our site. It all helps to generate pride in the College. I often interview potential staff who say ‘This a beautiful school’ and when you’re in competition with other schools for talented teachers and they’re inspired by the architecture and atmosphere, they’re far more likely to take the job. That increasingly helps you to attract top staff which in turn inspires the pupils.”

Gordonstoun’s Principal Lisa Kerr agrees whole-heartedly.

“We underestimate the impact of beauty on the mind at our peril,” she warned, “The beauty of our grounds and of our buildings. It’s important for schools like ours to invest in both and make sure we work in harmonious way with nature – and that whatever their style and era, our buildings work for everyone.”  

For more, please visit: shrewsbury.org.uk; malverncollege.org.uk; gordonstoun.org.uk; kes.org.uk; kehs.org.uk

The post When old meets new appeared first on Independent Education Today.

The new awards are being offered in the run-up to National Epilepsy Week, taking place from May 22nd, to help raise awareness of a condition which kills scores of apparently healthy young people each year. They are aimed at youngsters with a passion for art, but without the family income required to attend a top independent school. The College is still taking applications for this year’s awards, for September 2018. For the Nieper family, many of them Malvernians past and present, the scholarship is a chance to commemorate a much-loved son and brother, and focus attention on his extraordinary talents and personal qualities.

“These scholarships will enhance our already strong reputation in Art and Design and attract many more talented, budding artists to Malvern.”

“Richard was a superb artist, a creative thinker and incredibly talented from early childhood,” explained his sister Juliet Stocks. “After he died we found some exquisite leaf rubbings, prints and watermarks he’d made in string when he was only 7. He suffered from asthma, so art was always his great love. He was very bright and also an excellent self-taught musician. By the time he got to the sixth form at Malvern, the Art School and woodworking department were his second home. Malvern’s Art and Design was – and is – really advanced, offering photography, design, and allowing him to do abstracts, life drawings and very large-scale paintings.”

“By the age of 17 he’d amassed an extraordinary portfolio. He did his degree at Central St Martin’s and eventually became a gifted furniture designer, able to work in wood, leather, metal and a range of fabrics. He illustrated every page of a 1000-page animation he produced about the pollution of the world, something he cared deeply about. He had a high moral and ethical sense and always went the extra mile for other people,” said Juliet. 

The College’s Head of Art, Christine Prichard, believes the scholarships will provide a huge boost to Malvern’s Art School: “We’re thrilled that the Nieper family has generously established these wonderful new scholarships in memory of Richard. I know they will enhance our already strong reputation in Art and Design and attract many more talented, budding artists to Malvern.”

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A deal struck with authorities in Chengdu, China means that Malvern College is now on course to open six international schools in just seven years, placing it at the forefront of UK independent schools operating abroad.

International Trade Secretary Dr Liam Fox witnessed the signing of the landmark agreement during his trade visit to China last week with Prime Minister Theresa May.

“This is extremely exciting for Malvern College International and puts us right at the forefront of UK providers opening schools internationally,” said Headmaster Antony Clark. “We are delighted to have this opportunity to further expand the Malvern College family of schools through this exciting development in Chengdu.”

“We are proud of our record in providing a British-style independent education with its emphasis on the holistic development of pupils and a focus on values, whilst working closely with our international partners to adapt the educational provision to the needs of the local context.”

The brand new state-of-the-art campus is due to open in 2019 and will eventually, together with the College’s existing campus in Chengdu, which opened in 2015, provide education for more than 1000 children between the ages of 3 and 18.

In the meantime, this September will see the opening of Malvern College Hong Kong, following on from Malvern College Pre-School Hong Kong which opened in 2017. The Worcestershire boarding school also has campuses in Qingdao, China and Cairo, Egypt.

This is extremely exciting for Malvern College International and puts us right at the forefront of UK providers opening schools internationally. – Antony Clark, Headmaster, Malvern College

Malvern College Chengdu will retain the values of a traditional Chinese education while helping pupils to adapt to a Western-style learning environment. Its vision is to create a pathway to English-speaking universities around the world.

Malvern College International’s schools in mainland China are predominantly for Chinese nationals, with around 35% of leavers going on to study at UK universities, thus contributing directly to the rapid international growth in the UK Higher Education sector.

“The success of these schools overseas has a direct positive impact on a wide range of UK manufacturers and suppliers, ranging from examination boards, architects and engineers through to furniture and textbook suppliers,” said Allan Walker, Malvern College’s Director of International Schools.

“The opening of schools overseas also supports the development of educational opportunities available for children in the UK, both through enhancing our facilities and by widening access.”

Deals worth £550 million were struck by UK businesses last week as Mrs May launched a major expansion of education programmes with China. Mrs May said agreements signed on her trip would “enable more children and more young people than ever to share their ideas about our two great nations.”

Research by the International School Consultancy has shown that the appetite for Western-style, English language-based education around the world shows no signs of abating.

Malvern College’s first international campus opened in the Chinese city of Qingdao in 2012.  

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