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Sancton Wood School Anchor 1 Jill Sturdy was a fearless pioneer who left a complex, but valuable legacy. Unusually for the time (1970s) and place (Cambridge), she, and her husband, the Rev John Sturdy, Dean of Gonville and Caius College, enlarged their family by adopting nine children to augment their three 'natural' children. Both the college and the wider community of Cambridge reacted with narrow minds, raised eyebrows, and, from some school children, abusive racism. Undeterred, she said “If I can't find a school to teach my children, I'll start my own”. And so Sancton Wood school began. Taking the name of the architect of the railway station in Cambridge and located in premises on Station Road, it opened in 1976 as a primary school with 11 pupils. Her philosophy evolved with practice – inevitably it valued small class sizes, and close, individual attention. It also always had an underlying ethos of Christian love and support – many of the first pupils were those who other schools had turned away in despair. They were shown, through high expectations and endless support, that they, too, could succeed if they really wanted to. The school grew quickly and in 1979 took additional premises in 1 and 2 St Paul's Road, a pair of large four-storey Victorian houses which had been divided up into many flats. The infant school took one side and the senior school the other. The family moved in to the top floor and, as the tenants moved out, the family expanded downwards and the school expanded upwards, eventually finding a workable equilibrium. The junior school remained at Station Road where it developed its own quirky identity, focusing rather more on character than curriculum. The extra garden space at St Pauls Road allowed Jill Sturdy to establish what turned out to be her most memorable innovation, what would now be called animal-assisted education. Having been a passionate animal lover all her life, at St Paul's Road the family's collection expanded rapidly into a Durrell-type menagerie manor. Over the years there were lots of cats, several dogs, goats, Vietnamese pot-bellied bigs (adorable but the neighbours hated the smells), axolotls (hideous), one python, rats, chinchillas, tortoises, terrapins, and donkeys, one so bad-tempered he was named Lucifer, and one, more placid but much more famous, as he was born having been transplanted into a horse's womb. Adoption is now a complex topic, mixed-race adoption even more so. We never fully understood Jill's motivations and she gave many different answers when asked to explain. The answer I remember most clearly stands as a definitive statement of her belief: “Love is different from everything else – it grows as you give it away. The more love you give, the more love you have.” Sancton Wood grew steadily until it had around 150 pupils. Its finances were more erratic, largely because Jill Sturdy deliberately kept the fees as low as possible. She believed that there was a large market of families who could not afford 'premium' private education but were disappointed with the free state alternative. Nevertheless by 1990 it had established itself as a small, moral school with outstanding pastoral care and surprisingly good academic results. At this point, internal family stresses started to make themselves felt in the form of various illnesses. The Rev John Sturdy was diagnosed with heart problems, while Jill became increasingly unwell with depression and late onset anorexia. One of their daughters, Tabitha, developed a rare bone cancer in her hip which was treated but not fully cured. Then three deaths came in quick succession. In 1996 John Sturdy died of heart failure. In 1997 Tabitha Sturdy died of bone cancer. In 1998 Jill Sturdy died of breast cancer. Since John had been, in effect, the school bursar, as well as being Dean of Caius College and Chief Librarian of Cambridge University's Divinity Library, there was a sudden vacancy after his loss and his daughter Harriet Sturdy took over the role of bursar. Harriet had just finished her Ph.D at Glasgow University on the history of community care of lunatics in Scotland and had moved back to Cambridge to help the family. A very long, and appallingly badly managed, estate transfer nearly caused the school to fold; on a day to day level it was held together brilliantly by Harriet working with Jill's former deputy, Julia Avis, who became the school's second headmistress. Business matters were finally concluded with the launch in 2000 of Sancton Wood in a new vehicle, owned and run by the Sturdy siblings. The Directors of this new private limited company were Daniel and Harriet Sturdy, both of whom were now fully involved in school life. As their understanding and awareness of schools in Cambridge developed, one big gap seemed clear: specialist provision for dyslexics. In 2004 they launched a new school, Holme Court, for dyslexics, with Julia Avis as the Headmistress. This left a large gap at Sancton Wood which was filled, rather astonishingly, by the man who had succeeded Rev John Sturdy as Dean of Gonville and Caius College, Rev Jack McDonald. Not many people can say they have succeeded both partners in a marriage, especially in two such separate fields: Dean of Caius and Principal of Sancton Wood. Jack was persuaded back into the arms of the church with a complicated job, some of which involves representing the Anglican church in Brussels. His own deputy, Richard Settle, stepped up in 2009 into the role of Headmaster, a job which he continues to perform with gregariousness and impressive drive. The Sturdy family decided to sell the school at the end of 2012; the long and arduous process of offers, negotiations and due diligence ended on 6 March 2014 with the sale of 100% of the shares to Aatif Hassan's Minerva Education which itself became part of Dukes Education in 2018. Since then Sancton Wood has thrived and it continues to respect its founder's legacy. ​ Rather sadly there is very little information about either John or Jill Sturdy on the internet. This page retrieves from the Wayback Archive an old obituary of Jill Sturdy , written by her daughter, Harriet. Back to Top of Page Back One Page Back to Home Page

L'école internationale Wotton House est basée au cœur de Gloucester et fait partie du groupe International Village Education. Notre mission est d'aider activement les enfants à développer la confiance, les compétences et les connaissances nécessaires pour s'épanouir dans le monde moderne. Notre philosophie éducative est résumée dans le proverbe africain «il faut un village pour élever un enfant» - aider vos enfants à exceller dans le contexte de leurs communautés locales, nationales et mondiales. Cette philosophie incorpore trois idées liées: 1 L'éducation n'est pas seulement la responsabilité de l'enseignant mais aussi de la communauté au sens large; les enfants grandissent aujourd'hui dans un village mondial non réglementé et ont plus que jamais besoin de conseils pour s'y retrouver en toute sécurité 2 Être `` éduqué '' a de nombreuses facettes et angles, et que chaque enfant a de nombreux dons différents, qui ne sont pas tous satisfaits par l'apprentissage traditionnel en salle de classe. Pour réaliser cette vision, nous intégrons trois éléments clés dans l'école: un programme de connaissances solide, basé sur l'enquête - nous enseignons le programme de niveau intermédiaire du baccalauréat international avec la possibilité de passer des GCSE internationaux dans les années 10 et 11 technologie intégrée pour l'apprentissage l'éducation en plein air comme partie intégrante de l'expérience scolaire de chaque enfant, via notre site partenaire The Wilderness Center. 3 Notre école doit explicitement fournir des réseaux de soutien, de connexions et de contacts; il ne suffit pas d'envoyer un enfant au monde avec rien d'autre que des certificats sous le bras Nos objectifs sont donc de créer des enfants qui ont appris: un sens de leur place dans leur communauté et une compréhension de leurs responsabilités dans leur monde un esprit d'enthousiasme contagieux pour l'apprentissage, tout au long de nos activités d'apprentissage à l'école et en plein air qualités telles que la tolérance, la résilience, le courage, le leadership, le courage, la patience, l'empathie et l'intelligence émotionnelle compétences cognitives clés de la pensée critique, de l'argumentation, de la logique, des tests d'hypothèses, de l'évaluation des preuves et de la résolution de problèmes une base de connaissances solide et un sens d'eux-mêmes en tant qu'érudit: un apprenant qui est fasciné par l'apprentissage pour lui-même. Intéressé? Nous aimerions recevoir de vos nouvelles. Pour en savoir plus, contactez-nous Ethos and Aims Independent schools are required by law to have a Statement of Ethos and Aims (ISS 32(2)(d) ). This is nonsense surely, unless by 'ethos' is meant something like 'religious or other belief'? Ethos in a school is not something that can be explicitly 'statemented'; it is the underlying and intangible 'character' or 'habits', the culture and atmosphere of a school. ​ We hope and believe that all stakeholders in the school recognise and appreciate the atmosphere of mutual respect, kindness and encouragement, laughter and enthusiasm. ​ We can contribute to and steer the culture of the school by outlining and promoting our Goals and we do this through these three pairs of statements: Mission and Motto; Vision and Values; Aims and Objectives. ​ Mission ​ In an age out of harmony we are building a diverse community of enthusiastic, questioning learners who develop Head, Heart and Hands through real-world learning to the betterment of Humanitas, or society as a whole. We value equally the three 'real-worlds': digital, cultural and natural. ​ Our inspiration is Steve Jobs (1998): “Think different. Here's to the crazy ones, the misfits, the rebels, the troublemakers, the round pegs in the square holes... the ones who see things differently - they're not fond of rules and they have no respect for the status quo. You can glorify or vilify them, but the only thing you can't do is ignore them because they change things... they push the human race forward, and while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius, because the ones who are crazy enough to think that they can change the world, are the ones who do.” Vision Because it takes an international village to raise global and grounded citizens, we want to become the flagship of an international network of progressive, human-scale, change-making schools which contribute to the UN Sustainable Development Goals by empowering students through multidimensional, strengths-led learning to better themselves in order to better their communities. We have no single word for this concept in English but in Ancient Greece it was called “Paidea ”; in Enlightenment Germany it was called “Bildung ”. The closest modern equivalent is the Danish concept of “Dannelse ” which means creating active and aware citizens through educating head, heart and hands Aims To achieve our vision we have set ourselves these aims for the school: ​ To develop a multidimensional curriculum to prepare and safeguard our students for a radically different future world with unprecedented challenges for both mental and physical wellbeing. To help families build resilient, healthy, altruistic children who will have a strong sense of the meaning and value of their lives. To become part of a network of schools and colleges which values freedom, non-linearity and creativity - everything which distinguishes human from machine - but also respects traditions and the central importance of individual development as contributing to the greater goal of service to the community. To provide a safe, welcoming and stimulating environment for the non-conformists, the free thinkers, the heretics, the contrarians, those who think differently. They will change the world. Motto "Better ourselves to better our worlds" or "pro nobis pro bono" ​ Values We believe that contemporary education needs to be: ​ Wh olistic: rounded and multi-dimensional I nternational: global in outlook, diverse and rich S ustainable: grounded in the earth and rooted in our physical being C reative: able to dream and invent new solutions Objectives ​ To be the first-choice school in the region for international families To grow to 120 students To open a sixth-form college To be rated consistently good or better by the inspectorates To forge strong international connections with other IB schools Four Pillars This section looks at the Four Pillars which represent our deepest values, our non-negotiables, our principles. Many different organisations use a Four Quadrant model; the best known logo which uses four squares is Microsoft but very few people know what each square represents. By comparison the pentacostal FourSquare Church has a much more informational logo. ​ The word "Foursquare" resonates with positive overtones of firm, sturdy, bold, plainspeaking, forthright. These are all valuable qualities but they definitely lack subtlety. Nevertheless at the stage of outlining fundamental principles the subtleties can wait. Four legs are strong and useful, as Animal Farm famously says: "Four legs good, two legs bad". ​ This characterisation is not unique to us, of course. For example The Asha Centre , which is an adult education centre in the Forest of Dean, close to The Wilderness, identifies the same 'four pillars': Learning through Head, Heart and Hands Fostering a truly human global community. Harnessing the power of Nature to learn and heal. Nurturing creativity & innovation through the Arts. It is an easy step to derive from the four fundamentals an acronym WHISC which echoes very strongly our name: W otton H ouse I nternational SC hool. ​ Wholistic We deliberately use the spelling Wholistic rather than Holistic because the two spellings are diverging to become two different words with slightly different meanings. ​ Wholistic means taking into account every aspect, or facet, of a person, including body, mind and soul - this is what is meant by an education being 'well-rounded'. The word derives from Old English hal meaning 'uninjured or sound' ie hale and healthy. This is not quite the same as Holistic which means being more concerned with the wholes than with the constituent parts - this is what is meant by an education being 'child-centred'. 'Holistic' was invented by Jan Smuts in 1926 from the Greek holos meaning whole or entire. ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ International ​ ​ ​ Sustainable ​ ​ ​ ​ Creative

MYP Sciences INTRODUCTION The MYP sciences framework encourages students to investigate issues through research, observation and experimentation, working independently and collaboratively. ​ As they investigate real examples of science application, students will discover the tensions and dependencies between science and morality, ethics, culture, economics, politics, and the environment. ​ AIMS To encourage and enable students to: understand and appreciate science and its implications consider science as a human endeavour with benefits and limitations cultivate analytical, inquiring and flexible minds that pose questions, solve problems, construct explanations and judge arguments develop skills to design and perform investigations, evaluate evidence and reach conclusions build an awareness of the need to effectively collaborate and communicate apply language skills and knowledge in a variety of real-life contexts develop sensitivity towards the living and the non-living environments reflect on learning experiences and make informed choices ​ ASSESSMENT CRITERIA Criterion A: Knowing and understanding Criterion B: Inquiring and designing Criterion C: Processing and evaluating Criterion D: Reflecting on the impacts of science ​ IB SUBJECT GUIDES 1. Subject Brief 2. Subject Guide ​ WOTTON HOUSE CURRICULUM OUTLINES 2021-22 2019-20 2018-19 2017-18 ​ TEACHING DEPARTMENT ​ Head of Department: Tom Carrick Lab Technician: Laura Carrick ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ Back to MYP Page

LEARNER PROFILE ELECTIVES COMMUNITY SERVICE PSHE & RSE Enrichment Enrichment essentially refers to all the extra-curricular activities (ECA) which our school offers. Some schools refer to them as co-curricular activities (CCA) and there is some rather pointless debate about nomenclature. Abingdon School, more ambitiously, calls these activities the Other Half . ​ This is completely accurate in our case, as this table shows, in that 8 of the 16 timetabled elements are mainstream curricular and 8 are co-curricular. This page looks at our enrichment programmes in four main sections: ​ 1. The IB Learner Profile: this is the IB Mission Statement in action; it outlines the character attributes we are aiming to develop. 2. Electives: opportunities for our student to follow their own interests - strengths-led learning. 3. Community Service: our commitment to giving something back. 4. PSHE and RSE: outlines what, how and why we provide these aspects of learning. ​ You can also find out about our Duke of Edinburgh scheme here . ​ We need first to be clear about the purpose of enrichment programmes. Traditionally, schooling was understood to play two important roles: rigorous academic education and wider personal development - stretching and shaping, in other words. (The shape, if it was ever considered literally, would have been somewhat circular, as in 'well-rounded'. The only way to be simultaneously both stretched and rounded is to be a tube or perhaps a column ... ) This shaping is known as 'character development' or 'character education'. ​ The Department of Education outlined in their Character Education: Framework Guidance (2019) four goals of character education: 1. The ability to remain motivated by long-term goals 2. An appreciation of the importance of long-term commitments (such as to spouse or vocation) 3. The learning of positive moral attributes, or 'virtues'. 4. The acquisition of social confidence and skills. There is a long history of debate about 'virtues', going right back to Aristotle, revived recently by the Jubilee Centre in the School of Education at Birmingham University. A quick overview of Ancient, Medieval and Modern ideas shows how difficult it is to define universally agreed virtues and also reveals the complexity of Aristotle's thinking compared to other schemes. ​ Aristotle distinguishes moral virtues from intellectual virtues, emotional from mental; each moral virtue is understood to be a Golden Mean between two extremes, one of excess, one of deficiency. ​ There are two separate traditions of virtue within Christianity: the Heavenly virtues and the Capital virtues. The Heavenly virtues themselves are a combination of the four classic Cardinal virtues and the three theological virtues. The Capital virtues are better known as they are used as contrasts to the, even better known, seven deadly sins. ​ Benjamin Franklin very famously devised a self-improvement programme based on his own list of 13 virtues; he worked on each one for a week, so that in a year each virtue was practiced for 4 weeks. ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ What all these models have in common is the idea that these virtues can, and should, be worked for. They are not innate and they improve with practice. The Roman orator and politician Cicero used the word humanitas to describe the formation of an ideal citizen who he believed should be educated to possess a collection of virtues of character suitable both for an active life of public service and a decent and fulfilling private life. Humanitas is variously defined but most easily understood as "living like a human being" or simply "what is human". It is one of the central concepts of European culture, and inspired both the Renaissance (through Petrarch) and the Enlightenment (through Voltaire). In modern discourse it has been almost completely replaced by "fulfilling one's potential" which you read in almost every school prospectus. Not only is that 'potential' left unspecified and undefined, it also puts the focus squarely on the individual. The original intent of the term was exactly the opposite - to show the commonality between all humans at all times. As the Roman-African comic writer Terence said: “I am human, and I think that nothing of that which is human is alien to me” (“Homo sum, humani nihil me alienum puto") ​ This idea is picked up in the IB Mission statement when it says that its goal is for students to "understand that other people, with their differences, can also be right". More generally the idea of Humanitas as a teachable collection of virtues is exactly expressed in the IB Learner Profile. To be what we are, and to become what we are capable of becoming, is the only end of life. - RL Stevenson (1882) THE IB LEARNER PROFILE As stated in the IB’s mission statement, the aim of all IB programmes is to develop internationally- minded people who help to create a better and more peaceful world. Within the Middle Years Programme (MYP), this is done through the IB Learner Profile . As IB learners we all strive to be: ​ THINKERS Students exercise initiative in applying thinking skills critically and creatively to recognize and approach complex problems and make reasoned, ethical decisions. REFLECTIVE Students give thoughtful consideration to their own learning and experience. They are able to assess and understand their strengths and limitations in order to support their learning and personal development. INQUIRERS Students develop their natural curiosity. They acquire the skills necessary to conduct inquiry and research and show independence in learning. They actively enjoy learning and this love of learning will be sustained throughout their lives. COMMUNICATORS Students understand and express ideas and information confidently and creatively in more than one language and in a variety of modes of communication. They work effectively and willingly in collaboration with others. KNOWLEDGEABLE Students explore concepts, ideas and issues that have local and global significance. In so doing, they acquire in-depth knowledge and develop understanding across a broad and balanced range of disciplines. PRINCIPLED Students act with integrity and honesty, with a strong sense of fairness, justice and respect for the dignity of the individual, groups and communities. They take responsibility for their own actions and the consequences that accompany them. RISK-TAKERS Students approach unfamiliar situations and uncertainty with courage and forethought, and have the independence of spirit to explore new roles, ideas and strategies. They are brave and articulate in defending their beliefs. OPEN-MINDED Students understand and appreciate their own cultures and personal histories, and are open to the perspectives, values and traditions of other individuals and communities. They are accustomed to seeking and evaluating a range of points of view and are willing to grow from the experience. BALANCED Students understand the importance of intellectual, physical and emotional balance to achieve personal well-being for themselves and others. CARING / EMPATHETIC Students show empathy, compassion and respect towards the needs and feelings of others. They have a personal commitment to service, and act to make a positive difference to the lives of others and to the environment. BACK TO TOP Katariina, CC BY-SA 4.0 , via Wikimedia Commons It is pretty much impossible to remember this list, so we break it into two acronyms: TRICK - essentially qualities of the Head (the first half of the list) PROBE - essentially qualities of the Heart (the second half) Schools are free to adapt or modify the list of desirable attributes in any way they choose. The obvious deficiencies we find are the essential qualities of the Hand: ​we add CREATIVE and PRACTICAL to our list. This gives us three groups of four: HEAD HEART HANDS Thinkers Principled Creative Reflective Risk-takers Practical Inquirers Open-minded Communicators Knowledgeable Empathetic Balanced Anchor 1 This work has been developed independently by ED-ucation.ca and is not endorsed by the International Baccalaureate Electives BACK TO TOP Our current Electives are as follows: ​ Monday: Astronomy Spanish, French Culture, Personal Fitness Training, Exploring Science, Art Tuesday: Philosophy, Financial Trading, Team Sports, Crafts Wednesday: Exploring Music, Cooking Singing Fencing Thursday: Creative Writing, Music - Recorders, Space Club Friday: Team Sports, Art Mindfulness Guitar Lessons Drama ​ In the past we have also run Clubs in: ​ International Cookery Visual Art Eco club Dance Technology Club Indoor Games Sculpture Fashion & make-up Fashion design Stage combat Fresco Art Stop frame animation Craft and textiles Choir Kempo ju-jitsu Electronics Club ​ Source: ClipArts Zone Community Service The Purpose of Community Service With appropriate guidance and support, MYP students should, through their engagement with service as action: ​ become more aware of their own strengths and areas for growth undertake challenges that develop new skills discuss, evaluate, and plan student-initiated activities persevere in action work collaboratively with others develop international-mindedness through global engagement, multilingualism, and intercultural understanding consider the ethical implications of their actions All of these learning outcomes are closely associated with IB learner profile attributes and Approaches to Learning (ATL) skills. ​ Guidelines for Community Service Students can start completing their service hours in August for the upcoming school year. All community service should be completed by mid-June of that school year. A minimum of 15 hours should be completed each year that a student is in the programme. ​ What Counts? Volunteering for non-profit service organizations Service Projects through Girls Scouts, Boy Scouts. Other suggestions: ushering, teaching a children’s class, reading to the blind or elderly at a nursing home, campus clean-up, serving and/or cleaning up at soup kitchens, sorting food at community food banks, make greeting cards for nursing home residents, organise and run an event for preschool children. ​ ​ What Doesn't Count? Money or material donations, family duties, museum /theatre /exhibition visits (meaningful service within the IB MYP framework involves students giving their time to serve others in their community, either locally, nationally, or globally.) BACK TO TOP Three great quotes from Booker T Washington Creative Commons - CC0 Source: Pixabay "The happiest people are those who do the most for others. The most miserable are those who do the least ." – Booker T. Washington "The world cares very little what you or I know, but it does care a great deal about what you or I do ." – Booker T. Washington "If you want to lift yourself up, lift up someone else ." – Booker T. Washington Anchor 2 Anchor 3 PSHE and RSE BACK TO TOP Why do we teach PHSE? There are a number of reasons, from the legal to the moral. This section looks at the legal requirements. ​ Firstly, we teach PHSE because the government tells us to. The statutory requirement is in The Education (Independent Schools Standards) Regulations (2014). It starts very simply in Standard 2 with a list of six things which the written curriculum must both provide for and implement effectively. Third on that list is: ​ "personal, social, health and economic education which reflects the school’s aim and ethos" ​ And also, further down in sixth place on the list of things to be provided for: ​ "effective preparation of pupils for the opportunities, responsibilities and experiences of life in British society" [This is Standard 2(2)(i)] ​ Running through the Standards are two related themes: (a) Fundamental British Values (FBV) and (b) Protected Characteristics in the Equality Act 2010 (PCE). ​ (a) FBV. There is a duty in Standard 2 for the written curriculum not to undermine FBV [2(1)(b)(ii)], for teaching not to undermine FBV [3(h)(i)] and for the proprietor to actively promote FBV [5(a)]. ​ (b) PCE. There is a second part to the requirement to teach PSHE which is that it must encourage "respect for other people, paying particular regard to the protected characteristics set out in the 2010 Act" [This is Standard 2(2)(d)(ii)]; this is reiterated in the next standard, that teaching must not discriminate against pupils contrary to Part 6 of the 2010 Act [Standard 3(j)]; and also for the proprietor to actively promote principles which "encourage respect for other people, paying particular regard to the protected characteristics set out in the 2010 Act" [Standard 5(b)(vi)]. ​ We outline what we do to promote FBV here ; the PCE which we do most work on is Disability and we outline our approach to neurodiversity here . There are 9 PCEs in total, listed below: ​ Sex Sexual Orientation Age Race Religious Belief Marriage Disability Gender Reassignment Pregnancy ​ The rightmost column of three are characteristics which are unlikely to apply to pupils but do, of course, apply to staff. The middle column of three are clearly the most controversial and hotly, even bitterly, contested. The leftmost column are historically the first characteristics to have legal protection and therefore the most widely understood and accepted (Race in 1965, Sex in 1975 and Disability in 1995). ​ The whole of standard 5 is concerned with Spiritual, Moral, Social and Cultural Development of Pupils. Essentially it says that we must ensure that principles are actively promoted which do 7 things: ​ 1. enable self-knowledge 2. enable moral judgments 3. encourage responsible behaviour 4. enable respect for the State 5. enable respect for Culture 6. encourage respect for PCE 7. encourage respect for FBV ​ Clearly many of these principles fall into the realm of the Personal and the Social, though not Health or Economic (neither of which are mentioned again in the Standards, except in the context of Health and Safety legislation. ​ One unusual aspect of the legislation is that independent schools are required to teach PHSE but state schools are not ( although in practice they do). New laws making SRE and Health Education compulsory in all schools, state and independent, took force in 2020. Having looked at the legal requirement to teach PSHE we can now look at the other justifications, while asking whether there is any evidence that it works. ​ According to Ofsted the goal of PSHE "is to equip young people with the knowledge, understanding, attitudes and practical skills to live healthily, safely, productively and responsibly." That four-fold distinction between Knowledge, Understanding, Skills and Attitudes (KUSA) is a foundation of the MYP and is described in detail in this page . ​ Ofsted reported in 2013 that PSHE education was "Not Yet Good Enough". Their headline figure was that in 40% of schools it Required Improvement or was Inadequate. ​ Nevertheless the revelations in 2020 and 2021 by Everyone's Invited of widespread, ingrained sexual misconduct, came as a shock to most commentators. By June 2021 it had received testimonies from 2,500 secondary schools. There are 4,000 state secondary schools in the UK so this would suggest problems at closer to 60% of schools than 40%. ​ In June 2021 Ofsted responded by releasing a report on sexual abuse in 32 schools. Among their findings: ​ sexual harassment has become "normalised" among school-age children, with 90% of girls having experienced sexist name-calling or had been sent explicit photos or videos more than two-thirds of girls said they endured unwanted touching "a lot" or "sometimes" 80% of girls said they had been put under pressure to share sexual images of themselves students often do not see the point of reporting abuse and many teachers underestimate the scale of these problems. The same review found that students are "seldom positive" about sex education in schools and that teachers' subject knowledge is "poor". ​ There is clearly a lot of work needed to make PSHE and RSE authentic and effective. Anchor 4 Inspecting Personal Development ​ The table below shows our own analysis of how the ISI and Ofsted criteria for judging Personal Development line up with each other: ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ By reducing the criteria to these six, it can easily be seen that the first two are the province of Personal, Social, Health & Economic (PSHE) while the last four are Spiritual, Moral, Social and Cultural (SMSC). The next step is to see if they map to any overarching theme or model, or if they remain a random ragbag. ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ This, then, is the brief summary of well-being as defined in these rubrics: being healthy, staying safe, enjoying one's interests contributing positively, achieving economically (all the while respecting other's rights). It is not a bad prescription but I would be surprised if it fills anyone with a glow of enthusiasm. ​ Further Information Our PSHE Policy document Our RSE Policy document Our SMSC Policy document Secondary School PSHE Curriculum Map Prep School PSHE and RSE document DfE RSE Teaching Statutory Guidance We are members of the PSHE Association Gloucestershire Healthy Living and Learning (GHLL) People in the Know (PinK) Planning Tool

Wellcome Collection . Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0) Animal-assisted learning What is animal-assisted learning? Sometimes called animal-assisted education (AAE), it is defined as the “specialized application of Animal Assisted Intervention (AAI) directed at students and classroom interactions but it can also be any kind of skills-based learning activity that includes animals as teaching partners, regardless of the setting." This useful definition is from Dreamcatcher Nature Assisted Therapy in Canada which goes on to say: ​ "It is defined as working with an animal to help stimulate a child’s interest in any given educational activity. Examples of AAE may include reading to assistance animals, dog-bite prevention programs, humane education programs, and companionable zoos (similar to therapeutic farms)." ​ There is an organisation called Pet Partners who get very picky about terminology: AAI (Interventions) includes all of AAE (Education), and AAT (Therapy) and AAA (Activities). Animals involved can be either Assistance (such as guide dogs), Therapy (as in hospitals) or Emotional Support (for a particular person). ​ One group called Animal Angels in India reports : "Animals are ideal reading companions because unlike peers, animals are attentive listeners; they don’t judge or criticize, so children are more comfortable and inclined to forget about their own fears. Children with low self esteem are often more willing to interact with an animal than other people. Further during such interactions, they forget their limitations. It is seen that children find reading to an animal less intimidating and transforms formerly dreaded reading events into a positive experience." ​ Dreamcatcher explains what type of animals are normally involved: Reptiles, fowl, dogs, cats, rodents, lagomorphs (rabbits) and mini equines are all incorporated into classroom educational animal assisted programs. The most popular species are dogs, cats, reptiles and rodents. When AAE occurs outside the classroom setting, it can involve many other species of animals and can take on different educational focuses. ​ But does it do any good? A big systematic review in 2017 summarised that there were "promising findings and emerging evidence suggestive of potential benefits related to animals in school settings" but, as often the case, argued that more solid evidence is still needed. Sadly, of course, the main use of animals in education is for dissection. In the United States, it has been estimated that nearly six million vertebrates are used for this purpose each year, of which half are frogs. Many years I ago I helped set up what was then called EuroNICHE to campaign against the use of animals in eduction. EuroNICHE is now called InterNICHE which until recently was still very actively promoting alternatives, such as plastic models and interactive software. The historical roots of live animals in education are not clear, but they have mythical origins in the centaur, Chiron, who not only taught Asclepius, father of medicine, but also the warriors Jason and Hercules. ​ ​ “Any glimpse into the life of an animal quickens our own and makes it so much the larger and better in every way.” – John Muir ​ “The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated.” – Mohandas Gandhi ​ “Animals are reliable, many full of love, true in their affections, predictable in their actions, grateful and loyal. Difficult standards for people to live up to.” ― Alfred A. Montapert ​ “I call my horses ‘divine mirrors’—they reflect back the emotions you put in. If you put in love and respect and kindness and curiosity, the horse will return that.” – Allan Hamilton ​ "The assumption that animals are without rights and the illusion that our treatment of them has no moral significance is a positively outrageous example of Western crudity and barbarity." ― Arthur Schopenhauer ​ Horses change lives. They give our young people confidence and self-esteem. They provide peace and tranquility to troubled souls, they give us hope. – Toni Robinson “A horse is the projection of peoples’ dreams about themselves - strong, powerful, beautiful - and it has the capability of giving us escape from our mundane existence.” - Pam Brown. ​ “I believe that horses bring out the best in us. They judge us not by how we look, what we’re wearing or how powerful or rich we are, they judge us in terms of sensitivity, consistency, and patience. They demand standards of behavior and levels of kindness that we, as humans, then strive to maintain.” - Clare Balding. ​ “We have almost forgotten how strange a thing it is that so huge and powerful and intelligent an animal as a horse should allow another, and far more feeble animal, to ride upon its back.” - Peter Gray. ​ “Until one has loved an animal, a part of one’s soul remains unawakened.” - Anatole France. ​ Sources: here , here , here and here

CAMBRIDGE PRIMARY MIDDLE YEARS OTHER PATHWAYS EXTERNALS Our Curriculum This page looks at our Quality of Education by explaining our Curriculum, our Teaching, our Technology and the Accountability criteria. ​ We make use of three different curricula at Wotton House School. ​ 1. Our Prep school uses the Cambridge Primary Curriculum. ​ 2. Our Senior school follows the IB Middle Years Programme. ​ 3. For some students the breadth of the MYP is a challenge due to underlying neurodiversities. For these students we are able to tailor-make programmes of learning which would usually end up with examinations to achieve GCSE or IGCSE qualifications. ​ Please read the page Alternative to GCSEs for a detailed discussion of the strengths and weaknesses of the various secondary offerings. We modify all our curricula to incorporate our extensive activities at The Wilderness outdoor education centre which is pioneering rewilding as a way of life and a teaching tool. We are exploring the possibility of using the Primary Years Programme (PYP) which is the IB offer for primary education. We also offer external candidates the opportunity to sit their GCSE and IGCSE exams with us as we are an exam centre registered with JCQ and Cambridge Assessments. CAMBRIDGE PRIMARY MIDDLE YEARS PROGRAMME I/GCSE PATHWAY ALTERNATIVES TO GCSES THE WILDERNESS INTERNATIONAL BACCALAUREATE EXTERNAL CANDIDATES Our Teaching Our staff share the one priceless factor which enable them to deliver real-world learning properly: real-world experience! Between us we cover a huge range of expertise, including: archeology, astronomy, film-making, film-producing, playgroup management, financial adviser, academic research, banking, nursing, tourism, travel, coffee-shop manager, dancing, singing, catering, fundraising and international sports! ​ All our staff are actively involved with their own subject professional associations and keep up to date with findings from neuroscience, cognitive and developmental psychology and other educational research. The best regular summary of research comes from the EEF (Education Endowment Foundation ) whose website says "The EEF was established in 2011 by The Sutton Trust with a £125m founding grant from the Department for Education. The EEF and Sutton Trust are, together, the government-designated What Works Centre for Education." They produce careful, easy to read assessments of all educational interventions which have some positive evidence for their efficacy. Each intervention is assessed in terms of cost, depth of research evidence and impact, judged in terms of months of progress. Because their summary tables are updated in the light if new evidence they cannot be taken as definitive. For example, Outdoor Adventure Learning did show a strong impact of +4 months but currently is showing as 'not enough evidence', which is a shame. ​ The most effective interventions are shown below. MYP pedagogy involves lots of metacognition (the IB call it ATL) and lots of Feedback (formative assessment). Our daily practice involves lots of collaborative learning, peer tutoring and regular, moderate amounts of homework. Some subjects use mastery learning and one-to-one tuition is available if recommended. ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ Do we know it works? Yes we do, and we have some strong evidence. For the last three years (2019-21) some of our students have sat GCSE examinations, even though our teaching is not focussed on exam techniques and rote retention of facts. When students join us we usually benchmark their cognitive profile (through the CAT4 test of GL Assessment or, earlier, the MidYIS assessments). These benchmarks include predictions of likely outcomes for different examinations which we can then compare with actual outcomes. The difference is an estimate of Added Value which is the fairest way to judge quality of teaching. If a school has a top performing intake who score top performing results there is no way of knowing how good the teaching actually is. ​ This table (extracted from this document ) shows our results for the last three years - our Value-added estimates range between 0.3 and 0.5. The average Progress 8 measure of value-added across all Gloucestershire secondary schools was 0.01 (2019 is the last year for which data has been published), and the average across all schools in England is a startling -0.03. ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ So even though (a) we don't deliberately prepare students for GCSEs, and even though (b) some of our entries are taken a year early, and even though (c) many of the students who entered in 2019-20 had just joined us from Wynstones, we are still able to show that our teaching provides significant, and above average, value-added. ​ What Makes the Perfect Teacher? If you ask students this is what they say (according to an article in the TES by Georgia Ziebart in 2017): ​ 1. Funny 4. Helpful/supportive 7. Knowledgeable 2. Fair 5. Good listener 8. Patient 3. Understanding 6. Inspiring 9. Passionate ​ Over and above the technical aspects of teaching (knowledgeable, supportive) and even above the personal characteristics (inspiring, passionate), it is the relations between teacher and pupil which are most important, in students' eyes and - probably - in our teachers' eyes as well. ​ Our Technology We set up as a blended learning school right from our opening year. This made the transition to online learning during lockdown seamless. Hardware All students have Chromebooks Internet access provided by Virgin Wireless access points provided by Ubiquiti Staff use a mixture of Windows Laptops, Apple MacBooks, Chromebooks and standalone PCs Printers and scanners are standalone and distributed around classrooms. Camera is a Canon ​ Software Management: Managebac Learning environment: GAFE (Google Apps for Education) Internet Security: Securly Web pages: Wix Accounts: Xero ​ Accountability All independent schools are judged by The Education (Independent Schools Standards) Regulations 2014. The Standards are divided into eight Parts, each of which contain one or more Standards, each of which is defined in one or more Paragraphs (our summary is here ): Quality of Education Spiritual, Moral, Social & Cultural development of pupils (SMSC) Welfare, health & safety of pupils (WHS) Suitability of staff Premises of and accommodation at schools Provision of Information Manner in which complaints are handled. Quality of leadership in and management of schools Part 1 defines what is required in terms of Quality of Education. Ofsted's new Education Inspection Framework (2019) (EIF) initiated a major move of the focus of inspections away from results and towards the curriculum. As a result there are now close parallels between the two regulatory bodies in terms of how they define what "good" education looks like. ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​

Holme Court School for Dyslexics Holme Court School for Dyslexic Children Great North Road, Biggleswade, SG18 9ST 01767 312766 DOCTRINAS VERBORUM APTARE ​ "The Directors of Sancton Wood School opened Holme Court School in January 2005. We had been very aware of the limited provision available for children with severe dyslexia, and had been struck by how many children were seeking places at Sancton Wood where we were unable to accommodate them. We were fortunate enough to find wonderful premises in the mid-Beds area, Biggleswade, just off the A1, providing an extensive catchment area, ranging from north London, through to Stevenage, Bedford and Cambridgeshire. We currently rent the property from the Watkiss family with an option to buy. We opened the school with six pupils, and are about to register our 20th pupil five short months later. It is clear that the need for specialized provision for dyslexic children had not been successfully met in this area, and Holme Court is able to go some way to redress this shortcoming.” (From the Cambridge International School Business Plan ) ​ Holme Court school entered a Knowledge Transfer Partnership with Anglia Ruskin University. This partnership won several awards, as shown below. ​ “Cambridge dyslexia software scoops top innovation award March 2009 ​ A groundbreaking computer programme developed in Cambridge which helps teachers understand the specific learning needs of dyslexic children has won a top innovation award. Holme Court School in Cambridge has been working closely with Anglia Ruskin University to develop an easy-to-use computer software package which could revolutionise the way young people with reading difficulties are taught. And with conservative estimates suggesting that one in ten of the population has some form of dyslexia the potential for the product is vast. The pioneering Learning Needs Profiler earned the School and the University a Lord Stafford Award for innovation at a glittering ceremony held on Tuesday 31 March. The prestigious awards - held in the East of England for the first time after great success in the West and East Midlands - aim to encourage closer links between universities and the business community. ​ Sancton Wood School, an independent school for 190 pupils aged three to 16, has a sister school, Holme Court, 20 miles away in Biggleswade, Bedfordshire, teaching up to 40 dyslexic children. The Learning Needs Profiler (LNP) has been developed through close collaboration between Dr Daniel Sturdy, director of Sancton Wood School, and Professor Eamon Strain, head of the Psychology Department at Anglia Ruskin University in Cambridge. A key role in developing the project has been played by Angela Barry, researcher at the University, who has been seconded to the project for two years to help to bring it to fruition. The LNP seeks to overcome the 'one size fits all' approach to the teaching of dyslexic pupils by more accurately identifying the strengths and weaknesses of individual children, making teaching easier and better directed. Angela Barry said: "We are absolutely delighted to have been recognised for the efforts of working for the University to make this concept become a reality. We passionately believe that this software could have a far reaching effect on the lives of many young people. Effectively, teachers face two problems in tailoring teaching methods to individual children. Firstly, a diagnosis of dyslexia is so broad it does not clearly identify the specific problems encountered by an individual child. Secondly, having identified the specific problems, it is very difficult for teachers to obtain clear evidence concerning the effectiveness of the many available intervention treatments. Our product solves both of these problems, by providing a means of converting the complex information contained in an educational Psychologist's report into an easy-to-interpret learning support profile." ​ Innovative Anglia Ruskin knowledge transfer partnership wins a second award June 2009 ​ The first ever winners of The Impact Awards, organised by Unico, the UKs leading knowledge transfer membership association, were announced last week at a glittering award ceremony. The national UNICO Impact Awards recognise and celebrate the process of transferring knowledge and expertise from the research base of higher education and the public sector for the wider benefit of society and the economy. Awards were won for a series of novel innovations in three award categories: Business Impact, Environmental Impact and Public Policy and Service Impact. Award winners include a software project that is now installed onto 20 million computers worldwide, a new low-energy processing technology that has realised wider unexpected environmental benefit; a tool to convert complex educational psychologists reports into easy-to-interpret ‘Learning Needs Profiles’ and an initiative to improve health and reduce health inequalities. Joint winner of the Public Policy and Service Impact Award, sponsored by Research Councils UK, was the groundbreaking Learning Needs Profiler (LNP) programme developed in Cambridge which helps teachers understand the specific learning needs of dyslexic children. ​ Speaking of the award winners, Chair of Unico, Professor David Secher said, ‘These awards celebrate the success of knowledge transfer and exemplify ground-breaking innovations being driven by knowledge transfer. These projects have the capacity to make a real difference.” ​ He continued, “In this time of recession it is particularly important that we celebrate the achievements of successes such as these.’ The pioneering Learning Needs Profiler also earned Sancton Wood School and Anglia Ruskin University a prestigious Lord Stafford Award for ‘Impact through Innovation’ in March, and was one of the shortlisted finalists in the Times Educational Supplement’s annual School Awards in the ‘Outstanding Special Needs Initiative” category. Winners of The Impact Awards were announced at the Unico Conference Gala Dinner, Brighton Racecourse, on 11 June 2009. ​ Some of our students were 'classic' dyslexics - bright, independent, creative but simply unable to spell. These are some examples. ​ Date: 9 April 2011 19:40:22 GMT+01:00 To: dan doc Hi Dan. just to say the project with my laptop.The project was to change my laptop in to a desktop ??? verry sucksefull what I did was took all my laptop a part to see if the harddrive was extendubull it was thank god saved a lot of time my laptop was running a harddrive 68gb now its runing at 300gb nice.I took the old drive out and change it with a new one but wait it not just a drive its a blueray and its mutible as well.caseing its nice best i have dun yet with alimiyon case with Xoxide fans its really nice. i come up with a i dear i made a logo and my name D&G medea. ands the best bit the pc all lights up when you turn it on its verry qwick Parents spoken to were unanimous in their praise of Holme Court School. They described it severally as ‘excellent’, ‘superb’, and ‘inspired’. One parent said that Holme Court had changed her son’s life, so he could ‘forget the past, enjoy the present and have a future.’ Another parent referred to the ‘amazing sense of fun and adventure‘offered by the school. It was also reported that the teachers adapt their teaching style daily to meet the needs of the students, who subsequently ’come on in leaps and bounds.’ One mother said that now her son cannot wait to go to school which is a ‘miracle.’ Communication with the Heads and teachers was described as ‘easy’. There were no negative comments about the school from parents interviewed.

CAMBRIDGE BUSINESSES CB1 CB2 The Bun Shop CAMBRIDGE SCHOOLS Sancton Wood Holme Court Cambridge International OUTDOOR BUSINESSES Abington Woods Rolls Court Farm The Wilderness GLOUCESTERSHIRE Black Book Cafe Malthouse Bar & Kitchen Wotton House International The Back Story We are often asked how we 'got into' education. As usual the story is a mixture of nature, nurture and luck, both the bad and the good varieties. In this section I outline some of those factors, highlighting especially the extraordinary legacy of Jill Sturdy, my mother. ​ This page explains some of the background - the ever expanding family, the early attempts to understand the brain through simple connectionist models, then the revelatory discovery of the internet. ​ Next comes the development of three internet-hospitality businesses in Cambridge: CB1 CB2 The Bun Shop ​ Then a look at our three educational businesses in Cambridge: Sancton Wood School Holme Court School Cambridge International School ​ Next our three projects to develop a sustainable outdoor business: Abington Woods Rolls Court Farm The Wilderness ​ And finally, trying to build something combining Head, Heart and Hands in Gloucestershire: Black Book Cafe The Malthouse Bar and Kitchen Wotton House International Rev John Sturdy and Jill Sturdy admiring a new grandchild Why would anyone open a school? It seems like a strange thing to do. For the first few years you have to be a general dogsbody, doing all the jobs that no-one else wants to do or has time to do. There is very little financial reward and a huge commitment of time and energy, When inspections go badly or prospective families turn you down it can be a depressing experience. But when it goes well it is one of the most rewarding things it is possible to do. We found ourselves getting into the school business through a series of unusual events. As with most people there were three formative influences. Firstly, my father was an academic in the theology department at Cambridge University. He loved second-hand books, ancient languages, dilapidated churches and unfashionable restaurants. Secondly, my mother was a dynamic entrepreneur, a lover of literature and bookshops, and someone with a passion for nurturing children. Thirdly, siblings. We became a very unusual, very large, very international family. We fostered many children and adopted many – nine altogether, from all over the world. Pakistan, West Indies, Hong Kong, China, British Guyana, Ghana … our mother used to say that we were a mini United Nations. Family life was loud, argumentative, complicated, very often acted out around a large dining table. ​ Some of us tried the academic route first. My older brother studied computing at Cambridge and did his PhD in Bath before working as a lecturer in Ireland and then for a series of start-up technology companies. One of my sisters studied History at Durham and then did her PhD in Glasgow. I studied Psychology at Oxford University where I learnt lots of things, most of them nothing to do with the syllabus. Firstly, college life was stifling. Insular and self-satisfied, it managed to seem both intimidating and petty at the same time. Secondly, department life was revelatory and inspiring. Experimental Psychology shared a huge modern building with Zoology down South Parks Road. The exterior was brutalist but the interior was superbly designed in that to reach any of the staff offices for tutorials you had to walk through a large open-plan cafe area. It was impossible to walk through without overhearing snippets of three or four conversations, all of which sounded interesting and important. ​ Thirdly, I discovered that psychology really didn't have the answers to any of the important questions, but it was just discovering a new model (perhaps a paradigm) which might just help provide some of the answers. I was lucky enough to be allowed to attend graduate-level seminars in this new field, which then was called Parallel Distributed Processing (PDP) or Linear Associative Matrix Memories (LAMMs). Shortly afterwards the field became known in cognitive psychology as connectionism, and in Artificial Intelligence as Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs). Nowadays most machine learning uses artificial neural networks and the promise of the field (in the mid 1980s) is beginning to be fulfilled (nearly 40 years later). John Sturdy doing his famous One Man Went to Mow in Swahili at a Caius Christmas party. St John's College, Oxford. Ml733, CC BY-SA 4.0 , via Wikimedia Commons Although I didn't know it at the time the Experimental Psychology building was called the Tinbergen Building and was Oxford University's largest building. It was designed by Sir Leslie Martin (in 1965, although not opened until 1971). Martin's most famous building was the Royal Festival Hall in London but he also designed Harvey Court, one of Caius College's halls of residence, where we used to play as children rolling down the strange inverted cone-shaped holes in the lawn, and the extension to Kettle's Yard art gallery in Cambridge to display the works of Barbara Hepworth and Ben Nicholson. ​ Very sadly the Tinbergen building has now been demolished after the discovery of large amounts of asbestos. Psychology is now in a temporary home in Oxford pending the completion of a rather grandiose looking "Life and Mind" building, prominently sponsored by Legal and General! Discovering connectionism, and in particular a paper by my tutor at Oxford, Alan Allport, was one of the lightbulb moments of my life (there have been four real ones and a number of fake ones. How to tell them apart – that is hard!). Allport's paper described very recent work being done by von der Malsburg called dynamical connectionism which looked hugely exciting. This was a field I wanted to work in, so I looked around for PhD opportunities and discovered a new centre being set up in Stirling University, to be called the Centre for Cognitive and Computational Neuroscience (CCCN). My interview was with Bill Phillips, a wonderful enthusiast for both cognitive psychology and outdoor living and I was hooked immediately. I spent three very happy years, climbing real mountains, albeit small ones, discovering lochs and isolated islands, and watching the Centre grow and attract big names like Roger Watt from Cambridge's Psychology Department. ​ Christoph von der Malsburg CC BY-SA 4.0 , via Wikimedia Commons The new Dr Daniel Sturdy immediately after his viva. Bill Phillips on left, looking relieved. University of Stirling Archives, CC BY-SA 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons Mikael Häggström, M.D. CC0, via Wikimedia Commons Issue One of Internet magazine Roger Green, CC BY-SA 4.0 , via Wikimedia Commons With my Ph.D under my belt I returned to Cambridge to continue working as a post-doctoral student on neuroscientifically-plausible computational models of the visual system with particular reference to the processes involved in reading. My post was at the Medical Resarch Council's Applied Psychology Unit (MRC APU), long a pioneer in trying to make psychological research useful in the real world. My hope was to combine Roger Watt's model of the visual system with a von der Malsburg-type neural network. Unfortunately my programming skills were not up to the ask but I contributed to some other useful pieces of work and took a course in brain dissection at the Department of Anatomy which left its mark. The smell and the rubbery texture of the preserved brain are very hard to forget! Then, in 1994, we discovered the World Wide Web. Jaap Murre and I had been doing some research on computational psycholinguistics and we wanted to compare certain features of English and Dutch. Lots of information existed on statistical properties of English but almost none for Dutch. We didn't want to manually enter thousands of words into a database so we weren't sure how to proceed – until we found the entire Dutch language had already been stored online and could be downloaded in its entirety and for free! I remember watching it download (slowly) and realising that nothing would be the same again – my second lightbulb moment. I started reading about the Internet, or the Information Superhighway as it was known then, and coming across the idea of a cybercafe. None yet existed at that time in the UK and so I made the decision to escape academia and become an entrepreneur. Roberto Palomo / Leonel Valse / Doris Salvador, CC BY-SA 4.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

Huge Vote of Support from The Times and The Tony Blair Institute The Times Education Commission published its final report (15 June 2022) on proposed reforms to the British education system. The commission’s report has been welcomed by Sir Tony Blair and Sir John Major, along with ten former education secretaries. The report is a strong recommendation that all British schools switch to a system modelled explicitly on the International Baccalaureate programmes: ​ The commission proposes the introduction of a British Baccalaureate at 18, an equally rigorous but broader qualification than A-levels with academic and vocational options under the same umbrella. It would be based on the tried and tested International Baccalaureate (IB), which is widely respected by employers and universities, but would be customised for the UK. ​ At 16, pupils would take a slimmed-down set of exams in five core subjects, with continuous assessment as well as online tests contributing to their grade. This would allow children to progress to the next level and provide accountability for schools, but lower the stakes and reduce the amount of time spent on preparing for and taking exams. It mirrors the IB Middle School Programme and other European systems such as the French brevet. The Tony Blair Institute for Global Change echoed these recommendations in its report on 23 August 2022. Its Phase Three reform is as follows: ​ "Replace the current system of assessment, including GCSEs and A-Levels, with a new qualification at 18 that would draw on and refine the principles that underpin the International Baccalaureate and would include multiple, rigorous forms of continuous assessment between 16 and 18. Meanwhile, retain a series of low-stakes assessments for pupils at the end of secondary schooling – at 16 – to help inform pupil choice and hold schools to account."​​ ​ It is difficult to imagine a stronger recommendation for the education model which we already offer at Wotton House! Lots more details in our blog post here. ​ Our Approach: Minimise Anxieties and Maximise Aspirations We are in competition with every other school to attract families to enroll their children. It is an unusual sort of competition for two reasons: firstly that most schools don't think of it as a competition or at least they don't discuss it openly in those terms; and secondly in that we make a charge for what we provide while two thirds of the competitors are free. Why would anyone choose to pay for a service which can be obtained for nothing? And why would you choose us rather than any of the other fee-charging schools? This section of the website will help to answer those questions, along with profiles of the Prep and Secondary and the ASD Annexe. ​ The best answer, of course, is to come and visit the school in action: see a community of teachers and students inquiring energetically, reflecting quietly, arguing respectfully, creating art, thinking deeply about possible answers to the hard questions of our times. ​ Small Class Sizes ​ Our class sizes are mostly around 11 children and will not go above 13. This means that our staff-student ratio is exceptionally high, well above the average even in independent schools. The average class size in state secondaries is 22 and increasing every year. Safe Learning Environment ​ We provide a genuinely safe environment with a strong, deeply embedded culture of safeguarding, which both reduces risks and boosts resilience. As a result bullying is rare and is dealt with quickly. Behaviour is mutually respectful without losing the fun and laughter of childhood. Small, Close-knit Community ​ We are a human-scale school, where everyone is known by name by everyone. Our maximum size is around 140 compared to the average state secondary of 986 pupils. Our size is deliberately limited to Dunbar's number - the cognitive limit of stable social relationships. Any institution of 1,000 people is intimidating and impersonal. Close Individual Attention This allows us both to spot potential and to pick up on potential problems very quickly. Our pastoral support through mentoring, caring and kindness is much-praised. ​ Stimulating Learning Environment ​ Our school occupies an inspirational and historic building with character in every room, set in a vibrant city with outstanding local facilities to enrich our Arts, Sports and Drama. Engaged and Enthusiastic Staff Team ​ As a direct consequence of our size we have a mutually supportive community of skilled, knowledgeable, happy & enthusiastic teachers who share a commitment to a higher vision for education. ​ Rigorous and Progressive Curriculum Our flexibility of approach allows individual strengths to develop within a very strong curriculum model, which has been described as the best secondary curriculum available in the world. ​ Personal Achievement and Development ​ Regular outdoor learning activities at the Wilderness Centre develop character which in turn provides the motivation for hard work, ambitious goals and superb value-added results for all our students. Here "it's cool to succeed". ​ Strong Relationships with Families Our size permits the channels of communication with families to be always open. As an independent school we welcome family involvement and scrutiny - we are accountable ultimately to parents not to politicians! Qu'est-ce qu'une école du monde de l'IB? Une école du monde de l'IB est une école qui a été autorisée par l'organisation du baccalauréat international (IB) peut offrir l'un de ses trois programmes académiques: le programme primaire (PYP), le programme de premier cycle secondaire (MYP) ou le programme du diplôme (et en plus du certificat relatif à la carrière de l'IB). Further Information There has been a great deal of research into what parents look for in a school - but there is not unanimous agreement as these links show. ​ https://www.oecd.org/pisa/pisaproducts/pisainfocus/PIF-51(eng)-FINAL.pdf The “right” school builds children’s academic, social and emotional skills, gathers a diverse group of classmates and potential friends, and helps to prepare children for the world of work later on. https://www.cis.org.au/app/uploads/2019/11/pp26-emb.pdf https://fedena.com/blog/2018/05/top-9-things-the-parents-expect-from-school.html https://www.cato.org/blog/new-study-explains-how-why-parents-choose-private-schools Discipline, learning environment, small class sizes​ https://research.avondale.edu.au/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1199&context=teach “School choice is a parental attempt to maximise aspirations and minimise anxieties associated with their children’s future.” https://data.cambridgeshireinsight.org.uk/dataset/cambridgeshire-policy-challenges-cambridge-university-science-and-policy-exchange-cuspe-6 ‘a school that suits my child’ and ‘location’ of the school were identified as important by over half of respondents https://www.edutopia.org/article/what-do-parents-want-schools Families want their children prepared for life after high school. http://www.bristol.ac.uk/media-library/sites/cmpo/migrated/documents/wilson10.pdf "we confirm that all families do indeed choose schools on the basis of their academic performance. Parents also value particular peer groups, preferring schools with low proportions of poor children." https://www.greatschools.org/catalog/pdf/How_Do_Parents_Research_and_Choose_Schools.pdf Good teachers, strong curriculum and academics, and school safety are the most commonly cited criteria by parents to evaluate schools. https://www.capenet.org/pdf/Outlook390.pdf More than 85 % of parents said they chose a private school for a “better learning environment” for their child, whereas 81% said for a “better education.” The next two most common responses were “smaller class sizes” (80%) and “more individual attention for my child” (76%). https://educationnorthwest.org/sites/default/files/SizeClimateandPerformance.pdf Behavior problems are so much greater in larger schools that any possible virtue of larger size is canceled out by the difficulties of maintaining an orderly learning environment (Stockard and Mayberry, 1992). Why does smaller seem to work better?...People seem to learn, to change, and to grow in situations in which they feel that they have some control, some personal influence, some efficacy (Berlin and Cienkus, 1989 ). https://www.llakes.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/RP-62.-Green-Anders-Henderson-Henseke.pdf "Leading motives for parents to choose private schooling are the wish for their children to gain better academic results through smaller class sizes and better facilities, and to mix with a preferred peer group. The peer group motive is masked by social desirability bias when using conventional survey methods, but is revealed through alternative methods." https://www.parenthub.co.uk/what-do-parents-expect-from-schools/ "I want my son’s school to facilitate creativity and independence within a supportive and nurturing environment." “I want a teacher to spot my child’s potential in different areas” https://read.oecd-ilibrary.org/education/what-do-parents-look-for-in-their-child-s-school_5js1qfw4n6wj-en#page3 "When choosing a school for their child, parents in all participating countries value academic achievement highly; but they are often even more concerned about the safety and [pleasant] environment of the school and the school’s reputation."

INTERNATIONAL LINKS HISTORY OF THE IB INTERNATIONAL BACCALAUREATE QUOTATIONS ABOUT THE IB International This page explains why we are international by exploring some of our international links so far, and some of our plans for future collaborations. It also describes and the background and history of the curriculum we use, the Middle Years Programme from the International Baccalaureate. ​ ​ Anchor 1 International Links Milan City Council Pupils Visit "Monday 12th June - Friday 23rd June, 2017 15 pupils from an Italian exchange programme sponsored by Milan City Council will be joining GIS pupils for two weeks. We are delighted that they have chosen our school and we hope this is the start of a long-standing two-way relationship! Pupils will be staying with host families in the local area and be in school from 09:00 - 13:00 each day." ​ Zhong Shan Primary School Visit ​ 4-16 February 2017 We hosted a group of children from Zhong Shan No 11 Primary School (in Guizhou province) "to give them a new life experience.This is their very first trip abroad and for most of them this will be the first time meeting ‘foreign' children." The trip was organised by YingShi Helsby, the owner of Cheltenham Mandarin School , who worked with us in our first years. ​ History of the International Baccalaureate The International Baccalaureate (IB) is a nonprofit foundation based in Geneva. It was founded in 1968 and used to be called, more sensibly, the International Baccalaureate Organization (IBO). It offers four educational programmes: ​ The IB Diploma Programme DP 16-19 The IB Career-related Programme CP 16-19 (2012) The Middle Years Programme MYP 11-16 (1994) The Primary Years Programme PYP 3-11 (1997) The roots of the IB can be traced back to the end of World War II and the noble idea that the best hope for countries to live in peace with each other was through international education. Many of its founders or inspirations are not as well known as I think they should be. They include: ​ Marie-Thérèse Maurette : French educator, director of the International School of Geneva, the world’s first international school, between 1929 and 1949. Her educational principles inspired the first IB Diploma Programme. ​ Bob Leach : inspirational American-born history teacher at the International School of Geneva who developed an enquiry-based history syllabus and organised the Conference of Internationally-minded Schools in 1962 which was the first to use the phrase “international baccalaureate”. ​ John Goormaghtigh : tireless Belgian lawyer who survived the Dachau concentration camp, developed a series of organisations which led up to the IB: The International Schools Association, the International Schools Examination Syndicate, the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, and the IB Council of Foundation. ​ Alec Peterson : charismatic British educator, energetic driving force behind the curriculum design, in particular the incorporation of critical thinking, first Director-General of the IBO. The IBO Cardiff Headquarters building, Peterson House, is named after him. ​ Un cursus international ... Notre école suit l'IB PPCS (PPCS de) - un modèle de programme très respecté qui comprend desexigences strictes de laplanification des programmes, lagamme de sujet et de laprofondeur et un engagement remarquableà l'éducation holistique. Nous proposerons à vos enfants un programme complet et progressif comprenant: Mathématiques Sciences Langue et littérature anglaises Arts (musique, théâtre et arts visuels) Langues Individus et sociétés (sciences humaines) PE (activités de plein air, sports et fitness) Santé sociale personnelle et économique Conception (DT) Études interdisciplinaires Communauté indépendante et projets personnels. Le PEI lui-même se termine, à l'âge de 16 ans, par une série d'examens formels facultatifs d'évaluation électronique. Chacun de ceux-ci est équivalent à un GCSE et est accrédité par Ofqual en tant que tel. Le PPCS est reconnu dans le monde entier par les universités et constitue une excellente plateforme pour passer au programme du diplôme de l'IB ou à d'autres qualifications telles que A-Level. Plus d'informations peuvent être trouvées ici: Programme de premier cycle secondaire de l'IBO . Kurt Hahn Source: IB presentation BACK TO TOP Robert Leach . Source: IB presentation John Goormaghtigh Source: IB presentation Alec Peterson Source: IB presentation History of the International Baccalaureate Source: IB presentation Anchor 2 The International Baccalaureate BACK TO TOP IB Mission Statement ​ The International Baccalaureate aims to develop inquiring, knowledgeable and caring young people who help to create a better and more peaceful world through intercultural understanding and respect. To this end the organization works with schools, governments and international organizations to develop challenging programmes of international education and rigorous assessment. ​ These programmes encourage students across the world to become active, compassionate and lifelong learners who understand that other people, with their differences, can also be right. ​ Introduction to the IB The IB have produced a lot of documentation and guidance on their website (ibo.org) but the simplest introduction is probably this one-page PDF (also included at the end of this section). ​ IB Facts and Figures The International Baccalaureate is a not-for-profit organization supporting the education of more than 1.4 million students in 5,300 schools in 158 countries worldwide (as at March 2021). ​ IB Financials For a small school the IB is prohibitively expensive. Using figures from 2021 for a school to be accredited would cost: ​ Application for candidacy fee: £2,510 Candidacy and consultation services fee: £5,730 Staff training courses: £5,600 (say 10 staff at £560 per course) Annual fee: £6,030 The annual fee is for the MYP but the others are similar; useful discounts of 10% apply for running 2 programmes and 20% for 3. ​ This means that the total expense after 3 years of operation to get up and running is in the region of £20,000. The costs associated with other curricula are closely guarded so it is difficult to make comparisons. But I think it is fair to say that the IB is the most expensive and that they would argue that you get what you pay for! ​ IB Schools in the UK This document summarises the position as at October 2021. There are currently 132 schools in the UK offering at least one IB programme - dominated by the Diploma Programme (96 schools). The majority are independent but 55 are state schools, largely because a group of academies in Kent have been switching large numbers of schools to the IB. Geographically this means that about half of the schools are in the South-East - 34 in Kent and 22 in London. ​ There are 26 MYP schools, 5 of which only offer that one programme - us and 4 academies in Kent and London. ​ IB Reference Documents Command Terms in the MYP (2010) MYP: Preparing Students For University (2010) Guide to Interdisciplinary Teaching (2010) IB MYP in the UK (2012) Interdisciplinary Teaching and Learning (2012) What is an IB Education ? (2013) The MYP (2013) MYP Factsheet for Parents (2014) MYP E-Assessment Factsheet (2014) MYP General Regulations (2014) Academic Honesty in the IB (2014) Fostering Interdisciplinary Teaching (2014) MYP Annotated Unit Planner (2015) MYP Award: Course Results and MYP Certificate (2016) Programme Standards and Practices (2016) Further Guidance for Developing MYP Assessed Curriculum (2016) Evaluating MYP Interdisciplinary Unit Plans (2016) Evaluating MYP Unit Plans (2016) MYP: From Principles into Practice (2017) ​ ​ Anchor 3 Un programme international qui favorise la joie d'apprendre Quotations ​ We’re talking about an international qualification which is the best in the world... Why are we not bringing it in...?” - Dr Anthony Seldon, Headmaster of Wellington College ​ “.... It allows students to explore their passions and do something powerful with it. It involves third or fourth level thinking where students really have to go beyond the surface and dig deeper into more abstract and conceptual thinking. ...” - Dr Vincent Chian, Principle of Fairview International School, Malaysia ​ “.... Our parents are excited because students are becoming well-rounded and they’re getting that classic liberal arts-minded education...” - Dr. John Waller, director, secondary curriculum and special programs, Marietta City Schools, USA. ​ On the whole MYP v the GCSE thing, I once had it described to me this way, and I would agree. "The MYP teaches students to think. The GCSE teaches them to remember". -TES Community Forum ​ “The IB offers breadth and a balanced education which other qualifications do not offer,” -Jesse Elzinga, Headmaster of Sevenoaks School . ​ "“The IB is challenging but it prepared me for the style of learning at university, where self-discipline and initiative are essential for success. Most importantly, the IB developed my open-mindedness, international outlook and ability to think critically – essential skills for living in the modern world.” -Rhiannon Durant, Student at Oxford University ​ ​ BACK TO TOP “Candidates who wish to be stretched should, in my view, take the MYP. The rigour and work ethic it encourages will assist them strongly if they wish to progress to a degree that will require them to really engage with their subject discipline”. -Mike Nicholson, Director of Undergraduate Admissions at Oxford University ​ "MYP? Heavens this could be dangerous! A generation of boys and girls encouraged to think for themselves, to be creative, to problem solve, to work together, to view themselves as part of the world not as the centre of it." -Nigel Taylor, Headmaster of Amesbury School ​ "Content across IB MYP, GCSE and IGCSE specifications were broadly similar. The MYP covered all the main areas of the other two programmes and in some cases included additional areas of study. Overall, the vast majority of teachers, parents and students gave extremely positive responses when asked about their experiences of the IB MYP. Each group reported positive impacts of being involved in the MYP and described many benefits, in line with general IB principles." -NFER Study ​ “What the world cares about is not what our students know, but what they can do with what they know.” - Tony Wagner, fellow at the Technology and Entrepreneurship Center at Harvard University and author of The Global Achievement Gap ​ "In the rapidly changing world knowing how to learn new things will define success." - IB Strategic Initiatives Innovation & Incubation, 2021 ​ ​ Anchor 4