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STUDENTS STAFF VOLUNTEERS RESIDENCIES Wotton House School July 2018 Former Students BACK TO TOP Matilda Matilda now attends the International Bilingual School of Provence, studying French, geography, maths, biology (higher level), English (higher level), and theatre (higher level). As a full-time boarding student, this is a whole new way of life for Matilda. She finds it good living on her own, and likes the multicultural environment, made up of South Africans, Russians, Italians, Chinese, Americans and a few Brits, among others. The warmer climate pleases her too. For her future, Matilda is considering university and probably a gap year to travel and see lots of other countries. She recommends the International Baccalaureate path for anyone if they're up for a lot of work and variety, as the scope of learning is wide and very interesting. Max Max is currently working at the Wilderness Centre, instructing and doing estate care. Upon finishing his GCSEs at WHIS, he earned all A's at Denmark Road Grammar School in English, history, and politics. From there he was accepted into the University College, London to read ancient world history, but deferred his start date in order to join the army. He is awaiting an interview for the army as an infrantry officer, and may join the army's program to earn a college degree in parallel, or may defer the army start date to attend UCL. Reflecting upon his days at Wotton House, Max feels WHIS was a good evolution from his earlier years at a Steiner school, both of which share a freedom not feasible in large, rigidly structured schools. He enjoyed knowing all the students, the child-centric approach to learning, and the heavy outdoors content found both at the Wilderness Centre and throughout the curriculum. Rowan A student of Hartpury College on a rowing scholarship, Rowan is focusing on physical education, psychology, and economics. As a weekday boarding student, he gets up 6 days a week for 6:30am rowing practice before a day of classes. Rowan hopes to row in a yearly rowing race in Henley this summer, and eventually in the olympics. In his free time, Rowan is building a motorbike, and intends to get his motorbike license. With this, Rowan plans to take a gap year after college to travel through Europe. Anchor 1 Toby Toby is currently in the sixth form at the Marling School in Stroud, studying economics, design technology, and business. He has not made specific plans beyond sixth form, intead taking each year as it comes and seeing what the world has to offer. He thinks fondly of his time at WHIS as a positive experience. Romi After completing her GCSEs at WHIS, Romi attended Hartpury College and began studying for A-levels, but left to pursue a career as a professional weightlifter. Competing in her sport, she plans to attend the Commonwealth Games in 2023, and eventually the Olympics. She is currently working as a crossfit coach while she continues her training. She is the British champion in weightlifting for her age group. Lucia Lucia is currently attending Cirencester College where she is studying BTech in Performing Arts and Drama A level. ​ Lucia comes from a theatrical family and has always loved acting on stage and on screen. During her time at Wotton House, Lucia excelled in Drama, with a series of powerful performances in whole school ensemble productions. Most notably, Lucia played the Queen of Hearts in 'Alice in Wonderland' and Mrs Trunchball in 'Matilda the musical'. Lucia is looking to attend Drama School when she graduates from college, with the Bristol Young Vic and the Juilliard School of Drama high on her list of places to study. Former Staff BACK TO TOP Anchor 2 Annamarie Thomas Nasim Bhula Brigid Lack Beatriz Pedrosa Samy Selim Mihaela Jonasson Trevor Forrest Rossella Rigattieri Nicola Muller Michelle Hockley Florrie Coates Julia Latorre Sarah Jardine Haruko Boot Sofia Kobylec Angela Cristo Debbie Gregg Elena Gabbi Shameemah Lalloo Julie Humbert Toni Marzetti Robin Benton Laurence Hughes Jens Meyer Leanne Collins Former Volunteers BACK TO TOP For the first three years of Wotton House we were able to host Workawayers. These were volunteers, usually from overseas, who applied through the wonderful Workaway organisation to spend some time with us. The arrangement was that in return for bed and board (meals) they helped us for five hours a day. Sometimes in the kitchen, sometimes in the garden, sometimes in classes. They were a very important part of the school in its early days and we are enormously grateful to them all for their help. Sadly that sort of international cultural exchange is now almost impossible to arrange, which I think is a huge shame, both for the workawayers and for our students. Some Workawayers changed their status and became full-time staff and we are still in touch with many of them. If you are a former Workawayer and are reading this then please get in touch - we want to develop a page of memories. ​ We have a Gallery of Workawayers here and a collage here. ​ Anchor 3 Residencies BACK TO TOP Anchor 4 Sean Randle Musician in Residence Ryan Probert Composer in Residence Jenni Shortt Visiting Italian Teacher Esther Garcia Sanson Visiting Science Teacher Liz Lewitt Atelierista and Arts Award Co-ordinator Ismael Mignini Visiting Erasmus scholar Alison Whichelo Special Needs Consultant and One-to-one tuition Irma Fiorentini Artist in residence, art therapist, fresco specialist John Owen Ecologist in residence ​ More about John Matthieu de Gottal Entrepreneur in residence, chocolatier extraordinaire Rob Parkes Roboticist in residence AMY robot Caphas Chisangowerota Entrepreneur in residence

INTRODUCTION OUR HISTORY OUR PLANS OUR PARTNERS Introducing Our School À la Wotton House International School, nous sommes ce que l'on appelle une école du baccalauréat international (ou école de l'IB). Nous sommes fiers d'avoir obtenu le statut d'École du monde de l'IB et sommes l'un des 15 établissements au Royaume-Uni. Ces écoles partagent toutes une philosophie commune et un engagement à offrir une éducation internationale de haute qualité et stimulante qui, selon IVE UK, est si importante pour nos étudiants. Faisant partie du groupe International Village Education, notre philosophie éducative est résumée dans le proverbe africain «il faut un village pour élever un enfant». Notre école a deux campus, un au cœur de Gloucester et un autre dans la forêt de Dean où se trouve notre magnifique Wilderness Center . Nous fournissons un système éducatif progressif, similaire dans l'éthique aux écoles Steiner et Montessori, mais offrant le programme de premier cycle du Baccalauréat International (IB) ainsi que l'évaluation IGCSE. Vous pouvez en savoir plus ici www.ibo.org/programmes/middle-years-programme . Nous avons également pris la décision récente d'offrir l'option du certificat général international de l'enseignement secondaire (IGCSE) aux années 10 et 11. C'est parce que nous réalisons que les parents veulent être rassurés par des qualifications communément reconnues, de sorte que leurs enfants sont entièrement équipés de tous les outils dont ils ont besoin pour réussir dans un monde en mutation rapide. Les qualifications de l'IGCSE sont internationalement reconnues, hautement respectées et serviront de passerelle vers d'autres études universitaires au Royaume-Uni et au-delà. Intéressé? Nous aimerions recevoir de vos nouvelles. Pour en savoir plus, contactez-nous An international curriculum... 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 . ... avec éducation en plein air intégrée et apprentissage pratique ... Une fois par semaine, les étudiants fréquenteront le Wilderness Center , notre centre d'éducation en plein air situé au-dessus de la vallée de la rivière Severn, à la lisière de la forêt de Dean, pour une journée entière de cours dans un cadre extérieur. Tout sujet qui bénéficierait d'un lieu en plein air sera enseigné au centre, mais initialement les étudiants se concentrent sur l'art, l'éducation physique, l'écriture créative dans le cadre de l'anglais, de la biologie et de la géographie physique. Ces sujets se prêtent particulièrement bien au cadre époustouflant du centre et aux installations disponibles. Dans la mesure du possible, nous enseignons à travers l'application pratique des connaissances. Entre nos deux beaux endroits - à Gloucester et dans la forêt - nous pouvons offrir à vos enfants un laboratoire scientifique, une scène et un système de son, une salle d'art, des installations sportives à l'université voisine et une multitude d'activités de plein air telles que des promenades en corde et du tir à l'arc. à une mini ferme, une cuisine et des jardins fleuris. Nous reconnaissons pleinement les avantages d'apprendre dans un environnement extérieur, en particulier pour les enfants qui utilisent la technologie chaque jour. Nous pensons qu'il est essentiel que les enfants modernes apprennent à se valoriser suffisamment pour qu'ils puissent choisir d'ignorer la recherche d'attention de l'électronique. La technologie est un formidable outil d'apprentissage, mais la capacité de l'abattre est tout aussi importante! ... et une technologie éducative ciblée. Le cas échéant, les ressources d'apprentissage de la Wotton House International School sont en ligne et tous les cours utilisent une technologie éducative ciblée pour améliorer l'apprentissage. Cela permet aux enfants d'apprendre aussi vite qu'ils le souhaitent ou aussi lentement qu'ils en ont besoin. Cela signifie également que nos enseignants peuvent suivre les progrès des enfants en temps réel sans avoir besoin d'un régime de test onéreux. Cette flexibilité signifie que les enseignants (et les parents) peuvent accéder au travail d'un élève en temps réel à tout moment du processus d'apprentissage et peuvent contribuer à la formation des connaissances sans aucune barrière. Cela ne veut pas dire que tout l'apprentissage se fait sur ordinateur, loin de là. La technologie est un moyen d'atteindre une fin et nous n'utiliserons la technologie que là où elle améliore l'apprentissage. Là où cela ne convient pas, nous ne l'utilisons pas. Un bon exemple de technologie en action que nous avons observé est celui des enfants qui apprennent à dessiner l'œil humain. Les enfants utilisaient des ordinateurs portables pour accéder à des vidéos descriptives pour dessiner un œil au crayon ou au fusain - ils pouvaient suivre, mettre en pause, rembobiner ou avancer rapidement pour aider à maîtriser les complexités. Ils pouvaient également choisir le style qui correspondait à leurs propres besoins expressifs, ce qui permettait à l'enseignant de se concentrer sur l'identification des enfants qui avaient besoin d'un soutien supplémentaire ou d'encourager une ambition supplémentaire. Les enfants se sentaient moins restreints, avaient un plus grand sentiment d'accomplissement et se sentaient mieux soutenus par l'enseignant. Nous croyons que la technologie éducative est inestimable dans l'enseignement moderne si elle est utilisée correctement et de manière appropriée dans le cadre d'un mélange mixte d'enseignement traditionnel, d'activités pratiques et d'apprentissage au rythme des élèves. Un programme international qui favorise la joie d'apprendre Anchor 1 Our History Anchor 2 Michaelmas Term Lent Term Summer Term Michaelmas Term 2021-22 11-12 Nov ISI Inspection Lent Term ... Summer Term ... ​ Michaelmas Term 2020-21 25th Sept MYP1 lesson at St Mary Magdalen Church, Gloucester 9th Oct MYP 1 Trip to Gloucester Museum 14th Oct MYP 2 Trip to Cathedral to study medieval stained glass 16th Oct MYP1 Trip to St. Peter’s Church, Frocester 5 Nov – 2 Dec 2nd Lockdown Lent Term 4 Jan - 8 March 3rd Lockdown Summer Term 16 June External GCSE Candidates 17 June Introduction to MYP Talk to parents 3 July International Festival of Tea 9 July Speech Day with The Right Worshipful the Mayor of Gloucester, Councillor Collette Finnegan Michaelmas Term 2019-20 14 Sep Part of Gloucester Heritage Day 15 Oct Museum of the Moon Gloucester Cathedral MYP3 & 4 14 Nov Skillzone MYP4 & 5 15 Nov Bollywood Dinner & Dance PTA 18-20 Nov Florence Trip 25 Nov Skillzone MYP1, 2, 3 12 Dec Carol service in Lady Chapel, Gloucester Cathedral Lent Term 16 Jan Cheltenham Synagogue MYP1, 2, 3 19 Jan Gloucester v Toulouse rugby at Kingsholm 27-29 Feb Trip to CERN with Farmor's School 29 Feb officially join ISA 12 Mar An Inspector Calls Cardiff theatre MYP3 4 5 20 Mar 1st lockdown Summer Term Lockdown 15 June Re-opened 15 July Wellness Evening 17 July End of term picnic Michaelmas Term 2018-19 2 Nov Halloween Party 6-8 Nov France / Belgium Trip for WW1 battlefields 9 Nov Romi wins cross-country county championship 15 Nov Science Museum Bristol MYP5 26 Nov Win the first Ultimate Frisbee tournament at Henley Banks School 7 Dec Christmas Play in Gloucester Cathedral 8 Dec Christmas market in Cathedral MYP3/4 14 Dec Christmas lunch & performance at Wotton House Lent Term 23 Jan Nature in Art MYP3 27 Jan Launching the MYP Workshop 4-5 Feb IB Verification Visit 14 Feb Purton Hulks Trip MYP1 & 2 25 Feb Snowdome, Tamworth 7 March Romeo & Juliet Trip Cardiff theatre MYP3, 4, 5 21 March Asha Centre visit, MYP1 & 2 30 March Open Day 5 April Clean Up Gloucester Summer Term 30 May Officially an IB World School 9 June Fashion Tech Course 15 June Clothing Swap 21-23 June Astro Camp to Abington Woods 27 June Archeology Workshop at Wilderness MYP1 & 2 4 July School play at King's Theatre: Alice in Wonderland 5 July Trip to Cineworld 10 July Activity Day 11 July Sports Day 12 July Jason Connery Prize Giving 12 July End of Year Newsletter Michaelmas Term 2017-18 Sep Trip to Univ of Gloucestershire for MYP4 & 5 Oct Waterways Museum & boat trip 6 Dec Mince pies & Carols for local community 15 Dec Christmas carols & performance Lent Term 27 Jan Open Day 9 Feb Valentine's Disco 12-14 April Street Robot Workshop Summer Term 21 -24 May History Camp to Abington Woods June Trip to London to see Matilda 9 June Fashion Tech 1-day Course 16 June International Summer Festival Michaelmas Term 2016-17 24 June Open Day 2 Sep Opening Day Launch Party with Richard Graham, MP Sep Imjin Barracks Freshers Fair 14 Dec Christmas dinner at Malthouse Lent Term 19 Jan Open Evening 1 Feb Snowdome, Tamworth 4-16 Feb Hosted group of Chinese students 20 Feb Film School in half-term break 11 March Open Day 27 March Widden Primary share our kitchen 13 April Wiggly Worm Kitchen Challenge 28 April Lunch cooked by visiting Italian High Court judge Summer Term 5 May Vickers Bovey classical guitar recital 12 May Chocolate Science Day 13 May Open Day 21-23 June Residential at The Wilderness 30 June Visit to local dairy farm Tewkesbury 1 July International Summer Festival Our Plans Future Inspections May 2024 IB Program Evaluation. This is a two-day inspection of how we implement the MYP, following a lengthy period of guided self-evaluation. November 2024 Full ISI Inspection into Educational Quality (EQI). Timings may change but at the moment this is the latest date by which we will have an EQI, as it is 3 years since our last inspection. ​ School Development Plan (SDP) Because we have two big inspections in three years time (as at February 2022) we are extending and revising our School Development Plan for these three years. For each year we identify five targets for pupil achievement (PA), and five for personal development (PD). 2021-22 2022-23 2023-24 Centenary Celebrations The year 2025 will mark 100 years of Wotton House as an educational establishment. It has been successively a domestic science college, nurse training college, theological college and international school. This definitely deserves commemoration and celebration. Anchor 3 Our Partners These are some of the companies and people we have worked with over the years. They are listed roughly in reverse chronological order. Not all of our collaborations and contracts have been successful but we extend our thanks to all. ​ Michal Bogdiukiewicz​ of System 15: thorough and clever network solutions Jamie Dickinson & Richard Redding of Delta Nine : laptop repair and maintenance - unbeatable Alison Whichelo of I Can do it Learning : engaging and effective multi-sensory tuition Nicki Stewart & Richard Gill of LeMay Consultants : good business introductions for students Debbie Innes of Widden Primary School : wise advice and sensible guidance Chris Creed, Ben Logan & others of Creed Foodservice Mike Turner and Adam Balding of Gloucester Rugby : amazing ideas and enthusiasm Sally Lewis, Learning Co-ordinator at Adult Education in Gloucestershire Anja Oelbracht from Stroud: Solution Focused Hypnotherapist and Psychotherapist Annabel Richmond from Stroud for help and encouragement and lots of good advice. YingShi Helsby from Cheltenham Mandarin School : great teacher and organiser Jonathan Swann of The Travelling History Company : John is now our Humanities teacher! Adam Vines of Lounge Design : our first website Qing Lin 林 晴 of Join in China : determined and dynamic Dianne Francombe of Bristol & West of England China Bureau Victoria Newbold of Fuchsia Lime : our first burst of branding and marketing Susie Godwin of Confidence Counts : teaching style and decorum and making it fun Abby Guilding of The Wiggly Worm : brilliant leader at a great charity Peter Fidczuk of IBSCA and the IB: wise encouragement and great knowledge John Robins of C-Learning : best supplier of Chromebooks around Ethan Marrs & Andy Young of The Rock Project : great fun, good organisation Angela Wright of Coopers Edge Ballet School : entrepreneurial and effective (aka Miss Ellie) Katie and others at Workaway : wonderful organisation offering shared experiences worldwide Maeve Maxwell of G15 for support and advice Sarah Gregg of The Growth Hub: enthusiastic, knowledgeable and supportive - much missed Paul Baldwin of Cass Stephens: efficiently organises our insurance policies Terry Norman of Christie & Co: did the valuation for HSBC Mark Wilton of HSBC: brilliantly organised the commercial mortgage Jonathan Wilkinson of Charles Russell Speechlys: calm and organised, managed the conveyancy Rob Hay of Redcliffe College: organised, firm and helpful throughout the sale Sian Morris of Knight Frank: efficient and energetic, managed the sale process Anchor 4

MYP Humanities (Individuals and Societies) INTRODUCTION Individuals and Societies at Wotton House takes the form of integrated humanities. We integrate the disciplines of Geography, History, Business Management, Economics, Civics and Political Science into a five year programme. ​ In this subject group, students collect, describe and analyse data used in studies of societies, test hypotheses, and learn how to interpret complex information, including original source material. This focus on real-world examples, research and analysis is an essential aspect of the subject group. AIMS To encourage and enable students to develop: ​ ​ appreciate human and environmental commonalities and diversity understand the interactions and interdependence of individuals, societies and the environment understand how both environmental and human systems operate and evolve identify and develop concern for the well-being of human communities and the natural environment act as responsible citizens of local and global communities develop inquiry skills that lead towards conceptual understandings of the relationships between individuals, societies and the environments in which they live. ​ ASSESSMENT CRITERIA Criterion A: Knowing and understanding Criterion B: Investigating Criterion C: Communicating Criterion D: Thinking critically ​ IB SUBJECT GUIDES 1. Subject Brief 2. Subject Guide ​ WOTTON HOUSE CURRICULUM OUTLINES 2021-22 2019-20 2018-19 2017-18 ​ EDUCATIONAL EXPLORATIONS Reflection from the Humanities Room (August 20) Big History at Little Abington (June 19) Wilderness Geophysics (June 19) Little Abington (May 18) A Visit to Bristol (December 17) The Bronze Age (Sept 17) ​ TEACHING DEPARTMENT ​ Head of Department: John Swann ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ Back to MYP Page

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

SENIOR LEADERSHIP TEACHING FACULTY OPERATIONS CLASSROOM SUPPORT PROPRIETORS Daniel Sturdy A research psychologist by training, Daniel has been involved in the startup and running of three other schools before relaunching The Wilderness Centre and setting up Wotton House International School. He has finally managed to bring together a brilliant team, a wonderful building and a superb curriculum. Meet the Principal Sophie Sturdy Formerly a TV producer in London, Sophie brings organisational expertise, outstanding social skills, and an acute sensitivity to the requirements of each family to her roles as co-founder and Head of Admissions at Wotton House International School. Meet the Registrar Anchor 1 ADVISORY BOARD Our Advisory Board meets six times a year. Its role is to hold the Proprietors to account. Two parent representatives sit on the board: currently Diane Small and Lou Perkins Two staff members sit on the board: currently John Swann and Kathy Probert There are normally four external Board members.​ Linde Melhuish Chair of Advisory Board & Safeguarding Lead More about Linde... Jon Nicholls More about Jon... Carol Forster More about Carol... Neil Hall More about Neil... SENIOR LEADERSHIP TEAM Video Nathan Hutchings Vice Principal, Sports and Drama Emma Edwards Becky Gwynn Emma Zentner Head of Prep Designated Safeguarding Lead and School Counsellor Head of SEN Annexe More about Emma... More about Becky... More about Emma... More about Nathan... Anchor 2 TEACHING FACULTY - SECONDARY STAFF More about Katarina... Mel Sartore Head of Languages and French Mioara Ardelean Katarina Ule Keri Griffiths Spanish English English and Music More about Mel... More about Mioara... More about Keri... Anchor 3 Video Video Video En savoir plus sur Kay ... John Swann Kay Rambaud Mathematics Sciences Humanities and Sports Art and Design En savoir plus sur Gabriel ... More about ... En savoir plus sur John ... TEACHING FACULTY - PREP SCHOOL En savoir plus sur Josie ... More about ... More about Nicola ... More about River ... Josie Brown Nicola Bircher Mischa Wakeman River Prep Support Prep Teacher Support Prep Art Teacher Prep Teacher & SEN Support Anchor 4 TEACHING FACULTY - TUTORS Sally Richards Sue Rodford Lindsay Patterson Beth Lytton-Heather English Tutor Maths Tutor Drama Tutor English Tutor Anchor 5 TEACHING FACULTY- ELECTIVES and OUTDOOR EDUCATION Guitar Teacher Ross Gardiner Guitar Instructor Mark Maidment Kevin Nelson Dan Small Fencing Coach Judo Teacher Sports Coach Anchor 6 More about Simon ... More about ... More about ... More about ... Simon Dawson Head of Wilderness Centre Jamie Robinson Max Stern-Dawson Debbie James Lead Instructor Outdoor Instructor Head of Abington Woods Wotton House in the 1930s Wotton House in 2015 ADMINISTRATION and ESTATES OPERATIONS En savoir plus sur Rosie ... More about ... En savoir plus sur Mandy ... More about Matt... Rosie Panks Laurine Croes Head of Nutrition and Catering Lab Technician Artist in Residence Anchor 7 Matt Blackwood Digital Marketing Apprentice More about Mandy... Administrator More about Gemma... More about Kathy... Mandy Owen Administrator Gemma Sims Kathy Probert Exams and Local Authority Liaison Finance More about ... CLASSROOM SUPPORT More about Kath... Video More about ... More about Dan... More about ... Kath Briers Dan Hines Deputy Lead SEN Annexe Mentor Emma Cumberland Play Therapist Anchor 8 Linny Gray Mentor More about ... More about Victoria ... More about ... More about Kirstie... Hannah Oram Teaching Assistant Victoria Kelly Cameron Martin Teaching Assistant Teaching Assistant Kirstie Rutherford Teaching Assistant More about Aarifah ... More about Emily More about ... More about ... Exam Invigilator Diane Small School Support Grit Richardson School Support Emily Sandercock Teaching Assistant Aarifah Patel

Outdoor Education What is Outdoor Education? One useful definition is as follows: “Outdoor education usually refers to organized learning in an outdoor setting. Outdoor Learning has become a more contemporary term for arguably the same thing, but it reflects well the distinction between discovery/active learning ('experiential learning') and didactic education, which is more the domain of mainstream education.” Outdoor education programmes usually involve residential or journey-based experiences in which students participate in a variety of adventurous, memorable challenges, including the challenges of communal activities. Some typical aims of outdoor education are to: Learn how to overcome adversity Enhance personal and social development Develop a deeper relationship with nature. Why Outdoors? The best known current proponent of the importance of the outdoors is the journalist Richard Louv, notably in his book Last Child in the Woods (2005). His strongest claim is that spending too little time outdoors can cause a wide variety of problems which he summarises as Nature Deficit Disorder. Symptoms include depression, anxiety and ADHD. He is not the first, of course, to highlight the dangers of being alienated from one's environment; the lepidopterist Robert Michael Pyle calls it memorably the “Extinction of Experience ” (1993). ​ This claim is not accepted by the psychiatric profession but has served to relaunch a broad movement, The New Nature Movement, exemplified in the USA by Free Range Kids, Green Hour and the Children and Nature Network and allied in the UK by the 'Slow Parenting' movement (eg Carl Honore) and Tom Hodgkinson's 'The Idle Parent' (2009). Louv's recent book, The Nature Principle (2011), while sounding both like the ultimate self-help manual and a reprise of the ancient Fall-Expulsion from Eden story, actually makes a very interesting claim: “The future will belong to the nature-smart—those individuals, families, businesses, and political leaders who develop a deeper understanding of the transformative power of the natural world and who balance the virtual with the real. The more high-tech we become, the more nature we need.” Although controversial, some medical professionals are listening: in Oregon “GPs will start formally prescribing "family time" to be spent in a park; the parks department will check they show up, and the health department will study the results.” Some seems a bit New Age: Natural Awareness is being touted as an intervention for addiction by Geoffey McMullen . The general term for these therapies is Ecotherapy . This type of intervention has deeper academic roots in what was called, not very catchingly, Attention Restoration Therapy, devised in the 1980s by Rachel and Stephen Kaplan , two American Professors of Psychology. Their evidence strongly suggests that exposure to Nature can reduce stress and thereby improve attention. Virginia State Parks, flickr, CC BY (2.0) Photo by Stefan Marks (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0) PxHere. CC0 Artist Impressions on Lord Baden-Powell, CC BY-SA 3.0 , via Wikimedia Commons Ernest Thompson Seton. Source: Picryl.com (CC0 ) History Modern outdoor education is derived from a number of different inspirations , some of which are explored here. The first local authority outdoor education centre was founded by Derbyshire Council in 1951. In turn this was inspired by the first Outward Bound school which was established in 1941 in Aberdovey and the Scouting movement, established in 1908. 1. Scouts 1.1 Baden-Powell's Boy Scouts Robert Baden-Powell founded the Boy Scouts as an organization in 1908, a few months after the first scout encampment at Brownsea Island, near Poole in Dorset, in 1907. Baden-Powell got the idea while with the British Army in South Africa. To advance his ideas, Baden-Powell wrote Scouting for Boys, which describes the Scout method of outdoor activities aiming at developing character, citizenship, and personal fitness qualities among youth. Many boys joined Scouting activities, resulting in the movement growing rapidly to become the world's largest voluntary youth organization . There are more than 28 million Scouts, young people and adults, male and female, in 160 countries and territories. 1.2 Pioneers Baden-Powell was directly influenced by many similar groups, including two American youth leaders, Dan Beard who founded the Sons of Daniel Boone in 1905 and the extraordinary Ernest Thompson Seton (aka 'Black Wolf', Frank Zappa-lookalike) who founded the League of Woodcraft Indians in 1902. The story of the latter is that Seton's property had been vandalized by a group of boys from the local school. After having to repaint his gate a number of times, he went to the school, and invited the boys to the property for a weekend, rather than prosecuting them. He sat down with them and told them stories about Native Americans and nature. One of the best known stories about Thompson Seton is that when he turned 21 his father presented him with an invoice for all the expenses incurred during his upbringing, including his birth. Stories differ as to whether he paid the invoice but it is agreed that he never spoke to his father again! ​ 1.3 Dissenters The splits and arguments between the American pioneers of scouting were many and unpleasant but the dissension in English ranks was much more eccentric and mild, although perhaps equally damaging to the reputation of scouting. 1.3.1. After disputes over the lack of democracy and growing militarism, Sir Francis Vane led the independent British Boy Scouts into the Legion of World Scouts, the first international scout organisation, now called the Order of World Scouts. 1.3.2 Ernest Westlake, a Quaker geologist, set up the pacifist Order of Woodcraft Chivalry in 1916; this still exists as a small neo-pagan order. Westlake's dream was a Forest School, one of which was opened in the New Forest by his son in 1929 and ran until 1940. It led to the creation of Forest School Camps (FSC) which is now an outdoor education organisation.7 1.3.3. The charismatic John Hargrave (aka 'White Fox') set up the Kindred of the Kibbo Kift (KKK) in 1920 as another anti-war alternative to the increasingly militaristic Scouts. Later Hargrave tried to turn Kibbo Kift into a political movement, the Green Shirts, backing Major Douglas's Theory of Social Credit but his increasing autocracy - and refusal to become the Labour Party's youth wing - alienated many. 1.3.4. Leslie Paul left the KKK in 1925 to found the Woodcraft Folk . This organisation still exists and has strong links with the Cooperative Movement, the Youth Hostel Association (YHA) and Forest School Camps (FSC). 1.4. Predecessors in the UK 1.4.1. The Boys' Brigade was founded in Glasgow in 1883 by Sir William Alexander Smith to develop “Christian manliness” by the use of a semi-military discipline and order, gymnastics, summer camps and religious services and classes. As of 2003 , there were 500,000 Boys' Brigade members in 60 countries. In the UK & Ireland there are 60,000 members in 1,500 companies (groups). Their main UK centre is Felden Lodge Training & Conference Centre , set in 32 acres near Hemel Hempstead in Hertfordshire. 1.4.2. The YMCA goes back even earlier (founded in 1844 by Sir George Williams) but while its motto is “Empowering young people” it is not directly relevant as it was specifically designed to provide healthy activities to young men in major cities. 1.5 Predecessors in Germany: Wandervogel Wandervogel is the name adopted by a popular 'back to nature' movement of German youth groups from 1896 onward. The name means 'wandering or migratory bird' or 'vagabond' and the ethos is to shake off the restrictions of society and get back to nature and freedom. Although it soon split into the usual myriad independent organisations there was nevertheless the feeling of a common, though nationalistic, movement based around outdoor activities, such as camping, hiking and sports. It inspired the wonderful Wandertag law, whereby all schools had to have a “wandering day” of expeditions once a month. Wandervogel were banned by the Nazis but many aspects of their organisation were copied by the Hitler Youth. Source: Flickr.com (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0 ) Kim Traynor, CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons Wribln, CC BY-SA 3.0 , via Wikimedia Commons 2. Schools 2.1. Outdoor Adventure Sports have for a long time played an important role in school life, especially perhaps in the big public schools. In fact it can be claimed that it was the traditional English public schools who created many of the sports that later swept the world by organising and codifying the rules. For example, Richard Mulcaster, Head of St Paul's School around 1600, is known as the Father of Football. But the introduction of outdoor adventure into school life is largely down to the drive and determination of one, relatively unheralded, man, Kurt Hahn, with his many initiatives and remarkable energy. 2.1.1. Outward Bound The first Outward Bound centre was opened in Aberdovey, Wales in 1940 by Kurt Hahn, following his work in the development of Gordonstoun school and what is now known as the Duke of Edinburgh's Award. Outward Bound's founding mission was to help young seamen survive harsh conditions at sea by teaching confidence, tenacity, perseverance. The name is from a nautical expression that refers to the moment a ship leaves the pier. This is signified by the nautical flag, the Blue Peter (white rectangle inside blue rectangle). Outward Bound (OB) is now an international, non-profit, independent, outdoor education organization with 40 affiliated schools around the world. The Outward Bound Trust is now an educational charity and the UK's leading provider of bursary-assisted outdoor learning. It has four centres: Aberdovey in Wales, Loch Eil in Scotland, Howtown and Ullswater in the Lake District in England. 2.1.2. Duke of Edinburgh The Duke of Edinburgh's Award (commonly abbreviated DofE), is an award given for completing a programme of activities that can be undertaken by anyone aged 14 to 24. DofE programmes take between 1 and 4 years to complete, depending upon the route taken. All programmes must be completed by the participant's 25th birthday. Around 275,000 participants are taking part in their DofE programme at any time in the United Kingdom. The DofE Award was first announced in 1956 for boys aged 15 to 18. It was first administered by Sir John Hunt, who led the Ascent of Everest in 1953. It was designed to attract boys who had not been interested in joining one of the main British youth movements, such as the The Scout Association. 2.1.3 Round Square Hahn also inspired the United World Colleges (12 international schools) and the Round Square association of schools (now over 100) that share an educational philosophy that supports the growth of the "whole person”, based upon the Round Square "IDEALS": Internationalism, Democracy, Environment, Adventure, Leadership, Service. UK schools include Abbotsholme, Gordonstoun, Sedburgh & Wellington College. 2.2 Forest schools or Waldkindergarten ​ Perhaps the best known current initiative is the Forest School movement. But it turns out that this also has deep, and generally forgotten, roots. 2.2.1 The first fully outdoor nursery or forest kindergarten in the UK, Secret Garden in Fife, was started in 2008 by Cathy Beche. Before that Clare Warden of Mindstretchers in 2006 set up mostly outdoor nurseries or Nature Kindergartens, Whistlebrae Nature Kindergarten and Auchlone Nature Kindergarten in Perth and Kinross, Scotland. 2.2.2 Bridgwater College, Somerset, established the Early Excellence Centre in 1995 after a group of nursery teacher trainees visited Denmark. In 1997 they devised a forest school training course, and a national outreach team in 2000 to train leaders across the UK. 2.2.3 The usual claim is that forest schools originated in Denmark in the 1980s, when it was introduced as part of an expansion of nursery provision. But this was actually a rediscovery of a Swedish idea: in 1957 Goesta Frohm (c) created the "Skogsmulle" concept to promote learning about nature, water, mountains and pollution in what became “Rain and Shine Schools”. Before that, but less well documented, a Danish woman, Ella Fla3tau, was creating forest kindergartens for her family and friends from about 1952. But in fact the history of forest schools goes back much further than that. 2.2.4 Firstly, Laona, Wisconsin claims the world's first school forest (rather than forest school). Harry Russell, Dean of the College of Agriculture, at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, conceived the idea of school forests. In 1927 a tract of land was purchased for the Laona school forest. The idea was implemented by Wakelin McNeel, the famous radio personality 'Ranger Mac' who also founded the nationally acclaimed environmental education camp Upham Woods which is attended by 10,000 youths each year. 2.2.5 Even earlier than this, in 1914, the socialist activists Rachel and Margaret McMillan set up an "Open-Air Nursery School and Training Centre” in Peckham, London. Unusually the McMillans had been born in New York but emigrated to Scotland. Within a few weeks there were thirty children at the school ranging from eighteen months to seven years. Rachel McMillan died in 1917 but Margaret continued the run the Peckham Nursery. She also served on the London County Council and wrote a series of influential books including The Nursery School (1919) and Nursery Schools: A Practical Handbook (1920). The experience of the Open-Air Nursery was documented in 1923 in a book by E. Stevinson which can be read online . “THE Open-Air Nursery School is a garden, round the walls of which are built long, low shelters. The garden belongs to the children, and in planning it we must sweep away all our own grown-up, pre-conceived idea. "Necessities, but no luxuries," must be our motto in the Nursery School to-day, while the economy axe still hangs threateningly over our heads.” We also know that Cambridge had its own “experimental Open Air School” which was founded c1920 by the Education Authority on a farm site after pressure from educationalist and activist, Leah Manning . Frustratingly, we have not been able to track down any further information. 2.3 German Origins: Hahn, Neufert and Froebel ​ Kurt Hahn (1886-1974) was an extraordinarily influential educational practitioner. He founded Salem Castle School in Germany in 1920, inspired by his reading of Plato. Hahn was exiled in 1933 after openly criticising Hitler. He founded Gordonstoun in 1934 in Scotland, where one of his first pupils was Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh who had also been at Salem Castle School. Princes Charles, Andrew and Edward followed, although Charles hated its Spartan austerity. “...There are three ways of trying to win the young. There is persuasion. There is compulsion and there is attraction. You can preach at them; that is a hook without a worm. You can say "you must volunteer." That is the devil. And you can tell them, "you are needed". That hardly ever fails .” Hermann Neufert is not at all well known now, but he, together with a school doctor, Dr Bendix, founded the first open air school in the world. This, known as Waldschule (forest school), opened in Charlottenburg in the outskirts of Berlin in 1904, as documented in Anne-Marie Châtelet's study A Breath of Fresh Air (2008) . It was widely imitated, by Belgium in 1904, Switzerland, Italy, France (ecole forestiere) and England in 1907 and in Spain (escuela del bosque) and the USA in 1908. The motivation behind open air schools was health related – to prevent tuberculosis – but the educational results were surprisingly good. ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ Friedrich Froebel was the true originator of forest schools. He established the first 'kindergarten' or 'children's garden', in Bad Blankenburg, Germany between 1837 and 1840. Froebel's main insight was to identify the importance of 'activities' in learning. He introduced the concepts of 'free play' and learning through games, but within a century, this 'garden' concept had evolved into something more like traditional schooling with children spending more time indoors. ​ 2.4 Current Impulses There is a growing movement to open up the classroom to the outdoors. This is partly exemplified by the Forest School movement but is more general than that. One prominent and articulate proponent is the Campaign for Adventure who say: Our proposition is that having Outdoor and Adventurous Activities as part of the Physical Education curriculum induces a belief that its main aim is to promote physical development, whereas, in fact, it makes a distinctive contribution to whole person development, including personal, interpersonal, spiritual and moral development. PE is primarily associated with sport and games; outdoor learning primarily with adventure and enterprise, which is in the realm of PSHE. As the White Paper on Public Health says: 'Taking risks, experimenting and pushing boundaries is an important part of growing up. Young people need opportunities to learn about their world in ways that provide challenge and excitement through positive things to do…'. Outdoor learning provides just such an opportunity. Adolescents especially need to take risks to achieve their adult identity. In doing so, they have to master a set of skills for navigating uncertainty. The rest of the curriculum is relatively predetermined and structured; outdoor learning, by contrast, confronts students with novel situations in which they are challenged by choice, and have to live with the consequences of their choice. Hence they learn repeatedly to think through the consequences of their actions as they carry out the tasks and solve the problems built into outdoor programmes. The same habit is transferable to other risk situations, like drug-taking and conception. They also learn the importance of mutual trust and dependence: if they let go of a rope, someone else will fall. Some tasks can only be accomplished if they work as a team. Teams need team spirit and team roles. Games also develop these, but only within a codified set of rules. Real life, however, for which outdoor learning is good preparation, does not always have such explicit rules, and is often a risky business. The sea does not shake hands with you after an adventurous sail. Mastering skills for life must involve real risks. Learning how to identify, assess and manage risks is a statutory aim of the school curriculum. Learning how to balance risks against benefits is an important life skill. Linking risk with responsibility is also an important outcome of outdoor learning, because responsible risk-taking is an essential ingredient of enterprise. Conventional learning is generally incremental: knowledge is built up bit by bit. Outdoor learning, however, is often transformative: unforgettable 'magic moments' cause breakthroughs in self-understanding and self-regard. It is impressive how some young people seem to grow up almost overnight. Ask them what a well-designed outdoor programme did for them, and you will often be amazed at what they say. It is the testimony of young people themselves, rather than that of the learning providers, that is the most convincing argument for making outdoor learning an integral part of the whole school curriculum. ​ Waldschule, Charlottenburg. Source: Architecture of Early Childhood . Outward Bound Logo Richardncobs, CC BY-SA 4.0 , via Wikimedia Commons Source: flickr.com, CC BY-NC-SA 2.0 Admarkroundsquare, CC BY-SA 3.0 , via Wikimedia Commons Skogsmulle. In Donaldismo Veritas, CC BY-SA 3.0 , via Wikimedia Commons Ranger Mac. Source: wcfh.org, CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 Source: alchetron.com, CC BY-SA Kurt Hahn Plaque. dotx3, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons Friedrich Froebel. Source: snl.no. Public Domain . Townsend Centre. Source: cumulusoutdoors.com White Hall. Source: Derbyshire County Council . PGL. Source: MaxPixel's contributors | Credit: here 3. Outdoor Centres ​ Townsend Centre In 1929 Bournemouth Rotary created the Townsend Centre on the Jurassic coast in Swanage, “opened to give the poorest children from the dark slums of the great cities a holiday in healthy surroundings.” Margaret McMillan House In 1936 the Duke of York (King George VI) opened Margaret McMillan House in 26 acres in Kent. The first purpose built outdoor centre created in memory of Margaret McMillan, one of the pioneers behind the movement for outdoor education. White Hall Outdoor Education Centre “Situated in a stunning location in the beautiful Peak District National Park, White Hall Outdoor Education Centre has given thousands of young people wonderful, memorable experiences since it opened in 1951 as Britain's first local education authority outdoor centre.” PGL PGL is the best known private provider of adventure stays. It takes its name from the initials of its founder - Peter Gordon Lawrence (and not from its nickname 'Parents Get Lost') - who started leading canoe trips down the River Wye in 1957. The initial market was young adults but during the early years PGL established a key position in the organised school group travel market. At the beginning of the 2010 season, PGL had 21 centres in the UK, 2 centres in Spain, 10 centres in France, contracts with numerous ski resorts and 'Action Stations' at Eurocamp in France and 'Go Active' at 7 Pontins sites in the UK (Prestatyn, Southport, Blackpool, Camber, Brean, Pakefield). Some of the largest centres are Boreatton Park (Shropshire) and Caythorpe Court (Lincolnshire). The purchase in 2005 of 3D Education and Adventure, their biggest competitor, gave the company two more centres on the south coast, one on the Isle of Wight. Widehorizons ​ In 1965 the Inner London Education Authority (ILEA) was developed as the education authority for the twelve inner London boroughs. During the next five years ILEA acquired five outdoor education centers: Townsend Centre, Ty’n y Berth, Bryn Coedwig, Horton Kirby and Margaret McMillan House. In 2004 Widehorizons was formed to operate the six outdoor centres that the ILEA used to run, as a result of a joint initiative on the part of the London boroughs of Greenwich and Lewisham, after continued budget cuts in Outdoor Education. Cutbacks. Big cuts to funding have started to take effect on LEA budgets and North Yorkshire closed two of its four outdoor learning centres in 2011. Wigan Council handed over the running of its two outdoor education centres to a charitable trust in 2012. Leicestershire were looking to close one and transfer the running of another outdoor centre in 2012. Worcestershire has recently (2013) announced plans to close its Llanrug Outdoor Education Centre, in Snowdonia. COVID UPDATE: estimates are circulating that around 30 outdoor education centres have been forced to close over the last two years. See for example reports here and here . Organisations and Partnerships ​ FSA .​ In June 2012 the Forest School Association was established. It is an independent body, affiliated to the Institute for Outdoor Learning, and chaired by Jon Cree. ​ FACE . Farming and Countryside Education: “Our aim is to educate children and young people about food and farming in a sustainable countryside." ​ IOL . The Institute for Outdoor Learning “encourages outdoor learning by developing quality, safety and opportunity to experience outdoor activity provision and by supporting and enhancing the good practice of those who work in the outdoors.” ​ ​CLOTC . The Council for Learning Outside the Classroom is the national voice for learning outside the classroom. “We believe that every young person (0-19yrs) should experience the world beyond the classroom as an essential part of learning and personal development, whatever their age, ability or circumstances.” ​ ​OEAP . The Outdoor Education Advisers' Panel. “The OEAP support all staff in Children's Services and schools taking young people outdoors to engage and enhance learning.” ​ ​Ambition . Formerly known as Clubs for Young People, this is a national charity whose members are a network of umbrella youth organisations in cities, counties and countries throughout the UK. Through its network Ambition works with more than 3,500 voluntary youth clubs, youth groups and projects, supporting over 350,000 young people. ​ NYA . ​The National Youth Agency supports youth workers “helping young people in their personal and social development, equipping them with the practical skills they need to be resilient in challenging times, and positive contributors to future economic growth.” Since 2007 local authorities have been required to secure ‘positive activities’, including youth work, for young people in their area. These activities should be shaped by what young people say they want, and should help put them on the ‘path to success’. ​ NCVYS .The National Council for Voluntary Youth Services was founded in 1936 by representatives of 11 of England's largest youth organisations (including the YMXA, Boys Brigade, Boy Scouts Association). They met under the auspices of the 'National Council of Social Services', now the National Council for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO), of which NCVYS has remained a member. NCVYS has three guiding values: Initiative, Responsibility and Equality. ​ ​NCVO . The National Council for Voluntary Organisations is the umbrella body for the voluntary and community sector in England with a membership of over 10,000 voluntary organisations from large national bodies to community groups, volunteer centres, and development agencies working at a local level. ​ ​ But does any of it do any good? There is by now a very large body of research clearly showing positive benefits from increased interaction with Nature. For example: ​ In 2006 the Forestry Commission produced an evaluation on the benefits of forest schools in England and Wales. The findings were very positive (O'Brien, L and Murray, R, 2006 ). Roland Gorges (in Gorges R. Waldkindergartenkinder Im Ersten Schuljahr) found that children who had been to a forest kindergarten were above average, compared by teachers to those who had not, in all areas of skill tested, including: skills, reading, maths, asking questions & interest in learning, positive social behaviour. Playing outside for prolonged periods has been shown to have a positive impact on children's development, particularly in the areas of balance and agility, but also manual dexterity, physical coordination, tactile sensitivity, and depth perception (University of Colorado, 2007). Children who attend forest kindergartens experience fewer injuries due to accidents and are less likely to injure themselves in a fall (Grahn et al, 1997). A child's ability to assess risks improves, for example in handling fire and dangerous tools (Honoré, 2008) Several recent large studies in Japan, with control groups in built-up environments doing the same activities, have shown that spending time simply walking or contemplating in a forest setting is associated with lower cortisol levels, lower blood pressure, reduced heart rate (Park et al, 2010). Research by Ulrich (Ulrich, 1979 and Chang, 2007) in which he showed photographs of nature scenes to students who were about to take an examination, reported a subjective reduction in fear, and a more positive outlook, when compared to those students who were shown photographs of urban built scenes. In a study by MIND (MIND, 2007) 44% of participants who walked through an indoor shopping centre experienced reduced self-esteem compared to 90% of participants on a green walk reporting increased self-esteem. 71% reported decreased levels of depression & tension following the green walk. Whilst 22% reported an increase in depression after the walk through the shopping centre. In a residential care facility, elderly residents performed activities both in a classroom and in the garden. In the garden environment cortisol levels were significantly lower indicating reduced stress levels. (Rodiek, 2002 ) “Outdoor activities reduce stress hormones among children aged six. High cortisone levels indicate stress, and stress has a documented bad influence on memory capacity. Outdoor activities give better learning in a pure logical sense.” Anders Szczepanski , National Centre for Outdoor Environmental Education, Linköping University. ​ “The children within I Ur och Skur pre- schools are more than twice as focused as children within a normal pre-school. Their motor skills are better, they are less frustrated, restless and sick.” Patrick Grahn, Senior Lecturer, Institution of Landscape Planning, National Agriculture University of Sweden. “The brain wants to have fun! A little child doesn’t have to go to school to be able to learn to walk and talk. Outdoor activities are especially important for children who don’t fit in the traditional classroom. The outdoor pedagogical classroom values, activates and uses other abilities rather than the verbal. I call this outdoor pedagogy for good health.” Nina Nelson, Senior Lecturer and Senior Physician, Children’s Clinic, Linköping University Hospital. ​ ​ ​ ​ Nature Quotes ​ I took a walk in the woods and came out taller than the trees. Thoreau ​ Play is the highest form of research Einstein ​ The best classroom and the richest cupboard is roofed only by the sky McMillan ​ An observant child should be put in the way of things worth observing Charlotte Mason ​ One of the most important resources that a garden makes available for use, is the gardener's own body. A garden gives the body the dignity of working in its own support. It is a way of rejoining the human race. Wendell Berry ​ Our Children no longer learn how to read the great book of Nature from their own direct experience, or how to interact creatively with the seasonal transformations of the planet. They seldom learn where their water come from or where it goes. We no longer coordinate our human celebration with the great liturgy of the heavens. Wendell Berry ​ To see a world in a grain of sand, And a heaven in a wild flower, Hold infinity in the palm of your hand, An eternity in an hour. William Blake ​ Nature teaches more than she preaches. There are no sermons in stones. It is easier to get a spark out of a stone than a moral. John Burroughs ​ It is not the language of painters but the language of nature which one should listen to…The feeling for the things themselves, for reality, is more important than the feeling for pictures Vincent van Gogh ​ If we want children to flourish, to become truly empowered, then let us allow them to love the earth before we ask them to save it. Perhaps this is what Thoreau had in mind when he said, “the more slowly trees grow at first, the sounder they are at the core", and I think the same is true of human beings. David Sobel ​ Unlike television, nature does not steal time; it amplifies it. Nature offers healing for a child living in a destructive family or neighborhood. Richard Louv ​ Those who contemplate the beauty of the earth find reserves of strength that will endure as long as life lasts. There is something infinitely healing in the repeated refrains of nature - the assurance that dawn comes after night, and spring after the winter. Rachel Carson ​ The clearest way into the universe is through a forest wilderness. John Muir ​ To forget how to dig the earth and to tend the soil is to forget ourselves. Mohandas Gandhi ​ Study nature, love nature, stay close to nature. It will never fail you. Frank Lloyd Wright ​ Can we teach children to look at a flower and see all the things it represents: beauty, the health of an ecosystem, and the potential for healing? Richard Louv ​ Time in nature is not leisure time; it’s an essential investment in our children’s health (and also, by the way, in our own). Richard Louv ​ Let Nature be your teacher. William Wordsworth ​ For the child. . ., it is not half so important to know as to feel. If facts are the seeds that later produce knowledge and wisdom, then the emotions and the impressions of the senses are the fertile soil in which the seeds must grow. . . . It is more important to pave the way for a child to want to know than to put him on a diet of facts that he is not ready to assimilate. Rachel Carson ​ Without continuous hands-on experience, it is impossible for children to acquire a deep intuitive understanding of the natural world that is the foundation of sustainable development Robin Moore & Herb Wong ​ Let children be free; encourage them; let them run outside when it is raining; and when the grass of the meadows is wet with dew, let them run on it and trample it with their bare feet; let them rest peacefully when a tree invites them to sleep beneath its shade; let them shout and laugh when the sun wakes them in the morning. Maria Montessori ​ Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished Lao Tzu ​ Summary ​ All 'back to nature' movements can trace their roots back to the great nineteenth century Romantic reaction against the Classical promotion of rationalism as the necessary and sufficient solution to all civilisation's ills. Thus it is in the work of writers like Thoreau (1817-62) and, ultimately, Rousseau (1712-1778) that the deep origins can be found. “Nature wants children to be children before being men. If we want to pervert this order, we shall produce pernicious fruits which will be immature and insipid and will not be long in rotting….Childhood has its ways of seeing, thinking, and feeling which are proper to it.” The current Nature Movement can very roughly seen as the fourth wave after the initial Romantic movement, (ii) the setting up of mass movements like scouting and John Muir's Sierra Club in the early 1900s, (iii) the 'back to the land' movement before & after the Second World War that partly inspired the Hippie movement of the Sixties (as shown by Stewart Brand's Whole Earth Catalog in 1968). This was also the start of the environmental movement as marked by writers such as Aldo Leopold (eg 1948). The Land Settlement Association (from 1934), as exemplified in the Abingtons, can also be seen as an offshoot of the same drives. The decline of the this third wave was very marked: in the 1980s Outward Bound almost went bankrupt; the Land Settlement Association closed in 1983; and in the 90s scout memberships went into steep declines. The next two or three decades (up to the start of the financial crisis in 2008) certainly represented the triumph of a scientific and consumerist materialism that had very little room for notions of an emotional bond with Nature. Now the tide is slowly turning, partly driven by fears about possible human impact on the climate, but more, I think, because of the inexorable march of the machines. Going back to Richard Louv's Nature Principle: “The more high-tech we become, the more nature we need”. ​ The Granger Collection, CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 , via ndla.no

Other Pathways GCSE and IGCSE Sometimes students find that the MYP is not right for them. Sometime families worry that their children will not progress in their chosen career without Maths and English GCSEs. ​ For these reasons we give students the chance to enter for GCSES or IGCSEs - normally in MYP5 (Year 11). The subjects we can offer will vary depending on the exact nature of the circumstances but will usually include: ​ English Literature English Language Mathematics Combined Sciences ​ Because we do so much work on sustainability we can also offer the Cambridge IGCSE in Environmental Management. The image below shows the syllabi of some IGCSEs. ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ASDAN For some students the Certificate of Personal Effectiveness from Asdan is a good certificate to show their lifeskills. ​ ​ JOHN MUIR AWARDS "The Trust's John Muir Award is an environmental award scheme focused on wild places. It is inclusive, accessible and non-competitive, though should challenge each participant. The Award encourages awareness and responsibility for the natural environment through a structured yet adaptable scheme, in a spirit of fun, adventure and exploration." ​ Award Criteria To achieve a John Muir Award, each participant must: Meet our four Challenges Complete the required time commitment Show enthusiasm and commitment towards their involvement Have an awareness of John Muir Understand what the John Muir Award is and why they are participating Award levels There are three different levels. The four Challenges are met for each level, increasing in responsibility and ownership. Discovery Award – four days/25+ hours minimum time commitment Explorer Award – eight days/50+ hours Conserver Award – 20 days/125+ hours across at least six months ​ The John Muir Trust provide a very useful Information Handbook . ​ ​ ​ OUTDOOR LEADERSHIP FRAMEWORK With the staff at The Wilderness we have developed a framework for teaching and assessing leadership skills. You can read about this here . ​

MYP Arts (Visual and Performing) INTRODUCTION Our art lessons will give pupils the chance to make connections and try their hand at all sorts of creative processes. We’ll cover drawing… painting… pottery… still life… sculpture… 3D… pastels, and more. Output from our art lessons will fill our walls, classrooms and grounds with vibrant life and colour and show just how creative children can be with the right encouragement. We’ll also help develop our pupils’ critical appreciation, exploring the work of artists, designers and crafts from different cultures and times, observing differences and similarities. Local artists, illustrators and craftspeople will be invited into school to talk about their work and what inspires them. ​ Students develop through creating, performing and presenting arts in ways that engage and convey feelings, experiences and ideas. It is through this practice that students acquire new skills and master those skills developed in prior learning. ​ Students have opportunities to function as artists, as well as learners of the arts. ​ AIMS The aims of the teaching and study of MYP arts are for students to: create and present art develop skills specific to the discipline engage in a process of creative exploration and (self-)discovery make purposeful connections between investigation and practice understand the relationship between art and its contexts respond to and reflect on art deepen their understanding of the world ASSESSMENT CRITERIA Criterion A: Knowing and understanding Criterion B: Developing skills Criterion C: Thinking creatively Criterion D: Responding ​ ​​ IB SUBJECT GUIDES 1. Subject Brief 2. Subject Guide ​ WOTTON HOUSE CURRICULUM OUTLINES Visual Arts 2021-22 Drama 2021-22 Visual Arts 2019-20 Drama 2019-20 Visual Arts 2018-19 Drama 2018-19 Visual Arts 2017-18 Drama 2017-18 ​ TEACHING DEPARTMENT ​ Head of Department: Kay Rambaud ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ Head of Drama: Nathan Hutchings ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ Back to MYP Page

1. Distances from Gloucester 2. Distances from London 200 miles to Paris 300 miles to Edinburgh 700 miles to Barcelona 900 miles to Rome 1,500 miles to Istanbul or Moscow 3,000 miles to Accra 3,500 miles to New York 4000 miles to Delhi 5,000 miles to Beijing 6,000 miles to Tokyo or Cape Town 7,000 miles to Buenos Aires 8,000 miles is the diameter of the Earth (ie through the middle) 10,000 miles to Sydney But the circumference of the earth is 25,000 miles (π * diameter) Surface area of the earth is 4πr2 or approximately 200 million. 3. Interesting School Groups in the UK School Groups in the UK - originally 2017 - updated 2019 - updated 2022 Broadway Education Buckswood Education Group Cambridge Education Group Carfax Education Group David Game College Group (DGC) Dukes Education Group Education Development Trust Elite Education Group Oxford International Education Group The Woodard Corporation Prospects Education Chatsworth Schools Broadway Education (family owned) Talbot House Prep School, Bournemouth Moyles Court School, Hampshire St Michael's School, South Wales Bosworth Independent College, Northampton (But this is also under David Game!) Buckswood Education Group (ad vitam paramus – we are preparing for life) Buckswood School (Hastings 11-18, 450 pupils) Owned by Giles Sutton (Head) For a while they also ran St Mary in the Castle, Hastings art centre/ cafe! Not clear if they still do … Buckswood Sports Academies Buckswood, St George's College (16+ 35 pupils for pre-U) BOS: Buckswood Overseas Schools (Buckswood Worldwide): Nigeria, Georgia, Swaziland Buckswood Overseas Summer School (BOSS) (8-17, 15 max) Buckswood Lions Group Centre (Hastings, 10-16, 28 pupils) BGE: Buckswood Global Education – consultancy BEAT Buckswood Education, Adventure and Travel Cambridge Education Group Academic colleges: CATS College University pathways: ONCAMPUS Creative Arts: Cambridge School of Visual & Performing Arts English Language: Stafford House International Activity courses: Stafford Summer Digital: CEG Digital Carfax Education Group (Alexander Nikitich, Founder) - offices in London, Oxford, Dubai, Monaco, Moscow, St. Petersburg, Baku, Kiev, and Tokyo Carfax Consultants Carfax Recruitment Carfax Tutors Carfax Projects Carfax College (plus Phileas Fox Nursery, London & Maysville Academy, Kentucky) Carfax Guardians ​ David Game College Group (DCG) 1. London Albemarle College, London David Game College, Notting Hill Kensington Academy of English London School of Dramatic Art Notting Hill Tutors Westminster Tutors David Game Higher Education London Film Academy London School of Publishing London School of Public Relations UK Abacus College, Oxford Oxford Language Centre Bath Academy, Bath Bosworth Independent College, Northampton Overseas Cavendish Africa University Group David Game Management School, Thailand International School Mandalay Westminster School & College, Karachi Dukes Education Group (Glenn Hawkins MD, Aatif Hassan, Founder) Three schools: Fine Arts College, Acorn House College, Rochester Independent College Summer Schools Consultancy Education Development Trust (formerly CfBT Education Trust) CfBT Schools Trust – 16 school multi-academy Private schools (4) St Andrews, Rochester (prep) Oakfields Prep, Dulwich Danesfield Manor School, Surrey (prep) International School of Cape Town School inspection, English language teaching, school system reform, careers service provider. Elite Education Group Consultancy, tutoring, concierge Oxford International Education Group Academic Studies: Oxford Tutorial College (OTC), d'Overbroeck's, Pathways, Oxbridge Advanced Studies Programme Language Education Educational Tours (was ISIS Education & Travel) The Woodard Corporation: Schools WOODARD INCORPORATED SCHOOLS (independent) Abbots Bromley School, Staffordshire including Abbots Bromley Preparatory School Abbots Bromley International College, Staffordshire (opened in September 2015) Ardingly College, West Sussex including Ardingly College Prep School Bloxham School, Oxfordshire The Cathedral School, Llandaff, South Glamorgan Denstone College, Staffordshire Denstone College Preparatory School at Smallwood Manor, Uttoxeter, Staffordshire Ellesmere College, Shropshire Hurstpierpoint College, West Sussex including Hurstpierpoint College Preparatory School King’s College, Taunton, Somerset King’s Hall School, Taunton, Somerset Lancing College, West Sussex including Lancing College Preparatory School at Hove and Lancing College Preparatory School at Worthing The Peterborough School, Cambridgeshire Prestfelde School, Shrewsbury, Shropshire Queen Mary’s School, Topcliffe, North Yorkshire St James’ School, Great Grimsby, NE Lincolnshire Worksop College, Nottinghamshire including Worksop College Preparatory School, Retford WOODARD ACADEMIES Kings Priory School, Tyne & Wear The Littlehampton Academy, West Sussex St Augustine Academy, Kent St Peter’s Academy, Staffordshire The Sir Robert Woodard Academy, West Sussex AFFILIATED SCHOOLS (maintained sector) The Bishop of Hereford’s Bluecoat School, Herefordshire Bishop Stopford School, NorthamptonshireBishop Stopford’s School, London The Bishops’ Blue Coat Church of England High School, Cheshire Crompton House Church of England School, Lancashire Dyson Perrins Church of England Academy, Worcestershire King Solomon International Business School, Birmingham (opened in September 2015) St Andrew’s CE School and Sixth Form, Surrey St Marylebone CE School, London St Olave’s Grammar School, Kent St Peter’s Church of England Aided School, Devon S Peter’s Collegiate School, West Midlands St Saviour’s and St Olave’s Church of England School, London St Wilfrid’s Church of England Academy, Lancashire Trinity Church of England School, Kent Trinity Lewisham, London Wren Academy, London ASSOCIATED SCHOOLS (independent sector) Alderley Edge School for Girls, Cheshire Exeter Cathedral School, Devon King’s School, Rochester, Kent OVERSEAS SCHOOLS Woodard Langalanga Secondary School, Gilgil, Kenya ​ Prospects Education School Improvement Careers and Skills Back office support Education Resources Outdoor Education (South Cerney) Independent Education (Gabbitas) Chatsworth Schools: Backed by Synova; run by Anita Gleave, formerly with ISP. Established 2018. Benedict House Preparatory School. Crown House School. Duchess Nursery Parsons Green. Hall School Wimbledon. Highfield Preparatory School. Griffin House School. Pattison College. Swinbrook House Nursery School Marylebone. The Village Prep School Duchess Nursery Abingdon Duchess Nursery Steventon Duchess Nursery Wallingford Beech Hall School Riverston School 4. Gloucestershire Parliamentary Constituencies Cheltenham Cotswolds Forest of Dean Gloucester Stroud Tewkesbury Useful Quotes ​ “Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccesful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent.” — Calvin Coolidge A ship in harbor is safe, but that is not what ships are built for. John Shedd “If you do what you always did, you will get what you always got.” — Henry Ford Attitude is a little thing that makes a big difference." Churchill If a child can't learn the way we teach maybe we should teach the way they learn. Ignacio Estrada “What information consumes is the attention of its recipients. Hence a wealth of information creates a poverty of attention.” Herbert Simon "A successful man is one who can lay a firm foundation with the bricks others have thrown at him." David Brinkley “Educating the mind without educating the heart is no education at all” — Aristotle “Intelligence plus character — that is the goal of true education.” — Martin Luther King, Jr. “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together” ― African proverb An egg is possibly the greatest invention in the infinite history of everything. It is ergonomic, it is satisfying, it contains protein and fat in two colours. And if you don't want to eat it right away, it'll turn into a chicken. - AAGill. Painting the grass green and the coal black has been a feature of any organisation subject to external inspection. TES In theory, theory & practice are the same. In practice, they are not. -Einstein To have respect for ourselves guides our morals, to have a deference for others governs our manners. - Lawrence Sterne, Tristram Shandy. A man is but the product of his thoughts. What he thinks, he becomes -Gandhi ​ ​ I'm a paragraph. Click here to add your own text and edit me. It's easy.

Policies ​ 1. Academic Honesty ​ Academic Honesty Policy Wotton House International School ​ Aim and Rationale WHIS strives to encourage and instil a robust culture of academic honesty. It is our aim to nurture personal integrity and to promote an understanding of academic honesty as good practice in learning and assessment. We subscribe to the International Baccalaureate (IB) definition of academic honesty as essentially meaning "making knowledge, understanding and thinking transparent". Understanding the concepts of how knowledge is constructed comes before the technical aspects of academic honesty such as accurate citing. The attributes of the IB Learner Profile help create a learning environment in which students can make visible the development of their own thinking. Academic honesty is part of being "principled", a learner profile attribute where learners strive to 'act with integrity and honesty and take responsibility for their own actions. Having an explicit academic honesty policy ensures that procedures for this practice are transparent, fair and consistent. It describes the rights and responsibilities of all members of the school community so that everyone understands what constitutes good practice, and misconduct (or malpractice), and what actions are to be taken if there are transgressions. The policy is dynamic and will help to ensure that students are taught good practice in all aspects of their work. ​ Responsibilities: Academic honesty is taken seriously in secondary school. At the start of each school year, students and parents will be asked to read and sign a document to show they have understood. Details and advice of responsibilities of the main stakeholders are outlined below. Student Responsibilities: A recognition of expectations and responsibilities with regard to producing authentic work. Confirm understanding of academic honesty with signature on Code of Conduct form each year. Report malpractice violations to a trusted school employee. Work to produce authentic work Understand that putting your name on an assignment certifies it as your own work, cited appropriately. Minimise malpractice temptation by balancing time appropriately. If an incident of malpractice occurs, either intentional or unintentional, complete the reflection process with your instructor. Understand proper citation expectations for assignments, examples of which should be displayed in classrooms and study areas (eg Harvard (most common), MLA or APA where appropriate). See Glossary for details and examples. Ask for guidance when you are unsure. Teacher Responsibilities: Providing opportunities for students to practice and to learn how to use other people’s work in support of their own, including the responsibility to teach awareness of misconduct and procedures. Communicate appropriate collaboration versus collusion with each assignment. Teach a recognised citation convention for written and non-written works. Demonstrate and model academic honesty in presentations, etc. Report and record academic dishonesty through a behavioural comment on ManageBac. Ensure students understand that when they submit a task as their own, they are representing that they have not received nor given aid on assignments or assessments. Teachers can opt to ask students to use their signature to explicitly assure this point if needed. Minimise temptation for malpractice in assignments/assessment situations. Communicate with students, parents, counsellors, administrators with concerns and malpractice offenses. Involve students in reflection/discussion in the instance of malpractice. School Responsibilities: Including responsibility for maintaining fairness and consistency, providing a safe environment, providing professional development for teachers, promoting parent awareness, assisting student learning. Support academic honesty policy and investigate all counsellor/teacher reports of malpractice. Ensure that all staff, students, and parents understand definitions, responsibilities, and repercussions. Ensure the academic honesty policy is applied consistently throughout the school. Provide staff development and guidance on academic writing and referencing systems that are available. Explore available plagiarism detection services. Provide teachers with material to guide students in maintaining academic honesty. Investigate incidents of malpractice. Make parent and student contact to reflect on malpractice incidents. Parent Responsibilities: How parents can help students; what is helpful and what is not helpful to the student. Read and sign Acknowledgement form. Encourage your child to practice academic honesty. Encourage your child to cultivate a culture of academic honesty in school. Address concerns of academic misconduct/malpractice with school personnel if necessary. Monitor any hired tutors to assure authentic student work. Measures taken to provide education and support We encourage academic honesty through study skills and independent learning. All pupils are encouraged to be principled in their work. However, understanding concepts pertaining to academic honesty such as plagiarism and practical skills such as referencing can be difficult. With this in mind, the school provides support and guidance on these study skills, Moreover, in all school years emphasis is put on independent learning and thinking, to steer pupils away from unattributed reference to the work of others instead of producing their own. Older pupils submitting work for public examinations will become aware of: Intellectual and creative property rights The difference between collaboration and collusion The importance of acknowledging sources and how to do this. Guidance on good practice and malpractice Academic Honesty: this involves positive emphasis on the importance of authenticity of pupil work, of acknowledging the work of others (including referencing websites) and how to do this in order to support one’s own work. Further, academic honesty includes understanding and putting into practice the difference between paraphrasing rather than copying, collaboration rather than collusion and influence instead of plagiarism. ​ ​ Malpractice: Contraventions of academic honesty include: Plagiarism is defined as the representation of the ideas or work of another person as the candidate’s own Submitting work that has been completed by someone else as one’s own Submitting work which is the result of a joint effort or collaboration between many people as solely one’s own work. Collaboration is acceptable and encouraged insofar as it involves two or more pupils working on a project, but pupils must then write up their findings separately. Collusion is defined as supporting malpractice by another candidate, as in allowing one’s work to be copied or submitted for assessment by another. Making up data for coursework or a controlled assessment Duplication of work is presenting the same work for different assessment components and/or JCQ/IB requirements. Bringing in unauthorised material into an exam room Communicating the content of a public exam paper outside the school community within 24 hours of the examination Regulations for examinations, controlled assessments and coursework: With regard to public examinations which are undertaken with the IB and other examination boards, GIS adheres to regulations provided by bodies pertaining to the qualifications for which the pupils of studying, including JCQ and the IB. Pupils are clearly notified about expectations in relation to these regulations with appropriate frequency. ​ Age-appropriate Guidance: MYP1-3 The academically honest student: DOES DOES NOT Acknowledge help from parents, older students and friends Acknowledge information taken from books, the Internet or persons Acknowledge the source of direct quotations Acknowledge reference materials in a bibliography Knows what constitutes cheating and abides by the rules Follow all test/exam rules Use notes during a test unless allowed by a teacher Copy from another student during a test Copy from the homework of another student Give another student his/her own work to copy Hand in work as his/her own that has been copied Do homework for another student MYP4 – MY5 The academically honest student: DOES DOES NOT Keep and maintain accurate, personal course notes Understand and abides by the school’s expectations concerning academic honesty Acknowledge, in an appropriate referencing format, help from another person Ask beforehand what kind of external help is permissible Acknowledge, in an appropriate referencing format, information taken from a wide variety of sources Follow all test/exam rules Copy work of another student Give another student his/her work to copy Do the homework of another student Submit work done by another student, a parent or a friend Use notes during a test unless allowed to by the teacher or the examination rules ​ Procedures and Rights Reporting, recording and monitoring To ensure consistency and fairness when mistakes are made, it is important that GIS keeps central records of each situation and the consequences; while each incident may be treated on a case-by-case basis by the teachers themselves, or by a senior administrator or panel if serious enough, central records will help ensure consistency, and may also highlight general trends or problems with particular students. Student Rights Again, to ensure consistency and fairness, students’ rights need to be made explicit. For example they must always be given the right to explain themselves; they may have a parent, peer or teacher present in any discussion of a problem or incident, particularly if the consequences are especially heavy. Sanctions Pupils found to have been acting academically dishonestly will be dealt with appropriately. Among other sanctions, younger years (MYP 1-3) would have to amend or redo the work and the importance of academic honesty will be reiterated. For older pupils (MYP 4 and above), opportunities will be presented for pupils to resubmit work, but repeat offenses may lead to weightier sanctions and discussions among relevant parties concerning the pupils’ suitability for their chosen course of study. For pupils submitting examinations or portfolio work for external qualifications and/or taking public exams, the details of any indiscretion will be forwarded to the appropriate bodies which may result in the pupil being withdrawn from the qualification and disqualified from taking exams for that examination board or body. The IB takes issues of academic malpractice very seriously, the following is an extract from the General Regulations which outlines the potentially serious implications of ‘academic misconduct’ (malpractice): 21.7 ‘If the sub-committee decides that a case of academic misconduct has been established, a penalty will be applied in the subject(s) concerned. The penalty will, in the judgment of the sub-committee, be commensurate with the severity of the misconduct. If a case of academic misconduct is considered by the Final Award Committee to be very serious, the Final Award Committee may decide not to issue a grade for a candidate in the subject(s) concerned and additionally prohibit the candidate from being registered in any future examination sessions.’ (IBO, “General Regulations: Diploma Programme 2016,” Cardiff, Wales: IBO, 2015, p. 14) ​