At various stages of each educational journey, there is a leap to be taken from one school to another, so the question is, how can we best make those transitions?
Free to be Me
Jon Chesworth, Headteacher of Banstead Prep School, shares how this school builds valuable skills for moving on to the next stage
At Banstead Prep, the ethos is ‘Free to be ME’. We focus on each child moving to the best school for their individual needs. Our annual list of destination schools is long and diverse, and we have plenty of experience supporting children’s future success wherever they go.
We’ve seen a recent trend in schools valuing children’s character as much as their academic abilities and results. Employers are putting pressure on universities, and in turn on senior schools, to create a future workforce with analytical, leadership and collaborative skills. We teach these skills – Banstead Prep’s Learner Powers – explicitly, through our Life Skills lessons, but also implicitly across our broad curriculum, which has been recognised in our recent ISI Inspection as a significant strength of the school.
While skills build throughout the children’s primary educational journey, specific preparation for next schools includes exam technique classes (some tailored for the grammar school selection tests), interview preparation and mock interview practise in Year 5, and a leadership position for every Year 6 pupil. A ‘sustainable travel’ trip to Europe helps build independence and adaptability developed in previous residential excursions.
In the summer term of Year 6 our fantastic leavers programme offers a mixture of practical skills e.g. first aid and money skills, an enterprise project, our famous Ready, Steady Cook lunch challenge and culminates in a dazzling musical production – all designed to polish the children’s Learner Powers and boost their confidence before we watch with pride as they leave, ready to enjoy the experiences ahead.
A ‘sustainable travel’ trip to Europe helps build independence and adaptability
Jon Chesworth is Headteacher of coeducational nursery, pre-school and prep school for girls and boys aged 2 to 11, Banstead Prep School. For more information or to book a visit go to bansteadprep.com
The Perks of Continuity
Simon Williams, Headmaster, Churcher’s College explains the benefits of the all-through school
As anyone who has embarked on a journey that requires a change of plane or train can attest, there are particular challenges that travellers who go direct do not face. The same can be said of an all-through education, one that takes a child from the age of three to 18, from nursery to A Levels, without the challenges that come from a change of institution, friendship groups, or the sense of community and underlying ethos.
Traditionally, there have been disembarkation and re-embarkation points in education: 7+, 11+, sometimes 13+, and 16+. However, these are becoming less and less pronounced as parents find schools that meet their needs and aspirations and they stay within school groups that better meet their personal preferences. For those parents, it could be a case of ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’, but it is generally much more significant than that. With partnerships between junior and senior schools becoming ever more prevalent, there is now a natural flow of culture that may have been missing in the past, and that flow allows children (and parents) to avoid the social dislocation that comes from moving between schools and friendship groups.
Loyalty to one school motto can have distinct benefits, but the children themselves need overt signs of progress. In addition, although the juxtaposition of a three-year-old and an 18-year-old can seem ‘sweet’, their needs are, of course, acutely different. To that end, the wise all-through school still creates distinct sections, and preferably with geographic separation, under the umbrella of a common culture.
‘…the wise all-A school still creates distinct sections’
Simon Williams is Headmaster, of Churcher’s College, a day school for both girls and boys aged from 3 to 18. If you’d like to find out more about Churcher’s College, find them online at churcherscollege.com
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