Clearing my mother’s garage a few years ago, I stumbled across a file fat with letters addressed to me. Spanning a period in the early 1990s when I was an English literature undergraduate at the University of Edinburgh, they are (on the whole) rejection letters from newspapers and magazines that I had applied to for summer work- experience. Typed letters on weighty GSM paper, or indeed handwritten cards, from editors, and managing and deputy editors, at The Sunday Times, The Times, The Daily Telegraph, The Guardian, The Independent, the Daily Express, Vogue, The Face, the TLS, the London Review of Books (I have no memory of being so enterprising)... the list goes on.

They are all handsigned and include the script of literary and journalistic luminaries such as Ferdinand Mount, Rosie Boycott, Glenda Bailey, Miriam Gross, Sheryl Garratt and Maggie O’Farrell. Some are short and sweet, some go into immense detail about why there are no vacancies at present. They are all personal, they are all encouraging. There is not one whiff of ‘computer says no’ from an anonymous HR apparatchik.

Why do I mention this? Because I can’t stop thinking about the gulf between then and now. And yes, I know 30 years is a long time, but how did we get here? Our daily news is now stuffed with stories of graduates sending out hundreds of job applications into the maw of remorseless technology and failing to get even an acknowledgement. Yes, I was rejected, but an actual person took the time to read my letter, reply to it, hand sign it, and put it in the post. I wasn’t just ignored by a machine.

How young people thrive in the age of AI is something we address in this issue. The challenges that schools face in preparing young people for the world of work or ensuring they have the AI literacy needed to succeed in an uncertain future. I feel more optimistic than I did before working on this edition, however; our education leaders and our schools are so alive to the threat. Those working on the frontline know that the skills needed more than ever by students are the most human ones: judgement, critical thinking, a rich hinterland of knowledge and personal real-world relationships.

AI has the potential to cause major disruption, but I think an increasingly automated world is driving a thirst for human connection and I feel more certain than before that we will prevail. I just wish today’s graduates could have their own pile of rejection letters to look back on in 30 year’s time.

I hope you enjoy this issue.

Amanda Constance is the editor of The Week’s Independent Schools Guide. Read the full publication below or click here.

Our sincere thanks go to all the schools that participated in the best of the best senior schools 2026 – we know how much work goes into all your submissions. A special thanks to our judging panel and consultants, including Sophie Oakes of Oakes Education and Louise Hitchen of 134marketing for their contributions.

Best entrepreneurship and innovation: Caterham School

Few schools can claim to have built their own AI platform used by schools nationwide, but RileyBot – Caterham’s own AI edtech tool – is now used by teachers and pupils in more than 30 UK schools. The school’s EDGE Innovation programme develops problem-solving, resilience and ethical AI skills from the first year upwards. Pupils work with real businesses, tackle live challenges, join hackathons and build start-ups, while sixth formers can access a lecture series featuring Accenture, Deutsche Bank, UCL and angel investors. This year, Caterham launched a UCAS-recognised KS4 EDGE qualification with Nottingham University Business School and Enactus – more than 80 pupils have enrolled alongside GCSEs, far exceeding expectations. Pupils design social enterprises that blend commercial thinking with genuine community impact. caterhamschool.co.uk

Other contenders:
Godolphin and Latymer School
North London Collegiate School

Best SEND: Bancroft’s School

Bancroft’s is academically ambitious, but ambition only matters when every child can access it. Over 160 pupils with SEND are supported across a wide range of needs, including dyslexia, ADHD, autism, speech and language diffculties, sensory impairment, physical disabilities and mental health. Support begins before pupils arrive. The SENCo and deputy SENCo visit feeder primaries, meet families and plan transitions so every child is known from day one. All Year 7 pupils are screened for literacy needs within their first fortnight. In the classroom, provision is practical and personal, with laptops, reading pens, flexible seating, movement breaks and individual learning support profiles reviewed termly with teachers, parents and pupils. In 2025, SEND pupils achieved positive A-level value-added, without any lowering of expectations. bancrofts.org

Other contenders:
Merchant Taylors’ School
Blundell’s School

Best partnerships: Shrewsbury School

Shrewsbury School’s Partnership and Community Engagement programme, recognised by the Independent Schools Inspectorate as a “significant strength”, goes far beyond tokenism. The flagship partnership with Alpha Academies Trust in Stoke-on-Trent serves over 4,300 pupils in one of the UK’s most deprived communities. A co-designed programme running from Year 4 to Year 10 saw 1,100 Alpha pupils engaged in 2025-26, supported by 660 hours from more than 60 Shrewsbury staff. 84 per cent of participants reported greater confidence, 73 per cent stronger communication skills, and measurable gains in ambition and awareness of future pathways. In 2024-25 alone, Shrewsbury pupils raised over £150,000 and contributed 850 volunteering hours, making it a worthy winner for meaningful partnerships. shrewsbury.org.uk

Other contenders:
Magdalen College School, Oxford
Sevenoaks School

Best boarding: Hurstpierpoint College

Boarding at Hurst feels a bit different. The paired house model brings boys and girls together naturally, making it feel more modern and a more thoughtfully designed approach to co-education. Pupils mix across year groups, forming natural friendships amongst boys and girls that they might not otherwise make. Younger pupils benefit from the support of older peers, while older pupils develop leadership through mentoring. The no-screen policy is a stand-out encouraging youngsters to enjoy more time together, with evenings playing board games, and enjoying pizza and film nights, encouraging natural interaction. At the heart of it all are the Houseparents, knowing every pupil by name, creating space for honest conversations and ensuring no one goes unnoticed. hppc.co.uk

Other contenders:
Rugby School
Sevenoaks School

Best creative arts: Bede’s School

At Bede’s in East Sussex, the creative arts feel properly alive. This is a school where pupils are not just encouraged to perform, but to think, make, design and take creative risks. The scale of the work is impressive, from the annual Cabaret showcase to this year’s Les Misérables at the Attenborough Centre for Creative Arts in Brighton. These are ambitious productions, and the fact that BTEC production arts pupils are behind the sets, sound and lighting gives them real depth and credibility. There is plenty happening beyond the main stage too. Drama pupils have taken work to the Edinburgh Fringe, while Bede’s Legat Dance Academy offers high-level training in ballet, contemporary and jazz. Pupils learn from industry professionals, and many go on to serious creative pathways. Bede’s stands out with creativity being an impressive and pivotal part of the education. bedes.org

Other contenders:
Merchant Taylors’ School
Notre Dame School Cobham

Best extra-curricular: Gordonstoun School

At Gordonstoun, the co-curricular life is remarkable. Pupils are expected to get stuck in, whether that means heading out on expeditions, taking part in international exchanges, sailing on the school’s own yacht or serving in groups such as the Fire Service, Coastguard Rescue or Pool Lifeguards. There is real substance behind the offer too. The new Adventure Campus in the Cairngorms gives pupils even more scope for challenge, while recent activities have included endurance races, night-time challenges and ambitious long-distance events. What makes Gordonstoun stand out is the sheer breadth of opportunity. With 75 activities and electives, from robotics and archaeology to cookery, every pupil has the chance to find something that stretches them. This is a school where co-curricular life sits at the very heart of education. gordonstoun.org.uk

Other contenders:
Roedean School
St Swithun’s School

Best pastoral care: Mayfield School

Mayfield School has made girls’ wellbeing central to its identity. Following a whole-school review in 2024, Mayfield committed to becoming a national leader in girls’ wellbeing by 2027, embedding a structured yet deeply human approach to pastoral care. Support is highly visible with over 50 staff trained in Mental Health First Aid, forming a trusted network, while weekly multidisciplinary meetings ensure early, coordinated care. Two daily activity periods, alongside mindfulness and creative pursuits, balance ambition with space to breathe. Staff wellbeing is equally prioritised, allowing adults to model healthy habits authentically. At the heart of its community sits St Raphael’s Wellbeing Centre, a RIBA award-winning sanctuary. The results speak for themselves with pupils feeling safe rising from 93 per cent to 98 per cent in 2025. mayfieldgirls.org

Other contenders:
Wellington College
Notre Dame School Cobham

Best sport: Millfield School

Millfield is in a league of its own as the UK’s premier sports school. With 30 sports, over 200 specialist staff and world-class facilities, students enter what can only be described as an Olympic Village, an environment engineered to unlock exceptional sporting potential. This year, 34 seniors and 21 juniors represented 26 countries internationally, while individual achievements spoke for themselves. One pupil made history as the first British swimmer to break the sub-minute barrier in every stroke. Another earned a place at Wimbledon Juniors. A third claimed the U17 US Squash Nationals title. But Millfield’s philosophy runs deeper than trophies. With a current pupil balancing A-levels with Paris 2024 Olympic experience and Los Angeles 2028 ambitions, Millfield equally values both academic and athletic excellence. millfieldschool.com

Other contenders:
Notting Hill & Ealing High School, GDST
Berkhamsted School

Best STEM: Gresham’s School

Gresham’s School is setting a new standard for STEM education through its pioneering international exchange programme with the School of Science and Technology (SST) in Singapore. Now in its second year, this unique partnership gives pupils the rare opportunity to visit Dyson’s global headquarters and collaborate on solutions to real-world challenges, from flood defences to air pollution monitoring. What makes Gresham’s approach truly distinctive is its emphasis on student-led innovation. Mixed teams from both schools develop and present working prototypes, building not just technical skills but confidence, creativity and global awareness. It’s hands-on, high-stakes learning at its best. This school will undoubtedly produce the next generation of creators and innovators. greshams.com

Other contenders:
The Perse School Cambridge
Caterham School

Best preparation for life: Benenden School

Benenden stands apart as a school where young women are empowered to discover their strengths and ambitions without limitation. Its philosophy of ‘A Complete Education’ ensures that students leave with both strong academic results and the character, skills and confidence to flourish beyond school. From the Lower School’s bespoke CREATE Diploma through to the sixth form’s Professional Skills Programme covering financial literacy, enterprise and inclusive leadership, Benenden offers a structured journey of personal development. The Electives Programme, spanning more than 70 courses, further broadens horizons well beyond the examined curriculum. In 2025, 85 per cent of leavers secured their first-choice university destination, reflecting a school that genuinely prepares students for what comes next. benenden.school

Other contenders:
Shrewsbury School
Norwich High School for Girls, GDST

Best sixth form: Ardingly College

Ardingly’s sixth form is the college’s most sought-after entry point for good reason. With six applicants competing for every place among 300 students, its reputation speaks for itself. At its heart is exceptional academic breadth. Offering both A-levels and the IB Diploma with an average class size of just 10, students receive genuinely personalised teaching. The results follow: Ardingly ranks as the top British boarding school for the IB and sits in the top 40 co-ed schools for A-levels, generating around 400 Russell Group offers alongside Oxbridge and Ivy League places annually. Godwin Hall unites the year group in a co-ed community, while the Enterprise & Employability programme – whose students recently won Imperial College London’s Entrepreneurs Innovation Challenge – ensures every leaver earns their World Ready Passport. ardingly.com

Other contenders:
Shiplake College
Bancroft’s School

Best teaching and learning: Berkhamsted School

Berkhamsted operates a research-based curriculum that both responds to cutting-edge discoveries and powers internal discovery itself. Staff can access grants to organise research projects and ethical experiments, and present their findings at our annual teaching and learning event. Metacognitive practices are woven into every lesson, and pupils take growing responsibility for this as they progress. Year 10 study Learning Pathways, exploring different revision and thinking styles, and sixth form students lead metacognitive sessions for younger pupils. By gathering extensive performance data, we design learning programmes that target skill deficits and contemporary challenges. For example, predictions that empathy will be an essential 21st-century skill catalysed the use of the Empathy Studios video platform to develop pupils’ sense of perspective. berkhamsted.com

Other contenders:
Bedales School South
Hampstead High School, GDST

This article first appeared in The Week’s Independent Schools Guide Autumn/Winter 2026, edited by Amanda Constance.

The conversation around artificial intelligence (AI) in schools is moving fast. Just a few years ago, the focus was on limiting its risks, preventing plagiarism and cheating. But time and tech wait for no man, and the question now has shifted to how can schools ensure pupils are AI literate?

For Ceri Jones, Headmaster at Caterham School in Surrey, there is “a real urgency” to the issue. “We keep talking about a world that is coming to us,” he says. “The reality is that the world is already here.”

Educators, he believes, are recognising that future success will depend less on grades or university destinations than on how young people respond to uncertainty and disruption.

For Caterham, that meant developing an explicit curriculum focused on “future-ready skills”. The school’s EDGE curriculum – explore, develop, grow, evolve – gives pupils, from the first year of prep to the upper sixth, dedicated digital innovation lessons, developing technological confidence alongside problem-solving, teamwork, entrepreneurship and self-reflection.

This September, Caterham is launching a new GCSE-equivalent Ethical AI & Entrepreneurship qualification in partnership with Nottingham University Business School and Enactus UK, the social entrepreneurial education charity. Validated by business leaders and education specialists, the course combines entrepreneurship, ethical AI and social impact, with pupils developing AI-assisted solutions to real-world challenges under the guidance of university mentors. Successful students will receive a GCSE-equivalent qualification that can be included on university applications.

“This isn’t just about teaching kids how to make money,” says Jones. “It’s about teaching them how to have an impact and change the world for the better.”

Many pupils, he says, feel overwhelmed by global challenges. “Our job as educators is to create a sense of optimism, to make them believe they can solve problems.”

The new qualification has also struck a chord with parents. When Caterham explained that pupils would study ten GCSEs plus the new course rather than 11 GCSEs, Jones admits the school was unsure how families would respond. “But it went down really well. A number of parents just said: ‘Thank God, this is exactly what schools should be doing.’”

Alongside curriculum changes, Caterham has invested heavily in its own AI technology. Rather than relying on commercial platforms, it recruited machine-learning engineers to develop AI tools designed specifically for schools.

“We were determined to ensure that what we put in front of our pupils, in terms of AI or enhanced technology, is independent by educational purpose and pedagogy. I think, too often, the off-the-shelf products you buy don’t have pedagogy safeguarding or ethical use at their heart,” says Jones.

Its education technology company, Sphinx AI, created RileyBot, an AI learning assistant now shared for free with local state schools. Rather than completing work for pupils, RileyBot guides them through problems much like a teacher would.

“It’s about developing pupils’ agency around AI,” says Jones. “The reality is pupils are experimenting with AI whether we like it or not. My view is: let’s help them do it safely, securely and productively.”

AI is now embedded across school life. Jones describes pupils using large language models (LLMs) to generate code and build websites, while Year 7 pupils recently created an app to help new students navigate the transition from primary school, using school data to build an interactive school map.

But he is equally clear that traditional disciplines remain essential.

“We’re also teaching ethics, philosophy and critical thinking,” he says. “That’s also part of the AI education: you know – what is truth, what is reality?”

“We can no longer just teach kids to pass exams in the expectation that they’ll go to university and get into the world of work,” says Jones. “Whilst that pathway will still be there, I suspect, for a long time, I think there’s this other pathway emerging and I want all pupils to know they have the opportunity to build their own futures.”

For the Sherborne schools in Dorset, AI ambition is spreading beyond the school walls and into the town itself. This year, the boys’ school is marking the centenary of the arrival of its famous alumnus, Alan Turing, the father of modern computing. This month, the newly formed Sherborne Schools Group – Sherborne Boys, Sherborne Girls and Sherborne Prep – will formally unite under one brand. Central to its vision is the Sherborne Turing Project, a multimillion-pound initiative to transform this somewhat sleepy west country town into a hotbed for digital innovation and education.

The project includes the creation of The Turing Centre, an innovation, AI and entrepreneurship hub, alongside the inaugural Turing Conference this October, hosted by the school. Organisers hope it will become an annual gathering of leaders from technology, academia and industry.

Alastair Poulain, Deputy Head (Co-Curricular) at Sherborne Prep says the vision was driven by the town itself. A key aim is raising “the aspirations and ambitions” for all the young people of the town; outside of Sherborne’s school walls, opportunities are in short supply for many.

The conference will give Sherborne pupils and those from neighbouring schools “a chance to meet and hear from the great and the good in AI and tech”, he says. Speakers include AI luminaries such as Kerensa Jennings, Suki Fuller, Jamie Bartlett and Alan Turing’s nephew, Dermot Turing, while organisations including Bletchley Park, GCHQ and BAE Systems will take part in an afternoon tech festival.

The aim for the Turing Centre is to create a bold commercial space for Sherborne pupils and the people of Sherborne, providing AI education, creative labs, a technology incubator and start-up support, with ambitions to attract businesses and establish a university presence in the town. “We’re a bit of a black hole university-wise,” says Poulain, adding that discussions with a private university are already under way.

Sherborne is also embedding AI in the classroom. It has developed its own platform, Sherbot, and is piloting Turing Tutor, an AI-powered learning platform that, like Caterham’s RileyBot, gives pupils access to an individual AI tutor. “It’s ambitious and very exciting,” says Poulain. Not only will Turing Tutor plug individual learning gaps, but it will also aid neuro-diverse students “who can soar in some areas and may struggle with others”, and give teachers a richer picture of each child’s progress by bringing together assessment and performance data.

“Ultimately we want the town of Sherborne to be known for its progressive AI and entrepreneurship,” says Poulain. “That means supporting not just our pupils, but parents, local businesses and the wider community. We’ve got a lot of young families in Sherborne but a lot of people wearing red cords do like to come down and retire here, and we want them to be good with AI as well.”

Being good with AI is what gets Ed Halliday out of bed every morning. Halliday is a lecturer in AI and entrepreneurship at the University of Bristol’s Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, and co-founder of Future Faculty, an education start-up that equips young people with the skills and mindsets to thrive in future careers. “Naturally, AI has become an increasingly important part of that work,” he says. The company now runs AI boot camps for students and graduates, helping them become AI-native operators and gain an edge in a competitive jobs market. More than 4,000 students have taken part to date.

“Our hypothesis is that if you learn how to harness AI in the right way, you can say to an employer: ‘I’ve augmented my existing skills with AI to do more, faster, and achieve greater impact,’” says Halliday. “It’s about giving students a competitive advantage in a pretty complex labour market.”

Future Faculty has worked with the LSE, King’s Business School, UCL and other universities. Students aged 18-25 learn to build apps, prototype ideas and solve real problems set by employers, from designing products and marketing campaigns to creating automated business systems. “It’s a real-life sandbox,” says Halliday. “It’s about bringing the outside world into education.”

But AI is never the end goal. It is the process that matters, says Halliday. “Understanding a problem, interrogating it, testing ideas and refining solutions – that’s the cornerstone of my teaching.”

“The fact we’re teaching AI is incidental because really we’re teaching critical thinking,” he adds. Students need to understand how AI models are built and “how they’re incentivised to produce information” so they can become “pilots rather than passengers”.

Halliday uses LLM ‘hallucinations’ as an example. To a lay person like you or me, hallucinations (when an LLM generates false, misleading or completely fabricated information, but presents it confidently as a factual truth) are a mistake, a fault in the system. Not so, says Halliday. It’s because these LLMs were built using something called “deep reinforcement learning”, which basically rewards a correct move but sanctions a wrong move, leading the LLM to logically guess when it doesn’t know the answer. “It’s not a bug,” says Halliday. “It’s actually a design feature.”

Future Faculty also encourages students to retain the “friction of the cognitive process” in their work. Before turning to AI, they discuss ideas with peers and sketch them out on paper, reflecting consciously on when AI adds value and when they want to rely on their own creativity. “It’s about thinking: ‘Where do I want to retain my humanity?’”

Despite the disruption AI is bringing, Halliday remains optimistic. “We’re in for a messy three-to-five years and then we’ll come out of it with more clarity.”

While he accepts the recruitment process is currently “broken”, his advice to young people is to find a different way. Don’t apply to the job on LinkedIn that has already had 100 applications – do your research, find the companies in your area and approach them directly. Don’t ask for a job; rather, let them know “I can help you”, and then show them how. AI has its limits, he says, and employers continue to value “human perspectives and human judgement”.

“I think we’ve reached a tipping point when we’ve realised we’re better than technology sometimes makes us feel,” he says. “We aren’t satisfied with seeing sloppy AI generated videos or posts on social media, because we enjoy things that are quite arduous, hard work, like sketching, using pen and paper or spending time discussing things. We’re going to run out of patience with copying and pasting AI answers into our homework, because it feels like giving up.”

David Flower, Warden Elect at St Edward’s Oxford, concurs. The school – affectionately known as Teddies – has taken a measured approach to AI education.

“The way we have approached it is that, if you’re interested in AI, computer science or STEM, you need the basic qualifications first,” says Flower. “The main problem with generative AI is that it bypasses the educational process, so there is a risk that pupils have gaps in their knowledge and become infantilised by the AI because they have become dependent on it as a shortcut.”

Nor does he see much value in teaching prompt engineering. By the time today’s pupils leave school, LLMs may no longer require written prompts. “Prompt engineering is a bit of a gimmick,” he says. “It’s a bit like telling people how to use Google to search... Writing a good prompt is dependent on your scheme of knowledge.”

For Flower, a knowledge-rich curriculum is the foundation of effective AI use. Teddies has taken a slow-and-steady approach to making its curriculum and assessment “AI ready and relevant”. “We’ve been very careful not to throw the baby out with the bath water,” he says. “Education is a long-term project, and you can’t just be blown by the winds of changes in this or that direction.”

That means designing assessments that cannot easily be shortcutted by AI. Following an audit of its internally assessed Pathways and Perspectives course, for example, the school has shifted towards verbal presentations, handwritten work and sketchbooks, “things that we know are the work of the pupil”. It has also ended unsupervised typed assessments.

Teddies is not ignoring AI, however. From this term, sixth formers will work with Global Shapers, an AI literacy programme developed by graduates. “Our main aim is to make pupils critical users of AI,” says Flower.

He believes there is currently too much hype around AI. Young people are concerned about jobs, an education “outsourced to AI” and the world they are growing up in “being radically different from the world that existed 20, 30 years ago”. What pupils really want, says Flower, is some sense of where this is all heading, “which is, of course, the most difficult thing to do”.

But he argues that older generations and the media risk fanning the flames of AI anxiety. “There is a very lazy narrative that AI is taking young people’s jobs,” he says, pointing out that wider social changes, including the rise of remote working, have also reshaped entry-level employment.

“It’s very easy to view everything through the prism of AI, but society is much more complex than that.”

This article first appeared in The Week’s Independent Schools Guide Autumn/Winter 2026, edited by Amanda Constance.

One of the very best things about this job is having a spark of an idea and turning it into something more. That is exactly what happened when I found myself idly pondering the demise of my favourite thing in the world (after my children and Jack Russell terrier): books – or, more precisely, English literature. I was an unapologetic swot at school. I swooned over Shakespeare, found profound depths in Joyce (yes, really), and became obsessed with the literature of America’s Deep South. So when the government announced its National Year of Reading 2026 campaign, it seemed the perfect springboard for exploring what schools are doing to foster a love of reading and the study of English literature. The answer, reassuringly, is quite a lot.

Katie Sanderson spoke to several prep schools about how they nurture a love of books in the early years, while Elizabeth Burrows reports on how the school library is being reimagined for the 21st century. It’s out with dusty tomes and sepulchral stacks; in with architectural spaces, robotics suites and tech-savvy librarians. We also asked a fantastic cohort of librarians and English teachers to recommend and review their favourite books about books. Do take a look – there are some real gems in our Top Reads feature.

I delved into the decline and fall of English literature and had the pleasure and privilege of speaking to some extraordinarily engaged, impassioned and articulate literary leaders. Each had an abundance to say, particularly about the place of English in their schools. This was not a conversation about simply getting kids to read. It was about students genuinely engaging with great literature – grappling with its language, its ideas – and taking on that very grown-up, knotty challenge of what it means to be human, which is what the best works have always demanded. What was most cheering was encountering such energy and belief. Even in a world increasingly dominated by screens, the fervour that literature can spark is still very much alive and kicking in our classrooms.

This issue also includes our Best of the Best Prep Schools – a competition that gets fiercer every year, not just because we received a record number of entries but because so many of prep schools are knocking it out of the park with the education they provide. Indeed, despite the doomsday scenario painted by the media about schools closing, some prep boarding schools are bursting at the seams – Dorothy Lepkowska reports on those getting it right against the odds.

I hope you enjoy this issue.

Amanda Constance is the editor of The Week’s Independent Schools Guide. Read the full publication below or click here.

Let’s make space for childhood

By Caolan Wukics, head of boarding, Holmewood House

Australia’s legislation banning social media for under-16s has reignited a conversation I have with parents almost weekly: how do we help our children grow up in a world where smartphones seem designed to capture every spare moment of their attention?

At Holmewood House, we’ve taken a clear position. Our boarders enjoy a largely phone-free environment – and I use the word ‘enjoy’ deliberately, because that’s precisely what we see happening.

Here’s how it works in practice. Boarders can access mobile phones for communication three times a week; Monday, Wednesday and Friday evenings, for around 30 minutes. Phones must not have social media apps installed. At weekends, phone access is at staff discretion and similarly limited. Laptops and computers aren’t allowed in bedrooms.

The reaction from new boarders is telling. Initially, some are uncertain and understandably so, given how embedded these devices have become in daily life. But within days, something shifts. House staff suggest a picnic, outdoor games, or arts and crafts. Children rediscover the simple pleasure of being bored and finding their own solution. It’s genuinely liberating to watch.

What does an evening look like without screens? After supervised prep, you’ll find children making the most of our 32 acres: football on the pitch, den-building in the woods, painting in our creative room (where they’re positively encouraged to leave their mark on the walls). There’s baking in the kitchen, board games in the common room, conversations that meander and deepen because there’s nowhere else to be.

We’re not anti-technology – far from it. Our pupils use computers throughout the school day, and we have thoughtful discussions about digital literacy, social media and AI. But we believe childhood benefits from boundaries, particularly around bedtime. Research shows that 45 minutes of blue-light exposure delays melatonin release, making sleep harder. Our screen-free evening routine has helped earn us recognition as a BSA Sleep Champion, though what matters more is that children wake genuinely rested.

The deeper benefit reveals itself in relationships. Without the option to retreat behind a screen, children learn to navigate the rhythms of community life: sharing space, reading social cues, building the kind of friendships that form when you’re truly present with one another. They develop imagination, independence and conversation skills – qualities that will serve them far beyond school.

When I meet prospective families, I’m straightforward about our approach. I ask parents whether their child genuinely needs social media apps, which children shouldn’t access until they’re 13 anyway. The response is overwhelmingly positive. Parents tell me they find it diffcult to enforce boundaries at home. They recognise that helping children establish healthy habits now, before the teenage years when screen battles intensify, is invaluable.

This isn’t about creating some romanticised, pre-digital childhood. Boarders can phone home using the house mobile and landline whenever they need. The common room has a television (though, like most of their generation, they rarely watch it). There’s even a Nintendo Switch for rainy afternoons. But these are moments in their week, not the gravitational centre.

What we’re really offering is something increasingly precious: time. Time to discover interests that emerge from curiosity rather than algorithms. Time to develop independence through real-world experiences. Time to build the kind of childhood memories that aren’t mediated by a screen.

I’ve noticed a growing trend across schools “Parents consistently tell us that our phone-free boarding is a significant draw” to limit screen time and extend childhood, protecting pupils from inappropriate content whilst fostering genuine inquiry and interaction. Some schools use Yondr pouches to lock phones away during the day. We’ve simply removed them from the boarding environment almost entirely.

The results speak for themselves. We see children who are present, engaged and connected to one another in meaningful ways. We’re alert to research about screens affecting attention spans and the ability to form deep relationships. Our approach isn’t about fighting technology, it’s about giving children the space to grow at their own pace.

Parents consistently tell us that our phone-free boarding is a significant draw. In a world where screens compete for our children’s attention at every turn, families appreciate a place where childhood can unfold more naturally, where children use their imagination, play games and participate in activities without constant digital distraction.

When I watch boarders at supper – laughing, chatting, fully engaged with one another – I’m reminded why this matters. We’re not preparing children for a world without technology. We’re just giving them the foundations to use it wisely. And that strikes me as an education worth having.

Banning phones is easy but not effective

By Dr Robert Harrison, director of education & integrated technology, ACS International Schools

When the education secretary writes to every head teacher in England insisting schools must be phone-free environments for the entire school day, I understand the impulse. When she says phones shouldn’t be used as calculators or for research during lessons, I recognise the frustration driving it.

But I’ve also watched this debate drift from legitimate concern into something approaching moral panic. And I worry that an outright ban – however satisfying – mistakes avoidance for protection.

The truth is that a blanket ban would simply create a phone-free bubble for seven hours, then send students home at 3.30pm with a cheery ‘good luck’. Parents would be left to manage their children’s digital world alone, often without the tools or support to do so effectively. Meanwhile, we will have spent the school day pretending that the digital world doesn’t exist.

This is the equivalent of teaching road safety without ever letting children near a street.

The evidence supporting bans is far less conclusive than the headlines suggest. The University of Pennsylvania study showing improved grades? That was in India, where smartphones represent fundamentally different patterns of access and ownership. The LSE research from 2016? Frequently cited, rarely read in full. The effects were modest and concentrated among specific groups. We don’t have robust evidence that school-hours bans improve long-term outcomes. What we may be creating instead is a generation skilled at hiding phone use rather than managing it.

At ACS International Schools, we take a different approach that’s neither permissive nor punitive. We absolutely limit phone use during the school day. But we do so through consultation with teachers, parents and students, not through inflexible campus-wide prohibition.

Our experience is that one size doesn’t fit all. Pre-teens have different needs (and capabilities) than 17-year-olds with revision apps and UCAS correspondence to deal with. Campus layouts matter. After-school activities matter. School climate and student engagement matter. Transportation matters, too, for students travelling significant distances and where parental contact is a legitimate need.

So we build consensus. At the start of each year, we engage families in an open discussion about digital boundaries and resilience. Students help shape the expectations they’ll be held to. This isn’t democracy for its own sake, but it’s recognition that rules imposed without buy-in become rules to circumvent.

In practice, this means protected spaces where phones can be secured in lockers or pouches, or checked-out by classroom teachers for legitimate academic use. Times and places for interaction not mediated by technology are the norm. We monitor individual behaviour and intervene when needed. But this isn’t done through surveillance, it’s through the ordinary attentiveness and relationship management that characterise good schools.

Does it work? Our students aren’t perfect digital citizens. But they’re practising, and they’re developing what we have labelled (in a nod toward Ethan Mollick) ‘co-intelligence’: the capacity to work ethically and productively with technology. When they leave our schools, they don’t suddenly encounter the digital world for the first time. They will have been navigating it, with adult guidance, for years.

I understand why black-and-white statutory bans appeal. But the problems smartphones create don’t stay within school hours. Students do not separate their lives into neat digital and analogue compartments. A balanced approach values both technology-free educational spaces and technology-informed social-emotional learning that reflects the real digital lives of today’s young people.

Threatening schools with Ofsted inspection for non-compliance isn’t collaboration but trying to outsource a societal problem to the classroom. We need genuine collaboration amongst schools, parents, government and the technology companies whose business models depend on capturing adolescent attention. Parents must engage with their children’s online lives and not outsource concern to school policy. Governments must hold platforms accountable and not just hand teachers another set of rules to enforce.

Schools should focus on developing responsible digital citizens, not confiscating mobile phones. Our job isn’t to create sanctuaries from the modern world. It’s to prepare young people to be ready to navigate it with wisdom, discernment, and confidence. That requires practice which is supervised, structured and intentional, not the convenience of avoidance masquerading as protection.

This article first appeared in The Week’s Independent Schools Guide Spring/Summer 2026, edited by Amanda Constance.

Educating children with special educational needs has been dubbed a ‘national crisis’ with soaring numbers being diagnosed with conditions like dyslexia, ADHD and autism.

A staggering one in five of all pupils – over 1.7 million – are estimated to have such special educational needs and disabilities, known commonly as SEND, according to the latest Department for Education figures.

Councils are increasingly being crippled by the costs of provision and meeting the legal and financial requirements of educating children with SEND under education, health and care plans (EHCPs), which more and more children are being issued with.

In mainstream independent schools, the numbers of children with SEND have also mushroomed, driven by the lack of state provision and by the same escalating rates of diagnosis.

Where once a special educational needs department might have been something of a peripheral add on, it is now central.

Rachel Mackenzie, head of learning support at Roedean School near Brighton – which is experiencing “a rising number of diagnoses, in particular of autism, ADHD and dyslexia as well as anxiety related needs” – says there had “definitely been a real cultural shift in independent schools over the past decade” with SEND “visible, openly discussed and celebrated”.

At open days, schools report SEND is a frequent and regular topic. “Parents increasingly want clear, practical information about learning support, assessment processes and how the school supports individual needs within a high-achieving environment,” she explains.

At Wellington College in Berkshire, Headmaster James Dahl says all schools were dealing with “increasing numbers of children with educational psychologist reports or children with EHCPs”.

“Of course, it is challenging for all schools whenever you have more stuff to deal with and the same human resource or financial resource, and you have to meet that demand,” he says.

At the co-ed boarding and day school, Dahl says “more people were working in our academic support department than ever before, and people with more specialisms including an ADHD specialist and an autism specialist”.

“You go back 25 years and you maybe had one person who had done a course on dyslexia and that was your academic support department.

“The burden is heavy and unfortunately most schools in this country – state and independent – don’t have the financial or human resources to be able to deal effectively with the wave of diagnoses that are coming through the system,” he warns.

At Hanford School in Dorset, Headmistress Hilary Phillips says one reason diagnosis had increased was because we are “a lot better at diagnosing now”, although she urged real caution in diagnosing children too early when other factors might be involved. “More pupils are getting such a diagnosis as they are going through the system when it could just be a developmental stage. It could be the experiences they had at home or it could be how they have been brought up.”

Hand in hand with this, she believes it is very welcome that the past stigma some parents felt about having their child labelled has dissipated, partly because “younger parents are much more comfortable and open and aware that this is a thing”.

And Phillips says that while small schools like Hanford, an all-girls prep, benefited from small class sizes, meaning SEND children could be helped more, schools with classes of 28-30 “had no chance of addressing their needs”.

However, schools also warn that while provision and resources in independent schools tend to be far better, both sectors are hampered by the sharp rise in diagnosis because of the need for external help.

“We all want to respond as quickly as we can but the state and the independent sector have the same issues – there are a certain amount of professionals out there and we are all using them if we are going to an external source.

“With these increased diagnoses, we have the same number of people trying to deal with this huge volume of children,” she says.

And at Roedean, Rachel Mackenzie says the biggest pressure at the all-girls’ day and boarding senior school is “often not money but people”, pointing to a “national shortage of qualified SEND specialists”.

And she warns: “Nationally, this is leading to burnout among staff who are juggling teaching with learning, pastoral and behavioural demands.”

At Stowe School in Buckingham, special educational needs co-ordinator (SENco) Caroline Bagshaw says the co-ed senior school was seeing increased numbers of children with special educational needs – both pupils with diagnosed needs applying but also existing pupils being diagnosed after concerns were flagged by staff or parents.

Bagshaw believes that increased awareness of conditions like ADHD and autism continues to drive greater diagnosis.

“Teachers are trained to meet the needs in the classroom and, of course, the more they are trained to meet those needs, the more they are becoming upskilled and the more they notice children with undiagnosed needs.”

Stowe has “almost doubled the size of learning support in classrooms in the last 20 years”, with learning support assistants available in every lower set from third to fifth forms in English, maths, physics, biology and chemistry across every week, she explains.

Rachel Mackenzie at Roedean says that “increased levels of flexibility and individual attention for SEND pupils” marked out many independent schools but she adds: “I would argue that state and independent schools face many of the same pressures around SEND, but the challenges play out differently because their structures, funding models, and expectations diverge.

“Whilst state schools typically experience higher volumes of pupils with complex needs, tighter statutory responsibilities and chronic funding constraints, they often struggle with long waits for external assessments, limited specialist staff and large class sizes.

“Independent schools have smaller classes, strong pastoral teams and the ability to buy in specialist support quickly, but there is often a greater level of parental expectations of personalised support.”

At Wellington, over 10 per cent of the pupils have an ADHD diagnosis, although official figures just a few years ago estimated the nationwide figure at only 5 per cent.

“We have seen a rise in ADHD and autism diagnoses over the last five years. I have no doubt that the figures we see at Wellington reflect what is happening nationally,” says James Dahl. “It might be that we have a higher proportion than is the case but, talking to colleagues in the state sector, I suspect the 5 per cent figure is an under-estimation.”

Meanwhile, medical intervention for children with SEND is a strong bone of contention.

“I have seen the positive benefits of medication with neurodevelopmental conditions like ADHD, and also the judicious use of medication in and around young people with chronic anxiety or depression, being an important part of their road to recovery,” says Dahl.

At Stowe, where Caroline Bagshaw says parents “agonised” over medication for conditions like ADHD, children on medication are closely monitored by a consultant paediatrician.

She says: “I think it can be eye opening for some children for whom it helps to start to concentrate or focus, but it is not a panacea”.

Experts also agree that Covid affected the SEND picture, with Rachel Mackenzie at Roedean saying “it shifted SEND needs and the way they were discussed”.

And James Dahl says: “I don’t think we are there with understanding the nuances and complexities of what’s been happening in the last 20 years – and how we cope with this is arguably the biggest challenge facing the education sector.”

This article first appeared in The Week’s Independent Schools Guide Spring/Summer 2026, edited by Amanda Constance.

The numbers don’t make for pretty reading. Between 2011 and 2021, the number of students studying English literature at university fell by a third, and the decline has continued. Across UK universities, undergraduates studying any type of English degree dropped by 19 per cent between 2019-20 and 2023-24.

English literature A-level, the precious pipeline feeding universities, has also withered, falling out of the top-ten most popular A-levels in 2022. In the summer of 2025, 112,000 students took maths A-level, compared to just 58,000 who did English. Joanna Burton, head of policy for higher education at the Russell Group of 24 leading universities, told The Times: “A decline in the uptake of English A-level in recent years has had a knock-on effect on degree numbers.”

Blame is cast widely: our addiction to screens, the collapse of reading for pleasure and the rising cost of higher education. As journalist James Marriott writes in his Substack essay, The Death of English Literature: “£9,535 per year to acquire a finer appreciation of moon imagery in DH Lawrence is a hefty ask in the present economic climate.” Students are opting for degrees with clearer career pathways such as economics, business, maths, engineering and medicine. Ten years after graduating, engineers earn on average £20,000 more than English graduates (£54,800 versus £34,300). One English emeritus professor told The Times he felt “despair” that “a subject I considered as important as a religion is now apparently failing the marketability test”.

And there is anguish and confusion, that what Marriott calls the “prince of the humanities” has fallen so far. English literature was once the most prestigious of degrees, freighted with intellectual ambition. Yet even my own children describe their experience of the subject as “lame”. So where did it go wrong?

‘A hollowing out of content’

Elizabeth Stone, Headmaster of Winchester College, points to fragmented attention spans. “The idea that you have to sustain focus for an extended period of time to read a short story, let alone a novel, is going against all the circumstances in which our young people are now living. They are swimming in different waters,” she says. Children might spend as much as six to nine hours a day on screens, consuming mostly short-form video in formats that are typically 25 to 30 seconds long.

“In an environment where they are spending hours every day training their mind to be highly distracted, is it any wonder they struggle with the long cross-country run that reading a novel requires?” she asks. “That quick hit is just antithetical to reading.”

While this fragmentation is global, Stone is also critical of the UK’s English literature curriculum. “The way children are asked to study English can quickly become pedestrian and formulaic,” she says. Teachers tell her that teaching excerpts rather than whole texts is the most efficient way to prepare students for exams. There is “a hollowing out of content to make it teachable”.

She dismisses claims that the English literature GCSE is dominated by ‘irrelevant, dead, white men’ as “rubbish”. She vehemently believes that Shakespeare, Goethe and Voltaire are for everyone. “They have endured because they speak to deep universal truths.” To argue that anybody cannot access them due to their age, gender or skin colour is simply “patronising”, she says. She does think, however, that “some resonance is needed” and supports a mix of classic and contemporary writing, insisting students should encounter texts that reflect their own lives.

Her deeper concern is structural. We are in an environment when every course ends with “a high-stakes exam assessment”, she says. The result is a “reverse engineering – what you test for gets taught”.

Within the current system, it is easier in a subject such as maths or physics to come up with a clear and precise definition of what the answer is. If you are preparing a child for a public examination “your job is to be very definitive – that really impacts the ways these things have to be taught”.

In English, subjectivity complicates matters. Stone references a 2018 report by Ofqual which revealed marking in English literature across GCSEs, AS and A-levels showed a roughly 50 per cent agreement rate with ‘definitive’ marks.

“To my knowledge nothing has been done to address that,” she says. “Students might look at that and think, ‘you know what, if I put the same level of effort into economics, I can predictably get a decent grade but in English it’s 50⁄50’. That’s a really important factor.”

‘An economic case for the humanities’

Matthew Oliver, head of English at Bede’s in East Sussex, agrees that career utility is central to the subject’s decline. “When we are charging students for degrees, it’s quite natural that they will be making pragmatic and economic decisions.” English teachers, he says, must “make an economic case for the humanities”, but also persuade pupils of the wider benefits of studying English literature.

“If one believes that the sole purpose of education is to enable you to get a job that earns you over £100,000 a year very quickly then, possibly, English literature would be seen to be a very limiting degree – if that is your sole measure of success.”

Literature is “almost designed to be difficult”: complex, demanding, and no longer the primary way “we communicate ideas about culture and society. The reason to choose a book needs to be asserted more strongly.”

And schools have to offer a combination of the best of traditional classical literature and cutting-edge contemporary literature, says Oliver. “All English teachers would make a case for why we need to teach Shakespeare or the 19th century novel – but I also must insist that we need to teach very contemporary texts: we need to see literature as offering a response to a world that we live in now.”

To demonstrate the subject’s career relevance, Oliver invites alumni into classrooms to talk about how “communication and the handling of language is so central to many professions”. Recent guests have included a lawyer who spoke of “the absolute centrality of handling nuance, of being able to think critically”, a STEM policy advocate explaining how funding depends on persuasive writing, and a marketing professional setting real-world communication challenges. Oliver also approaches guests from all over the world who have done an English degree to talk to pupils about their careers. An amazing array of guests has joined pupils online, including a Guardian journalist, a Michelin-starred chef from Spain and a fashion writer from Shanghai.

“All our students are seeing there are many routes that English can take you,” says Oliver. He believes engaging pupils with English begins with relationships. Teachers at Bede’s are expected to recommend books personally to each pupil – gift-wrapped novels are common. “That for me is the measure of a good English teacher – do you know your pupils well enough to recommend a book to them?” says Oliver. Small class sizes are essential and at A-level, students receive Oxbridge-style one-to-one supervisions where they are expected to discuss and expand on their independent coursework assignment. And all students are encouraged to debate, perform and write creatively. “I want to look at the room and make sure I am engaging everyone in some way,” Oliver says. This term, his class is staging a 1990s acid-house version of “Henry IV Part I”, with Falstaff in an Adidas tracksuit.

Oliver thinks the complexity of literature can be a draw if taught well. The danger, he says, “is reducing the text to some information. It isn’t solely information – it’s teaching us about the complexity of being human.” Students are often “stunned”, he says, by a writer who has found “the most fitting expression possible for a complex and knotty human feeling.”

There is a gap between what we can feel and how we can express it, he says. “If we can close that gap so we become proficient and confident in expressing what we really feel, does that make us lead better lives? I think it does.”

And one of the real advantages of independent schools is having freedom to design a curriculum. “I get to choose what we study,” says Oliver.

While Oliver believes the “canon is still relevant as an idea”, he thinks some exam boards have been “quite narrow at GCSE” and wants to teach the best of literature in English – whether that’s a Nigerian novel, an American play or a text in translation.

“We must give the sense that literature is still being written about the world we live in now,” he says. So, if his pupils are studying the urban poverty of “Jane Eyre” or “David Copperfield”, Oliver might also get them to read “Shuggie Bain” by Douglas Stuart or “Only Here, Only Now” by Tom Newlands.

“What I insist upon is the freedom to combine what we believe to be the best of our canonical classical texts with something that is contemporary and brilliant. I think that combination is incredibly powerful.”

The real sweet spot, he says, is when “a canonical text strikes a particularly contemporary and timely note.”

For example, he says, “‘Henry IV Part I’ – it wouldn’t necessarily strike anyone as a text to talk about contemporary Britain, but if you are talking about masculinity, about privilege, about morality – we could do a lot worse than start with that play.”

It’s the freedom to choose a text or a play that is so vital, says Oliver. When we can “make an informed choice that suits our moment, our purpose, our cohort – that’s when it ignites that passion in pupils.”

‘The only way to live other lives’

At Highgate School in north London, there is plenty of passion for English literature. Odette Orlans, head of English, notes that children arriving in Year 7 “used to come in excited by English and stories – now their experience is learning things like fronted adverbials”.

“We should start with joy,” she says. “Every child loves being read to. Prepping for any test can take the joy out of something.”

And there is clearly immense pleasure in learning English literature at Highgate – numbers of A-level students are steadily rising every year, and students go on to read English literature at Oxbridge year after year.

Highgate achieves this by making reading “a whole school focus – it’s a consistent message pupils are getting from everywhere, not just the English department”, says Orlans.

For example, the Head always gives book recommendations in assemblies and ‘Highgreat Reads’ are prestigious school reading lists. A place on these lists is hotly fought. ‘Book Battles’ will take place between pupils and teachers who fight for their book to be included and the gathered assembly gets to vote which title gains a place on the hallowed list.

The Lyttelton Competition, a poetry declamation prize, is one of “the most prestigious in the school”. Every child in the school must enter with the 20 finalists performing at an evening finale event. “It’s a big deal,” says Orlans.

The school has also resisted individual screens for pupils – unlike so many other independent schools. “So we’ve never had that fight on our hands,” Orlans says.

“Screens have their place,” she says. She loves being able to show NT Live in class, and moments such as “listening to Virginia Woolf’s voice on YouTube” is “incredible” – but the default is pen and paper.

“I think it’s amazing. I don’t want to be teaching classes where pupils are on screens.”

But Orlans also believes that the reason so many pupils are excited about English literature at Highgate is quite simple: “We choose good texts and we teach them well.”

At GCSE, teachers can choose to teach “what they are passionate about and what will work well for their class”. There are some strictures in place. “We say they must do a play, a novel, a collection of poetry and we say that one of those set texts has to be by a woman,” says Orlans.

“We teach in a co-ed school and a co-ed world – study must reflect that.”

At A-level, “we try to mix things up”, she says. Students have to study works by women and non-white authors alongside canonical texts on the Eduqas syllabus.

Orlans is not anti the canon – far from it: “It’s cultural literacy,” she says – but thinks it’s important to broaden study, too.

A-level coursework pairs pre- and post- 2000 novels; students recently studied Chinua Achebe’s “Things Fall Apart” alongside Andrea Levy’s “Small Island”, and Orlans is currently teaching “Mrs Dalloway” by Virginia Woolf alongside Kazuo Ishiguro’s “Klara and The Sun”.

It’s clearly an engaging mix for students, aided by frequent theatre trips. “We often choose to teach a play based on what is on in London,” says Orlans.

Among the many stories Orlans relays of visiting authors, essay writing competitions and lively lunchtime literary debates, one moment captures the spirit of English study at Highgate. While studying Virginia Woolf’s “To The Lighthouse”, a Year 12 class recreated its famous big dinner party scene down to the food, characters and costuming – and not one script, but two. The first read-through was Woolf’s words; but the second? Their own script of what was meant but left unsaid in that iconic modernist scene. If that isn’t excitement about literature, it’s hard to know what is.

Winchester doesn’t even do English GCSE. “We do it in an unexamined way that really makes literature sing,” says Elizabeth Stone. All Wykehamists study ‘Div’, an unexamined inter-disciplinary humanities curriculum with literature at its core. Div is timetabled throughout a Wykehamist's school career – at A-level it is the equivalent of an additional subject. “It is a deep commitment to deep thinking,” says Stone.

Pupils all study English literature “for the love of it, with freedom to immerse themselves without being skewed by the narrow demands and pedestrian edicts of an exam board”, says Stone.

“Importantly”, she adds, students read whole novels. And there is a wider spread of content; this year’s sixth formers are studying Chaucer alongside contemporary writer, actor and comedian, Tom Basden – “developing cultural literacy and broadening intellectual awareness and connecting texts with art, religion and politics.”

When the school trialled GCSE English literature, “the only tangible effect was that the children who had done English literature GCSE chose the A-level in significantly smaller numbers”, says Stone.

“Div is so spiritually liberating,” she says. “We see it as a point of distinction; it is the mark of the Wykehamist that they are original thinkers.”

And originality is needed at a time when top grades alone no longer distinguish students. “The exam arms-race has maxed out. You have to bring something different to the table,” says Stone.

But literature should never be only about employability. “Children are more than economic units,” Stone says. “We want them to flourish and come fully alive.” In a largely unchurched generation, books offer a space to explore meaning, empathy and identity. And what better medium to do that than through the words on a printed page. “It’s like dreaming with your eyes open – the only way to live other lives,” says Stone.

If English literature is to survive, it may be by reclaiming precisely that truth.

This article first appeared in The Week’s Independent Schools Guide Spring/Summer 2026, edited by Amanda Constance.

We are delighted to present this issue of The Week Independent Schools Guide. There's no denying this has been an incredibly challenging period for the UK's independent schools. The imposition of VAT on school fees, rising NI costs and the loss of charitable business rates have left some schools, particularly the smaller ones that don't bag the headlines or student numbers, facing an existential threat.

There have been some heartbreaking closures in recent months, but the sector is also adapting; for a while this year, barely a week went by without news of a merger between schools or school groups. Elizabeth Ivens has written about the merger mania in this issue, why it is happening, what it could mean for the sector and what parents think about it.

Like many, I was stunned by the Netflix drama Adolescence, but also, like many, baulked at the idea that this was somehow the defining cultural touchstone on the subject of the 'manosphere'. I certainly didn't agree with the prime minister's belief that it should be mandatory viewing in all our schools. I have long felt queasy about the punitive term 'toxic masculinity', as it is a heavy yoke for young men to bear. So, I wasn't overly keen to investigate the issue of how schools are coping with the so-called 'crisis in masculinity' – but I am very pleased I did. Because there is so much enlightened, emotionally literate, life-affirming work in this sphere, being led by independent schools. And, as we go to press, the government has announced that all schools in England should teach children how to recognise and act against misogyny. The final draft of the new relationships, sex and health education (RSHE) guidance also states pupils must be taught "how to identify and learn from positive male role models", surely a positive step forwards.

But let me leave you with an anecdote, passed on by Chloe Combi, author, speaker and futurist, during an electrifying presentation on the online world at a conference at Downe House School. While in Silicon Valley, she asked a senior figure at Meta what had been the company's most successful commodity to date. Their reply? "Teenage rage and pain." Consider that for a moment; a leader of the company that owns Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and more said, off-the-record, that what this global behemoth has monetised most successfully is the pain of young people – our children. Perhaps worth thinking about on your next scroll through Insta?

There is also much to celebrate in this issue; we have focused on the amazing music that independent schools enjoy, plus the community work they pursue with music at its heart. And don't miss our much-anticipated guide to the best senior schools in the UK.

We hope you enjoy this issue.

Amanda Constance is the editor of The Week’s Independent Schools Guide. Read the full publication below or click here.

We are delighted to present the latest issue of The Week Independent Schools Guide.

As a head at one of our leading schools said to me a few weeks ago: "You're not short of meaty issues to cover!" An apt comment and our plate is certainly full: the imposition of VAT, escalating concerns over social-media access for children and schools rugby under the lens – there are challenges aplenty for independent schools right now.

It is very hard to cover the VAT situation adequately as a biannual print publication – events are moving so fast, but we have done our best to assess the situation as it stands. Elizabeth Ivens has poured all her know-how and used her network of contacts to answer questions about the impact of VAT so far.

I have followed coverage of Christine Rosen's new book, "The Extinction of Experience", with interest. Rosen makes the argument that we are "actively deskilling as human beings" by handing over our lives to the handheld devices that we still mistakenly call phones. With continuing widespread coverage of Jonathan Haidt's "The Anxious Generation" and the Smartphone Free Childhood movement gaining momentum, it feels like we might have reached an important tipping point when it comes to the digital access we give our children both inside and outside the home. How much – or how little – pupils should use tech at school remains up for debate. So that's exactly what we have done in this issue: asked two leading heads to discuss whether prep schools should be tech-filled or tech-free.

With rising tuitions fees in England, UK universities in financial crisis and too many students feeling they don't get value for money, it felt like a good time to explore whether university is worth it. I spoke to senior educators and experts who know far more than me and, dear reader, you will be pleased to know the answer is a definite yes. Not only is there hard data to back up the worth of an undergraduate degree in financial terms, but there is also evidence of immeasurable lifelong benefits. What is most dangerous, according to Lord David Willetts, who has written an excellent report on this subject, is growing public scepticism which might put students off from taking this step.

One of the great unsung strengths of independent schools is their ability to be truly independent with their curriculum. What and how students are taught in the independent sector is often innovative and a country mile away from the tick-box mentality of the national curriculum and public exams. Dorothy Lepkowska's talks to some who are really changing the way students learn. Finally, don't miss our much-anticipated guide to the best prep schools in the UK.

We hope you enjoy this issue.

Amanda Constance is the editor of The Week’s Independent Schools Guide. Read the full publication below or click here.

With the new academic year underway, we are delighted to present the latest issue of The Week Independent Schools Guide.

Inspired by our summer of sport we have a special report on the issue of girls and sport. Earlier in March, the House of Commons Women and Equalities Committee published a report, Health barriers for girls and women in sport. It makes for sober reading; yes, women’s sport is on the up but there are many challenges in what is still a “male-shaped space”, from education around female health and sportwear designed by men, for men, to disparities in the status given to sportswomen. Encouragingly, many of our top schools are leading the charge for change and introducing innovative ways to support girls. “It’s about looking at everything from the female perspective,” says Anna Scott, the director of sport and head of female health at Highgate School. “Making sure girls feel seen and heard in terms of any barriers they may feel when it comes to sport.”

In a historic year of political upheaval, Anna Paul, the new Head of South Hampstead High School, GDST, in London takes on the issue of leadership, arguing that it’s more important than ever to encourage young people to become a positive force for future change. She says understanding ourselves is an important start when it comes to being a leader: “Knowing our strengths and weaknesses is central to our ability to lead authentically. No-one ever explained this human side of leadership to me when I was at school.”

A big change in recent years is the rise in virtual schooling. Dorothy Lepkowska has investigated why some families are opting out of traditional education and meets some of the providers in this space. As Hugh Viney, CEO of Minerva’s Virtual Academy, points out, for some people now “homeschooling is a lifestyle choice”. Food for thought, and with numbers in such schools growing exponentially, this isn’t a trend that is going to go away anytime soon.

I interviewed Sarah Jones, hockey star, who I hope has triumphed with the Team GB hockey squad at the Paris Olympics by the time you read this. Sarah has a fantastic story to tell of a road differently travelled. Unlike many of her English hockey teammates who were groomed for stardom via elite pathways from a young age, Sarah grew up football mad in Wales, discovered hockey at Howell’s School and only took the sport seriously following a Damascene conversion one cold winter’s night at Loughborough University. She is a fantastic example of the power of persistence and belief in yourself. A good lesson for all aspiring sporting girls out there.

Amanda Constance is the editor of The Week’s Independent Schools Guide. Read the full publication below or click here.

The introduction of VAT on private school fees has been on the Labour Party's agenda since they published their 2019 manifesto. If they come to power at the general election later this year, it is very likely they will introduce the 20 per cent tax. With parents already feeling the pinch from rapidly rising costs of education, an average of 8 per cent last year, and schools coming under financial pressure with teacher pension schemes, increased energy prices and wage inflation, we try to unpick what could happen if VAT is introduced.

Will VAT be added to school fee bills?

''The school doesn't have to pass this on to parents in fees. And each of the schools is going to have to ask themselves whether that's what they want to do,'' says Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer. The big question on most parent's minds is: will 20 per cent be added to my fees or will schools absorb it? The short answer is most probably a combination of both. VAT is a consumer tax and therefore you should expect to see it on your school bill. However, due to the likelihood of this added cost being unavoidable for many – an Independent Schools Council (ISC) survey suggests as many as 20 per cent of parents would withdraw their children – schools may do their bit to help. This could be done by reducing school fees but this is at the discretion of each school and will depend on the strength of their business as to how much support they can offer.

Will VAT be charged on paying fees in advance?

Many schools have suggested that parents who are able to, should consider paying fees upfront. VAT is charged at the point the service is supplied, so it will be added to your school fee bill when it is issued. Where fees have been paid upfront prior to the introduction of VAT, however, in principle the tax would not be due. The Independent Schools' Bursars Association says the government could pass new taxation laws to change VAT rules retrospectively, but few think this is likely.

Is VAT charged on boarding fees?

There is discussion over whether VAT can only be charged to some elements of educational 'supplies' made by schools. Accommodation, or the boarding part of education, may be treated as VAT exempt, but this depends on what the law states. Under the 28 day rule applied to hotel accommodation, this could be 4 per cent. However, there could be a difference between a 'traveller' and living in 'residential accommodation', so it is likely VAT will be applied to boarding fees, including state boarding.

How will VAT impact discounted fees or bursaries?

With around a third of children receiving some kind of financial support with school fees, according to the ISC many families on discounted fees will be impacted. If you have a full bursary and the education is provided free of charge, then no VAT can be attached.

Is VAT still charged if fees are paid by a grandparent or trust?

Yes, this is still considered a 'supply' of education paid by one person for the child, so VAT is charged.

How soon can VAT be imposed?

Labour has said it will bring in the change within a year of getting in power; however, expect it to be sooner rather than later, to maximise tax revenues. A law can be passed whenever a Labour government chooses, either as part of a new budget or independently as a 'money bill'.

What will this mean for smaller schools and special educational needs (SEN) schools?

Whilst large schools may be better financially resourced, many smaller private schools will face bigger challenges. Some prep schools, foreign language schools and faith schools may be forced to close. Another important question surrounds whether SEN schools, in which many children are funded by local authorities, will be exempt from VAT.

What are schools doing?

Most schools have been scenario planning and scrutinising their cost base and fee structures. Joanna Wright, Head of King Edward's Witley, says: "We should remain calm and have confidence in our schools' capacity to provide an outstanding education... We share a common purpose." Many schools have been busy assessing their business models, diversifying and increasingly consolidating. Nicholas Dodd, COO of Bryanston School which merged with Knighton House in 2021, says: "We are planning for what may be coming down the line and being very proactive in responding to cost shocks and the national economic situation. We always look forwards, looking at opportunities whilst focusing on our main proposition."

What can parents do?

Communicate with your school and ask what plans are in place and what the options are. Work with them to help with this highly charged political campaign, pointing out all the other things private schools do in helping communities through local partnerships and employment. "Parent advocacy is very important. We must promote all the great things schools do and help raise awareness of why the imposition of VAT on school fees will have the greatest impact on hard working parents who are already making sacrifices in order to pay school fees," says King Edward's Witley's Joanna Wright. All parents should plan for what may come, this year or in the future. "Making the commitment to paying school and university fees is a long-term commitment covering potentially two decades. Many parents are already financial planning and considering that they might have to make further sacrifices," adds Bryanston's Nicholas Dodd.

Although we cannot be sure the Labour Party will win the general election, the implication of VAT on school fees weighs heavily on the minds of many parents and schools up and down the country. The impact on people – existing and new parents, staff, local communities, suppliers and, potentially, many children – will be significant. Whilst schools pore over the finances and the impact of VAT on their businesses, some families may consider private education to be off the table.

This article first appeared in The Week's Independent Schools Guide Spring/Summer 2024.

With spring finally on its way, we are delighted to present the latest issue of The Week Independent Schools Guide.

For this publication, we have been delving into artificial intelligence (AI) in education. A huge change is taking place in the education landscape because of AI, not least the launch of generative AI tools such as ChatGPT that can write an essay in a few seconds. We've been finding out how this step change is affecting schools, from the dazzling teaching opportunities in the classroom to the numerous tasks they face, not least skilling up an entire teaching body with this new tech. As Jonnie Noakes, director of teaching and learning at Eton College, says: "It's a challenge people understand they need to be up for, because trying to ignore AI really isn't an option." Quite.

Tim Manly, the former Head of Hurstpierpoint College and CEO of the innovative Hurst Education Trust has written an inspirational piece about what he hopes will be another paradigm shift in UK education, a future blurring of the boundaries between state and independent schools of the kind he is seeing with the Hurst Education Trust. As he says: "In a world which is increasingly cursed by polarisation… it would be refreshing to see greater integration and collaboration in education."

Meanwhile, our regular school debate focuses on another hot topic: whether it's time to call time on GCSEs. Susan Wijeratna, the Head at Latymer Upper School, which has taken the widely publicised decision to drop some GCSEs, takes up the cudgels in the Yes corner while Alastair Chirnside, Warden of St Edward's School, Oxford, presents the opposing view.

Our Top Reads are recommendations from teachers, librarians and heads of science on a science fiction, futuristic or AI-related theme. We have had some amazing suggestions, from the dark and dystopian for older readers, such as "Station Eleven" by Emily St John Mandel (one of my absolute favourite books of recent years) to captivating books for younger readers such as "Our Sister, Again" by Sophie Cameron, the story about a young girl whose sister is brought back to life using AI.

And I was thrilled to interview Dr Anne-Marie Imafidon about her school days. Dr Imafidon is a true STEM legend, a child-prodigy who passed her computing A-level aged 11 and went on to found Stemettes, an award-winning social initiative to inspire girls and young women to pursue careers in science and tech. She reflects on her amazing teacher, Mr Davies, who saw her potential so many years ago at primary school. "I don't know what would have happened to me if he hadn't seen me and offered the pathway that he did when I was eight years old," she says. "That's why I do what I do now… I realise what a privilege it was to have had that kind of opportunity."

Finally, don't miss our exclusive guide to the best prep schools in the UK. We hope you enjoy this issue.

Amanda Constance is the editor of The Week’s Independent Schools Guide. Read the full publication below or click here.

Artificial intelligence is everywhere. Since ChatGPT launched in November 2022, it seems a day hasn't gone by without a shouty headline about robots taking over our jobs and schools. While much of the press has been predictably negative with lurid stories about cheating and plagiarism, it has pinpointed the potential artificial intelligence (AI) has to radically change the education landscape, for pupils and teachers. So, what effect is AI having on education?

"We are just starting to talk about AI in schools, as teachers and students," says Will Van Reyk, head of history and politics at North London Collegiate School (NLCS). Newspapers, he says, have reduced the story to, "give students an essay question and AI will give you an answer". But that "narrative misses the points about what AI brings in terms of benefits".

Mr Van Reyk is acutely aware of the challenges surrounding the introduction of AI into schools. Not least the demanding legal, ethical, compliance and safeguarding frameworks that schools must adopt to use it. But he is adamant that "if students and staff are taught in the right way then it could be very beneficial for both parties.

"AI offers a massive new dimension to students in the classroom," he says, with benefits to student's critical thinking, problem solving and scholarly research.

He cites a new AI tool, Perplexity – dubbed the 'Google killer' – which Amazon's Jeff Bezos has recently invested millions in. "It's an amazing knowledge research tool and will enhance any student's ability to access high quality articles," he says. "I think it's the best AI tool in education."

'You can really bring history to life'

Mr Van Reyk already uses ChatGPT in his lessons, often for role play scenarios. Students can 'recreate' a given historical event – the Cuban Missile Crisis, for example – where they can assume the role of US president John F Kennedy and ask ChatGPT questions which the AI then answers. "You can really bring history to life," he says.

And these interactions can throw up wider issues around AI that can then be discussed in the classroom.

For example, Mr Van Reyk explains how his class was studying Britain in the 1950s. The students asked ChatGPT to role model an average person from the era and it immediately said: "I go to the pub in the evening." "The default response was male," says Mr Van Reyk. This led to an interesting class discussion about the inherent biases in AI. "It is a reflection of a biased society, and it's about teaching students to recognise that," says Mr Van Reyk, adding: "Women are being cut out of the story in development of AI – as a girls' school, this is really important to us."

Mr Van Reyk says he is hopeful that the narrative will move on from the potential for cheating and "assessment itself will shift to assuming that all students are using AI and those who don't use it well will not be as good as a student who uses it in the appropriate way".

'Everyone is playing catch up'

Steve Birtles, head of digital teaching and learning at Eton College, is more circumspect about the advent of AI assessment. "Fundamentally, the way qualifications are assessed [in schools] with sit-down written exams – those are the things that need to shift before we can make huge changes to the way we approach teaching with AI," he says.

Eton is using ChatGPT to enhance learning in the classroom. Its launch less than 18 months ago has meant "everyone is playing catch up", says Jonnie Noakes, the director of teaching and learning at Eton. The reason this AI tool brought about such a sea-change in schools was twofold, he explains. Firstly, ChatGPT is an example of 'conversational' AI, which "has made AI accessible to anyone who can hold a conversation, so it's available to our school-age pupils in a way it wasn't before". And secondly, ChatGPT has a 13+ age rating, unlike say Claude AI or Google Bard, which both have an 18+ rating.

Eton, just like every other school, had to decide quickly what their stance was on using AI in the classroom. "We decided that if we forbade it that would effectively close down the discussion about its proper use, and we think it does have legitimate and educationally sound uses if used in the right way," says Mr Noakes. "We are trying to teach our pupils how to use it properly. Help them to understand the ethical concerns, help them to understand its limitations and really emphasise academic integrity and honesty."

Mr Birtles says students have been pleasantly surprised when invited to use AI, a reaction he says of, 'Oh, we are allowed to!' Teachers, on the other hand, have been "more cautious".

"We have been focusing a lot of attention recently on helping colleagues get up to speed," says Mr Noakes. "For a lot of colleagues who are not technically minded – and I put myself in that camp – this can seem like an enormous challenge. But it's a challenge people understand they need to be up for, because trying to ignore AI really isn't an option."

Eton has taken a 'platform agnostic' approach to teaching pupils how to use AI. In other words, developing pupils' skills across a number of AI platforms. The key, says Mr Birtles, is "prompt engineering". An AI tool is only as good as the question you ask it. Mr Birtles has created a cookbook of 'prompt recipes' for AI for students and teachers, scenarios to help them start navigating these new tech tools.

'AI is just another tool'

Jo Sharrock, Head at Putney High School, GDST, believes it's important that schools don't jump on the AI bandwagon without working out what it is they want to achieve first. "AI has been around for a long time – the gamechanger is generative AI. There is a lot of hype around ChatGPT but for us, AI is just another tool, part of our modern scholarship approach," she says.

She believes the use of AI should be something "we choose to use", not a default or a given. And it shouldn't come at the expense of developing pupils' critical thinking abilities.

"I do think it's really important that we stand up and say… just because you can do it doesn't mean you should do it."

She wants her students to understand their own "brilliant minds" first and remains wary of anything that de-skills or inhibits the natural learning process. "It is our responsibility to develop student's minds in the way that we need to," she says.

She cites Putney High School's (PHS) Science of Learning curriculum which runs across all subjects from Year 7 to Year 13. It has two aims, says Ms Sharrock: "To foster awe and wonder in the brilliance of human mind, and to create curious, self- sufficient learners who are comfortable with struggle rather than scared of challenge."

It's all about "How can I get my beautiful brain to do beautiful things?" says Ms Sharrock. Based on current research, it's taught through practical techniques, whether that's orienteering with a map and compass in the lower years or studying how to unlock the power of the brain higher up the school.

Now into its sixth year, "we can see the success in our raw results", says Ms Sharrock.

Summer 2023 saw the school's best tally of 9-8 grades at GCSEs and the most A* achieved at A-level since 2011.

"But more exciting is that we now have girls who have gone through the Science of Learning curriculum who are absolutely thriving. They tell us: 'It's because we know how our brain works… you've given us the skills that take us way beyond the exam hall.' Which is all we want to do."

'We have missed a step along the way'

Brighton Girls, like its sister GDST school Putney High, is an enthusiastic adopter of all things STEM with students coding from Year 2, design thinking plugged into the curriculum and AI being used in the classroom. "We want our students to feel from a young, young age that this is their world, their space," says its Head, Rosie McColl.

But Ms McColl has a different, personal take on the advent of AI in the classroom and it relates to students with special education needs (SEN). "There's so much talk at the moment about generative AI but I think we have missed a step along the way," she says.

Her own 10-year-old child is neuroatypical and struggles with dyslexia and dyscalculia. The biggest barrier to his learning is putting pen to paper. He is fine when he can use a simple voice recognition AI tool, such as speech to text, which he can use to write fluent essays.

"We use this all the time," says Ms McColl. "This is non-generative AI. We've leapt onto generative stuff but the non-generative AI is really powerful and could be really transformative at removing barriers to learning." Even generative AI tools – Ms McColl cites Mindstone, an open-source AI platform that can simplify huge passages of text at a stroke – can be really helpful for students with SEN.

However, as long as our "rigid exam system" insists that children are tested in final exams with pen and paper, Ms McColl says there's an enormous fear that governs how children, particularly neuro-divergent students, learn.

"The exam system is driving everything," she says. She would like to see less talk around generative AI and more focus on taking down the barriers for SEN pupils and harnessing the tools that have immediate benefits for them.

'Making AI work for teachers'

But Tom Rogerson, headmaster at Cottesmore School, wants to go further, faster with generative AI as he believes in its potential as a "wellbeing augmentor for teachers". Mr Rogerson received worldwide attention in autumn 2023 with the launch of Abigail Bailey, an AI chatbot with a female form who Mr Rogerson 'appointed' as a 'principal headteacher' to work alongside him at the West Sussex prep school. But behind the clever PR story lies a more serious intent.

Mr Rogerson says that from the first moment he discovered ChatGPT he saw the potential for a tool that could help the serious retention and recruitment crisis in schools by reducing "the paperwork pandemic" that burdens teachers.

"What I'm doing is trying to make AI work for teachers. That's the bottom line. I want them to have to stare into a screen less so they can be with pupils more. I want my teachers to be well."

And Mr Rogerson is putting his money, time and energy where his mouth is, holding the first conference about AI in schools at Cottesmore in May 2023 and a series of AI masterclasses – "a mega event" – for teachers across state and independent sectors in September last year.

Mr Rogerson was insistent that these events were cross-sector. His twin obsessions are wellbeing for teachers and AI inequity. It's one thing for a wellresourced independent school to invest the time and money implementing AI, but what about a state school? For example, ChatGPT 3.5 is free but ChatGPT Plus with access to GPT-4 with voice activation isn't – it sits behind a paywall. "We are not creating a superpower of AI at Cottesmore," says Mr Rogerson. "We want everyone to become an AI superpower. We want to be inclusive."

And as for Abigail Bailey, she is now ABI, Cottesmore's 'strategic leadership AI bot'. It turns out anthropomorphism is a no-no in AI so ABI no longer has a human form, but Mr Rogerson uses it regularly. "Educational leadership can be a lonely place," he says, and ABI is a hugely useful tool, a sounding board and sense checker at 1am in the morning "when your deputy head is fast asleep in bed as they should be".

This article first appeared in The Week's Independent Schools Guide Spring/Summer 2024, edited by Amanda Constance.

Is it best to move to senior school at 11 or 13? Experts, Rosie McColl and James Johnson, discuss the respective benefits of each in an article first published in The Week’s Independent Schools Guide.

The case for 11+

Let’s get one thing straight. The most important factor when choosing a school for a child is whether the environment is right for them personally and whether it feels like a good fit. Only then should concerns about the age of entry point arise. And even then, it will depend on the individual child. Where one might be raring to go with a new chapter of their school life, another may not be ready.

Levels of maturity are an important factor when transitioning to senior school and this partly explains why boys’ prep schools traditionally go up to year 8, while the transition point for girls is the end of year 6. As the head of an all-through girls’ school (from four to 18) with a key entry point at 11+, I do see a certain readiness to progress at this age in our new starters.

Anyone with a daughter will know, or will soon find out, that some aspects of school life can become more tricky for girls around year 5 and year 6. The word “tween” has entered the parental lexicon for a reason: whether it’s hitting puberty, a sense of out-growing surroundings or a need to spread one’s wings, this can be a time of turbulence.

Being a big fish in a small pond is not all it’s cracked up to be. This is the age where friendships start to change and frustrations set in. By year 6, whether they have acknowledged this verbally or not, many children will want to explore new friendships. The prospect of a fresh start in year 7, with transition events and induction days to look forward to, can be just what is needed to keep year 6 frustrations in check. When I speak to parents after school transition events, they tell me their child is “nervous but excited” about what is to come. This opportunity to step up, explore new interests and meet new people comes just at the right time for many.

Arriving in year 7 also allows pupils the luxury of time. Time to focus on settling in, forming wide friendship groups and understanding how relationship dynamics change over the months and years – and all way before they get to the seriousness of the GCSE years. A lot of growing up and confidence building occurs in these years.

Educationally, there is a lot to be said for an 11+ entry point. A far broader curriculum in years 7 and 8 means there are opportunities for pupils to explore new subjects before committing to GCSE options. This is the time when creative subjects – the ones that can really boost confidence – really shine. Children fall in love with new disciplines, be it coding or cooking, screen printing or drumming, Latin or lacrosse. At Brighton Girls, drama, dance, design and innovation, computer science, food and nutrition, music and art all appear throughout key stage 3. Years 7 and 8 are also an important time for learning about learning. There is time to develop study skills and revision techniques through low-stakes testing and the self- knowledge that is gained becomes invaluable as pupils progress up the school.

Having an 11+ entry is good for everyone. While younger pupils benefit from our mentoring system that sees older pupils acting as counsellors as problems and issues inevitably arise, I also think the energy and enthusiasm that 11 and 12-year-olds inject into a school bring joy to older pupils. You end up with a happy, balanced environment where GCSE and A level angst and teenage issues are counterweighted by year 7s and 8s playing, running to lunch and exuding that carefree attitude that is still unfettered by teenage cares.

Schools with an 11+ entry point always offer a thriving extra-curricular scene too, especially as year 7s and 8s still have that wonderful enthusiasm for trying new things. Speak to any year 7 parents and they will tell you that their children want to experience all the clubs. Harnessing this enthusiasm is something that all schools do well at 11+. By year 9, a combination of natural cynicism and emerging passions for particular activities mean that students are more reticent about trying everything on offer.

Capturing that year 7 keenness can have a huge impact. Everything is new and exciting. Many will try a sport or join an activity that they have never tried before. Pupils at Brighton Girls are queuing round the block for sea swimming, e-sports, skateboarding, politics, Spikeball, culture club and pizza and philosophy club. And when I see the quiet concentration of a 12-year-old as she shoots off the half-pipe or hear the peels of laughter as another plunges into the English Channel, I feel there’s something rather special about being able to offer such opportunities to these joyful tweens.

Rosie McColl, Head, Brighton Girls GDST

In praise of 13+

Education should be about what is right for the individual child. Some will thrive with the move to senior education aged 11. Others may find the transition better at a later stage. For parents, having this choice at all is one of the many positives of the independent sector.

I have been lucky enough to work in four excellent independent schools, Cheltenham College, Tonbridge School, Ardingly College and now Taunton School, enjoying them all in equal measure. All but Tonbridge have an attached prep school on a single campus. At Tonbridge, Cheltenham and Taunton, 13+ is considered the start of senior education. At Ardingly I was part of a senior leadership team that oversaw the structural change from the prep finishing at year 8 to the prep finishing at year 6, shortly before a move to Taunton and a return to the 13+ structure. Why the potted history of my career? Simply to demonstrate that I am comfortable with both the 13+ and 11+ model – and believe that both work.

At Taunton School, each September more than 70 pupils move up from year 8 in our prep to the senior school. They are joined by another 25 to 30 pupils from a variety of other schools (prep schools, state schools and international schools). It’s intriguing that parents of pupils from such a variety of educational settings are happy to endorse year 9 as the senior school entry point. We work hard on the successful integration of both current and new pupils. This starts with the considered allocation of houses, ensuring an even split of skills and interests and encouraging the formation of new friendships for those pupils transitioning from the prep. They have the best of both worlds: a secure group of friends already established and the exciting arrival of a new group of pupils who bring a different dimension to their year. No doubt such integration features in 11+ schools too.

So what are the advantages of the 13+ model? Firstly, there is no rush to grow up fast. Many parents, reflecting on their own education, feel that childhood is now all too brief. There is increasing social pressure for pre-teens and early teens to adopt adult personas well in advance of their emotional and physical maturity. Some might say the preciousness of childhood should be preserved rather than the precocious inadvertently encouraged. The 13+ model does not infantilise pupils in any detrimental way but rather allows children to be just that for a moment longer.

Secondly, there is a huge difference between an 11-year-old and an 18-year-old ready to sit final public exams, applying to university or about to start work, driving a car, able to vote. Many 11+ schools manage this seven-year spread of ages extremely successfully by creating a “lower school” provision for their year 7 and 8 cohort, but there is a reason why this separate experience is deemed necessary: often these youngsters don’t quite fit with the near adults wandering around the campus.

Thirdly, done well, the final two years of prep can be a precursor to the sixth form experience. Pupils have leadership opportunities and positions of responsibility that are hard to replicate in an 11+ environment where they must look up for their role models rather than being the role models themselves. Are positions of responsibility afforded to those in year 8 as part of a senior school environment really as relevant when they have only year 7 below them?

Finally, whilst some pupils will take high stakes 11+ academic assessment for senior schools entirely in their stride, for others it will be very damaging to confidence to be told, aged 11, that you have already failed on an educational journey that has so many more years to unfold. Looking back at my own academic development, I am extremely grateful that no one was telling me during year 6 whether I had passed or failed. I think I was too busy enjoying all the elements of education and childhood that should be the focus at that time.

As a parting observation, and you’ve heard it many times before, whether you opt for 13+ or 11+, the most important thing of all is to choose the school that is going to make your child happy.

James Johnson, Headmaster, Taunton School

The long summer holidays are over and it’s the start of the new academic year. As the autumn term gets underway we’re delighted to present the latest issue of The Week Independent Schools Guide.

Schools never rest on their laurels so our Autumn/Winter edition is packed to the gunnels with inspiring stories about education across the UK. This time round we’ve been finding out about the rise and rise of science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM as it’s better known), the support that’s available for dyslexic pupils and the benefits of schools developing a broader global outlook. As Downe House’s Marya Akhtar told our writer Julie Henry: “Taking pupils out of their comfort zone opens their eyes and gives them different perspectives. They have a better understanding of how the world works and their place in it.”

Vicky Bingham takes up her new role as headmistress of North London Collegiate School this term and she has written a fascinating piece explaining why girls’ schools are needed more than ever. “Far from being an anachronism, girls’ schools are drivers of change,” she says. Meanwhile our regular school debate focuses on whether it’s best for children to move to senior school at 11 or 13. Our experts, Brighton Girls head Rosie McColl and Taunton School headmaster James Johnson, offer their wisdom and advice to parents wrestling with the decision.

Like our sister publication, The Week Junior, we’re passionate about reading so we’ve asked teachers and librarians across the country to recommend the best books published in the last three years. Their choices will inspire even the most reluctant of readers, but my own picks would be You Don’t Know What War Is: The Diary of a Young Girl from Ukraine by Yeva Skalietska and Inside Out & Back Again by Thanhhà Lại – both exceptional reads. Incidentally, look out for The Week Junior Book Awards – the winning titles will be announced at a glittering awards ceremony in London on 2 October.

Continuing the literary theme, we were thrilled when the brilliant Jacqueline Wilson agreed to be our Back to School interviewee. The award- winning author of more than 100 children’s books (my favourites are The Lottie Project and The Story of Tracy Beaker) fondly remembers her schooldays – and her primary school teacher in particular, Mr Townsend. “He was the first person who made me think I might be able to write and I’m deeply grateful to him,” she says. “He was a glowing example of what a teacher should be.”

Finally, don’t miss our exclusive annual guide to the best independent senior schools in the UK. We hope you enjoy the issue – and have a happy and productive autumn term.

Emma Lee-Potter is the editor of The Week’s Independent Schools Guide.

A bursary is a grant awarded to a pupil to enable them to study at an independent school when they might not be able to otherwise. Independent schools offer means-tested fee assistance to widen access for families from all walks of life, regardless of their earnings – but children must pass a school’s entrance exam to be eligible.

How many schools offer them?

The Independent Schools Council (ISC) reports that the value of means-tested bursaries and scholarships has increased by more than £220 million since 2011, a rise of 85 percent. The ISC’s latest census says that £494 million of fee assistance was offered by its 1,395 independent schools last year.

Nearly half of all pupils on bursaries have more than half of their fees remitted. Christ’s Hospital in West Sussex, for example, provides free or substantially reduced cost places to nearly two-thirds of its 900 pupils. Bolton School, a day school in Greater Manchester with Boys’ and Girls’ Divisions, is a leader in bursary provision. One in five of its senior school pupils is on a means-tested bursary and the school has a target of one in three by 2030.

How do bursaries differ from scholarships?

Scholarships are traditionally awarded for exceptional ability in a particular area – such as academic achievement, sport or music. Some families whose children are awarded a scholarship will also need a bursary award, says Ros Griffiths, foundation awards manager at Tonbridge School, a boys’ boarding and day school in Kent. “But a lot don’t, in which case they still have the status of being a scholar in the school.”

At Bolton School, the scholarship programme is “an acknowledgement of excellence, usually with a financial contribution of £500 to £1,000 attached”, says head of foundation Philip Britton. However, its bursary programme is “enormous in its scope and far more significant”.

How much financial support do schools offer?

While most schools offer bursaries on a sliding scale of up to 100 percent, some also award “transformational” bursaries covering more than that. Wellington College’s Prince Albert Foundation, which celebrated its tenth anniversary in 2022, offers “bespoke 110 percent scholarships for students with academic ability who wouldn’t otherwise have the opportunity to attend”, says foundation head Sarah Miller. “We pay for what they need – fees, uniform, enrichment and school trips – all individualised as to what would best support this young person to thrive.” A record 30 foundation scholars will be on the roll at co-ed Wellington this month, most of them sixth form boarders. Uniquely, they are supported until they are 25 as they move through university and into work.

At Tonbridge School, 67 pupils are on significant bursaries through its Foundation Awards scheme, with a target of 100 by 2028 (one in eight boys). “We support not only the most disadvantaged, but also families that need more limited support,” explains Ros Griffiths.

Around the UK, schools like Wellington College and Ludgrove School, a boys’ prep school in Berkshire, work with organisations such as the Royal National Children’s SpringBoard Foundation, which recommends young people for places. At Wellington, one in three bursary students comes through SpringBoard, which currently works with 120 boarding schools and 15 day schools. Ludgrove also works with SpringBoard and offers similar 110 percent transformational bursaries.

Do bursaries cover the whole of a child’s education?

In many cases, yes. Bursaries are means-assessed on a financial basis and require a parent or guardian to complete a declaration to establish whether the student meets the necessary criteria. “This is usually re-assessed each year that the bursary is required,” says the ISC. At Bolton School parents are asked to provide “a tax return or similar” rather than undertaking a full re-assessment, says Philip Britton. At Ludgrove and Tonbridge, awards are also reviewed annually.

Do prep schools as well as senior schools offer bursaries?

Some prep schools offer bursaries if their financial model is strong enough, says Simon Barber, headmaster of Ludgrove. “The size of many prep schools has been a barrier but that is changing,” he adds.

Ludgrove started offering bursaries, including its transformational bursaries, in 2015. It has now funded eight boys through years 7 and 8 (another boy is starting this month) and works closely with SpringBoard to ensure a smooth transition to an independent senior school. “It’s an incredible scheme,” says Mr Barber. “We are so proud to watch the boys blossom and do things they never thought were possible and take that forward to senior school.”

Meanwhile some senior schools work with prep schools to ensure bursary support ahead of year 9 entry. “Years 7 to 8 are a transition period where pupils are supported by us and a prep school and we share the cost,” explains Ros Griffiths at Tonbridge.

How do schools fund bursaries?

Many schools have set up endowment funds or trusts to secure bursary funding for future generations. “At Wellington, we aim to have 40 Prince Albert Foundation scholars by 2025,” says Sarah Miller. “We are on track to achieve that via our fundraising campaign for a £20 million designated fund.”

Both Bolton and Tonbridge have endowment funds – developed through donations and fundraising as well as routine commercial revenues. “An endowed bursary fund means we don’t have to fundraise in a hand-to-mouth fashion,” Philip Britton explains. “It is important we can fund those bursaries forever.” At Ludgrove, bursaries are funded from a charitable trust, which the school is working hard to grow. “Our ambition is to grow the scheme by 2028 to ensure we have three to five transformational bursary holders at any one time, in addition to a number of other means-tested bursary holders,” says Simon Barber.

This article first appeared in The Week’s Independent Schools Guide.

With spring on the way at last, we proudly present the latest issue of The Week Independent Schools Guide. As always, we’ve travelled the length and breadth of the country to find the most inspiring stories about the world of education.

This time round we’ve been finding out about forest schools, vocational qualifications and the links between music and adolescent brain power.

We also take an in-depth look at schools’ determination to put kindness at the heart of everything they do, particularly in the aftermath of the pandemic. From kindness committees to “keep smiling” posters, the schools we spoke to are doing their utmost to increase kindness, empathy and tolerance. As Tom Rogerson, headmaster of Cottesmore School in West Sussex, told us: “Children love the thought of being kind and people being kind to them. It’s an inevitable consequence of talking about kindness that you get more kindness.”

Our regular school debate focuses on university choices – in particular, the pros and cons of going to university in the UK or heading to the US. Two leading lights in education, Wellington College master James Dahl and Lady Eleanor Holles School deputy head David James, offer their wisdom and advice for sixth formers and parents.

We’re passionate about highlighting the joy of reading so we’ve asked heads, teachers and librarians to recommend biographies and memoirs for readers of all ages. Some of their suggestions feature household names but others put the spotlight on people who aren’t quite so well known, like Katherine Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan and Mary Jackson, three female mathematicians at NASA who overcame discrimination and segregation to play a vital role in the space race. My own pick would be the stunning Little People, Big Dreams picture books, which tell the life stories of everyone from Amelia Earhart to Marcus Rashford.

Continuing the literary theme, don’t miss our Back to School interview with Robin Stevens, the multi-talented author of the bestselling Murder Most Unladylike series (her stories have been described as “Agatha Christie for children”). She fondly remembers her days at Cheltenham Ladies’ College, her two inspirational English teachers and the school’s nooks and crannies that feature in her books.

“I’ve redrawn some things to fit the stories,” she says, “but it’s so similar that adults who have been there will be reading the books with their kids and will say, ‘this seems a lot like Cheltenham Ladies’ College’.”

Last, but not least, we’re delighted to reveal our exclusive annual guide to the best prep and junior schools in the UK.

Do let us know what you think – and we hope you enjoy the issue.

Emma Lee-Potter is the editor of The Week’s Independent Schools Guide.

How early should you start looking at schools?

We have all heard apocryphal stories about parents who put their children’s names down for a school before they are even born – but what do experienced heads think? Jane Lunnon, head of Alleyn’s, a co-ed day school for four to 18-year-olds in south-east London, advises parents to be aware that some admissions processes can take up to 18 months. She recommends starting to think about a 4+ place when your child is a toddler and for a secondary place by the end of year 4.

Chris Searson, headmaster of Beaudesert Park School, a Gloucestershire pre-prep and prep, warns that “timings vary considerably for prep schools” so organisation is key. “It is good to be lined up in your mind well in advance,” he says. “But sometimes circumstances mean that you can only make decisions in the term before your child starts. Find out if places are oversubscribed so you don’t miss out.”

How should you choose your shortlist?

Heads advise parents to draw up a realistic shortlist of schools, based on advice from your child’s current school. Jane Lunnon says that this is vital in a competitive market like London. “The best way to go about applying is to have a really strong, open and honest conversation with your child’s current school and to come out of that with three or four really strong contenders,” she says.

Is it important to visit schools in person?

At all-boys Stamford School in Lincolnshire, headmaster Nick Gallop says that a visit is “a vital component of the selection process, if only to ensure that expectations are rooted in reality”. Helen Harrison, head of Fettes College, a co-ed boarding and day school in Edinburgh, points out that while the pandemic has shown that it’s possible to choose a school without visiting it in person, it isn’t necessarily ideal. “A 360-degree video film can never replace an actual visit filled with the buzz of happy students and inspiring class visits, but it has its place,” she says.

Is it best to visit on an open day or a normal working day?

Visiting on an official open day gives parents the opportunity to see a school on its best behaviour but, for a more unscripted look, ask for a private visit during a normal school day. Beaudesert Park’s Chris Searson believes that a good open day enables visitors to get an idea of the “normal life of the school” but personal visits have the bonus of “allowing you time to absorb and ask questions in your own time”. Meanwhile at Fettes College Helen Harrison says that open days and private visits can give “different insights” and recommends trying to do both.

Should you take your child with you?

Heads warn that children can be inspired and reassured by select school visits but taking them to multiple schools – or too early in the process – is best avoided. “For most children, visiting more than three schools can turn the transition process into a chore and can confuse and complicate,” says Stamford’s Nick Gallop.

What if a child is nervous or reluctant about a school move?

For many parents, an anxious or reluctant child can make the process tougher. “Some children can be reluctant to go to any school – or be nervous about a particular school after a school visit,” says Jane Lunnon of Alleyn’s. She advises managing conversations to involve your child in the process. Also, to help tease out any anxieties, take them for a second visit if you still think the school is the right one.

What are the key things to take into consideration when choosing a school?

Practical considerations such as boarding or day, co-ed or single sex, location, facilities and the academic curriculum should help you draw up a list of potential schools before you dig deeper, says Helen Harrison at Fettes College. “It is a momentous decision and one that warrants lots of research and planning; think of it as a project.” Stamford’s Nick Gallop advises parents to look closely at “the extent to which a day and boarding school is geared to its boarding community”, with students in the minority required to just “fit in”. At Alleyn’s, Jane Lunnon says you should also consider a school’s values and whether the school is fun. “The synergy of values is so important and that’s why understanding a school’s ethos is crucial.” She recommends that parents ask themselves: “‘Is it fun?’ ‘Are they laughing?’ Education is about joy and, if it doesn’t seem to be, perhaps that should be something you need to consider.”

Is it important to meet the head?

Most parents expect to meet the head but this can be harder at large and over-subscribed schools. Chris Searson at Beaudesert Park says that it’s a good idea to meet the head if possible but, if it isn’t, parents should “ask those who know them what they are like”. Nick Gallop of Stamford agrees. “If the head is unavailable, it might be worth asking how often they meet with students,” he says.

How do you decide between schools?

This is where the all-important “gut instinct” comes in, say heads. “Listen to your gut,” advises Jane Lunnon. “Ask yourself: ‘What made my spirits soar most of all?’ Be really honest with yourself. Think to yourself: ‘Where was my child the happiest? Where did I see their eyes light up?’” Chris Searson takes a similar view. “If you follow what your gut is telling you then you won’t go far wrong,” he says.

• This article first appeared in The Week Independent Schools Guide 2021

Great Expectations by Charles Dickens

selected by Emily Weatherby, Head of English, Bryanston

A classic coming-of-age novel, adventure, mystery and romance, with a cast of characters ranging from the comically pompous to the terrifyingly sinister. From the blacksmith’s cottage on the Kent marshes to the Inns of Court in lawyers’ London, the novel teems with realistic period detail – but its themes of exploitation, ambition and injustice are just as relevant today as they were in 1861. Dickens is the master of the satisfying twist, and the way that he opens an ironic gap between the wide-eyed narrator, Pip, and the reader’s own interpretation of what is really happening has been imitated but never bettered.

The Housing Lark by Sam Selvon

selected by James Methven, Head of English, Uppingham School

Right now, I recommend this to take pupils out of their bubble and gain a fresh perspective. Set in London in the 1960s, it is funny, poignant and challenging. Selvon focuses on a group of Caribbean immigrant males who chase jobs, money, rum and women. Their “lark” is a community pot of money to get themselves on the housing ladder and out of the clutches of “Englisher” landlords at a time when signs with “No Irish, no blacks, no dogs” were posted in windows. The novel rounds off with a hilariously and intentionally mangled version of English history on a trip to Hampton Court.

Seize the Day by Saul Bellow

selected by James Wilton, Deputy head, Repton School

This book meant so much to me in my early 20s – coming to terms with the sudden severance from the ladder-like experience of school and university. There was something utterly compelling to me about the protagonist, Tommy Wilhelm. He seemed to have been perpetually checking out his options and never being certain which of them would make him happy. There was also something revelatory about the manner in which he trusts the con-artist Dr Tamkin, who to me is a perfect example of those dangerous, plausible people who seem to have all the answers and you happen to meet, devastatingly, when you are not quite ready for the real world. An ideal – if not entirely comforting – novel for the school leaver.

The Great Gatsby by F Scott Fitzgerald

selected by Jane Henshaw, Head of English, Sevenoaks School

The Great Gatsby may be a portrayal of the hedonism of 1920s prohibition America framed in Fitzgerald’s exquisitely seductive descriptions of Gatsby’s parties of “champagne and the stars” but the novel also holds up a mirror to now. Butting up against the glamour, Fitzgerald writes of the power of the market place, corruption, racism, domestic abuse and the powerlessness of the poor. At the centre of the novel however, Fitzgerald asks us to consider the enigma that is Gatsby – is he gorgeous or hollow? Does his life explore the false promise of empowerment or celebrate our capacity for wonder?

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

selected by Richard Redwood, Head of English, Canford

A coming-of-age story that teaches us all the importance of courage, community and conscience. For those who are eccentric, cantankerous or just plain inquisitive, To Kill a Mockingbird has the remedy. Discover the beauty of America and its “haints”, “morphodites” and “scuppernongs”. Grow with Jean Louise “Scout” Finch as she finds herself, her heroic father and humanity itself. Enter the mind of a curious child and really see an American courtroom. Revel in rumours from the fictional Alabama town of Maycomb. A timeless masterpiece packed with emotion. A springboard for discovering other American greats such as Willa Cather, Henry James and Edith Wharton.

Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell

selected by Tom Smith, Head of English, Hurst College

A dystopian world in which facts are frequently altered to suit the whims of a despotic leader. People living in isolation, plagued by paranoia and dictated to by images on telescreens. All sound rather familiar? Orwell’s dystopian vision of a bleak world in which the vague, terrifying figure of Big Brother is omnipresent was decades ahead of its time and still (scarily) has much to tell us about politics, trust and human relationships. You can always skip the appendix on The Principles of Newspeak if it seems a bit of a slog. It’s one of the most important and fascinating novels you will ever read.

Oryx & Crake by Margaret Atwood

selected by Darryl Toerien, Head of library, Oakham School

Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood is a prophetic glimpse into our near-future. Like The Handmaid’s Tale and Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four, it is a book that once read, haunts you. Perhaps more so than ever before, it is an urgent must-read for students. Catastrophe? Check. Virus? Check. Manufactured? Debateable, but possible. A series of overlapping waves? Check. Social disruption maximised, effectively preventing the development of a vaccine? Check and check (at least a coordinated one). Like all good science fiction it probes the future to shed light on the present. In this light, readers might help avert this fictional catastrophe.

The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank

selected by Kate Jeffrey, English teacher, Putney High School GDST

The real value of Anne Frank’s diary is sometimes overlooked because it’s read in short excerpts or by younger readers. Besides its outstanding interest as a historical document and the tragedy of its author’s early death, it is also an extraordinarily candid and articulate record of adolescence with which any teenager today can readily identify. For just over two years, Anne grapples with feelings of rebellion, desire, ambition, hope and despair, all within the appalling confines of the annexe. Prickly and honest, acerbic and generous, Anne emerges as a young woman of modern sensibilities and prodigious talent.

Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe

selected by Rutendo Tavengerwei, Author

This is one of my favourite reads – a book that is not only well written, but one that managed to challenge the norm in its time. It retells history from the African perspective and has inspired so many writers around the world to date. It is a classic, with excellent storytelling that just sparks the imagination. It opens up the young mind to all the places that only a well-told story can. Every teen should definitely not be deprived of the opportunity to read this amazing book.

Rutendo Tavengerwei’s latest novel, The Colours that Blind, is published by Hot Key Books

Atonement by Ian McEwan

selected by Rick Clarke, Head, Frensham Heights

I believe that the reading of novels is one of the most effective ways of helping us to develop empathy with others. Ian McEwan’s Atonement has an astonishing narrative surprise towards the end that literally made me gasp when I first read it, re-examining all that had come before. The story moves from 1935 to 1999, encompassing adolescent yearning, sexual awakening and the horrors of the Second World War. It is a compelling examination of the impact of crimes committed against both individuals and society, and a novel that sticks with you long after you finish reading it.

Factfulness: Ten Reasons We’re Wrong about the World – And Why Things Are Better Than You Think by Hans Rosling

selected by Lucy Atherton, Head librarian, Wellington College

I first came across Factfulness when it was published in 2018 and it generated a huge amount of interest. Bill Gates considered it so important that he gave a free e-copy to all new students in the US. I was drawn to the positive message of the book that, contrary to popular belief, the world is improving in terms of poverty, health, crime and education. This is an important book which has relevance to so many subjects taught at school, from geography and economics to politics and statistics. It is key to helping future leaders become informed global citizens and supports critical thinking – an important element in the International Baccalaureate curriculum. I am typically a reader of fiction but this book is so fascinating and thought-provoking that I championed it as a whole school read. It’s interactive and engaging and by the end of the book the reader has an infinitely better informed view of the world. Statistics and graphs are presented in an appealing and easily interpreted way. Don’t assume this is a dry textbook – Hans Rosling was a charismatic and humorous man and he’s full of eye-opening and honest anecdotes of his time as a doctor in rural Africa.

A Winter’s Promise by Christelle Dabos (translated by Hildegarde Serle)

selected by Rebecca Jones, Head of library and learning enrichment, Malvern St James

This is a book that draws you into a perfectly constructed, alternative and complex reality. Characters are multi-layered and seemingly open but with mysterious depths and I often found myself trying to puzzle out their true motives. This is a memorable read that takes you to impossible places, that contains a brooding deeper mystery and fragments that initially defy analysis. The dialogue reveals that truth and lies often depend on context and that wit and self-belief are key elements of self-determination. Every place is a constructed hierarchy that the main character, Ophelia, has to navigate and she has to become increasingly politically adept to survive. For me this book reflects the complexities of modern cultures and relationships that hinge the personal and political, making it a must read. It is also a compelling and enthralling story.

A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness

selected by Ros Harding, Head librarian and archivist, The King’s School, Chester

A Monster Calls was published when I was on maternity leave with my son and so by the time I came to read it, it had already won the Carnegie and the Kate Greenaway medals. My expectations were therefore high and yet, this book managed to surpass them. It deals with a very serious subject (the impending death of a mother) and is suitable for a wide age group. When I say 10+, I really do mean any age beyond that as this is a book that speaks on different levels to children, young people and adults. Although it is a tearjerker, Ness manages to create a strong message of positivity and hope, which speaks to readers regardless of their own experiences. Jim Kay’s illustrations breathe extra life into the book, working in unison with the beautiful writing to create an emotional masterpiece.

Ros Harding won the School Librarian of the Year award last year

Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

selected by Jon Mitropoulos-Monk, Head of English, Latymer Upper School

A tender love story, a searing expose of America’s racial fault lines and my favourite novel of the last decade. Young and in love, Ifemelu and Obinze leave military-ruled Nigeria for the West. Race for Ifemelu was largely irrelevant in Nigeria. Now, studying at university in America, she is shocked by the many varieties of racial distinctions and widespread racism (both explicit and implicit) she encounters. “I wasn’t black until I came to America,” she says. “I became black in America.” She becomes known for her blog about race in America, which is blended into the novel itself, whilst the narrative moves between Nigeria, America, the UK and back to Nigeria. Adichie’s skill lies in making complex issues seem utterly straightforward, writing with astonishing force and clarity. An amazing read.

Brick Lane by Monica Ali

selected by Magnus Bashaarat, Head, Bedales

Monica Ali’s debut novel is an important book. It was well received by the mainstream white media but the reception amongst the Bangladeshi community it presented was more complicated. The tensions experienced amongst immigrants to the UK between integration and assimilation – or articulating and celebrating their own cultural and religious values – are explored from the perspective of Nazneen through her arranged marriage to the hapless Chanu. Nazneen’s final line, “This is England. You can do whatever you like,” might seem affirmative and optimistic, but 17 years after its publication, with displaced people, refugees and asylum seekers from Syria, Iraq and sub-Saharan Africa also now competing for a safe space to live in Britain’s cities, the tensions remain unresolved.

The Outsiders by SE Hinton

selected by Catherine Bruton, English and drama teacher, King Edward’s School, Bath

My own wonderful GCSE English teacher Mr Scott suggested I read The Outsiders. It not only opened my eyes to the power of stories but has been hugely influential on my own writing. SE Hinton was only 16 when she wrote the novel so it is the ultimate teen coming-of-age novel and it is heartbreakingly brilliant. The story of two rival gangs – the working-class “greasers” and the upper-class “Socs” – was made into a brilliant brat-pack film starring Rob Lowe, Matt Dillon, Tom Cruise, Patrick Swayze and Emilio Estevez. It will break your heart and stay with you forever.

Catherine Bruton’s new children’s novel, Another Twist in the Tale, will be published by Nosy Crow in November

Persuasion by Jane Austen

selected by James Whitehead, Head, Woldingham School

Jane Austen’s last novel, Persuasion, is significant for those who value emotional maturity in others. These days much is said about emotional intelligence; this novel’s protagonist is brimful of it, as lonely Anne Elliot dexterously navigates the swirling currents of early 19th-century society, with its materialism, snobbery and sexism, speaking up for a radical understanding of human character and the need for the female author, as seen in chapter 23: “Men have had every advantage of us in telling their own story. Education has been theirs in so much higher a degree; the pen has been in their hands.” As someone who believes in books, education and in human empowerment, as well as in love, Jane Austen strikes me as perennially relevant.

• This article first appeared in The Week Independent Schools Guide 2021

The pandemic has taken its toll on young people’s mental health and wellbeing. Research commissioned by NHS Digital found that one in six children and young people experienced a mental health difficulty in 2020, compared with one in nine in 2017, while an Ofsted report revealed that the children hardest hit by school closures and restrictions had regressed in basic skills and learning. Some lost physical fitness while others showed signs of mental distress, including an increase in eating disorders and self-harm.

Deborah Woodman, a consultant clinical psychologist at Evelina London, one of only two specialist children’s hospitals in London, says children have expressed an increase in “general sadness” and worry during the crisis. While younger children were less able to articulate their worries and sometimes exhibited physical symptoms like tummy pains and headaches, older children talked about feeling lonely and missing their friends.

“It was very much the hope that the reopening of schools in September would have a stabilising effect and for some young people that was indeed the case,” says Dr Woodman. “But for other young people the increased anxiety about being out in the community and at school resulted in an increase in mental health difficulty.”

She believes that it’s crucial for resilience to be embedded in school structures and approaches, through peer mentoring programmes, mindfulness and relaxation techniques, exercise and developing safe spaces for young people within the school environment – “places where they can go when they feel overwhelmed”.

“It’s about having all those things in an ongoing curriculum within the school,” she says. “I hope that what we’ve gone through over the last year has reinforced the importance of the ‘healthy mind, healthy body’ approach to schools. It’s linked to academic excellence because you don’t really get one without the other.”

Writing in The Sunday Times, Lord Layard, the economist and co-author of Can We Be Happier?, and former cabinet secretary Lord O’Donnell took a similar view. “If you want to predict if a child will become a happy adult, the best predictor is not their qualifications but their emotional health,” they said.

It’s clear that schools have a crucial role to play in looking after young people’s emotional health, building their resilience and giving them the skills to cope with the challenges of the pandemic.

St Chris, a day and boarding school in Letchworth Garden City, has devised an initiative called GRIT (it stands for guts, resilience, initiative and tenacity) while Cumnor House Sussex, a co-ed prep school near Haywards Heath, has introduced its pioneering iSpace Wellbeing curriculum.

Created and developed in 2017 by Paula Talman, director of compliance, health and welfare at Cumnor House Sussex, and aimed at children aged four to 11, iSpace Wellbeing offers a child-friendly approach to wellbeing education. It is taught through the school’s PSHE (personal, social, health and economic education) timetable and encourages pupils to talk about their feelings and to know how and when to ask for help. iSpace stands for “I stop, pause and calm everything”.

Year 7 and 8 pupils have their own bespoke curriculum, #iWonder, which helps them to understand their emotional, physical, social and mental health. The school is currently trialling a Wellbeing Compass app to help them review their wellbeing, put together self-care tools and develop coping strategies at school and at home.

During the first lockdown, Cumnor House Sussex ensured that every child had a wellbeing session every week. “We carried on remotely and if anybody wanted a private conversation we booked that in as well,” says Mrs Talman. She believes that developing resilience – the ability to get through difficult or testing times – is important for all age groups so resilience training is part of

iSpace Wellbeing and #iWonder. “We teach resilience in a child-friendly way so they can take the concepts on board,” she says. “At the age of four they are introduced to the concept of resilience using a story about learning to ride a bike. You fall off but each time you fall off you learn something new. You become resourceful and you get back on. You keep progressing and you feel great.”

The children also learn about the successes and failures of people like basketball player Michael Jordan, writer JK Rowling and adventurer Bear Grylls, all of whom have spoken publicly about the failures they experienced before going on to be successful.

Handcross Park, a co-ed prep school for two to 13-year-olds in rural West Sussex, also uses the iSpace Wellbeing programme and sees it as a helpful way for children to articulate their feelings.

When the country went into the first lockdown the school asked its 380 pupils to record how they were feeling emotionally and physically in an online wellbeing journal. Children in years 4 and below talked to their tutors every day and the older children had PSHE time every afternoon.

“The children found the wellbeing journal very positive,” says Richard Clark, director of studies at Handcross Park. “A year 8 pupil told us: ‘You’ll never know how important it was to me. It really was a lifesaver.’ We also asked them to try and do a good deed each day and to identify something that they felt gratitude for.”

In September 2020 the school produced a questionnaire, asking the children about their self-esteem and their feelings about returning to school. The school prefects launched HXPTV, a TV channel that covers everything from mindfulness to how the brain works. The wellbeing prefect, a year 8 pupil, started an agony aunt service, answering light-hearted questions from younger children.Mr Clark is convinced that the pandemic has made the pupils more resilient. “Given the right tools, they showed they have the ability to adapt exceptionally well,” he says. “In a recent assembly I showed them a 1797 penny because I wanted to talk about the importance of valuing and cherishing the small things in life – which again is great for the wellbeing message.”

Rather than talking to children about “resilience”, Jonny Timms, headmaster of Walhampton, a co-ed day and boarding prep school in Lymington, Hampshire, prefers to use the term “bouncing back”.

“Bouncing back – the idea of weathering difficulties and learning from them – is more meaningful to a child,” he says. “If 2020 showed us anything it’s that we can’t predict the challenges that lie ahead so children need to become confident, resilient problem-solvers – and those skills are definitely teachable. Our staff are brilliant at encouraging our pupils to have a go at things. During lockdown in January they encouraged the children to build their own shelters, cook on a camp fire and then make a video to show the learning journey they had been on. They absolutely loved it.”

Teaching resilience is equally important for secondary pupils. At University College School (UCS) in Hampstead, north west London, resilience is one of the school’s four learning values, along with responsibility, relationships and resourcefulness. The school defines resilience as “approaching your learning with confidence, never giving up and always motivating and challenging yourself to become a better learner.”

“We are a highly selective school and we are never complacent about exam outcomes but we don’t want to be slaves to them,” explains Mark English, the school’s vice master and academic director. “We want to give our students an educational experience that is future-proof so we help them to develop strengths that will be useful in later life, not just enable them to pass exams in order to get them into the next stage of their education.”

When the school switched to online learning during lockdown, UCS staff took a series of steps to look after pupils’ mental health and wellbeing. They built in five-minute breaks between lessons so everyone could get offscreen, walk about and get a drink and snack. Teachers stopped all homework for years 7 to 10 and gave pupils more time during morning registration to interact, socialise and talk to each other and their tutors.

Strategies like these proved so successful that when pupils returned the school decided to keep the longer registration times and five-minute breaks between lessons. “It isn’t a headlong rush from 9am to 4pm anymore,” says Mr English. “We have tried to get a greater sense of balance and a less frenetic sense to the school day. Pastorally, our decision to give form tutors far more time with their forms is something we have preserved too.”

In his view the current cohort of pupils have become more resilient during the past year. “They think their way round obstacles and problems,” he says. “They are open to advice but they are very solution-focused and phlegmatic about things that crop up. They seem to be much more flexible in their mindset and able to think their way round things.”

For Mike Lamb, director of staff and pupil wellbeing at Hurst College, a co-ed day and boarding school for 1,200 pupils aged four to 18 in West Sussex, resilience is often learned through co-curricular activities. Rather than simply running online academic lessons during lockdown the school organised a full co-curricular programme and sport three times a week.

“For me, developing resilience is about providing pupils with lots of opportunities to do things they are good at and build their self-esteem and things they might not be so good at but help them to learn from the experience,” says Mr Lamb, who teaches biology and psychology.

“It’s about providing opportunities to succeed but, if they fail, putting them in a position where they can fail but still feel safe and supported. It’s also about having an ethos in school where everybody has a go. For example every pupil who joins us in year 9 will do dance. It helps to develop the ethos where it’s important to try but it’s important to fail.”

Matt Bull, deputy head (boarding and external relations) at Bloxham School in Oxfordshire, points out that even though resilience is a buzzword in the education world these days it’s something that has always existed in schools.

“Resilience is the ability to keep going and deal with what life throws at you,” he says. “We include it in our PSHE programme but it’s sometimes better taught through something else. For example, being part of a choir and trying to prepare for a service when you’ve got failing AV [audiovisual] equipment and you’re exhausted at the end of term is far more powerful than a one-off lesson on resilience. Or being on the side of a mountain in a Duke of Edinburgh’s Award expedition, cooped up with three people you don’t really know and having to navigate your way back – that’s the kind of resilience that’s often overlooked.”

In his view young people have been hugely resilient during the past year – “especially if you think about all the things that schoolchildren and university students are being denied right now that were life defining for our generation”.

He worries, however, about the increasing number of “lawnmower parents” in the world – those who “sit in front of the child and mow the grass before the child has even got on to it”. In other words, parents who try to protect their child from any type of struggle or obstacle.

“When they are at school children need to make mistakes,” says Mr Bull. “They always have done and they always will do. It’s our job as teachers to give them the spades to get out of the holes they have dug. That’s what resilience is all about.”

Mindfulness for all

Many schools have introduced mindfulness sessions to support pupils’ mental health and wellbeing, encouraging them to focus on the present by using techniques like meditation, breathing and yoga. Epsom College, for instance, has partnered with the Anna Freud Centre and is taking part in a study on the long-term benefits of mindfulness.

Mindfulness was introduced six years ago as part of Epsom’s PSHE curriculum and is now practised throughout the school.

“As much as we focused on delivering high-quality remote teaching and learning throughout lockdown and to those forced to self-isolate during the autumn, we also provided a full mindfulness and wellbeing programme remotely,” says headmaster Jay Piggot.

“Once pupils were back at Epsom, we delivered a full timetable of lessons and co-curricular activities. They volunteer their time for community initiatives, such as our virtual befriending service for local care home residents. All of these activities have helped to keep our pupils grounded, appreciative and resilient.”

Let’s give young people a pat on the back

When it comes to teaching resilience Jenny Price, deputy head pastoral at Godolphin School, a girls’ school in Salisbury, Wiltshire, thinks “the drip feed approach” works best. “I don’t think you can go into a PSHE lesson and say: ‘We’re going to do resilience today,’” she says. “We prefer to incorporate it into different parts of the curriculum, lessons, assemblies and activities like CCF, yoga and Zumba.”

She believes that kindness is a fundamental part of resilience – being kind to yourself and being kind to others. “Communication is important too,” she says. “A sign of resilience is knowing when to ask for help and being able to seek the right kind of help. We teach the girls that they’re going to come across things in life that don’t go their way but resilience is all about how they react, how they cope and how they set things right.

“I think this generation will be more resilient than previous generations. They have done amazingly well to crack on and keep positive during these times so let’s give these young people a massive pat on the back. When you ask some of our girls what they want to do in their careers, becoming scientists who can help make things better in the future are among their top jobs.”

During the pandemic an enterprising sixth former wrote a list of advice for those suffering with anxiety about Covid and the school posted it on its website. Her tips include the following:

• Restrict yourself to reading the news once a day.
• Create structure and make time for friends and exercise.
• Plan what you will do when all this is over and focus on self-care.
• Make time to talk to someone about your worries but keep it structured and regular.
• Breathing techniques are absolutely not over-rated as a coping mechanism for anxiety and stress, so establish your “go to” breathing pattern. Mine is: breathe in for seven seconds, breathe out for 11.

• This article first appeared in The Week Independent Schools Guide 2021

What is the International Baccalaureate?

The International Baccalaureate (IB) organisation is a non-profit foundation that offers four challenging, world-class education programmes for students aged three to 19. In the UK, it is studied mainly by young people in years 12 and 13 as an alternative to A levels.

The most popular IB programme in the UK is the Diploma Programme, which comprises six subject groups studied over two years. These groups are: languages and literature, language acquisition, individuals and societies, sciences, mathematics and the arts. Students tend to study three subjects at advanced level, and three at standard level. They also do a theory of knowledge component to develop critical thinking and a 4,000-word extended essay.

There is also an IB Career-related Programme for 16 to 18-year-olds, which gives an academic grounding with career-related study.

How many students take it every year?

The IB is offered by 5,300 schools in 158 countries worldwide and is studied by 1.4 million students. There are currently 130 IB World Schools in the UK, 60 per cent of which are in the independent sector, and most of which offer the Diploma Programme. About 4,500 students in the UK take the Diploma or Career-related Programme every year.

Some UK independent schools offer only the IB while others have a twin track and give sixth formers the choice of IB or A levels.

How does it compare to A levels?

“Comparing the IB with A levels is like comparing apples with pears,” says James Dahl, master of Wellington College. A levels allow students to study three or four subjects in depth, while the IB is more about breadth and depth, allowing young people to continue studying subjects they enjoy alongside those that will shape their university degree or career choices. And while A levels are usually assessed with end-of-course (or terminal) examinations, the IB has a more multilayered approach, with coursework and other assessment elements as well as examinations.

“A levels are challenging and can have more meat to them if you choose a difficult combination of subjects, such as further maths and the sciences,” says Mr Dahl. “But the IB also offers challenging combinations and probably involves slightly more work over the two years because of the breadth of subjects, constant coursework and the extended essay. So, it’s not really a fair comparison to say one is harder than the other – they are just different.”

What do schools think of the IB?

Sevenoaks School has offered the IB Diploma to sixth formers for 40 years and is one of the most successful IB schools in the world. Headmaster Jesse Elzinga says the decision demonstrates the innovative, global and forward-looking tradition of the school.

“The IB offers breadth and a balanced education which other qualifications do not offer,” he says. “Every student at Sevenoaks takes English, maths, a science and a language. We believe that, at 15 or 16, pupils are too young to give up core subjects such as English or maths. The working world of today requires young people to be independent thinkers with good interpersonal skills.

“It is also too young to close doors to university by making decisions too soon. The IB allows young people to keep their options open while developing in their teenage years.

“Sevenoaks currently has students from 46 countries in the sixth form, and this is partly due to the IB and the global perspective and appreciation.”

What makes it popular with students?

Sixteen-year-old IB student Gabrielle Deegan is studying English, French and politics at higher level and Spanish, maths and environmental systems and societies at standard level at Wellington College and plans to study law at university. “I love the more varied scope of subjects,” she says. “We have a friendly rivalry at school between students doing A levels and the IB, and we each think we are doing the best set of qualifications. I absolutely love the IB. It has made me a more versatile thinker and learner.”

Rhiannon Durant, 19, completed the IB at Sevenoaks School and is now studying biochemistry at the University of Oxford.

“The IB is challenging but it prepared me for the style of learning at university, where self-discipline and initiative are essential for success,” she says. “The breadth of the programme is a unique asset, allowing me to continue studying subjects such as Mandarin, which I would have otherwise had to drop. The extended essay and coursework gave me confidence in expressing my ideas and analysing academic research. Most importantly, the IB developed my open-mindedness, international outlook and ability to think critically – essential skills for living in the modern world.”

Is the IB recognised by universities?

Very much so. “Universities are very positive about applicants holding the IB Diploma qualification because of its depth and breadth,” says Dr Peter Fidczuk, the International Baccalaureate organisation’s development and recognition manager for the UK and Ireland.

“The theory of knowledge component develops critical thinking and the extended essay is a 4,000-word research project, so IB students are already prepared and confident in approaching any assignments they will receive in year one of their undergraduate courses. To put it in a nutshell, they are ‘university ready’ and statistics show that they have a very high continuation rate from year one to year two of their degree courses as well as a high completion rate and excellent results.”

Is the IB restricted to older pupils?

No. The IB’s suite of qualifications includes the Primary Years Programme (PYP), a child-centred approach designed to build confidence, creativity and learning skills for three to 12-year-olds, and the Middle Years Programme (MYP) for 11 to 16-year-olds, which comprises eight subjects and focuses on approaches to learning, key and related concepts and independent learning projects.