A tale of two twins (2)

The photograph.

A tale of two twins

Flicking through the Old Etonian Association Review, I came across the following article which made me chuckle! I have quoted from the article.

Timothy Lee writes, "I was lucky enough to play in the OEAFC centenary mach at Highbury (courtesy of the then chairman Denis Hill-Wood) in May 1970, the night after Young England beat the England side before they went to the World Cup in Mexico. I attach a photo of our line up that day in front of the North Stand goal. I am the smallest in the line-up, considerably thinner than I am now, but one of my few claims to fame is that I scored our only goal at the Clock End in our 4-1 defeat. The team included two former headmasters of prep schools, Gerald Barber of Ludgrove and Nick Dawson of Sunningdale. Nick pulled up with a hamstring injury after about 20 minutes and hobbled off to be treated by the Arsenal masseur (later manager) Bertie Mee. It was in the days before substitutes, so we were very pleased that about 15 minutes later he came back on and ran up and down the wing with no problems whatsoever. It was only after the game had finished that we all realised that it wasn't Nick but his identical brother Tim who had come back on!"

Common Entrance. The gold standard at 13 plus

Exams and the way they are set and marked are a constant source of debate amongst teachers, heads and successive governments. The public exam system changes so regularly that it becomes nigh on impossible to compare the performance of different generations or to say whether standards of education are rising or falling.

The Common Entrance exam was introduced in 1903 to provide an examination for entrance into senior independent schools. The papers and the material covered now are, naturally, vastly different to then but the fact that Common Entrance represents the gold standard of independent prep school education has not.

Some have criticised Common Entrance for being too heavily based on factual learning and not allowing candidates to demonstrate a wider range of skills. In fact, the syllabi do allow for a far broader range of skills to be taught and tested. The style and content of CE papers is under constant review and pupils have ample opportunity to demonstrate creativity and analytical skills. They do also test the more able candidates who are just below scholarship level. There is a range of papers in different subjects and at different levels and the way in which the pupils are tested is also frequently discussed. The ISEB is currently looking at the possibility of online testing in Mandarin which is an exciting innovation.

It is essential that there should be a rigorous exam at the end of year 8. The pupils enjoy having something to work towards and they feel a huge sense of achievement when they receive their results.

The last two years at a good prep school, however, are about far more than just the Common Entrance exam at the end of it. It is down to the schools and the teachers to make sure that pupils receive a rounded education. Good teachers will use the Common Entrance syllabus as a foundation for their teaching and planning but will not be limited by it. They will give their pupils the opportunity to learn in different ways and in different environments. Schools will provide plenty of scope for music, drama and sport and they will encourage pupils to take on leadership roles and learn about themselves in the process.

What we must not do, is lower our expectations of our pupils. We need to give them some credit and allow them to be challenged so that they can show us, and themselves, what they are capable of.

Qualified Teachers

Much has been written on whether only qualified teachers should be allowed to teach in free schools. In the state sector, only teachers with Qualified Teacher Status (QTS) are permitted to teach in schools. In the independent sector this is not the case. So which is the right approach?

I have always believed that good teaching is all about the personality of the teacher. Yes, it is essential that teachers have the appropriate subject knowledge but if they are unable to transmit that to their pupils, they are going to struggle. 

What is required is passion and enthusiasm for the subject and a desire to engender that enthusiasm in the pupils that you teach. A good teacher encourages their pupils to be involved in the learning process and to get excited about learning new things. Teacher training does not guarantee this. Teacher training can help hone skills but it cannot turn a boring teacher into an inspiring one.

At Sunningdale we look for the right people, whether or not they have. Most of the staff do have QTS when they join but in the last few years we have put a number of members of staff through teacher training while they have been with us and it has been hugely successful. 

I would encourage the government to leave the decision down to individual heads. No headmaster or headmistress wants a poor teacher on their staff so they are not going to employ just anyone. They should, though, have the freedom to find the best people for the job.

Private tutoring

There has been a lot of debate in the press about private tutoring. I thought it might be an idea to make Sunningdale's position clear.

There is no doubt that over the last few years there has been a significant rise in the amount of  pupils receiving private tutoring. There has also been a significant increase in the cost of such tutoring.

Tutoring can be a very successful way of supporting a child who is struggling to grasp a particular topic or a particular subject. It certainly has its place and one to one tuition can make a difference.

The problem occurs when tutors are asked to hothouse pupils to get them in to certain schools. I don't see how this can be a good idea. What matters is that pupils attend the right schools for them, not the schools that certain parents feel have the right name. 

If a child can only get into a school with the help of a tutor then they will need the support of a tutor to remain at that school. If this is the case, they will miss out on so much of what the school has to offer. Children go to independent schools for more than just the academic side of life and if they are spending hours with tutors then there is little point in them being there in the first place.

So my thoughts are simple. Use tutoring wisely but overuse it at your child's peril.

Dangers of advertising

Today's telegraph has a very interesting article on advertising to under eleven year-olds.

Ban advertising aimed at primary school children

I think that this is so valid. Today's children are too obsessed with possessions and there is so much competition to have the latest gadget, wear clothes with the 'right' brand names and go on holiday to the smartest places. 

It is so sad that children need to be thinking like that so young. We should be providing memorable experiences for them, not disposable gadgets that will be long forgotten when they look back on their formative years.

This is one of the reasons that we do not allow all these things at Sunningdale. We want them to have the chance to have proper childhoods, we do not want them to be subject to peer pressure and we want them to develop lasting friendships and have enduring memories.

Letter Writing - a lost art?

One of the things that we still do at Sunningdale is to ask the boys to write letters home on a Sunday morning. I think that this is such a valuable thing to be doing because people are writing far fewer leters than they used to. 

Communication is now so easy with mobile phones, email, Skype etc. This means that there is far less reason to write a letter which is a huge shame. We have letters from some of the greatest figures in history and they provide such a rich insight into life in previous eras. Some of the greatest romances can be remembered through published letters. I remember writing childish letters to girls I liked with SWALK on the back! Now communication is by email or, even worse, text message. 

I think that parents love to receive letters from their sons. My mother has kept the ones I sent home from school. I also know that the boys here love receiving letters. I also remember very clearly being handed a list by my father to write down presents I received at birthdays or Christmas and my parents checked that I had written the letters. If we spend Christmas with my parents now we still get a list and a pencil!!

The art of writing a letter, and addressing an envelope properly is high on the agenda here at Sunningdale and that is how I believe it should be.