EDUCATION WHICH SCHOOL?
Boarding: day, fl exi or full boarding
Boarding, even of the weekly variety, may seem unnecessarily ‘character- building’ for eight- or nine-year-old children, until you’ve seen it in action. But while it’s not for every child, some relish the fun of sharing dorms and not having to do the school run. Flexi-boarding schools, where the child overnights a couple of days a week, giving you and your child an occasional break from the daily commute, is a gentle way of introducing a little independence.
Single sex or co-ed
This is a hotly debated topic with incandescently polarised pro and con views, as well as a considerable middle ground. Peter Thomson, Principal of the Harrodian School, believes that co- education works wonderfully up to the age of 11 and has huge advantages for the arts side of a senior school – drama, music, art, extracurricular activities and so on. He adds a proviso that thereafter it depends on your attitude.
Registration
Boarding or not, it pays to think ahead. For nursery school, pre-prep and prep,
Questions and answers
Questions
Do your family circumstances necessitate a full boarding or weekly boarding school?
What is an acceptable round- trip mileage? This applies to full
Do you have strong family links to a public school? If so, work
boarding, weekly boarding and day school runs.
Have you weighed up the pros and cons of co-education and
backward down to prime feeder schools.
Siblings: do you feel strongly about sending all of your children
single-sex education?
Is a prevailing religious tradition important in your
to the same school?
Has your child been spotted early as requiring special
child’s school?
learning enrichment?
this should be at birth. Savvy parents with designs on a particular public school like Eton, Winchester, Harrow or Radley might aim for known feeder schools such as Papplewick, Lambrook, Haileybury, Cothill, Westbourne House et al, or register early with a school’s own junior department, e.g. Colet Court for St Paul’s. As one father explained, “If you make it clear you are choosing a school because of its reputation of getting boys into the big public schools, then the [prep] school owes it to parents to start nurturing that aim from day one.” Choosing the right school can seem a
daunting task but do not feel everything has to be worked out on day one. Life plans change, and generally schools try to recognise this. Most public schools take children on the basis of entrance exams and interviews. Once you have developed your criteria by using our questions and answers (see below) and conducted your research, pick up the phone and good luck. There are just two important pieces of advice to remember: when they are young, keep it simple – and it’s your child who is going to the school, not you, so ask yourself if it is the right school for them. %
Answers
Parental research areas should include facilities, subject options, extracurricular activities, leavers’ destinations and provisions for drama, sport, music and art. Good sources of information include school websites, prospectuses, other parents, interviews and open days. Use the below to begin your research.
The Independent Schools
Council (ISC) The ISC was
established in 1974 by governors, heads and bursars associations all connected with independent schools. It represents 1,280 approved independent schools with over 500,000 pupils. The ISC covers regulation, data protection, examination standards, university admissions
and charity law. The ISC Parent Zone section has a schools directory enabling parents to search according to region, age, boarding, religion and gender. The website,
www.isc.co.uk, has a free information and advice service (ISCias) for parents with general queries about ISC schools or the independent sector. The national helpline is
0845 SCHOOLS (7246657) or email
information@isc.co.uk
The Good Schools Guide
Founded in 1986 by parents,
for parents, this printed guide helps to give a subjective take on an independent school. Used in conjunction with information from Ofsted and the ISC, the guide can provide an additional insight to school prospectuses and other marketing tools.
Open days
The Good Schools Guide
recommends that you should fi nd out how long the headmaster has been incumbent during an open day visit. Recent changes can precipitate excellent evolution for the long term but there may be a few initial hiccups. Pick up an exercise book and look at the standard of the work, the frequency of marking and depth of comments. Check class sizes tally with the numbers claimed in the brochure. Also, don’t just admire the encyclopedic list of enterprising clubs on off er – fi nd out about the take-up rate.
The First Eleven website has a list of the dates and times of school open days. Visit
www.fi rstelevenmagazine.co.uk
WWW.FIRSTELEVENMAGAZINE.CO.UK
SUMMER 2010 FIRST ELEVEN 37
Feeder school?
Siblings?
Religion?
Boarding?
sex?
PHOTO: ISTOCKPHOTO MATT JEACOCK
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