THE NEWSLETTER OF THE GREY COAT HOSPITAL COMMUNITY Issue 25: November 2012


Chinese headteachers and school inspectors visit Grey Coat


On Thursday November 8, The Grey Coat Hospital welcomed a delegation of Head Teachers and Inspectors from a variety of secondary and primary schools in Beijing.


Accustomed as we are to showcasing our school and our students, this day proved quite an eye opener for all concerned.


Our guests were on a learning visit, preparing them for the task of establishing a framework by which they might begin to measure and formalise educational standards in China. It was organised by Cambridge


Education, a not for profit organisation which offers the best in British educational expertise to support the implementation of educational systems around the globe.


What our guests saw at Grey Coat not only inspired them, but left them somewhat in awe of the task ahead.


The day began in true Grey Coat style with our guests attending Mr Ward’s Lower School assembly. As luck would have it, this was a silent assembly – a collection of wisdom about life – with each idea appearing as a text slide on screen. This allowed Mrs Wang, our Mandarin teacher, to translate the entire assembly, so our guests didn’t miss a thing.


Ms Maddrell spoke about the school’s history and vision, Mr Waltl talked about our role as a Language College and Miss Miller spoke to them of her role as Head of Modern Foreign Languages and an Advanced Skills Teacher.


Chinese visitors and student representatives pictured outside St Andrew's


In fact Mrs Wang and her delightful students, Molly Clark and Eleanor Armstrong Y12, and Hannah Ankrah and Elena Rastorgueva Y11, were key to the day’s success as they ably assisted with hosting and interpreting for our visitors. The impression it made upon our guests to have students converse with them in Mandarin cannot be overestimated.


Given that the overall purpose of the visit was for the Chinese Head Teachers and Inspectors to understand the system of school inspection and the OFSTED framework, much of the day focused on measuring attainment and boosting achievement. Mr Williamson gave a snappy and extremely well received explanation of how we measure success and build upon it.


They were amazed by the work done outside the classroom by experienced teachers towards maintaining a borough wide standard of education and towards engendering a culture of on-going personal and professional development. Our sharing of good


practice and involving ourselves in on-going outreach projects with partner schools was something that intrigued them too. The idea that experienced teachers from other schools shared the responsibility for supporting newly qualified teachers across Westminster was something they found equally interesting and there was no doubt that our openness to sharing ideas was something that struck a chord with them. They also took part in a tour of the school and stopped in on a few lessons along the way.


Chinese visitors are not new to Grey Coat. There is always amazement at class size (ours are around 50% smaller), practical lessons (we allow our students


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