Box Hill School
UK EDUCATION
them not to choose a school because they themselves would have liked to attend it. “Don’t choose what you want,” he
appealed. “It is not about you. During my 20 years as a head, the parents that would worry me the most were the parents that were choosing the school for themselves.” Ben Thomas, who has been headmaster
of Thomas’s Battersea, an independent school for boys and girls aged from four to 13, for the past 20 years, agrees. He set out in his session, How to Decipher Senior School Entrance, that it was worth keeping this in mind on visits to popular schools. “I’ve been through this process as a
parent myself, and I know how tempting it is to be carried away by the visit,” Mr Thomas said. “You get excited by what your neighbour is doing, by the branding and by the league tables. But you need to be broad-minded. Choose a school that is right for your child, not a school you wished you had gone to when you were their age.” Sir Anthony Seldon also warned
of relying on glossy brochures and impressive websites. He believes that parents should take care to determine whether or not the school will be able to offer a rounded educational experience for all children. “Look for a school that is going to
develop the whole child, that is going to have that truly holistic approach,” he said. “Look at what the school is like for the children who are not ‘superstars’. All children just want to be able to take part, to be in musicals, to go on trips, be in teams, to be part of things, to make things happen. Is it a school that really does that, or does it just do it for the high-f lyers?”
The value of league tables School league-table positions are another issue on which schools, education consultants and education commentators are divided. They can offer a broad snapshot of how a school is performing academically, but, if that school selects its pupils on the basis of academic performance on entry, good and consistent results are to be expected, so they are less illuminating about what gives a particular school the edge. Sir Anthony Seldon spoke passionately
about the unhelpful nature of the league tables. “Having taken two schools towards the top of the league tables, I can tell you that they are a load of total tosh!” he exclaimed. “They are pernicious, and they are deceitful. They are loved by two types
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of people: by headteachers who take their schools to the top, creating a regime of fear, and by newspapers, who love them because they sell copies.” He continued, “Actually, some of the
best schools in the country, indeed in the world – and I think that British schools are the best in the world – are in the middle or at the bottom of the league tables. It therefore follows that some of the worst must be at the top.” Ben Thomas suggests that parents
use the league tables to offer an insight into where their child might find the best fit academically. “You have a wonderful opportunity, which is to place your child in an environment where they feel confident,” he said. “You could take a child and tutor them to the hilt. You could squeeze them into the most selective school in the country, and you’d feel very pleased that you had got them in there. “But then, they might very well spend
the next five years at the bottom of the academic range of that school. They might be in the top 1 per cent of the country, but they will be at the bottom of their peer group. They could come out of the school feeling incredibly inadequate, and that could affect their confidence for life. “The same child could have gone to a
school with a broader intake where they felt very secure, worked hard to achieve the results that the top set were getting. At the same time, they would have the confidence to pursue their sport, music and their drama. They would develop as fully rounded, f lourishing human beings. “Just bear that in mind. Many parents
look at the league tables and assume that the top-performing school will be the best school for their child; it may be the worst. You have to be honest with yourself about where your child will fit in academically.”
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