VIEW FROM THE CLASSROOM
Helping pupils find their voice Tell us about your school
Downe House School is an independent boarding school based in Berkshire, for girls aged 11-18. A progressive, yet traditional boarding school with a modern twist, Downe House was founded in 1907 by Olive Willis, with a focus on encouraging girls to become ambitious individuals and to excel in the modern world. The school aims to ignite a love of learning and provides an environment that nurtures development and celebrates individuality. Downe has 580 pupils aged between 11 and 18. The school also employs 110 teachers as well as many more staff who specialise in pastoral care.
Why is helping pupils to find their voice becoming more important in schools today and how does this impact pupil performance academically and creatively?
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n the latest in our ever-popular View from the classroom feature we’re delighted to hear from Matthew Godfrey, Deputy Head at Downe House School in Berkshire, who shares his insight into how the school is focusing on helping pupils “find their voice” to maximise performance.
Good schools have always listened to their pupils. While it is important for teachers to provide leadership, it is also essential that they engage with their pupils and ensure they feel heard and respected. If this does not happen, it is likely that the pupils will lose confidence and interest. In modern society, partly due to social media, teenagers have also become used to hearing a wider range of opinions and voices and have been able to express themselves more freely. It is important for schools to embrace this change in a positive way, by communicating with their pupils in such a way that they retain their trust,
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www.education-today.co.uk September 2023
affection and respect. An important part of this process is ensuring that our pupils’ voices are heard, respected and, as appropriate, validated or challenged. All recent research indicates that pupils’ academic and personal progress is maximised when we help them to feel confident, and if they can speak clearly and articulately inside and outside of lessons.
What does ‘finding your voice’ really mean both inside and outside of the classroom? Inside the classroom, it means giving all pupils the confidence and the opportunity to contribute to discussions in lessons in a respectful and orderly way. They all need to feel able to raise their hands to ask questions or to add a point
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