April 27th 2024
Being the Head of Moulsford has opened the door to working closely with other educational bodies within the sector. As a member of the Independent Association of Prep Schools (IAPS), I am Chair of our area of ninety schools, and am also a member of IAPS’ national Members Advisory Board, which develops the organisation’s strategy to support prep Heads and their schools. More recently I have been appointed Vice Chair of the Independent Schools Examination Board (ISEB) as IAPS’ representative – parents may have come across this organisation as it runs the Pre-Test which many Moulsford boys take during Year 6 or 7 for entry to their senior schools. I am also a Governor of Cheltenham College and a qualified ‘coach’, currently supporting several prep school Heads.
Being engaged in these external roles gives me an extremely valuable perspective, which ultimately can be of great benefit to Moulsford. For example, it is extremely useful to hear how other Heads and their schools are approaching challenging issues, such as preparation for a Labour government. Likewise, my role at ISEB has given me a very useful further insight into the world of assessment and what the future may hold in this area, particularly with the advent of artificial intelligence.
At ISEB’s conference in London on Wednesday, I introduced one of the keynote speakers, Mary Richardson, who is a Professor of Educational Assessment at UCL. Mary gave a very powerful argument for rethinking the traditional exam-based methods by which we assess children. She stated that GCSEs etc have had their day and don’t do justice to the talents of numerous pupils, nor do they provide employers with reliable information on the skills they may be looking for. Mary gave her own educational journey as an example – she left school at sixteen with one O-Level, and was told ‘Don’t bother coming back’, effectively being written off by the system.
Programmes at Moulsford such as Year 7’s Dragons Den, Arts Week, the Moulsford Award, Moulsford’s Got Talent and pupil led Celebration Assemblies are specifically designed to develop children’s confidence, creativity and collaboration (amongst other skills), all of which will be invaluable to them as they progress through life. They are also great fun. The UK education system still places great emphasis on exam success, so ensuring that Moulsford children are extremely well prepared for the next stage remains central to our curriculum. Of course, if the whole national system changes in the future, our approach would be reviewed.
In conversation with Professor Mary Richardson, I discovered that she lives in Caversham and is an avid open water swimmer, regularly passing Moulsford, and is also a keen paddle boarder. We look forward to inviting her to Moulsford to learn more about her work and continue this very interesting conversation.
