What the Good Schools Guide Says About Teddies

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THE GOOD SCHOOLS GUIDE

Inspirational teachers

Learning support and SEN

Just over 20 per cent on SEND register, majority SPLD or ADHD. School investing in this currently: some parents frustrated at lack of support provided in the past. Mr Chirnside’s response typically pragmatic: ‘I’m not surprised if some have found fault with our provision’,’ so ‘we’re doing vastly more than we used to.’ Department has been refocused – now learning support rather than learning development – ‘because they should be delivering help and support’, rather than that responsibility falling solely on teachers. New head of learning support appointed and is building specialist department with ‘more horsepower.’ Department working more closely with prep schools and parents before children arrive and meeting regularly with pastoral and academic teams to discuss individual progress.

Approach to homework tightening up: prep timetable reintroduced and prep time newly ringfenced. ‘This is standard practice,’ warden (rightly) points out, ‘giving pupils a window within which to get their work done so that they have time for other things.’ Shift in emphasis worries a minority of parents whose children are less academically inclined, though as new cohorts move through the school, expectations and routines will bed in. ‘We’re not changing the ethos, just putting more structure around it,’ he says (and, as a happy coincidence, more maths prep might get done). Indeed, it’s ‘not a school that grinds you into total misery,’ says one mum, and Mr Chirnside’s addressing of the ‘laissez-faire attitude’ that used to characterize academics is no bad thing. Parents appreciate ‘immaculate’ reporting home.

One-to-one or small group EAL support available to handful who need it.