LD: Hello Neil. Thank you for inviting me to Westminster Cathedral Choir school. Let’s start at the beginning. Can you tell me when boys can gain entry into the school and what the procedure is?
NM: There are 3 main points of entry into the school. The first is at reception, aged 4; the assessment for that takes place in November of the year preceding entry. The other 2 main entry points to the school are at 7+, for which the exams are in January, and at 8+ when the exams are also in January.
The information you give online is fantastic for parents to understand what is expected of the boys at 7+ and 8+.Can you tell me more about entry into 4+?
For the 4+ we are not a first come first served school, so you could register up to a month before they come and sit the assessments in October.The boys come in groups of 6 for an hour and go with our reception teacher to do a carousel of different activities, which could include jigsaws and Lego. She will watch how they interact with one another; for example, do they share, are they throwing things, can they take simple instructions?
Towards the end of this, the teacher will read the boys a story to see how their concentration is. Whilst this is going on, each parent will have a short 10-minute interview, giving them the opportunity to also ask questions.
How long after this do you inform parents if their child has been accepted?
The assessments run over 4 days in November, and then we will email the parents shortly thereafter. We are doing this at the same time as other schools such as Falkner House, Garden House, and our acceptance deadline matches those other schools, so it’s easy for parents as well.
And then the next entry is 7+?
Yes, the assessments for that are in the January preceding entry. You can register quite late, up to the 30th November before you are due to sit the tests.The assessment is in English and maths, the sample papers for which are all online, followed by individual interviews which take place with either myself or with the Registrar.
And is that the same for the 8+?
Yes, it’s exactly the same process.
I also saw you test punctuation and spellings for entry. I love that. English is incredibly important; the fact you are taking it so seriously at such a young age is brilliant.
It’s relatively simple; they will get a piece of unpunctuated work and we will ask them to work on it. For example at 7+ we look at how they use full stops and capital letters, and by 8+, we are looking at their use of semi-colons and question marks.
They sit their exams in January; are the interviews on the same day?
Yes, interviews are on the same day, feedback is normally given within a week of the tests.We also ensure every parent, regardless of the result, has comprehensive feedback on every paper sat, as well as the interview.
Yes, that’s very important, and during the interview period, again, are you looking for similar types of things, for example, are they concentrating, are they sociable, outgoing, are they amicable etc.?
All of those things, and obviously the likeable, sociable qualities you can associate with an 8-year-old, but also, that they have the beginnings of curiosity and interests.
You have a phenomenally large outside playground in the middle of London. This is epic.
Yes, it’s our biggest single blessing. This was an old women’s prison, and by accident, we have this massive yard for the boys to run around and it is ideal for them.
What is your ethos of the school? What lessons do you teach, and how do you teach them?
The ethos is difficult to define, but I would like the school to be a liberal academic school that is preparing boys for the best boarding schools beyond London, and the best day schools in London.
The pace is quite quick, the curriculum is essentially quite traditional, so very solid grounding in the basics, especially in numbers and literacy in the very early years. By the time they go into Yr. 6, 7 and 8, we think these are the pre-conditions for their flowering, and then we can begin to apply numbers effectively and write stylishly and understand the critical pros if they have the basics at their fingertips.We provide an essentially traditional liberal academic education, strong in emphasis on the basics in English and maths at the very beginning.
In terms of the pastoral ethos, we are relatively small, with 230 boys, providing very carefully managed pastoral care and lots of contact with parents, aimed to deal with any difficulties by nipping them in the bud. Most importantly, the children should be surrounded by positive, happy role models, which to me is the secret of having a happy school with staff that take a vocational approach to their work.
As boys move up through the school, do you give them leadership roles?
Yes, and that happens all the way through, from library monitors, prefects, head boys, book boys, prayer monitors, and school captains. There are lots of small roles that come with the responsibility to be done well and carried out faithfully.
I recall your language lessons were taken only in French, and your teachers would have a ‘set’, such as a shop or train station, and the boys had to converse with any words they knew relating to whatever the scene was. Do you still teach this way?
This approach works well with those who pick up the language very naturally, but going back to basics again, if you get a strong structure and grounding of vocabulary and grammar in the early years of French, understanding the mechanics of the language is also as important as getting a feel for it.
Do you have to be of a certain religion to attend the school or are you open to all denominations?
That’s a very good question. The school is at the centre of the Catholic Church in England and Wales, and its ethos is Catholic. About 80% of the boys in the school are Catholic. It’s certainly something that is important to what we do, which we are very proud of and which is an illuminating force in the children’s lives.What we say to people coming here, whatever domination they are coming from, even from Catholic schools, is that there can be varying degrees of commitment. You have got to be comfortable with the school’s Christian ethos and broadly supportive of it.
How many times do you attend chapel?
Very simple, once a week.All the boys get together in years 3 – 8 and have a mass in Westminster Cathedral on a Wednesday morning which anyone can come and see for themselves, it includes the choristers and day boys all together which is lovely - we have quite a fan club for the mass!Lots of parents also come along which is beautiful.
What do you offer for after school activities?
We have 36 different clubs this year, so a bit of everything, including karate, chess, Lego, debating, and football, which is the most popular by miles obviously.
Are your sports seasonal, do you offer football, rugby and cricket?
We follow a very traditional cycle. The boys do football and then rubgy, then cricket in the summer term with minor variations in between.
What else are you particularly proud of that is new to the school?
We’ve only had a pre-prep for the last couple of years. We started with 30, and we’ve moved up to 60, and within a couple of years that will move up to 120 boys, so it’s been a big growth phase for us.
Is that excluding the 230 boys already in school?
Yes, there will be just over 300 boys in a couple of years and the school will be at its capacity. It’s been an exciting development for us.I think the presence of the younger children has also been good for the staff as well, it brings a levity and lightness to the school, which is lovely.
London is changing; people want to have relationships with their schools, they don’t want to keep changing schools and sitting exams, and they hope their child will attend a school that is safe and happy, with an excellent academic life where they can thrive.
Yes, I think that’s right.
A lot of international parents like co-ed. Are you finding this?
That’s one of the eccentricities of the London market. I think lots of schools have stayed single sex, partially because of the intrinsic worth of the single sex school, but also because of expanding in London to go o-ed is very complicated and very expensive—the rest of the United Kingdom is all co-ed, and you would find it very hard to find an all boys’ school.We have an incredible international parent body here from all over the world.
Do they ask to send their girls to you?
No, weirdly not, one of the things I’ve noticed is families with traditional single sex education overwhelmingly send their sons from here to single sex schools, and I’m sure you would find the same with girls’ independent day schools, because the single sex schools are still the hallmark of excellence.
Thank you very much for having me, Neil.
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