LD: Good morning Seth. Thank you for inviting me back to Wetherby Senior School.
Could you please explain the main entry points for Wetherby Senior School?
SB: We have three entry points: 11+, 13+ and Sixth Form. The 11+ assessments (English and Maths papers) are held in the January of the year of entry, followed by an interview. The 13+ assessments are held in the autumn of Year 6 through the ISEB Common Pre-Test followed by an interview. An offer is then made conditional on Common Entrance. The Sixth Form candidates are interviewed and examined in the subjects they wish to study for A Level. Offers made are conditional on the boys’ GCSE results.
I see several workmen in the building today. Please tell me about your exciting refurbishment project?
This is a very exciting period in the school’s development—Hannah House—which was re-developed over the course of the last year, is now almost fully operational. We take possession of the top floor next spring and it will be open in September 2019. Adding this building has given us the chance to create a larger library, expand our dining facilities, and make changes to the original building on Marylebone Lane by adding a new Sixth Form Centre, a gym, along with expanded drama facilities.We have also entered into partnership with Trailfinders in Ealing to provide new sports facilities allowing us to step up our sport considerably.
What are the key values and skills that set the Wetherby Senior boys apart?
Academic success is important if our boys are to have options when they move on, but the vision of the school is much broader than that. Good exam scores are the most notable outcome of a strong academic programme, but we are working to give the boys the skills that will help them to continue to thrive once they move into the more open academic world of university, be that by helping them to develop as critical and independent thinkers through the Philosophy lessons that all boys attend from Year 7, by helping them to build good independent study habits through the supervised prep or homework sessions and the study skills sessions that help them develop reliable habits, and by putting the importance of effort at the heart of what we do: we teach the boys that success is something that comes gradually from continual hard work and commitment.
All these factors help the boys to enjoy and make the most of their academic work but we are also working to teach them about the importance of the community – we value kindness, respect and diversity and we expect them to play an active part in the community.
The boys have embraced this message and have forged strong relationships between themselves, with staff and the wider school community. Our culture of support is one that has led to boys being supportive and proud of each other and kind and considerate in their dealings.
There is much I like about our recent Good Schools Guide review but their description of our boys really resonated with me:
“Boys we met and spoke to are refreshingly individual and polite. They look you in the eye, are confident but not arrogant. This is far from a macho culture. Boys here can be any kind of peg, and will still fit the hole.”
With so many schools going co-ed, what do you see as the main factors in favour of a single sex education?
The staff are all committed to working with and supporting our young men. The debate continues as to whether single sex or co-educational schools are better for young people. I see boys who are engaged and focussed in lessons, I see boys making the most of the opportunity to try new activities and new things with no embarrassment and I see boys responding positively to the opportunity to talk about the issues that affect them as they are growing up.
In recent weeks, different year groups of the school have attended talks and workshops on managing anxiety, on the party scene and on the dangers of drugs.
Last year we were visited by a group called Great Men who challenged stereotypes and preconceptions amongst the boys. Evening talks for parents complement these sessions to ensure that home and school are on the same page with both lending support to the boys.
We do, of course, want the boys to mix with girls and links are being built with local girls’ schools – Queen’s College and Francis Holland Regents Park in particular—girls are performing in our school play for the first time this year—so that the boys are able to work with girls on a number of co-curricular activities.
Earlier we discussed the extended facilities and the sports grounds you have acquired use of at Ealing Trailfinders. What co-curricular activities are on offer to the boys at Wetherby Senior?
The co-curricular side of school is equally important. The skills the boys need in later life do not just come from their academic study, and I am a firm believer that pupils learn as much from each other as they do from the adults in their lives and that they can learn as much outside the classroom as they do in it.
Sport, music and drama are flourishing at Wetherby Senior. Sports teams in football and rugby do well in spite of the relatively small year groups because the sports staff have focussed on the skills, not just the results, which has meant the boys have already had some victories that others might consider a surprise but which we knew would come through dedicated player and team development.
The values of respect and kindness transfer to the games field, the boys support each other, there is no criticism when they are under pressure, they are gracious winners and magnanimous losers.
Development in sport has been helped by our partnership with Ealing Trailfinders – an outstanding facility, home to a professional rugby union and rugby league club, which provide astroturf and grass pitches as well as facilities for tennis and cricket.
Music ensembles take place each day with a blend of contemporary and traditional groups: there is an orchestra and brass ensembles but there is also a growing number of rock and funk groups. Boys get a chance to play each week in assembly and the new facilities available in Hannah House will help them to develop even further.
Drama has been a great success story for the school. Our Head of Drama demonstrated the creativity and resourcefulness we want to instil in the boys by staging our first production throughout the school using different rooms and spaces which the audience moved around to enjoy.
The drama studio, which has been re-developed to become an atmospheric and intimate theatre space, was the venue for Punch, the senior play performed last spring, which was a piece of physical theatre set in the world of boxing and was unlike anything I have seen before in a school drama production.
On any given week there are a number of activities taking place—boys will be busy with their DofE training, music technology, coding and robotics, Young Enterprise and Model United Nations or rehearsing for a drama production, and there is a growing range on offer. A group of year 7s enthusing about Bridge Club, led by an England international player, was one of the highlights of my first few weeks at the school.
Please tell me about the pastoral care offered at Wetherby Senior. Are there any new initiatives?
Pastoral care underpins everyday life at Wetherby Senior School. Support throughout the boys’ time at Wetherby Senior comes from their tutor who meets with them daily, gets to know them and is there to monitor their academic and personal development. The tutor is the focus of all communication between parents and staff regarding the boy and also someone they can turn to if they have concerns.
They are also a member of a ‘trib’, effectively a house, named after the tributaries of the river Thames, one of which runs under the school, for a growing number of sporting and other competitions. The tribs serve to build vertical links throughout the school create smaller communities within the larger whole, and provide more opportunities for pupil leadership. PSHE lessons, led by the tutor so there is a comfortable environment for the boys when discussing sensitive and potentially embarrassing topics, give the boys a wider perspective on the issues that young men face in the 21st century.
There is also a wellbeing team in place to support the boys in times of crisis but, more importantly, through the school coach who has considerable experience in both schools and the corporate world, we help the boys build their resilience and develop the tools to solve problems and adapt to challenges they may face in the future.
I must congratulate you on your first set of amazing GCSE results last August.
Our Year 11 pioneers who have progressed into Year 12 recorded an outstanding first set of GCSE results. 33.5% of all exams were the top grade (A*/9) and 70% were an A/7 or above. These results put us 93rd in the Telegraph’s independent school league tables and 16th in the Times league table of independent boys’ schools. These results are testament to the hard work and talent of the boys, but also the hard work and talent of the teachers as, according to the value-added data, we added half a grade to the boys.
It was agreed that the school was to grow organically, do you feel that with the start of the Sixth Form the dynamics of the school has changed?
Having a Sixth Form has made a real difference to the school and the boys have already stepped up to their position as leaders of the school and role models to the younger boys. They understand well their place in the school and are taking the opportunity to lead here, working with younger boys on activities and touring visitors to the school, and in the wider community by supporting academic lessons and coaching at local primary schools. After their success at GCSE they are all understandably ambitious—predictions are difficult but, it is my intention that all boys will be able to go to their first-choice universities and that, for the majority that will be Russell Group universities in the UK or challenging courses or universities of a similar standing in the US or Europe.
The A Level offering in the first year reflects the interests of the boys but is also drawn from the Russell Group’s list of facilitating A Levels so that the boys have a full range of options open to them for higher education.
Is there any other exciting news you would like to share with me?
In line with our ethos and thanks to the generosity of our parents, there is a growing fund to provide bursaries to families who may not otherwise be able to afford a Wetherby education.
That is fantastic and is testament to a great school with an even better Head. Thank you for having me today.
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