Headteachers of both state and private boarding schools held their annual gathering recently. What do you need for a good conference? A good hotel, great food, convivial company and star speakers. Apart from losing education secretary Michael Gove at the last minute, the Boarding Schools’ Association, of which 38 are state boarding schools, did well… Read More: Taking the lead: board meeting »
How did the week before Easter get so busy? It was useful to be able to combine a trip to Manchester as a guest of ATL at their dinner, with two hours with British Council staff at their headquarters, but still felt like a hectic twenty four hours. Conversation at the ATL dinner a stimulating… Read More: Before and after Easter »
In the summer of 2011, I visited Monmouth School and picked my way through the builders’ debris while Head Steven Connors talked me through the vision of how the new boarding house would look ‘in just a few months’. And he was right. So it was a delight to be able to attend the opening… Read More: A whole new kind of training »
Hilary was interviewed for a BBC One Show feature on state boarding schools, featuring Wymondham College. The interview aired on 20 March.
All very well to plan to blog on a Monday, not so easy when Monday finds you at a Global Symposium (an interesting distinction – not a Conference) in Georgetown, which is cheek-by-jowl with Washington DC. I was asked had I travelled with Cameron (no. . .) and did I enjoy sharing a platform with… Read More: Back in the USA »
Oops – missed a week. Apologies! I do know that a blog should be current and it does not look good to go silent, especially when you’re not even on holiday – but last week just ran away from me. Actually, in the nicest possible way. Spent Wednesday visiting Lichfield Cathedral School and revisiting old… Read More: Back on track »
Recent news reports of university students employing coaches or tutors to help them knock their large quantities of undigested research into presentable essays and dissertations ring alarm bells. The reports suggest that this might be okay for the kind of written work undergraduates have to produce routinely, but concern should surely be expressed if this… Read More: On your side: when does the tutoring stop? »
The week begins with a meeting with The Buttle Trust, which is hoping to increase the number of disadvantaged children it assists into boarding school, from its present number of 300 to 800 by 2017. The Buttle Trust already works with 120 schools, and hopes to increase this number so that good places can be… Read More: From disadvantage to high finance »
Hilary discussing boarding on BBC Radio Gloucestershire, Monday 13 February. http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/console/p00ncygr at approximately 2hrs09mins – 2hrs15mins. Expires 20 February 2012
It’s half term, and the phones really do go quiet, and there is a lot less email traffic. Probably because quick holidays are being grabbed not just by personnel in our schools, but also by everyone else we work with – in Government and in other Associations – because their families also have half term. … Read More: Aahh »