AS-Levels, Education, Examinations and Cambridge Admissions

Sir

We are surprised to read that Cambridge University is advocating a system of education which puts examinations ahead of learning.

Whilst Cambridge University’s desire to have data which informs its admissions decisions is understandable, we believe that the recent intervention from Dr Mike Sewell of the university admissions office, which seeks to influence schools' decision making, is fundamentally not in the educational best interests of our students.

The newly reformed A level system, with its emphasis on terminal exams, provides an excellent opportunity to develop the intellectual maturity, agility and independence of mind which universities have long been asking for. Freeing up Year 12, will allow students to focus on wider and deeper learning, not just exam preparation. It will also give students more teaching and learning time and a much needed and highly desirable exam-free year.

Yours faithfully,

From the following Head Teachers:
Mary Breen - St Mary's Ascot
Jenny Brown - St Albans High school
Matthew Burke – St Martha’s, Herts
Carol Chandler-Thompson - Blackheath High School GDST
Vivienne Durham – Francis Holland School (Regent’s Park)
Lucy Elphinstone – Francis Holland School (Sloane Square)
Heather Hanbury – The Lady Eleanor Holles School
Marion Gibbs, James Allen’s Girls’ School
Rosalynd Kamaryc – Queen’s Gate School
Amanda Leach – More House School
Jane Lunnon – Wimbledon High School GDST
Ruth Mercer – The Godolphin and Latymer School
Jacqualyn Pain – Northwood College for Girls
Sarah Raffray – St Augustine’s Priory
Liz Richardson – Berkhamsted Girls School
Millan Sachania – Streatham & Clapham High School GDST
Mary Short – St Helen’s School, Northwood
 Mark S. Steed -Berkhamsted School

See also

• Cambridge University tells schools: retain AS-level exams Daily Telegraph  04/11/14
• the article by Andrew Halls, Headmaster of Kings College, Wimbledon,  'AS-level plea: Cambridge is in cloud cuckoo land'  Daily Telegraph Saturday 08/11/2014

Independent Schools, Elite Sport and University Entrance

Letter to the Daily Telegraph
Published Saturday 21st June 2014

Sir,
Sir Michael Wilshaw, the head of Ofsted, argues that a disproportionate number of independent school pupils represent Britain at elite sport. So what do we do? Do we have quotas of state pupils who represent GB at the Olympics or England at Rugby? No of course we don't. We aspire to bring sport in the maintained sector up to standard of sport in independent schools.
Independent schools also provide a disproportionate number of pupils to Oxford and Cambridge and Russell Group universities, so why is Offa seeking to impose a system of quotas? Why not try to raise academic standards amongst the most able in state schools?
Both TeamGB and UKplc need the best proven talent to compete on a global stage and quotas aren't going to help - a broader talent base will.

Mark S Steed
Principal, Berkhamsted School
Berkhamsted, Herts

Independent Schools, Fair Access and Social Mobility

Education is a key vehicle of social mobility.

As one of that select band of pupils who gained an Oxbridge place whilst enjoying free school meals, few know the value of a good education better than me. At 11 I was lucky enough to win a place at King Edward's Grammar School Chelmsford, then the top state school in the country. 15 O-levels and 4 A-levels later I went up to Fitzwilliam Cambridge (but not at the same time as Vince Cable!) on a full grant. My brother was not so lucky, he went to the local sink comprehensive school, where he had his head flushed down the toilet and left school with no qualifications. We have both done well in life in own ways - he is now a successful hairdresser with his own salon - but we have had very different journeys and opportunities in life simply because of our schooling.

In the debate about fair access, it is very easy, indeed fashionable, to portray independent schools as the villains of the piece, as seen by Vince Cable's observation:

"Pupils from independent schools are 55 times more likely to go to Oxbridge than children with free school meals. That is the imbalance. We are trying to address it."

Very few can doubt that Independent Schools are very good at educating young people. These schools have an outstanding record of enabling their pupils to get good grades and giving them the best possible chance of gaining a place at a good university.

Let us be clear, pupils from most HMC and GSA schools do have advantages. They are very well taught, they have almost certainly benefited from smaller class sizes throughout their education, and levels discipline are typically at a higher level than in the Maintained sector. Furthermore they are surrounded by people with high aspirations, not to mention being helped by designated staff who take the time and trouble to help find the right university course and to give advice on UCAS personal statements. Ultimately these factors are why parents choose spend their their hard-earned cash on an independent education rather than on other things. However, what is being lost in this debate is that independent schools are not the problem here. The real problem is that large parts of the maintained sector are not able to deliver the excellence of education that we have in our Independent Schools. That is a matter of leadership, vision, resources and Government funding priorities.

Far from being the problem, I would go so far as to argue that Independent Schools are a significant part of the solution for two reasons:

First, we should not lose sight that Independent Schools play a vital role in providing well-qualified entrants to UK Universities in the SIV subjects – strategically important and vulnerable. Without Independent Schools, departments in subjects like Engineering, Natural Science and Modern Foreign Languages in many of our leading Universities would be unable to function.

Secondly, not every pupil at an Independent School comes from a privileged background. Indeed nearly all independent schools are putting significant amounts of money into bursaries to enable young people from families that could not afford the fees to attend the school. Take two examples from here at Berkhamsted.

The first was educated at Berkhamsted from the age of thirteen. He was brought up by a single parent on a low income. The school not only paid all of his fees, but also provided financial support so that he could go on school trips and sports tours. He had a stunning school career, culminating in being Head Boy and achieving A*A*A*AA at A-level, before taking up a place to read Medicine at Edinburgh. Similarly, the other joined the school in the sixth form on a full scholarship from a local comprehensive school, before going up to Oxford to read PPE. Throughout their time at school only a handful of staff were aware of the level of support that they were receiving. It is highly unlikely that either pupil would have achieved either the A-level grades or gained places at these top universities without the opportunities that Berkhamsted provided.

And Berkhamsted is by no means unique in this matter. Almost every head of a HMC or GSA school could give similar examples. Independent schools are committed to widening access and to providing opportunities for young people to get the grades to be able to progress on to a top university and "to better themselves".

The Media Debate
Ebdon confirmed as university access chief - BBC News 21/02/2012
I'll get places for the poor, says new university access watchdog - The Independent 21/02/2012
Russell Group attacks university admissions targets - The Telegraph 21/02/2012
Cable questioned over appointment of Les Ebdon as university access tsar - The Guardian 21/02/2012
Comment: Simon Carr - Ebdon won his elite place though he failed the exam - The Independent 21/02/2012
Blog: University access should be based on merit - but how do you measure it? - The Guardian 21/02/2012

The debate about fair access

The debate about fair access is raging in light of the appointment of Professor Les Ebdon to head up OFFA. Today's Sunday Telegraph article on the subject quotes from this blog and the case of a Berkhamsted School pupil:

'While the Headmasters and Headmistresses Conference of private schools might publicly claim there is no evidence of across-the-board discrimination, privately, some heads feel that it may play a part in cases where well-qualified students are rejected by every university they apply for.

One such student, Prina Shah, 18, from City of London School for Girls, was turned down to study medicine last year by every university she chose despite being awarded an exemplary four A*s at A-level.

According to Mark Steed, the principal of Berkhamsted School, in Hertfordshire, discrimination does “apparently exist” against independent school pupils. “Take the case of one Berkhamsted pupil last year,” he says.

“She had a perfect academic record: 10 A*s at GCSE and was predicted A*A*A* at A-level. She was rejected by four out of five universities.

“Now I can understand how someone with such an academic record could fail to gain a place at Oxford — the Oxbridge colleges still believe in additional testing and interviews.

"However I am at a loss as to how she could fail to gain an offer to study English from Leeds University on the basis of her UCAS form alone. How many A*A*A* applicants does the English Faculty at Leeds get each year? What can justify their standard offer of AAB, if they can reject A*A*A* candidates without an interview?”'

For the full article see: 'Private schools fear 'social engineering' in university admissions' Sunday Telegraph 19/02/2012

For the original blogpost: 'Teaching our young people that discrimination is OK.' 05/04/2011