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Examination Results Day

Revision is over, examinations taken, and your son or daughter looks ahead to a long and hopefully hot summer, where the only cloud on the horizon is Results Day in August. The most important thing they can do is relax. The Upper Sixth is a tough year: UCAS predictions are followed swiftly by applications, and often interviews and tests; mocks arrive, are duly dissected, then the real thing appears.

Between the end of exams and results there is nothing that can usefully be done: worrying about results does NOT count as useful. The key is to enjoy the break, and to be well informed about the options that are available once results come out.

Option 1: results tally with the university offer. In this case, there is nothing to do. The offer will be automatically confirmed by UCAS, and the assumption is that it will be accepted (unless your child contacts UCAS to inform them otherwise).

Option 2: results narrowly miss the university offer. Tracking progress on the UCAS website will tell you if a decision has been made (and this often comes through on results day). If there is no status change this means the university is still considering their decision, and it is well worth your son or daughter (and it needs to be them, not a parent, or the school) making direct contact with them to reaffirm interest in the place. Usually, a final decision will be made within 1-2 days of results coming out. It is fair to say that an offer just missed for a popular course (Law, Medicine) at a popular university is less likely to be confirmed than a less ‘popular’ choice.

Option 3: results achieved and offer made are radically different from each other. If your child has missed their place, it is important that the first course which has space is not grabbed in an attempt to be somewhere, rather than nowhere. Look at which courses have places (clearing information is published on the UCAS website and in the Independent newspaper: use the ‘phone numbers provided), and consider these two questions: is this somewhere your son or daughter would wish to study; and if so, does this course suit their interests? If the answer to both of these is yes, AND if the requirements for the course are met by their exam results, a ‘phone call may elicit a verbal offer straightaway. It is possible to hold simultaneous offers and decide over a few days which will best suit.

What happens if there is no such course? It is better for your child to re-apply than to go to a place or study a subject which does not suit them. An impromptu GAP year is really not the worst thing that can happen to them (most GAP organisations still have schemes available, even at the 11th hour) in the medium term.

Option 4: results exceed expectation, and offers. In this case, it is possible to register for ‘Adjustment’, which will enable your son or daughter to reconsider where and what to study.

A short note about the International Baccalaureate: results come out in early July, and if offers are met, places will be confirmed by UCAS straightaway. If not, it is likely that no decision will be taken until the publication of the A Level results. If an offer has been missed by a whisker, it may be worth e-mailing the university to re-state interest in and enthusiasm for the course.

If your child is worried that they may not make their grades, be sure to seek the advice and help of the school, and to be around on results day (independent schools will be open, with key staff available, often including the Head). If action is appropriate, it will need to be swift, and this is far harder to manage from a beach in the Maldives.

Judith Fenn
Head of Schools’ Services
ISC

Private school perceptions – looking forward

In 2007, ISC commissioned Morrison Media Consultants to analyse mainstream media coverage of private schools in the UK over the 10 years from 1997 to 2006. The aim was to find out how a private school is perceived by, and represented in, the media.

The findings showed that private schools benefit from a generally supportive press. A number of titles have become either more supportive of, or less opposed to, private schools in the course of the 10 years under scrutiny.

ISC will be reviewing the research on private school media perceptions over the coming year, and delegates at the annual conference in 2010 will be the first to hear the findings.

ICT Advice: Wi-Fi

Download pdf here

Wi-fi is being used increasingly as an easy means of accessing information while on the move, whether around the campus or outside the campus.

What you need to know

Devices
- Traditionally, laptops have been able to access networks wirelessly, and most laptops now have this facility built in.
- Many phones and palmtops (PDAs) carried by pupils now have wireless built in, and these can access a network or the internet in the same way as a laptop.
- Once connected to a wi-fi network, users can access the Internet, emails, and most facilities that would be available over a conventional cabled network.
- Phones, PDAs and increasingly laptops can also access network facilities (e.g. the Internet) via the ‘mobile phone’ networks, which is of course wireless.

Provision of wi-fi within your school
- If you decide to provide wi-fi access to your network, it could enable your staff, pupils, guests (and possibly even strangers walking past the school), to use your network from any wi-fi enabled device (laptop, mobile phone, etc.)
- You need to decide whether you wish to go down this line, and if so what security measures you are going to implement.

Provision of wi-fi near your school
- If there are domestic or business properties near your school, or your boarding houses, it may be possible for your pupils to connect to these wi-fi networks and use their network rather than the school’s (filtered) Internet connection.
- In principle, these domestic/business systems should be secured so as not to allow this, but experience has shown that many are left ‘open’.
- Some companies (MacDonald’s) and some wide areas (Milton Keynes, Cambridge etc.) have decided to provide wi-fi areas for free or chargeable access to anyone.

Security considerations
- Users would potentially have the same facilities available to them as if they were plugged into the cable network.
- You must ensure that the system allows you to restrict access, and/or restrict what facilities are available to anyone connecting.
- Many of the modern ‘wi-fi management’ systems allow you to decide exactly what, say, a visitor to the school could access via your wi-fi system.

Health risks
- There are some who think that there might be health risks to users of wi-fi, or that some individuals might be susceptible to the wireless radiation.
- There is as yet little scientific evidence of this, and much scientific theory which dispels the theory.

What you might like to discuss
Are we going to provide a wi-fi facility at school, and if so will it be site-wide, or restricted to certain areas?

- How refined do we need the management and security to be?
- Are we going to allow access through ‘non-laptop’ devices, such as PDAs and phones?
- Have we got the expertise within the school to answer these questions, or do we need to bring in external consultants?
- Are we proposing that visitors to the school might be allowed access to certain facilities?

Are there potential risks of our pupils using neighbouring unfiltered wi-fi (in domestic or business properties) and if so how should we deal with this?

What you might consider doing next
Review any existing wi-fi coverage, both from the viewpoint of coverage, and of security and other issues.
Discuss the advantages or otherwise of providing (more) wi-fi coverage within the school.

How to add independent school jobs to the ISC website free of charge

If you are an ISC member school you can add details of job vacancies at your school free of charge to the ISC website. All types of job vacancies can be added such as Head jobs, Bursars, teaching jobs, prep teacher jobs and support.

Job vacancies appear in the Job Zone. To add your vacancies you need to post them using the Member Zone. Once a vacancy has been added you can log back in and edit it at any time.

Adding your vacancies

Step 1 - Log in to the ISC Member Zone
ISC schools can add details of all their job vacancies through the Member Zone on the ISC website. All individuals wishing to access the Member Zone first need to register.

- To do this, simply go to the Member Zone and complete the form under the heading ‘New User’ and then click on the ‘Register Now’ button at the end. You will then be emailed your personal login

- To log in, return to the Member Zone and complete the login fields with your email and password. Forgetting them needn’t be a worry – just click on ‘Forgotten password? Click here’ and you will be emailed a reminder. You also have the option of ticking a ‘Remember me’ box when logging in so that you don’t need to type you email and password next time you visit.

- To change your password click the yellow ‘Change Login’ button in the left hand navigation when logged

Step 2 - Add your jobs to the Job Administration section of the Member Zone
When logged into the Member Zone you can add details of all the job vacancies at your school. Select ‘Job Administration’ in the left hand navigation and then ‘Add New Job.’ Once you have completed all the fields click on the submit button and your job will appear immediately in the Job Zone, which is accessible by all.

If you would prefer the job not to appear, simply tick ‘Hide Job?’ It will then remain hidden until you deselect hide.

When adding a job you must specify the date on which you wish the job to go live; selecting the date of the day on which you are adding the job vacancy, will enable the details to go live immediately. The Job Administration area only allows you to see and edit job vacancies at your school.

Step 3 - Edit your job vacancies
Once you have added a job you can edit it at any time by clicking on ‘Edit Live Jobs’. When you add a job you select the date on which the advert should be removed from the Job Zone, after which date the job moves from ‘Edit Live Jobs’ to ‘List/Repost Expired Jobs’ in the Member Zone’s Job Administration area. This means that you can re-post a job at a later date if necessary, without having to complete all of the details again.

Once you have added your job vacancies they will appear in the Job Zone.

Who do I ask if I need help?
If you have any questions relating to the Member Zone, adding jobs or open days, email website@isc.co.uk

ContactPoint goes live

Last week the Government’s £224m ContactPoint database went “live” across 17 Local Authorities in the north west of England. By the end of the year almost 400,000 people will have access to data on every child in England.

If you are worried about the Government’s controversial new database (more information about which can be found here), you might like to sign the petition against it on the 10 Downing Street e-Petitions website. The petition already has over a thousand signatures, and you have until 6th September to sign up.

The Independent Schools Council has opposed ContactPoint since its inception on the very simple grounds that:

1. Holding information on over ten million children in England is an unjustified interference in the privacy of the overwhelming majority of children and their parents and/or carers
2. The register will hold poor quality and potentially misleading data
3. It will put children at increased risk through data being either stolen or lost
4. It is not likely to facilitate early intervention.

Data currently on ContactPoint comes from four exisiting Government databases: the Births, Deaths & Marriages register, the Child Benefit register, the NHS database and Maintained Sector school rolls. Most probably, then, your child is already on ContactPoint, whether you have been informed or not.

For more information, contact us.

Some Interesting Questions to ask your ICT Manager!

In no particular order.

1. If there were a major fire in the server room, how long it would be before each of these services would be restored.  List . . e.g. email, School MIS, etc.

2. If a generous donation of £250,000 was given to the School specifically for ICT developments (in addition to the normal budget) what would you recommend we spent it on, and what would be the advantages for the School and end users (Pupils, Staff, Parents)?

3. If your budget was suddenly cut by 50%, how could you cope, and what would be the effects on the School and the end users?

4. For each member of your technical staff (including yourself) what would be the immediate effect on the running of the system if they suddenly (with no notice) left.  What specific tasks would it be difficult for the others on your team to perform, and how long might it take to recover fully from the loss?  Is there adequate documentation to minimise such a problem?

5. What would be the effect of our main Internet connection being severed by a JCB somewhere?  What services would we lose?  Have we any backup systems in place, or would they have also been severed by the same JCB?

6. Can you show me any records of the systems’ reliability over the past 12 months?  Do you regard the reliability as acceptable?  If not, how could we improve it and how much would it cost?

7. What might happen if a major incident occurs while you (or any one specific member of your staff) are away on holiday abroad for 2 weeks?

8. How many individuals are sufficiently privileged administrators that they can see my (the Head’s) documents, emails, etc.?

9. If a pupil got hold of a staff password, and started using it, how would we ever know, and how long might it take?

10. Can you retrieve a file which was last seen one month ago, and how long would it take to retrieve?

Download a pdf of 10 questions to ask your ICT manager here.

ISC Bulletin now online

ISC’s next bulletin is now available online and contains a range of useful articles:

Chairman’s welcome: Dame Judith Mayhew Jonas
Chief Executive’s Update
Public benefit Update
Meeting the Charity Test and Demonstrating Public Benefit in Scotland
ISC Job Zone: The Free Recruitment Service for Schools
British Schools Abroad
The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award
Exam Trends
Educating Digital Natives - ICT and Schools
University Admissions 2008 - Celebrating the Success
Equality, Diversity and Education: How Football Helps to Foster Change
Why Opt for Home Education?
The Recession - Independent Schools Fight Back
The Cross-Association Leadership Project
Impact of New Immigration Rules on Pupil Recruitment and Retention

London Borough School Search (Independent schools)

The ISC website contains several school searches for parents interested in independent schools, including a Postcode Search, the Find an ISC School Search, which allows parents to search by factors such as location, gender, age range and day/ boarding school and finally the Personalised Advanced School Search, which is a more sophisticated search enabling parents to search by a number of factors including those in the Find an ISC School Search but also including subjects, sports, examinations, religious affiliation and school fee assistance.

If you wish to find all independent schools within a particular London borough you can use the Postcode Search or view a list of all schools by London borough. Alternatively, click on the relevant London borough link below:

Schools in the City of London
Schools in the City of Westminster
Schools in the Borough of Barking and Dagenham
Schools in the London Borough of Barnet
Schools in the London Borough of Bexley
Schools in the London Borough of Brent
Schools in the London Borough of Bromley
Schools in the London Borough of Camden
Schools in the London Borough of Croydon
Schools in the London Borough of Ealing
Schools in the London Borough of Enfield
Schools in the London Borough of Greenwich
Schools in the London Borough of Hackney
Schools in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham
Schools in the London Borough of Haringey
Schools in the London Borough of Harrow
Schools in the London Borough of Havering
Schools in the London Borough of Hillingdon
Schools in the London Borough of Hounslow
Schools in the London Borough of Islington
Schools in the London Borough of Lambeth
Schools in the London Borough of Lewisham
Schools in the London Borough of Merton
Schools in the London Borough of Newham
Schools in the London Borough of Redbridge
Schools in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames
Schools in the London Borough of Southwark
Schools in the London Borough of Sutton
Schools in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets
Schools in the London Borough of Waltham Forest
Schools in the London Borough of Wandsworth
Schools in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea
Schools in the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames

Once you click on a link for a particular borough you will see for each school within that borough a short description showing which of the following the school caters for:

GENDER: Boys, Boys (some girls) Girls, Girls (some boys), Boys and girls taught separately, Coeducational.

DAY/BOARDING: Day School, Boarding School, Weekly or Flexible Boarding School

AGE RANGE: Nursery, Pre Prep, Prep, Senior, Sixth Form

You can also click on the school name to go to a full profile page for that school providing lots of useful information and a link to the school’s website.

If you are looking for schools and would like some advice please contact our free ISC information and advice service on 0845 SCHOOLS (7246657). Why not also visit our Parent Zone. The Parent Zone gives information on a wide range of topics, examples including:

School fee assistance – information on types of school fee assistance such as bursaries and scholarships.

Boarding schools – interested in finding our about boarding school options?

School Open Day Search – search for school open days by school location and whether the school caters for boarding and or day as well as age range and child gender catered for.

An Independent Education: Promoting Flexibility and Choice

Every year it seems that some new qualification is launched and trialled to challenge the prevalence of A-levels in our schools. Indeed next year will see the first students sitting exams for the Pre-U, a brand new Cambridge International Examinations (CIE) qualification for students aged 16-18. Here the Independent Schools Council information & advice service gives you the low-down on what qualifications are being offered in Independent schools up and down the country.

At Key Stage 4 level the majority of Independent schools offer GCSEs to their pupils in order to prepare them for a sixth form education and then probably university. However, in recent months many schools including Manchester Grammar school have been swapping these for the International GCSEs offered by CIE. These are much more compatible with curricula abroad and have been heralded as a return to the ‘end of year exam’ model of the old GCSE. Recent criticism of the government’s GSCE reforms have concentrated on the fact that pupils can now retake portions of the course enabling them to ‘try and try again’ in order to pick and chose the best grades. The IGCSE means that students work towards final exams at the end of the two year course and many schools are deciding that this allows them more time to teach around the subject. On the other hand one mustn’t forget that many schools are still very much in favour of GCSEs as they offer a broad curriculum with the flexibility for those with a greater ability to take higher tier papers in Science and extra subjects such as further maths. This serves to complement the core Maths, Science and English curricula that every student must take. 

The International Baccalaureate is also another option for students aged 11-18. The IB Middle Years Program which caters for pupils 11-16 is designed to offer eight academic areas that are interrelated and allow pupils to learn in a holistic fashion. The curriculum is treated in an organic way and links are formed between topics rather than subjects being treated as different entities all together. The philosophy of the IB is expressed through its three fundamental concepts, intercultural awareness; holistic learning; and communication and there is a strong emphasis on modern foreign languages at a young age. Students are assessed throughout the five year course in various ways which include open ended problem-solving activities and organised debates.

Students can then go on to study for the Diploma from aged 16 which follows a similar pattern. The three core requirements, ‘theory of knowledge’, ‘extended essay’ and ‘creativity, action and service’ lay at the heart of the curriculum with three subject areas including one language making up the rest of the diploma. Three subjects are taken at a higher level and the other three at ‘standard’ level. The qualification is recognised at most universities in the UK and indeed at many around the world. The curriculum is designed to create a truly international outward looking qualification. It should be noted that both courses, the Middle Years and the Diploma can be taken separately to one another as a stand-alone qualification.

At Key Stage 5 level nobody can escape the fact that A-Levels dominate UK state and Independent schools with the Independent Schools Council member schools fielding over 31,000 candidates in 2007 alone. The controversial press surrounding A-Levels means that people often forget their strengths. Pupils take on average four subjects in the first year and continue three into the second year to full A-Level status. An aspect of the qualification that many have praised is the flexibility and the ability for pupils to ‘drop’ one subject in the first year but still gain a useful qualification in the form of an ‘AS Level’. This is often used by students as a modern foreign language or arts course as universities can set up to three pre-requisites for entry onto certain courses. This extra AS Level can be used by students to complement their three ‘core’ A-Level subjects. The curriculum is based on a modular system where pupils can retake parts of the course as many times as they like in order to achieve the best of their potential. A-Levels are flexible and can be mixed-and-matched with various other qualifications such as the new CIE Pre-U diploma.

The Pre-U is a two year course that is a stark contrast to the modular A-Level mould of multiple retakes to achieve the best mark. Exams are taken at the end of the two years and pupils are free to read around the subject. CIE argues that the new qualification ‘seeks to liberate learning from current constraints’ and that there is a stress on ‘independent thinking and self-reliance’. Students can either ‘mix and match’ Pre-U and A-Level subjects or opt for the entire diploma. The diploma is awarded to students studying three principle subjects (two of which may be substituted for A-Levels), in combination with completing a 3,500 word Independent Research Report and a Global Perspectives Portfolio. It should be noted that if students do the Global Perspectives Portfolio and complete the Independent Research Report they can achieve a stand-alone certificate.

Independent schools up and down the country are in the unique position of being truly flexible with the style of education they offer. ISC schools are not tied to the national curriculum so are free to pick and chose which qualifications best suit their ethos and pupils. ISC schools are amongst the first to offer the new Pre-U and will continue to provide a flexible bespoke education through the varied qualifications they offer to their students.

For free impartial information from ISCias (Independent Schools Council information & advice service) on independent schools that offer the IB, Pre-U, A-Levels and many other qualifications, you can call 0845 SCHOOLS (7246657) or email information@isc.co.uk. We are available to help week-days 9-5.

By Liam Butler – Senior Information Officer

Liam Butler is the Senior Information Officer for the Independent Schools Council information and advice service, answering parental queries about Independent schools.

A Bright Spark: ‘Gifted and Talented’ in the Independent Sector

‘Gifted and Talented’ (G&T) children are defined as those who have one or more abilities developed significantly ahead of their year group or have the potential to develop these abilities. Helping Students achieve their full potential is certainly nothing new to Independent Schools but it seems that many are employing new and innovative ways to constantly challenge and engage those classed as ‘gifted and talented’. Provision for G&T pupils in schools, including those represented by the Independent Schools Council (ISC), can consist of master classes and competitions which are often separate from classroom provision, and mostly centred on mathematics, sport and music.

In the state sector students identified under the G&T programme qualify for extra support in their particular subject, whilst academically able students may be fast-tracked to GCSEs a year or so early. In the Independent sector pupils already receive more hours of direct teaching and many schools, especially those with large boarding numbers, have school on a Saturday morning. “Gifted” is generally defined as the top 5-10% of the school population in academic subjects and “Talented” the top 5-10% in other subjects. It should be remembered that these terms do not relate entirely to mainstream academic subjects. They can also refer to ability in such things as expressive arts, sport and music. ISC schools have some of the best theatres, sports facilities and music centres in the country so it comes as no shock to hear of pupils achieving a high standard in the expressive arts. Independent schools have been encouraged in recent years to develop their own G&T policies alongside their own curricula in order to make sure pupils are being supported and nurtured from an early age.

It is interesting to consider how schools around the world deal with G&T pupils. In the US, the model is based firmly on test scores whereas China takes the opposite approach, as did eastern European countries before the collapse of the Soviet Union. There, “children’s palaces” provide free after school tuition in music, art and academic subjects to everyone. This approach uses the children’s natural enthusiasm, and ensures that it is not just those with ambitious families who receive extra help. In western terms, Britain’s interest is comparatively unusual because many European countries, including Italy, France and the Netherlands, don’t do much at all. The Scandinavians appear to do very little yet they always score well in international comparisons of academic performance.

It is not statutory for schools to have a policy on G&T children. However, many do as they are useful reference points when supported by all staff and the Governing Body in a school.

Independent schools will often run their own initiatives enabling students to develop their skills outside the normal GSCE and A-Level curriculums. ISC schools have fantastic facilities and small class sizes allowing for a more bespoke tailor-made education for each pupil. This means that independent schools are leading the way when it comes to nurturing those deemed ‘Gifted’ or ‘Talented’.

One of the reasons parents continue to choose an independent education for their child is thanks to high teaching standards and this clearly reflects in the exam grades that our schools post year after year. In 2008 over half of A Level entries from pupils at ISC schools were awarded a grade A. Also, pupil/teacher ratios continue to fall in ISC schools reflecting many schools’ commitment to teaching a wide range of subjects even if class sizes are small. There is now one teacher to every ten pupils allowing children to receive a uniquely supported and bespoke education. Independent schools are excellent at providing breadth of education as well as flexibility. It is evident that Independent schools are keen to support all of their pupils and not just the top 5%. The unique and flexible approach to education is demonstrated by choice of more than one curriculum in the 6th form such as the International Baccalaureate and Pre-U, allowing parents to pick the school and style of education that best suits their child. Thanks to the flexibility of not being tied to the national curriculum or Local Authorities ISC schools have been some of the first to adopt the IB and Pre-U qualifications, the latter being is a 16+ course designed to prepare students for university. Independent schools offer an array of choices for parents when it comes to curricula and qualifications as well as ‘Gifted and Talented’ programmes and it’s up to parents to do the research and pick the one that will best suit their child. The one-size-fits-all approach to education is long gone in the independent sector and it’s now up to the parent to choose the right school for their child. 

For free impartial information from ISCias (ISC information and advice service) on all types of independent schools including both day and boarding schools, you can call 0845 SCHOOLS (7246657) or email information@isc.co.uk. We are available to help week-days 9-5.

By Liam Butler – Senior Information Officer

Liam Butler works for ISCias (Independent Schools Council information & advice service) giving information to parents about Independent schools.