Summer Fields is a full-boarding and day boys’ preparatory school in the heart of Oxford. David Faber discusses his plans for the future of the school.

This article was commissioned to Magus Education  by ParentVille. We republish it with their permission. This is how it goes. You pee on a stick. Small hurrah. You bite your nails for the next 12 weeks before sharing the news. Toast. Sorry, mocktail for you. Flash- forward a few weeks — you have yet to hit […]

Christmas trees, stripped of their shiny ornaments, are shedding their last needles onto the pavements. Night falls fast and early. Fresh Moleskine diaries are bursting with New Year resolutions. That can only mean one thing:  4+ assessments are coming right up. And while three-year olds up and down the country, still mesmerised by their Christmas […]

Robert Lobatto has been the Headmaster of King Alfred School, a progressive, child-centred, co-ed school in Golders Green, since Sept. 2015. He spent a large chunk of his career turning around struggling schools in the state sector. Tell us more about your background. I spent 25 years in the state system as a history teacher, […]

Last  week Inverlochy, a primary school in Scotland, made headlines as it became the latest U.K. establishment to abolish homework. The school argued that neither parents nor pupils wanted it, that it encroached upon precious family time and that it prevented pupils from participating in more enriching after-school activities. The fact that the somewhat innocuous […]

The political outcomes witnessed on both sides of the Atlantic this year show two of the world’s most influential countries turning inward. The winning rhetoric on both occasions has been one of individualism and protectionism, of us before them, or worse,  against them. One article in the Huffington Post Tuesday asked: What Do We Tell […]

When we talk about ‘privilege’ and ‘entitlement’, the defining feature of such childhood conditions is that the adults in the child’s life, from teachers to parents, believe unquestioningly in their protégé’s capacity to become a glittering success.

The most useful tip that I was given, when I approached my own Oxford interview (unsure, amongst many other things, of whether or not I should proffer my hand for a shake) is that tutors are looking for students that are teachable.

Dr Zoe Dunn has been headmistress of UCS Pre-Prep since Sept. 2015. Prior to that, she founded Rimon, a free school in Golders Green, and taught extensively in both the state and independent sectors. What is driving the changes at UCS Pre-Prep? Up to now we have been a co-ed school with a main entry […]