A sincere thank you to so many mums and dads for your support in recent days as we have been working to implement a few important modifications to our information and communication systems, in the form of the Edge Grove School App, and to features of the early morning traffic flow system.
As is expected, we will continue to work to add the necessary tweaks to both systems in the weeks and months ahead and as we look to improve and add value in constructive ways that will stand the test of time. My thanks to a few mums and dads who have made contact with us in order to share a few improvement ideas to both. These are being considered.
Two observations from our side that I feel are worth passing on to you all with regard to traffic and morning drop-off:
It has been noticed that a few people are exceeding the speed limit of 10mph. I would remind us all to be extra alert and cautious when driving on the internal roads that there is always a likelihood of children walking across the road at any time.
As autumn slowly gives way to the colder winter weather, I would ask that parents encourage their children to dress appropriately for their days at school. It has been noticed that a few children arrive at school each morning wearing shirts, long pants, shoes and socks only, whilst carrying their warm Edge Grove jackets and/or raincoats.
It was a great pleasure for Edge Grove School to host the annual Future Schools Fair on Tuesday evening last week. It’s not too often that the marketing departments from 27 of England’s top independent school are gathered together under one roof. What was of particular interest to me as a ‘new boy on the block’ was the way in which respective marketing and admissions teams chose to display and highlight identified niche features that set their own school apart from the rest. In addition, it was very important to hear first-hand from many of them what their expectations are when it comes to the 11+ and 13+ admissions processes.
This brings me to an important observation that both Ed Balfour and I have become aware of. There are, it would seem, some parents who are under the misconception that Edge Grove is actively assisting senior schools to open their doors to receive our Year 6 pupils at the 11+ stage or that we do not want girls in our Upper School (Year 7 and 8) phase. Nothing could be further from the truth.
We have never been more intentional in wanting to retain our Year 6 pupils. We honestly believe that by prolonging their time with us here as Year 7 and 8 pupils, we will allow them the opportunity of experiencing all that our specially tailored coeducational Upper School programme will offer them, while being able to enjoy the wonder of seeing each of them blossoming into the fine young adults that they are destined to become.
Please read below a special message from Ed Balfour in which he gives some of the nuts and bolts of his vision for the Upper School, his passionately articulated support for the continuation of coeducation through to Year 8, and a well laid out plan of action.
Dear Parents,
It has been a great pleasure to meet so many of you over the past few weeks at Edge Grove during my visits to the School, and I look forward to meeting all of you, hopefully individually, over the next months.
It was particularly interesting to speak to many of you at the Senior Schools Fair and to understand a little more about your considerations in choosing the right senior school for your children.
My last 15 years as Prep Head, the last seven and half in Hertfordshire, have helped me to gain a unique insight into the world of senior school admissions in this area. These have helped me to shape a methodology in which parents and school can work in close partnership to ensure that your child makes a seamless, stress-free and enjoyable transition through to their senior schools.
Over the next few months, through formal and informal year group and individual information evenings and underpinned by an annually updated Senior School Handbook for Parents, we will work in partnership with you to provide you with the very best guidance on the different admissions processes that senior schools employ. Our partnership with you will ensure that your child successfully gains admission to the schools which will most effectively nurture their happiness and wellbeing, provide the very best opportunities for educational development and which will continue Edge Grove’s educational aims to prepare your children with the core skills they will need for future wellbeing and success.
The senior team at Edge Grove will provide further information about this process over the coming months and I would be very interested to hear feedback from you as to the effectiveness of our guidance, so that we can fine tune our processes and deliver the best service to you.
Whilst on the subject of senior schools admissions, I wanted to communicate, even at this early stage, Edge Grove’s stance on Year 7 and 8, about which there seems to be a little confusion; the Governors, Senior Leadership Team, staff (and it seems most pupils I have spoken to!) are united in continuing to support a successful coeducational Year 7 and 8 at Edge Grove as the culmination of the Edge Grove journey and the School’s best years. To this end, Edge Grove will:
Promote these final wonderful, transformational coeducational years;
Demonstrate that the coeducational grass is greener at Edge Grove, where your child will continue to be known, loved and belong.
OUR ROLEWe recognise that:
Our professional role is to provide you with the very best educational advice on senior school admissions;
Choice of your child’s future school is yours and yours alone;
Edge Grove will support your choice and prepare your child appropriately;
11+ is the only entry point for some (mostly single-sex) academically selective schools;
Senior School assessments take place earlier and earlier;
More senior schools market Year 7 admission increasingly aggressively, which leads to increasingly competitive conversations and heightened anxiety for both parents and pupils.
To this end, I have set down below my rationale for why we recommend that you keep your children at Edge Grove for Years 7 and 8, if compatible with your choice of senior school.
Rationale:Years 7 and 8 at Edge Grove enable your son or daughter to:
Reach the apex of the Edge Grove coeducational journey;
Enjoy a smoother coeducational academic, co-curricular and pastoral transition from Year 6 to 7;
Transfer to a senior school with more maturity and confidence.
Coeducational Academic ContinuityRemaining at Edge Grove for Years 7 and 8 ensures that your son or daughter enjoys a well-established, first-class academic programme, including:
A focus on the core coeducational mission of teaching integrity and independence, leading to inspiring coeducational outcomes;
Skills-based learning;
Specialised, senior school-style teaching;
Forensic tracking, assessment and educational interventions;
Passionate subject specialist teachers, most of them with both preparatory and senior school teaching experience;
More seamless and confident academic transition into senior schools at 13+;
Smaller coeducational classes than 11+ senior schools and more bespoke coeducational learning for your child;
Outstanding academic enrichment through learning support, the Edge Grove Baccalaureate and Ignite programmes;
An established and well-respected ISEB syllabus, providing an academic curriculum specifically designed for Years 7 and 8 and differentiated to the needs of every child;
Maintaining academic depth and breadth, including Latin and Ancient Greek;
Development of excellent independent learning skills in preparation for GCSE and other future assessments;
Less entrance exam pressure at a younger age;
100% coeducational academic success over previous years;
Continuation of outstanding teaching through to results day;
Excellent preparation for scholarships and awards to 13+ Schools;
Development of coeducational confidence and independence as core skills.
Coeducational Co-Curricular ContinuityYears 7 and 8 at Edge Grove offer your son or daughter a well-established, first-class co-curricular programme, including:
Playing for the top sports teams;
Having leading parts in plays;
Leading music and drama groups, sports trips, tours, visits, visiting speakers and entrepreneurial skills, debating;
Teams and activities.
Coeducational Pastoral ContinuityYears 7 and 8 ensure that your son or daughter enjoys a well-established, first-class coeducational pastoral programme, including:
Nurturing your child’s coeducational independence and confidence, individuality and character;
Seamless coeducational pastoral transition;
Support through small coeducational Form Groups;
‘Edge Grove-long’ coeducational friendships;
Coeducational personal growth through early adolescence and sometimes challenging transformative years;
Understanding respectful coeducational relationships;
Coeducational leadership opportunities;
Opportunities to influence whole-School development, House, Sports, Music, and Drama Captaincy;
Coeducational diversity and community spirit;
Protection from senior school pastoral issues, mobile phones, teenager-induced angst;
Uniquely enhanced awareness of Core Values and behaviour;
Reaching the top of the Edge Grove tree.
Edge Grove is a wonderfully unique preparatory school, so why not complete the journey and let us finish the preparation model! Nobody does it better!
If you would like to understand more about Edge Grove’s Year 7 and 8 programme, please contact Anna Warren, Head of Upper School. I am very much hoping that this ‘call to action’ will encourage many Year 6 and other parents to consider their Year 7 and 8 options and to choose to stay at Edge Grove for these two transformative final years.
I have talks booked with Year 2 parents (at 2.15pm on Thursday 24th November in the Apthorp Building) and Year 5 and 6 parents (at 4.45pm on Tuesday 29th November in the Apthorp Building) and will have further parent meetings during the first few weeks in January. I am also very happy to meet with Year 6 parents who could not make the previous meeting a few weeks ago and who would like to discuss Year 7 and 8 options further.
Together with the school’s passionate and well-equipped team of professionals, I am determined to make this work for Edge Grove and to see this unique area of excellence thrive and develop long into the future.
Let’s work together to create a ‘7&8 Co-ed’ movement. Please feel free to discuss your thoughts with Gill Emmerson, Director of Admissions, Marketing and Onward Placement on gemmerson@edgegrove.com
With my best wishes to you all,
Yours,
Ed BalfourHead Elect
Please feel free to contact me directly or via Alison Dawson, my PA, on adawson@edgegrove.com if you would like further information about what Ed Balfour has addressed in his thought-provoking letter to you all.
We have now moved into the senior schools entrance examination season with the Year 6 and 8 children beginning to feel the pressures associated with these demanding external experiences. We would strongly encourage parents not to keep their children at home on the days before they are due to write their exams. It is far healthier and less stressful for them to come to school, to enjoy a normal school day, be supported and purposely tutored by their subject teachers, and to know that they are well-prepared to take on whatever the senior schools examinations process will be bringing their way.
The following thought-provoking message was sent to me a few days ago and I though it worth sharing with the Edge Grove family:
'Six little stories with lots of meanings:
Once all the villagers decided to pray for rain. On the day of prayer, all the people gathered, but only the boys came with an umbrella. That is faith.
When you throw babies in the air, they laugh because they know you will catch them. That is trust.
Every night we go to bed without any assurance of being alive the next morning, but still we set the alarms to wake us up. That is hope.
We plan big things for tomorrow in spite of zero knowledge of the future. That is confidence.
We see the world suffering but still we get married and have children. That is love.
On an old man’s shirt was written a sentence, ‘I am not 80 years old, I am sweet 16 with 64 years of experience.’ That is attitude.
Have a happy day and live your life like these six stories. Remember - good friends are the rare jewels of life, difficult to find and impossible to replace.’
Warm regards and God bless you all,
Richard StanleyInterim Headmaster
