
THE PARLIAMENTARY REVIEW
Highlighting best practice
THE PARLIAMENTARY REVIEW
Highlighting best practice
30 | ORMISTON SUDBURY ACADEMY
and be independent. We aim to
teach students to not simply answer
questions in examinations, which
will be forgotten over the summer
break, but to become a resilient future
workforce. On a day-to-day basis, this
is the diet for students here.
There has been a recent trend for
schools to become overly concerned
about student outcomes and allocate
every intervention and resource
available to the year 11 cohort. This
is not sustainable or realistic and
some interventions carry students
rather than support them, meaning
ownership of outcomes is handed
to the school, not the individual. As
we know, this does not create the
self-managers with ambition who we
hope will become the next workforce.
It is a step in the right direction for
Ofsted to now look at the complete
diet for students and allow schools to
deliver to children who can access the
mainstream education on offer and
meet expectations with the support
ofparents.
In education there are many
challenges. For us, it is our aged
building, shrinking budgets and the
need for teachers to be so much more
than educators: a nurse, a counsellor,
a mediator and sometimes parent.
Despite this, all staff that work with
me dismiss any barriers and appreciate
that it is an honour to work alongside
students and to watch them develop
and succeed. Our students go on to
utilise their academic and creative
skills and return to share with us
their current experiences in further
and higher education as well as in
apprenticeships and posts. Students
move on to Russell Group universities,
drama schools, dance schools and
conservatoires as well as enrolling
onapprenticeships.
Our vision isn’t simply within our
academy walls: we promote our
strengths in collaboration with
other schools and charities such as
BIRD, which support our mission
to develop creativity and enjoy the
outcomes with passion. Through
our collaborative approach, we have
secured the Gold Arts Mark and School
Games Gold Award. These links are
highly recommended to ensure the
continuum of shared positive practice.
Developing every individual
Learning shouldn’t stop or indeed
start in the classroom – we firmly
believe enrichment is a key element
to developing skills and enjoying
a different angle to a subject. For
this reason, we offer a plethora of
extracurricular activities as well as trips
and visits to cement understanding
and encourage wider reading.
We believe that there is success within
every individual and it simply has to
be unlocked, nurtured and developed.
I believe we create strong individuals
who make a significant contribution
to our society and I am proud of how
we are preparing the next generation
of workers who can self-manage,
problem-solve and enjoy their roles.
Enrichment is
a key element
to developing
skills
“
“
Practice is key to
perfection
31KINGHAM HILL SCHOOL |
SECONDARY EDUCATION
Headmaster Nick Seward
The library mezzanine: encouraging reading for
pleasure is fundamental to a KHS education
Kingham Hill School was established in 1886 to provide
orphaned and destitute boys with a family home and an
education. It subsequently become a fee-paying school
but remains committed to this focus and works with donors,
charities and local authorities to secure fully funded places
for pupils from vulnerable backgrounds. Alumni include Lord
Adonis, who received such funding after being placed in care.
Nick Seward has been headmaster for 11 years and discusses
their unique curriculum and original vision.
Founded in 1886 by a Christian evangelical philanthropist, we are blessed with an
extraordinary history. Charles Baring Young devoted his entire wealth to construct
a school for vulnerable or destitute boys from the East End. The objectives of the
trust were to provide these boys with an opportunity to hear the gospel while
giving them an education that would increase their life chances. Over the years, as
financial constraints tightened, the school had to liquidise assets to cover the costs
of this free education. Unfortunately, following the Second World War, this was no
longer viable, so we became a fee-paying independent school. I was attracted to
the school by its founding ethos, and I wanted to move the school back towards its
original foundation, refocusing on disadvantaged children.
This has been the driving vision of my time at the school. Over this time, we have
moved from a difficult financial situation into surplus, grown by 50 per cent and
achieved record exam results, testament to our dramatic academic improvement.
We have also launched a “Founder’s Pupils” initiative, which saw two fully funded
year 7 pupils join us last September, in addition to those who benefit from more
REPORT CARD
KINGHAM HILL SCHOOL
»Headmaster: Nick Seward
»Established in 1886
»Based in Chipping Norton,
Oxfordshire
»Type of school: Independent
secondary
»No. of pupils: 334
»www.kinghamhill.org.uk
Kingham Hill School