Where do I want my daughters to go to school?

My eldest daughter is in Year 6 and applications for secondary school applications need to be in bythe end of October. To my shame, Iâ��ve taken the route my middle-class parents take;weâ��re moving into the catchment of the school of our choice. But why have we chosen it?Well, the results are very good; the view of parents is overwhelmingly positive; it offers about theright� blend of academic and â��creativeâ�� subjects, and it has the kind of ethos thatchimes with our values. I think. But I donâ��t really know. Iâ��m basing these judgementson league tables, Ofsted reports, word of mouth and gut instinct.

Choosing a school can be an agonising process. Ever since I wrote about my visit to King SolomonAcademy a few weeks ago and left the question of whether I�d want my children to go therehanging, I�ve been seriously thinking about what my ideal school might be. And today I mightjust have found it. Sadly it�s in Warrington and I�m in North Somerset. I thinkwe�re probably just outside the catchment. The school is Kings Leadership Academy inWarrington, and at first glance it�s an unprepossessing site:

Although itâ��s� in to its third year operation, it� wonâ��t move into a permanentbuilding until June next year. Principal, Shane Ierston and Chief Executive, Sir Iain Hall (co-founderof Future Leaders) took time out of their busy schedule to talk me through the underpinningphilosophy and show off a school of which they are rightly proud.

So what is it that makes me want to send my children there? This is a hard thing to nail down and fordoubters itâ��ll take the proof of external exam results to verify that this particular pudding isworth eating.� Taken individually, its parts perhaps� donâ��t adequately illustrate thewhole, but Iâ��ll try to unpick what Kingâ��s does that makes it special. Like KSA,Kingâ��s is inspired by the US charter school movement, but they have consciously rejected thestructure and feel of KIPP and instead tried to emulate the North Star model. (They were quitedismissive of â��all that clickingâ��.) I hadnâ��t been aware of much of a difference,but apparently there is. That difference is a focus on developing character.

Character education is like Blackpool rock, it runs through the core of everything we do at theschool.

Sir Iain Hall

I�ve always been a little sceptical about this as a stated aim of schooling but I have to say,I�m a convert. King�s use the ASPIRE code to talk about character and it informseverything they do.

Most� schools have something similar, but here it seem to be more than just words. These valuespermeate the classrooms and corridors as much as they do the headâ��s office. When I talked topupils they were clear on the value of the ASPIRE code and were able to relate it to their lives andlessons.

There are some aspects of school life that a jarringly different to â��normalâ�� schools.Pupils hand in homework to a homework monitor at the beginning of the school day; school beginswith every pupil reading in silence in the hall; all pupils line up together in silence� beforelessons; teachers shake hands with pupils on� their way in and out of lessons; pupils chant theschool motto before lessons.� And they have a school song.

All this may sound a little stifling but, despite the order and calm, Kingâ��s is the least stiflingschool I have ever been in. Lessons are purposeful, but relaxed and children wereevidently� enjoying themselves. Sir Iain talked about their belief that structure� leads tofreedom and the school provides the ordered framework for children to â��findthemselvesâ��. Thereâ��s a similar tension at work in the schools bid toâ��makeâ�� teachers creative: certain routines are imposed so that the teacher canâ��be themselvesâ��. In the science lesson I saw, pupils were working in groups to drawdiagrams of atoms on wall-mounted whiteboards before comparing and critiquing eachotherâ��s work. The teacher expertly probed answers to get at underlying misconceptions andunearth different perspectives. I had thought he hadnâ��t gone far enough, but on discussing

the lesson later I discovered this Year 7 class were a �nurture� group working a level 3and below. To say I was surprised is an understatement. Nothing in their behaviour or in theircontributions to the lesson had prepared me for this and I�d assumed they were as able asany other pupils I�d met. And this is the point: because staff have such high expectations,pupils rise to them.

The� schoolâ��s USP though is the� emphasis� on leadership. Pupils are trained� tobecome â��young leadersâ�� and taught a bespoke leadership curriculum accredited by theRoyal Chartered Management Institute. This sounds all very well, but does it actually make anydifference?

During lunch I met with the Student Parliament and discussed their view of the school. They wereunanimously positive and enthusiastic, pointing out the differences with their previous schoolswhere disruption and low expectations were the norm. In some senses they were pretty typical of thekind of kids you find of student councils at any school: serious, geeky and prone to bullying. I askedthem how they were treated by other pupils and, quite seriously, they told me how they wererespected and how other pupils looked up to them. I asked them what happened when pupils failedto conform and they dutifully explained the behaviour system. The ultimate sanction is to be put inisolation and Shane later told me that they hadnâ��t had a single fixed-term exclusion in the 3years the school has been open. So what happens to the kids that get put in isolation? Well,apparently they have to issue a public apology in front of� the whole and ask permission to goback into lessons from their peers! The parliament interrogate the miscreant before voting onwhether to allow them back or keep them in isolation.

Me: (a bit taken aback) So does this happen a lot?

Parliament leader: It happened once last year and we voted to let the boy back into lessons.

Me: And how�s he been since?

Well, I would not have guessed this. I usually enjoy cutting edge views on aged guidelines as Englishas a second language isn't like working on something fresh each day. For sure it's not like picking ina warehouse all day long yet you can always find something to adjust slightly. Even though you donot accept the beauty of life hides in the changes. Let's see how far we can go.

Parliament leader: Fine. He�s now working hard and behaving properly.

That just ain�t normal. But it�s kinda cool.

One of the parliament members told me how shy heâ��d been when he started in Year 7.Heâ��d been a school refuser in primary school and on his first day at Kingâ��s had refusedto get out of his parentsâ�� car. After a year at the school he was able to make an electionspeech and is now� in charge of putting on school productions. When I asked how this remarkabletransformation had occurred, he spoke warmly about the dedication of the staff and the importanceof the leadership programme.

Kingâ��s prides itself on providing an independent school education for free. They haveconsciously attempted to replicate what makes the best independent schools successful. Asyouâ��d expect, thereâ��s a real focus on academic subjects and pupils are encouraged toaspire to� university and professional careers. But as much emphasis is placed on buildingconfidence and self-discipline as on achievement. In the mornings pupils follow the â��academic

arc': maths, English, biology, chemistry, physics, languages, geography and history are compulsoryto Year 11, and in the afternoons they follow a �creative arc� which includes PE, theperforming arts and leadership.

Of course there were aspects of the school with which I wasnâ��t quite so immediatelyenraptured.� Every pupil at Kingâ��s is given (Yes given!) an iPad. This is somethingIâ��m deeply sceptical about and Iâ��ve� seen some pretty shallow examples ofâ��digital learningâ�� in my time. But here it seems to work. Because the social norms arehard work, mutual respect and doing the right thing, no one messes about, in class or on-line. In ahistory lesson, pupils were asked to use their iPads to research a topic and did so sensibly andefficiently. As Iâ��ve said before, if you get behaviour right, you can make anything work.

They also rely heavily on Bloom�s Taxonomy and lessons pose a hypothesis which pupils areexpected to apply, analyse or evaluate.In a French lesson, pupils were asked to consider thehypothesis, �Learning to speak French is like building a wall.� And what�s morethey�ve shoe-horned in the Thinking Hats. But there�s a clear recognition that all ofthis is dependent on knowledge.

The curriculum is also interesting.Every� â��learning cycleâ�� takes 7 weeks and, regardless of the topic or subjectstudied, every teacher follows the same structure: 5 weeks teaching, 1 week of assessment and aâ��super learningâ�� week in which anything not mastered on the assessment is retaught.

What I really liked about my time at Kingâ��s is that despite some of my misgivings aboutcertain approaches to pedagogy, it was clear that everything had been carefully considered andmade to fit the context.� But really, none of this mattered. I might have raised an� eyebrowonce or twice, but my overwhelming impression was that the school is a force for good.Whatâ��s happening here in Warrington is extraordinary and on the John Gummer test,Iâ��m certain� my girls would thrive there. Sadly though, weâ��re� a few hundredmiles away and a move to Warrington isnâ��t really on the cards.

Principal, Shane Iertson & Assistant VP, Katie Sharp

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