And The Nominations Are...

We felt no shame – and actually, a certain pride – in finishing as runners-up to such a longestablished and successful selective boys’ school as Tonbridge School in my home county of Kent. Founded in 1553, their long list of notable alumni includes novelist E M Forster, Tim Waterstone – founder of Europe’s largest bookselling retailer, former England cricket captain Colin Cowdrey and current national cricket selector and one of our previous prize day guests, Ed Smith. The main aim of the independent awards was to recognise and celebrate the quality of pupils’ experience in independent schools. Of course, we hadn’t set out in pursuit of this or any other award, but recognition is nice when it comes, especially when it can feel that schools in our region are sometimes overlooked in a national view. Newcastle School for Boys is still a relatively young school – formed in 2005 out of the merger of two boys’ prep schools and a decision to extend its age range. Our school reached maturity with the addition of its sixth form just ten years ago in 2009/10. During this period of rapid growth and development, the School has bucked a regional decline in pupil numbers and established itself very successfully in our local market. We are now a day school of over 400 boys aged 3 to 18. Eleven plus applicants for entry in September 2019 grew by 100% compared to the previous year. Demand for places means that our waiting lists are growing. Our specialism, identified by the award, is delivering an education that challenges and supports boys to learn, achieve and develop to the fullest possible extent. It also highlighted our success in fulfilling our aim to maximise the academic process of each individual boy within a relatively broad overall ability range. 2019 saw our best headline A level results with 76.6% of grades awarded at A* to B. This is a good measure of the quality of the School’s teaching and learning as well as the environment of our new sixth form centre. In three of the previous four years, the progress made by boys at A level has seen us ranked in the top ten per cent of schools nationally. At GCSE, where all grades are now awarded on the new 9-1 scale, a third of all of our grades this summer were awarded at 9 to 7 (A* to A in old money) compared to a national figure of just 21%. The School’s strong and distinctive ethos was also recognised in the nomination. After consultation with boys, parents and staff, we have designed and implemented our own character compass built around the core virtues that we seek to develop in ourselves and each boy: community, integrity, resilience, courage, leadership and empathy. These values are lived out in the daily life of the School and will be referred to by pupils and teachers alike throughout the taught curriculum and our extensive co-curricular programme. They come particularly to the fore in sport and, in the past 12 months, the School achieved a significant number of team and individual sporting successes from its relatively small base of pupils. These included our Under 11 footballers finishing as runners-up in a national final, our senior rugby team reaching the quarter finals of the national vase and two hugely enjoyable and successful tours playing rugby in South Africa and football in Cologne. The School also achieves a great deal in music and in creative and performing arts – a strength that runs counter to some people’s view of single sex boys’ schools. Although growing in size and reputation, Newcastle School for Boys continues to value and promote the strength of its close community and family ethos ensuring that each boy is wellknown individually both as a learner and in terms of his character development. Our staff are extraordinarily committed not just to teaching the boys but in their attention to the boys’ pastoral care and character development. We are extremely proud of our achievements recognised in the award nomination but are not – by any means – resting on these laurels. We are underway with our ambitious plans to continue to grow and develop the School and its facilities. Based on the growing demand for places, my advice to prospective boys and families would be to get in early.