The ability to balance the academic, the pastoral and the co-curricular is what sets apart an independent school from the rest, says Alastair Land, Headmaster of Repton School
In the independent sector, particularly in co-educational boarding schools, it?s important that we develop and challenge ?the whole person?. This means not just addressing the academic elements of a pupil?s education, but the pastoral and the co-curricular, too.
Academically, independent school staff are passionate, professional and can offer world-class teaching and learning experiences in striking, often contemporary facilities. Wholeness remains the key, and staff are careful to balance the progress of the class with the needs of every individual, encouraging all pupils ? from those struggling to meet their targets, to those achieving top marks. It?s their job to encourage children to aim high and take aspiration, rather than outcomes, as their benchmark. Find out more about Repton School, Derbyshire on our Schools Directory
Independent schools equally hold pastoral care as the essence of all that they do ? in boarding houses, the classroom and co-curricular activities. They take a proactive and progressive approach, encouraging pupils to live and work well with their peers, juniors, seniors and staff, enabling them to be good friends, sons and daughters, and preparing them for their lives once they have finished school.
Repton, for example, is best thought of as a family business, and its boarding...