Lethal Mutations – When the direction of Government Policy is fundamentally flawed

Posted on 12/12/2025 by jameswilding

“Lethal Mutations” – When the direction of Government Policy is fundamentally flawed or damaging from its conception, and which ultimately leads to severe harm or the eventual collapse of the system or society it was intended to govern.

I do try to start every blog with some happy news from the world of education. This Tuesday, I joined a nationwide on-line meeting with the Minister of State (Minister for School Standards) at the Department for Education, Georgia Gould, around the need for  ‘Local’ SEND reform. I applaud the Minister for making herself available for a succession of similar events, all to form part of the country’s need to ensure all children in nurseries and schools get the support needed to ensure their school years are successful.

The trouble with the process of reform now underway is that the scale of the problem is so vast that reforming the identification of children who need additional support simply won’t cut it. Scotland’s analysis of the situation shows that 43% of children fall into this category, representing a doubling of need over just the last 10 years. The situation is measured differently in England, where the statistics (21% with SEN) cover a higher severity of need before being recorded. However, the almost doubling of spend over the last 5 Years for High Needs funding is indicative that the challenges are rapidly increasing in England too, and if it were measured by similar parameters to Scotland, the % would be pretty similar.

Teachers’ leaders have previously said that schools were being overwhelmed by an “explosion” in children with additional support needs, including dyslexia, ADD and ADHD. What has been abundantly clear for over 15 years now is that access to the professional identification of learning differences and difficulties has become so delayed and so costly that children’s needs reach crisis level before appropriate diagnosis and treatment plans to enable interventions to start.

Commenting on the government’s response, chair of the Parliamentary Education Select Committee Helen Hayes said: “We understand that the government isn’t in a position to answer our report’s recommendations in detail whilst it is still developing its SEND reforms. However, the current response will only suffice as an interim response because it does not directly address any of our report’s recommendations in the way that is expected of an official response to a Select Committee inquiry.”

Statisticians describe the distribution of populations as being covered by a bell curve, of which the following is an example. Standard deviation (STD) shows the expected differences between what’s normal and what’s not, and in terms of additional need, the graph below shows for needs in school, there is a top and tail that would usually require our attention, but that 90% should be described as normal. 

In 2025, the Bell curve for children’s needs has been badly shifted, looking far more like the following:

Essentially, this is demonstrating we now have a school system that is now longer offering the provision needed for a significant minority of the population. This is where the toxicity of government policy to reduce the spending on children’s services since 2010 and the subsequent toughening up of academic standards in schools since 2014 have really begun to bite. And this is not just because of the growing awareness of parents that their children are struggling to meet the academic standards expected of them for reading, writing, numeracy and broader reasoning at ages 7, 11, 14 and 16. When you look at the underlying cause of children’s struggle, the major common single reason for children and adolescents listed is “social, emotional or behavioural difficulty”.

The Independent sector in England recognises these difficulties far more rapidly, such that earlier interventions take place and at an earlier age. As our pupils rise up through the various developmental stages of children’s development, so more precise identification of the specific challenges takes place. You can see this is the sector’s recognition of access arrangements (EAR) for public examination. The Labour government started bleating that our sector is a softer touch for giving out EARs; the clarity of these statistics highlight our children get the legal support they need and that it’s the state sector that’s lagging behind.

So what’s the solution then? 

Return the Investment in Early Years Health Visiting in England to previous levels, this has significantly declined since 2015, marked by substantial cuts to the Public Health Grant, leading to a dramatic workforce reduction (nearly 40% by 2022), increased caseloads, missed mandated child reviews, and widespread service pressure, despite growing evidence of need and calls for increased funding to support early child development. 

Increase English state school budgets back to 2010 levels; these have seen significant real-terms declines per pupil since 2009-10, with cuts averaging 9% by 2019-20, impacting secondary schools more (9%) than primaries (2%), and even more severely in deprived areas, leading to squeezed resources, staff shortages, and increased dependency on loans, despite government pledges to restore funding, as rising costs for energy, staff, and SEND needs outpace funding increases, creating a sustained crisis. Schools face an estimated £1.8bn shortfall in core funding this last year, impacting staffing and resources.

When the government of the day seeks independent advice, act on it! After COVID, the Conservative government appointed Sir Kevan Collins to recommend a comprehensive education recovery plan. His proposals, costed at approximately £15 billion, included:

  • Funding for an extra 100 hours of teaching per pupil.
  • Extending the school day by 30 minutes for a fixed, three-year period to allow for both academic and extracurricular activities like sports, music, and the arts.
  • Significant investment in the teaching profession and targeted academic support, primarily through tutoring.
  • Prioritising support for early years and mental health & wellbeing. 

The government ultimately announced a much smaller package worth an initial £1.4 billion, which Sir Kevan described as “far short of what is needed”, “too narrow, too small and will be delivered too slowly”, leading to his resignation in June 2021.

Whilst I applaud the current government’s initiative to resolve the SEN funding issues in local authorities, essentially bankrupted already by the mounting costs of the ‘High Needs’ they face, taking a further 3 years to change the rules simply means the crisis will get worse in the meantime.

And finally, the Labour government’s policy, which has added 20% VAT to independent school tuition fees for 12 months now, is clearly yet another ‘Lethal Mutation’. Flagged up as a way for funding 6,500 more teachers into the state sector, the UK Parliament’s cross-party Public Accounts Committee (PAC) found that the Department for Education (DfE) lacks a “coherent plan, suitable targets and sufficient evidence” to increase the number of teachers. The committee criticised the department for failing to outline how it will achieve its manifesto pledge to recruit an additional 6,500 teachers. 

So what can Independent school parents, teachers and alumni do now to ensure their voices are heard, to add to the political pressure heads and school associations have focused on their local MPs as well as the national government? Make the step by joining the Association for Families of Independent Schooling (AFIS). AFIS is the only membership organisation that brings together families who choose and value independent education in the U.K. and British international schooling. Their work supports their member families and the wider sector by championing choice, fair representation, and greater access to independent education. 

You can join AFIS here: https://www.afis.org.uk/register

It’s FREE to join AFIS as an individual, a family or a school. As the Academic Principal, I have joined our school as a founding partner of AFIS, and together with many other heads in due course, will encourage AFIS to grow in influence to support our communities even more fully. Our school is already recognised as a pioneering AFIS Foundation Partner School, one of the very first in the UK.

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Surviving Christmas with “All I want for Christmas is you” – Mariah Carey

Posted on 04/12/2025 by jameswilding

For enthusiasts of Trivia and Pub Quizzes, please check the last section of this Blog on the song.

We’ve just a couple of weeks left to the end of term, and all 3 schools are all set for the season, with trees, ivy, lights and decorations everywhere, and probably ‘Songbird Supreme’, Mariah Carey’s dulcet tones reminding us that Christmas is much more about people rather than presents. What’s worth our children knowing is that Maria Carey writes almost all of her songs herself, starting during junior school, and that writing has captured her a handsome net worth of  $225 million. I guess that might make her children, twin girls, Moroccan and Monroe, a bit more ambitious for their gifts than the rest of us.  

Clearly, our young family members won’t have those kinds of expectations, nor perhaps have ‘Oompah and Granny’ top buyers on their list of prezzies wanted. What’s more important, as the lyrics go, is wanting the humans there in the mix. Coming together across the ‘break’ certainly works for Family Wilding, though perhaps by the close of ‘Twelfth Night’, it’s time to move on for us all.

ClairesCourtTV features this week the topic “Surviving Christmas. As families around the world prepare to celebrate Christmas by decorating their homes, singing carols, buying gifts and planning feasts, often the true meaning of Christmas can be lost due to the commercial exploitation of this time of year. Many people see it as a joyous occasion to spend with family and friends, but for others, it is viewed as a stressful and challenging time attributed to a combination of factors such as financial pressures, relationship issues, and, quite often, loneliness.

Perhaps more importantly for parents is to set sufficient boundaries around their children’s access to social media, and best of all, keep them in the real world rather than alone in the digital space, where virtual friends are certainly not always the best influence, or even actually known! Mariah’s early life was spent largely with her mother. Although Carey looked forward to Christmas every year, she said in 2019 that her “dysfunctional family” and financial struggles in childhood often overshadowed her excitement. “I always wanted to have a really good time at Christmas, and they would ruin it, so I vowed in my own life I would make sure every Christmas was great.”  She says it’s these struggles that gave her the encouragement to write, to express herself and find her true voice. 

There are so many traditions at this time that are really worth observing across the family. I feel very sorry for the population of Denmark that at the end of this year, it is closing down its Postal Service at the end of December, so presumably the few left who choose to send Christmas cards have this as their last opportunity. Here in the UK, it seems we share 1 billion each year, with 150 million posted through the Royal Mail. How on earth do Danish children send their ‘thank you’ letters?

The physical act of writing on paper is now understood to be one of the key features of successful learning, with the latest research highlighting that screen-based memory decays so quickly that the average writer can’t remember what they typed 10 lines previously. However painful it is, helping children write their own lists, cards and letters, as well as to develop their personal signature, does every youngster the greatest service. 

Staying smartphone-free is a great ambition for our youngest, and readers may have already heard of the move in Australia from next week (10 December) to ban anyone under 16 from keeping or making accounts on social media apps like TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, Snapchat, X, Facebook and more. Prohibition in isolation of course, never works, so nations that go down this route need to provide suitable alternatives. Just as England has been moving up in terms of its literacy and numeracy skills, Sweden’s overfocus on e-learning has seen parents and teachers really worry about their children’s inability to focus and work in school successfully.  

As a consequence, Sweden is reintroducing printed textbooks and handwriting in schools to address this declining student literacy and concentration, reversing a previous trend of relying heavily on screens & devices. The government has invested millions of euros to buy new textbooks and is encouraging less screen time, particularly for young children, citing concerns that digital tools have led to reduced focus, comprehension issues, and a decline in basic skills.

Here in the UK, as well as in the USA, austerity in state school budgets is giving rise to similar concerns, with the literacy divide becoming more acute between the various socioeconomic layers, where access to physical books differs significantly. Ultimately, the signs are really clear; as adults, we must model, as best we can, reading and writing, thinking and expressing our views to each other, because that, it turns out, is how children acquire the skills they need best of all.

Back in 1967 or thereabouts, when brother Hugh and I were writing our lists for Father Christmas, or Dad kept us guessing about the ‘8 legs he had bought for the family present. He had taught my brother and me how to play snooker at the various hotels we stayed in over the summers. When he asked us to hop in the Commer Van we used for transporting us boarders between Ridgeway to collect said gift, we were certain that we were to collect our hearts’ desire. Instead of a showroom, we turned up at a kennels, and picked up 2 black poodles, Claude and Eustace, the first school dogs to join our community.

And finally, this Wednesday evening the sailing squad ran their annual fund-raising winter-warmer and wreath-making at the Senior Boys’ school. Over 2 hours, the parents transformed from willing amateurs to gifted professionals, as the closing snapshot below of their work reveals. 

P.S. If anyone wants to buy said Sailng Squad one extra of the additional fireflies they need for national team racing, they can check that out in Santa’s basket here – https://ovingtonboats.com/firefly 

Trivia

Written in 1994 with Walter Afanasieff, her record producer,  and released on her album, “Merry Christmas”, these days Mariah’s dulcet tunes are to be found universally around the shopping centres and favourite seasonal downloads. For those shortly to take part in Pub Quizzes, the other key bits of information are:

  • The song was released in 1994 but didn’t reach the top spot in the UK until 2020 and in the US in 2019, after 25 and 26 years respectively, 70 weeks in the UK Top 100 and 16 weeks at number one on the Billboard Hot 100.
  • Billboard No. 1 of the Greatest of All Time Holiday 100 Songs—ahead of legendary vocalists like Bing Crosby, Brenda Lee, and Nat King Cole.
  • Mariah Carey wrote 18 of the 19 songs listed by Billboard, and she holds the record for the most cumulative weeks spent at number one as a songwriter.
  • It’s the song that just keeps giving, annual royalties an estimated $2.5-$3 million.
  • YouTube downloads to date (Noon, Thursday 4/12/2025) are 805,582,218.
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BBC Grierson Award 2025, Baftas, Emmys and Oscars – the Parenting effect.

Posted on 27/11/2025 by jameswilding

One of the many benefits I continue to enjoy is seeing the success that former pupils (and staff) make of their lives post Claires Court. While I can recall memories from the school I lead all the way back to its founding in 1960, and have stayed in touch with friends made in that era, I take the most pleasure in observing those now in adult life who I personally taught in a school very much shaped by my direction in curriculum choices and opportunities provided. As the title suggests, I believe there is a huge correlation between the success the next generation enjoy and the support and choices their parents made for them along the way.

Last week, Rupert Houseman (1988-1992) was awarded the BBC Grierson Trustees Award 2025,  The Grierson Trustees have lauded Houseman for the breadth, quality and diversity of the documentary projects he has worked on over many years in the industry, alongside his longstanding commitment to developing and nurturing the next generation of editing talent.

Rupert’s father, David, wrote to me in 2013 to alert me to the then brilliant news of the BAFTA award 2013 being presented to Rupert for his documentary film, 7/7: One Day in London, and you can see the warmth for school coming through in his words:

Whatever the prizes of life that come to us, what’s more important is the impact we can make on others, to give them help, support and even a ‘leg-up’. Last week, Rupert reminded me that fellow Claires Court student, Toby Hefferman (5 Oscar film nominations this year and 2 winners for Dune – Part 2) gave him his first job! Much more importantly, is the recognition he has received for his work in developing The Garden Production company to help young people without privilege to develop the technical skills to win employment in television.

Rupert, like so many young people then and now, learned differently to primary school expectations, and it was only during his time with us at secondary school that he was permitted to grow towards his interests and skills. In the D&T workshop and Art room, he found his future and enjoyed real examination success, and through which he was able to step forward and make such a great career for himself and contribute to the world of documentary filmmaking. This week, Rupert’s documentary, Hell Jumper, won the Emmy award for Best Documentary. It tells the story of the war in Ukraine captured through the eyes and the extraordinary first-person footage of a group of volunteers saving strangers’ lives in one of the most dangerous places on Earth.

Hell Jumper trailer – https://youtu.be/KIVc6WfYhTQ?si=22AGODJxK4om7e9J

Claires Court likes winning awards too, the latest being singled out during our school inspection: “Pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) are identified early. Specialist staff review personal learning plans regularly. These are tailored carefully to each pupils’ needs. Teachers are well informed about these needs. Consequently, they offer appropriate support and well-thought-out activities in lessons. Sensitive support for pupils with physical disabilities or mental health needs allows them to access the curriculum fully and to participate in the activities on offer. Pupils are provided with sustained pastoral support to build confidence. As a result, pupils who have SEND make extensive progress from their given starting points. They achieve well in public examinations. The success of thoughtfully tailored provision on outcomes for individual pupils who have SEND is a significant strength of the school.”

When Rupert spoke at our Speech Day in 2013, he made it quite clear that he enjoyed the irony now as an adult of writing scripts, narrating in his documentaries and speaking in public as is required of him now, remembering the boy he was entering secondary school, labelled a failure because of his dyslexia. Now in 2025 he feels just the same, and the recognition he has won for his outreach work is not just thoroughly deserved, but a reminder to us all that, whilst you need a bit of luck to get on in life, the best fortune comes to those that work hard to overcome their own difficulties and then do their best to help others too. You can find below the link to his acceptance speech for the Grierson Award last week below. I’ve also included the transcript of his speech too, for in his words you really can capture the human essence he brings to our community. 

And that’s where parenting comes to the fore. I feel sure Rupert would not have come to Claires Court if he didn’t need smaller classes and a school that understood how to support his needs. In no way does that suggest ever that secondary-aged children need adults to fawn over them; far from it. They strive for their independence and just need sufficient opportunity to find their element. And that formula works for every child, even those with the highest intellectual potential. As the same Inspection report makes clear, the diversity of the excellence of our outcomes is one to celebrate and thank our parents for making that choice at the right time for their child.

Transcript:  We have, I would say, the best documentary editors in the world working right here. We are as a group, simply fabulous, funny, frank, and a brilliant bunch. I’m lucky to call friends as well as colleagues. I’m even lucky enough to call a documentary editor my wife.

The editing training scheme would not have been possible without this amazing community. We got exactly why it needed to be done, and we’re completely happy to share their incredible skills. 

For me personally, as you’ve heard, I like to make the cutting room as jolly as possible. 

There needs to be laughter in the edit suite. It should always be a daily ingredient. This can, of course, confuse the casual passerby. I remember once an editor had burst into my cutting room, shouting, “Stop laughing”.  That editor was actually in the process of cutting a comedy. We were cutting Life and Death Row!

You could say there’s a lot less to laugh about right now. Reduced commissions, smaller budgets, many out of work, even a war against truth itself. To cap it all, the rise of technology in the form of AI that we’re constantly told has the potential to completely replace us in the workplace. Now, I really hope that the next sentence I’m gonna say is gonna sound as ridiculous in 10 years as it does today. But I, for one, feel strongly that humans should be telling human stories, and that includes the editing of those stories. 

Documentaries need to be put together with love and careful human consideration, and not fired out like a microwave meal, for one. Despite the occasional 3:00 AM existential crisis, I am genuinely excited about the future and the challenges it poses. I feel our skills in conveying truth through documentary as more important today than ever.

And among us. We have the fiery passion, skills, and belief to do just that and to do it brilliantly. So, as a documentary editor, I proudly accept this award. It’s rather lovely to be overwhelmed and recognised. Thank you very much.

You can watch Rupert Houseman’s Acceptance Speech here: :https://vimeo.com/1140475981 

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“Strength does not come from winning. Your struggles develop your strengths” – Arnold Schwarzenegger

Posted on 21/11/2025 by jameswilding

The publication of the Claires Court Inspection Report September 2025 last week provided many statements about the school’s work with the children and young people receiving their education with us. The inspection regime for our sector is conducted by the Independent Schools Inspectorate, the current framework introduced in 2023, known as f23, and its reports are particularly careful now with the use of language. The words ‘Excellent, Outstanding etc.’ are no longer permitted, because the report is only a snapshot of the school in action, and the words are carefully used to highlight what the school does well, and what it needs to improve.
Nevertheless, read as a whole, the report does explain quite why the school has such a good reputation for its work, in the classroom, for our pastoral work, for our extra-curricular activities and most importantly of all, for the academic results the school achieves for its students, and across all ages and stages. The report is available on the school’s website, as are those back to 2014.

Central to the inspection process is an additional challenge for the Inspectors involved, that being whether there is something that might be unusually successful that a school does that is worth highlighting, these being known as ‘Significant Strengths’.. In the way that Cathedral Choir schools could not get a mention for the quality of their singing, so Claires Court could not get a significant strength of its excellence in PSHE, Pastoral Care, Sport, the Arts or indeed our innovative use of ICT. These are already part of the school’s reputation, both locally and nationally. These can be seen clearly in the overarching summary of 12 inspection findings, copied below, covering 3 or 4 sentences as expected, and we are delighted to read them there.

However, Summary 7, about ‘special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND)’ is worth further highlighting.
“Pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) are identified early. Specialist staff review personal learning plans regularly. These are tailored carefully to each pupils’ needs. Teachers are well informed about these needs. Consequently, they offer appropriate support and well thought out activities in lessons. Sensitive support for pupils with physical disabilities or mental health needs allows them to access the curriculum fully and to participate in the activities on offer. Pupils are provided with sustained pastoral support to build confidence. As a result, pupils who have SEND make extensive progress from their given starting points. They achieve well in public examinations. The success of thoughtfully tailored provision on outcomes for individual pupils who have SEND is a significant strength* of the school”.

Everyone in the school, and most notably those who lead and support those who learn differently, is particularly pleased with this finding. This is because this approach to our work covers all children and not just those with SEND, and not just academics. During every INSET our teachers participate in, whole school and departmental activities occupy most of the time, checking our work, reflecting on what’s gone well or awry, and collaborating together for the greater benefit of all. Our CPD efforts have not just been about teaching, learning, marking and assessment, important as those are. Over the past 18 months, we’ve also tackled the emerging use of Artificial Agentive Intelligence in the classroom, the considerable differences between the way generations of adults review parenting (Victor Allen), ADHD and Neurodiversity Training (Fintan O’Regan) and understanding Abuse in society (Marilyn Hawes). All 3 are significant leaders of our thinking, each highlighting in their own way the transactional nature of human development and progress. As the last 4 summary statements make clear, the school is really on top of its brief, focused on the challenges our children and young people are facing in a world changing by the day, if not the hour!

I have chosen Arnold Schwarzenegger’s quote because it so aptly describes how the school has got where it is now, in 2025. His lifespan covers all the 65 years the school has been in existence. We started small as a school (19 children), and have 862 now as of November 2025. Over that period, we’ve had many successes and setbacks, challenges and opportunities. During my time as Head (1981- Seniors/1988 whole school), we’ve seen O levels depart, GCSEs commence, Co-education arrive, the Dot.com bubble, university expansion, the Global Financial crisis, Olympic Games, Brexit, the Pandemic and now VAT. We have learned from all of these events, particularly the Gove reforms in Education and, more recently, the growing crisis in well-being, and I am so proud of the school’s ability to lead from the front. As a school that only serves a local population, we’ve got to be connected to our local community, and now as then, we are struggling always to meet the demands that are placed on our teachers, our support staff, our parents and above all, our children.

The 2025 School Inspection may be the last in my long career at Claires Court. The findings could not be more pleasing, a validation of all that we hope for when we come to work each day. Our aims are crystal clear:
a modern, relevant education
a love of learning
a range of life skills – academic, social, musical, creative and sporting
a strong spiritual and moral character.

These are underpinned by our Core Values:
Responsibility for ourselves
Respect for others
Loyalty to our School
Integrity above all

Plus…
We recognise the importance of building confidence and self-esteem in each of our pupils, and preparing them for the next step in their schooling
We work in partnership with parents and guardians to help our pupils achieve their full potential
We promote an understanding of the need for care and consideration for others within our community and the wider world
ISI Inspection Report 2025:
The proprietor and leaders have a clear vision for the school based on the values of personal responsibility, respect for others, integrity and loyalty to the school. They understand and fulfil their responsibilities effectively. Leaders place pupils’ wellbeing at the heart of their decision-making. As a result, pupils thrive. They are proud to belong to the school community.

Need I say more?

*An Independent Schools Inspectorate (ISI) “Significant Strength” is a designation for a school’s provision that goes beyond simply meeting the standards and provides clear, demonstrable, and highly beneficial outcomes for pupils. It reflects the exceptional knowledge, skills, and dedication of leaders, staff, and governors in a particular area, which can include leadership and management, curriculum, or pupils’ welfare and personal development.
Key characteristics of a Significant Strength
Exceeds standards: It is not just about meeting the basic regulatory standards but about excelling in a specific area.
Leadership-driven: The strength is a result of the knowledge, skills, and decision-making of the school’s leadership, managers, and/or staff.
Impactful for pupils: It must result in a clear, demonstrable, and highly beneficial impact on pupils.
Demonstrable through evidence: Inspectors verify this strength through a range of evidence, including pupil, parent, and staff feedback; school records; observation; and scrutiny of pupils’ work and progress.

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#MakingHistoryEveryDay

Posted on 13/11/2025 by jameswilding

When the school was emerging from #lockdown, it was very evident that everyone’s ‘engines’ needed a metaphorical service, to check that all the moving parts were suitably free-running, that the ‘satnav’ switched on and the future direction of travel calibrated. At most of the following assemblies I ran at Senior Boys, and on the other sites as appropriate, I included the  hashtag “MakingHistoryEveryDay” and used the current achievements (of anyone, it must be said) to illustrate the point. And it worked. Creating aspiration is one of the key strengths headteachers need, yet often that staircase of hope does need some easy risers to get going. It’s also true that not every aspiration will be met, as my childhod ambition to play open-side flanker for England testifies!

During last week and this week, we’ve seen rainbows over the schools, a metaphor for the evidence in front of our eyes that, despite the rain, the sun will shine once more. We know though that the physical elements will continue to forge and shape our future, as will the changes in humanity itself affect the ongoing direction of our enterprises. School is a small microcosm of this; over the past 20 years, we’ve worked hard to provide for all sites access to all-weather pitches (to combat the rain) and progress the various pathways (academic, art, choral, drama, music, sports) to support the separate growth of these talents towards the best they can be. The long arc of history of our school includes developing a reputation for the quality of our fencing and judo; sadly, however noble and athletic those Olympic disciplines are, times moved on, and student interest refocused on so many other sports, activities, and interests.

The recruitment of Sixth Former Lily Gater by Iowa University into their ‘Hawks’ boat club went viral over Instagram this week, pleased as punch that the University would be in capturing a world-class sculler for their squad and as an international academic student for their faculty. Yes, that’s another example of a student making history, yet worth highlighting that Lily joined us in the Sixth Form for the known reputation we have for the strength we have in the sport of rowing and also because of the strength and breadth of our Sixth Form teaching programme. My banner headline does try to highlight just how proud we are of Lily and her achievements, which are to have both the academic and sporting achievements to win this pick by the ‘Hawks’.

For Christians, it was Jesus Christ who highlighted just how difficult it is for a person to be a prophet in their own land. This proverbial saying inevitably impacts not just a human, but also schools and colleges. Whilst I do spend most of my time on my feet in school, both last week and this I’ve had the opportunity to attend major gatherings during which heads and those in the wider business of education have come together to focus on the future for schools and their purpose, last at the Institute of Directors venturing further into where AI is taking teaching and learning, this with Mr Richards at the ISA Autumn Study conference, where our art work won deserved praise, and the school highly commended for the Innovation we bring to our curriculum and purpose.

As I write, it seems our 2025 School Inspection report remains unpublished, a simple issue of delay by the final piece of editing. Without the accolades within, it’s difficult to ensure that our future audience of prospective parents appreciate just how successful our school is at achieving its aims and live to our core values. As current parents can see from the school’s App and Instagram blog, the achievements, accolades and actions of our athletes carry on in all areas. Our U14 netball girls beat Wellington College on their way to becoming Berkshire Champions, and the boys’ rugby teams carry on scoring tries and tackling hard, and of course Hockey is striking the right notes too.

At Claires Court Juniors, today the staff held a quiet commemorative birthday lunch for our former colleague, Bridie Gravett, who passed away this July. Her husband, Dan, is now back at work, in school, and I know just how thankful he is to be back at work and supported by the school as a whole. Some history is not about success at all, but to note the event, understand its importance and take the opportunity to include, remember and reflect. That combined well with the broader reach of the week for Remembrance, with assemblies and silences across the sites to remember those who gave their lives in battles so we could enjoy the peace we now experience.

Claires Court CCF assembles outside the Maidenhead Town Hall on Sunday 9 November 2025

5 weeks of school at Claires Court lie ahead for us all. My efforts will continue as both headteacher and Academic Principal to (where possible) make more history and encourage my colleagues, children and young people to do so too. These weeks include many opportunities for our community to come together in many ways, and I’ll welcome all conversations that add elements to the hopes we have for our children ahead. We are always told that life is too complex, but the answer is ‘to never to give in, focus on the important and what needs to be done’, and #simples, you too could be Making History Every Day.

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‘The proof that Life imitates Art – Government policy meets Celebrity Traitors!’

Posted on 06/11/2025 by jameswilding

The 2025 Celebrity Traitors programme has attracted circa 13 million viewers per episode, and I have no doubt that by the numbers are all added up, the programme will end up challenging the final of the Women’s Euro 2025 for most-watched programme this year. Despite the very honourable intentions of all the celebrities involved in the game, with the final prize fund of over £80,000 being available for the winning celebrity’s chosen charity, a huge % of the UK population have been watching an amazingly successful TV programme which tacitly approves of’ Lying’ to win the prize that could benefit so many deserving cases.

The phrase “Life imitates art far more than art imitates life” was said by Oscar Wilde in his 1889 essay, The Decay of Lying. The quote suggests that life often mimics the forms, ideas, and emotions presented in art rather than the other way around. Wilde was not the first to identify the importance of lying in public life, that honour probably belonging to the Greek philosopher, Plato, wh introduced the concept of the “noble lie” (gennaion pseudos), which are myths or falsehoods in words that the rulers of his ideal city are permitted to tell citizens for the purpose of maintaining social order and promoting the common good. This was an explicit departure from the stricter moral views of his teacher Socrates, who seems to have opposed all lies.

This week (4 November 2025), I’ve been listening to the current Secretary of State for Education highlighting that the new curriculum that her government are to introduce next year will put right the deficiencies arising from the old ‘new’ curriculum celebrated by Michael Gove 11 years ago, in his time in the same role. I remember specifically when Gove supported his changes in the Computing curriculum, supported by the then Executive Chairman of Google, Eric Schmidt, requiring a focus on the teaching of the fundamentals of Computer Science, coding and programming skills within our schools. The fundamental ‘truths’ of the last decade, spouted by Government and the DfE no doubt will be replaced by the brave new world hopes that iterate that we need computing to go back to providing broader insights and knowledge about the applications and outcomes. Inevitably, we will end up examining ‘up to the hilt’ the syllabus followed by its students; another folly erected in the pursuit of education, which has already moved on because of AI, LLM and the explosion of computing power now with us, previously never perceived ever to be available.

In terms of Education across the world, and all due praise to those very Gove reforms, English education has done really well, in Reading, Writing, Spelling, Maths and Science assessments in comparison to most other developed economies. Our sector gives Mr Gove every credit he deserves for those reforms, but has to hold back in its peon of praise, because Gove chose not to see all of the reforms we needed to truly create the outcomes that benefited all children. Forcing the EBacc on the country has seen the almost complete destruction of state school Arts education in the round, and his unwillingness to recognise those industries that bring such success to the UK through Film, Music and TV. Moreover, whilst we still lead the world in food technology, our state school Sixth Formers are unable to follow Food Studies at A level.

I do feel I can speak for the Independent school sector in England to say that neither set of reforms is likely to trouble our schools, as we have always been able to see the value in a myriad of subjects and approaches. We’ve been completely loyal to the children and young people we serve, offering all the range and breadth needed for our individual communities. Some schools have chosen (as we have at Claires Court) to make use of internationally recognised qualifications, and to offer breadth and range for subjects that are better assessed through practical assessments of vocational skills rather than terminal written exams. In short, there are many ways of ‘skinning the cat’, and we can celebrate them all.

Where national government is failing now and has been for years is in failing to adopt the duty of candour needed to run the country effectively. Despite the obvious failings of all the great departments of government, be those Care, Education, Health, Judiciary, the Police and Prison services, and perhaps above all, the Treasury, all their ministers (and their departmental spokesmen) can do is state that ‘we are spending more in real terms than previously’ and that it will take time ‘to put right the mess that we inherited from the last government’.

I quote from August 2024 “During the recent state opening of parliament, the new Labour Government confirmed their intention to enact primary legislation imposing a statutory duty of candour on all public servants and authorities. Although public authorities are currently subject to guidance on candour when taking part in inquest proceedings, they are not bound by any statutory duties to tell the truth. According to the Government, the new ‘Hillsborough Law’ intends to ‘change the culture of defensiveness in the public sector that has denied families the justice they deserve and contributed to their suffering’. The inclusion of this law in the 2024 King’s Speech is the direct result of a manifesto promise made by the Labour Party to support the long-standing ‘Hillsborough Law Now’ campaign to oblige state bodies to tell the truth and proactively cooperate with official investigations and inquiries. It is also, in part, a response to the outcome of the recent Infected Blood Inquiry and other high-profile miscarriages of justice such as the Post Office Scandal.”

Of course, no such legislation will ever work when we have such an oppositional approach to running our country. Those who win elections declare that they have the mandate to empower the changes they see the country needs, but never engage with the experts who actually know what needs to be done, in part because ‘expertise’ is now so easily acquired simply by inferring ‘I’ve done the job before’. I am one of many professionals now who feel that we are badly served by our government. It appears they are indeed ‘the traitors within’. Unlike the victor(s) from the TV series, where the successful could indeed have lied their way to the top, no one wins when the government of the day acts so treacherously, both to win power and then to retain it. This is no diatribe focused on the present; our country simply has outsourced so much, so many and for so long the services needed to run what we needed as a civilised society that we find ourselves in the perilous position today. Plato observed that ‘the noble lies’ are required to serve the purpose of persuading people to accept their role and be motivated to act for the country’s stability.

Sadly, government assertions today are no longer believed, because the half-truths and worse have come too thick and fast, with evidence of their failures filling the TV screens and news bulletins to the hilt. Sadly, I suspect the viewing public has already switched over from the reality of the news to the illusions conjured by ‘Traitors’, the ‘Great Bake Off’ and all. If nothing else, at least these shows actually have some winners!

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‘Diamonds in the Sky’ – hopes and values in 2025/26

Posted on 17/10/2025 by jameswilding

This half-term, we publish the Court Report, our annual statement, which covers the various successes of last year, and includes my commentary on the times ahead. You can see the website copy here, a really colourful celebration of Claires Court in action. As I make clear, we remain acutely aware of the financial challenges placed on families due to the addition of 20% VAT, and are doing our level best to keep core charges down. However, our catering prices are set to rise, so we can continue to provide high-quality offerings, and a separate communication outlining the changes will come out over the holiday half-term.

Schools win permission to appeal government’s VAT policy

The High Court previously acknowledged that the policy would disproportionately affect families in the bottom half of the income distribution, with 3,000 pupils expected to be displaced immediately. Despite this, the Court declined to intervene, citing Parliament’s broad discretion in matters of taxation. However, the Court of Appeal’s decision recognises the serious human rights implications of the policy, including potential violations of Article 14 (prohibition of discrimination) and Protocol 1, Article 2 (right to education) under the European Convention on Human Rights.

Our recent visit by the Independent Schools Inspectorate was most encouraging too; and we look forward to receiving the report and sharing its contents, expected in the 2nd week after half-term. Good news is always nice to receive, of course; we are very aware, though, that it is in the future that we plan our daily work, to give all of our children, whatever their strengths and differences, the skills and opportunities that will nurture the very best longer-term outcomes for their successful development. Nurture is one of the key values within education, is always spoken of within the Early Years Framework for nurseries and Reception, but seems to be quickly forgotten by so many, including Secretaries of State for Education. Nurture is a core principle in education, parenting, and personal development to emphasise the importance of caring, emotional support, commitment and providing a safe environment for growth.

To that end, and reflecting on the PTA Fireworks event on Saturday night (and the risk assessment we make every year to cover exploding mortar bombs in the air!), it provided a great opportunity for our school community to meet and enjoy a convivial evening of activity and conversation. With over 1000 present, what with ticket sales and footfall to the bar, ice cream van, pizza trailer and stalls, it provided both wonderful entertainment and a useful surplus to the PTA Foundation funds. Those in turn provide many valuable extras for the children and the school’s activities, for example, for the Flexitent providing cover for our stall as well as for other PTA events, and the next one arrives to benefit Forest school after half-term.

I appreciate that the most important recognition of the school’s suitability for our future pupils is the word-of-mouth recommendation of our current and previous families. It seems that the 2 major talks run this term, online with Marilyn Adams (video here, well worth watching) on the active parenting needed to safeguard children from the online harms of the internet and in person by Olympian 400m runner, Mark Richardson, to a good audience of parents and sports students. Mark spoke compellingly on his clear ambition to become the best in the world, and belatedly this Summer, he and Iwan Thomas, Roger Black & Jamie Baulch received their Gold medals for their victory in the World Championships in 1997, the original winners (USA) being subsequently disqualified because of the use of performance-enhancing drugs. You can see the final here, with Mark Richardson running the anchor leg and posting the fastest time he has ever run, 43.5 seconds.

Mark Richardson, Jamie Baulch, Roger Black, Iwan Thomas and Mark Hylton

During his talk, Mark was asked whether he was disappointed to receive his Gold medal 28 years late. His answer was a huge surprise: “Certainly not, as my daughters had only ever known their dad as once being an athlete a long time ago. For them to be present whilst we took the podium was an enormous satisfaction, bringing my past life into the present. And anyway, I got to keep the Silver medal too!”

Mark is one of those many ‘Diamonds’ who have enjoyed their education here at Claires Court. Whilst he did well at school and then Loughborough University, he recognises now he has ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder), a neurodevelopmental condition characterised by persistent patterns of inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity that interfere with daily functioning. Sport, in general, and Athletics, in particular, provided Mark with the discipline and excitement to help him focus. We now know that arises from the dopamine release, providing the reward for focusing so well, and it’s why we continue to include so much sport in our curriculum.

Dopamine is not the only hormone valued by education (and amongst adolescents, that’s just as well). The ISI inspectors noted just how calm the school is during the working day. We know that is due to class size, teaching quality, the children’s willingness to learn, a really well-balanced curriculum and the great relationships that are engendered. If we get that right, then those companion hormones come out to play as well, endorphins (which reduce pain and stress), serotonin (which stabilises mood), and oxytocin (associated with social bonding), which contribute to feelings of excitement and happiness. When schools get this right, then we lay down the conditions to find Diamonds, as most parents know, their children are really precious to them, not far away in the sky, but gems in their own homes, whose talents and facets of personality just need bringing out.

So, let’s all look forward to ‘Sparkling’ – it’s half-term ahead. Enjoy!

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“Comfortable Fictions – why it’s easier to make some stuff up rather than go by the evidence!”

Posted on 09/10/2025 by jameswilding

This week’s blog explains why it’s easier to make some stuff up rather than go by the evidence!,” discusses the prevalence of educational myths, contrasts them with evidence-based approaches, and features the career insights of World champion & Olympic bronze medallist Mark Richardson, Claires Court Headboy in 1987-1988.

As a professional teacher, growing up through more than the average number of decades than most, I’ve seen a ‘Heinz variety’ of Edu-myths, promoted to be kind to adults and children, on why perhaps their ‘intelligences’ were maybe different to others in the same context, and how perhaps they might be better attuned to learn differently.

The graphic below shows categories of intelligence types, yet have no scientific basis whatsoever:

Howard Gardner started this ‘Goldrush’ in the early 1980s with his ‘multiple intelligences’ model, which grew up alongside the much-promoted concept of ‘learning styles’. Other myths include the VARK model, that learning is better in bite-sized chunks, that left-brain/right-brain dominance dictates how people learn, and that a specific amount of learning (20% in this case) is lost when ‘students’ sleep. As the graphic above shows, it makes such good points that ‘surely it must be true?’ Sadly not, there’s no golden ticket to the future, just the bitter Northern Irish truth that ‘Life is hard and then you die’, perhaps even better illustrated by American Science Fiction writer David Gerrold, who wrote:

“Life is hard. Then you die. Then they throw dirt in your face. Then the worms eat you. Be grateful it happens in that order”

Our first visitor in our Speaker series this year was the athlete Mark Richardson (1983-88), Olympic medallist and World Champion and last Friday night, his 45 minute or so unscripted talk highlighted much about his development as a teenager into adulthood and his learning as an elite athlete that rang so true of what I remember about Mark in the 5 years he was at Claires Court. To an audience of parents and their sporty offspring, Mark’s presentation included his development from wannabe runner through the 1990’s culminating in his ‘greatest race’, winning the 1998 400m against Michael Johnson, world champion at the time. 

In the 1997 World Championsips, Mark ran the anchor leg of the 4x400m relay, and initially won the Silver medal behind the USA quartet, subsequently upgraded to Gold when one of the American runners admitted to doping offences. Mark was asked whether he minded having to wait until this July to receive his medal, with the other 4 involved, Jamie Baulch, Roger Black, Iwan Thomas and heat runner Mark Hylton.

Mark’s reply was simply wonderful. “Not at all. This time, in the London stadium, my daughters were present. So for them, Dad wasn’t just somebody who’d been an athlete long ago, before they were born. To have my medal presented to me and the team, whilst their mum and they watched was a magical moment’.

After his athletics career, and a period of self-doubt and reflection, Mark commenced on a career in business. 

“ I now consult with organisations and I take a lot from being an athlete and setting performance goals, deconstructing things into thinking about what it is you’re trying to achieve, thinking about those performance milestones, those key performance indicators, and then breaking it down into bite-sized chunks that you can be doing, day in and day out. 

I’m a big believer in that. I learned that skill as an athlete – and the ability to compartmentalise as well. There are loads of things I probably didn’t realise that I was doing 30 years ago as an athlete, but I’ve got the benefit of really strong knowledge about performance psychology now.”

What Mark made abundantly clear to us is that, to reach the very top, you need to have that as the goal, and you have to believe in yourself and your capabilities to improve. It is best not to spend any time dwelling on what others do, but to look after your own ambitions and then break them down into clear, compartmentalised goals, each of what are supported by specific tasks to do and changes in training so achieve them. He highlighted the many setbacks he faced throughout his running career, most notably that overtraining led to burnout and viral illness. During the audience’s opportunity to question Mark, they asked whether he ever ran that fast in training. Somewhat disarmingly, he answered, “I’m quite a lazy trainer and I’d never try that hard in training, just jog around, sort of faking it!”

All the signs are that, for whatever learning and skill acquisition needs to be completed, the support that fails is that of undeserved praise. Rather than suggesting someone is brilliant, what is much more effective is to check on what went well, highlight possible next steps and allow for feedback and goal setting.

I conclude this blog by quoting from a very recent article by Professor Carl Hendrick, formally an English teacher locally, and fellow researcher into what works best in learning: “The comfort of myth crowds out the discipline of truth (even amongst teachers):

This is not science. It is not even good pedagogy. It is moral theatre, performed for an audience of educators who want to believe they are doing the right thing without having to prove it. And the applause comes not from improved student outcomes, but from the warm glow of shared moral conviction.

The great danger of comfortable fictions is not that they are wrong, but that they make us feel right. They provide the satisfaction of moral certainty without the inconvenience of empirical accountability. They allow us to believe we are helping when we may be harming, to think we are progressive when we may be perpetuating the very inequalities we claim to oppose.”

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“Healthy Beginnings, Hopeful Futures” – World Health Day 2025

Posted on 01/10/2025 by jameswilding

World Mental Health Day, observed on 10 October each year, is a global initiative that highlights the importance of mental health to overall well-being.

It serves as a timely reminder of the critical role families and educators play in supporting young people’s mental health. This day is not only about reducing stigma, but also about strengthening awareness, encouraging open conversations, and ensuring young people know where to turn to for support. By acknowledging World Mental Health Day we can help reduce stigma to build more compassionate and supportive environments.

I am sharing this extra Blog to empower friends and families to give some more attention to matters of well-being, and just because people look healthy, appearances are deceiving.

Parents and caregivers play a central role in shaping the mental health of their children. World Mental Health Day is an opportunity to pause and reflect on the pressures young people face in today’s world and how we can best support them. Whether it’s helping them find balance between school, technology and rest, encouraging open conversations about feelings, or modelling healthy coping strategies ourselves, taking small steps at home can make a big difference. By engaging with resources and discussions on this day, families can strengthen their understanding of mental health and contribute to a culture where seeking help is seen as a sign of strength, not weakness.

SchoolsTV are our partners in the provision of excellent advice to parents and families. SchoolTV have just been awarded Mental Health Organisation of the Year in Australia! I have every expectation that their reach will soon be across the whole of the UK, in part because of the quality of the advice they offer, all published on our website here – https://clairescourt.uk.schooltv.me/ and because the access to good clinical advice on working with children is just so poor.

One of the outstanding practitioners in this field is Dr Emma Woodward, a child and adolescent psychologist, and her short video as part of World Health Day 2025 is really worth a watch.

This supplementary advice, covered in her TED talk 2 years ago, helps provide advice for parents and other adults on matters of Trauma, that emotional response to a terrible event that can manifest in a range of emotional and physical symptoms, with the potential to develop into a mental health condition like PTSD if symptoms persist. In school, we are noticing a slow and steady rise in this field. I quote below the questions and beneficial answers she gives so well:

“How can we create a future fit for human flourishing through practical psychology for generations to come? Dr Emma Woodward will shed light on this question through her talk on healthy trauma-informed responses that can benefit all ages. Dr Emma Woodward is a leading expert in trauma-informed practice and child development. A respected and sought-after trainer and facilitator, she is also a frequent media commentator on topics to do with child and adolescent development and trauma-informed principals. Her passion lies in understanding how we can use our knowledge of human behaviour to create a future fit for human flourishing for generations to come.”

For additional resources and further information on World Mental Health Day, visit the Mental Health Foundation website.

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Founders’ Day and the dynamism of a Family school

Posted on 26/09/2025 by jameswilding

Thursday 18 September saw the 2025 scholars and their families presented with their awards, for academic excellence, for the Arts and Sports and for those who are excellent in the round. Those present included new entry and long-serving families to the schools, covering in the main Years 7 to 9. In the address I gave to the 48 scholars and accompanying adults, I highlighted of course the success the young people had achieved in winning the scholarship, yet that it meant something more to them and the school. I quote verbatim below:

”Now to business – Scholarship is a word that is rarely used, and perhaps often misunderstood. 

What this means at Claires Court is this:

Scholarships are awarded based on merit, such as academic achievement, artistic or sporting talent, or specific subject potential. Please note that for you young people, it’s not a REWARD – in a sense, you haven’t done anything yet! We have every expectation that, whatever your award, you recognise that you have entered a performance pathway that will, no doubt accelerate your knowledge and skill acquisition. As we celebrate with Holly Hatch and Gareth Wellen at the close of today’s celebration, our leading GCSE students now moving on from Year 11 into A level studies, they have been a major influence on the other students in their Year and the school more generally, and we hope you will have the same extraordinary effect on the school as you move through as Claires Court Scholars.”

This week, for both Senior School open days, Steve Richards presented to over 100 families in attendance that Claires Court was founded by my parents, that my brother Hugh and I are still fully involved in the school, but that in addition, our prospective parents would see on their tour around the school, young people who really were proud of their school, aware of the myriad of opportunities available to them every day, and clearly perhaps very conscious that they were already achieving so much more than they could ever have imagined prior to entry.

Of course at some point in the future, the 2 founding pupils (Hugh and I) will no longer be around, yet the school will be, with its ongoing aims and values being retained because of their fundamental value in what makes Claires Court the school it is. Yet the school has to be pioneering in its approach for education all the time, as what works now will certainly hit ‘cracks and potholes’ in the way ahead, a route for the ‘futures’ as yet unknown to us all.

The headteachers and I are really proud of the close relationships we build both with the children and young people in our care, but also with the parents & guardians that support their sons and daughters and our wider school community so strongly. One great recent example has been the enthusiasm and determination of our younger families to ensure their primary age children enjoy a SMARTphone-free childhood. Hosting the inaugural group of 60+ heads from RBWM at our Junior school highlighted that ‘Now was the time to act’, and it’s so good to see that message proliferate not just in our local authority but across the country as a major groundswell of parental opinion covering the next few years of their families lives so well.

For older students and us adults, the world of the SMART phone cannot be ignored, providing as it does a route to so many services required in life, and not just because we are now a cash-free society. Prime Minister Starmer announced today the need to have a digital identity card for citizens permitted to work in this country, and frankly since I no longer have a bank locally and need to access NHS services via an App, the reality of their universal use is evident to us all.

I’ve received the video released this week by the SMARTphone free pressure group in the USA. It’s a powerful message to us all; whatever the benefits of our digital economy, our children need the best protection they can get from the families they live amongst. Here’s an example of just how dynamic famly attention needs to be to the dangers let loose when young children are presented with such a device. 

And finally, very many thanks to Marliyn Hawes, Freedom from Abuse for her powerful and hard-hitting presentation on the wider challenges that now exist in navigating young people through the turbulent waters of adolescence. What makes the difference between the childhoods of parents and those older generations beyond and the young of 2025 is the the sheer mobility of society and immediacy of access to knowledge and experiences that were usually ring fenced by geography and community. 

In my family history there are ancestors from Essex/East End who were transported to Australia for criminal activity, but kept local and out of sight from the rest of the country. As a boy, I remember seeing the appalling photos of children in flames during the Vietnam war, and of the civil war of the ‘Troubles’ in Northern Ireland. Yet they weren’t sent to the screen in my hands, but arrived perhaps in a colour supplement delivered first to my parents who with some care might have talked me through the stories. That’s the major difference now, and why managing the access to the world of troubles so sharply expressed in the video above is an essential part of the dynamism that schools and families need to embrace.

Ending on a high note about our pupils at Claires Court, whether they be the scholars winning awards last week or the wider school on show yesterday and today, they clearly just love that the continuity between schools is welcomed, and gives them the skills to express their voice, support their school and enjoy so many of the opportunities around them, very much beyond my wildest dreams from 1960, when I first started at Claires Court!

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