April Newsletter. Revision and Stress, Wetherby Pre-Prep and other news.

Monday April 24th, 2017

Hope you all had a lovely Easter break and your boys and girls are looking forward to going back for the final push of schooling before their GCSE, IB, A-Level or end of year exams.

Recent research published by the University of Essex revealed that, astonishingly, children are feeling less happy when they are on holidays than when they are at school. Turns out they miss their friends and get bored. Easter holidays seem to be the least happy time for children, made worse by the pressures of their revision for end of year exams. Read the full article here.

It is true that the revision during the Easter holidays has the most significant impact on the exam results. It is also true that for a lot of the children that time isn’t what it seems – it is not all chocolate Easter eggs and a carefree holiday. Stress and hard work might describe it better. I personally still have the association of lilac trees blossoming with the exams and revision, ever since my school days!

Another study showed that high levels of competitiveness might hinder high performance. The study was published by PISA, the international education assessment body, that assesses more than half a million students in 72 countries. For the first time in the history of the assessment, the respondents were asked about their social and emotional life and the answers were compared to their academic achievements.

There are two kinds of competitiveness, according to the study. One that comes from within the individual, who just wants to succeed and has the motivation to do so, the other one is caused by external factors. It is the latter which is not conducive to good results. The former is found to be quite beneficial to high performance, leading to the motivated individuals getting ahead of their peers by as much as a whole year of schooling, no matter what their innate abilities are.

To really succeed in studying, motivation has to be found from within. The best British schools base their whole approach to studying on motivating the pupils rather than pressurising them.

Working with international pupils, helping them to adapt to the UK education system, I often find that the transformation from other countries’ education systems to the British system can be quite painful for the pupils. Schools and universities here are trying to relax the pupils and help them find their own motivation through developing their natural aptitudes and curiosity, whilst the parents that come from the highly stressful and pressurised cultures, with the best of intentions, continue inflicting unnecessary stress on their children, creating quite a bit of confusion and anxiety.

So be mindful of your children’s stressful time. Praise them for their hard work, encourage them to persevere, try to calm them down if they are overstressed, get them one-to-one tutors as help, not as punishment!

To quote Andreas Schleicher, Director for Education and Skills and Special Advisor on Education Policy to the Secretary-General of OECD:

“Schools are not just places where students acquire academic skills; they also help students become more resilient in the face of adversity, feel more connected with the people around them, and aim higher in their aspirations for their future. Not least, schools are the first place where children experience society in all its facets, and those experiences can have a profound influence on students’ attitudes and behaviour in life.”

In other news…

Adults in the UK also got their fair share of stress this Easter. A General Election has been called unexpectedly by the British prime-minister Theresa May so Britain is in for yet another shake up following the shock of Brexit vote last summer. The good news for Brits is that the pound has become stronger on the back of the news of the general election.

Last week Queen Elizabeth II turned 91. Many happy returns to Her Majesty who celebrated by attending a horse race at Newbury then having lunch at Highclere Castle ( famous as the backdrop to the TV show ‘Downton Abbey’)

St George’s day was widely celebrated in England on Sunday. St George is the saint of England and, although it is not an official holiday anymore, it is a well recognized celebration here in England, with street parades (mainly by the Scouts) held in many towns and villages.

The London Marathon took place last Sunday. Prince William, Prince Harry and Catherine Duchess of Cambridge started the race by pressing the big red button together. The three are supporting the Mental Health charity Heads Together. Prince Harry gave interview last week coming out with very private details about his battle with mental health problems that were the result of losing his mother at a young age.

Continuing on the subject of the most famous schools and universities, we will look at the Pre-Prep school that Prince William and Prince Harry attended.

Wetherby Pre-Preparatory School is a very popular school in London educating boys from the ages of 4 to 8. From Wetherby Pre-Prep, boys usually follow to the Wetherby Preparatory School in Marylebone for the ages of 7 to 13, or to other popular Prep Schools leading to the highly academic senior schools. Westminster Under, leading to Westminster School and Colet Court, leading to St Paul’s school, are the popular choices from here.

Unlike other popular London Pre-Preps, Wetherby doesn’t run a selection process. Famously, registrations here are based on fist come first served principle, so parents rush to register their new-borns as soon as they can, i.e., the day they are born! And no, you can’t register your son before he is born, if you were wondering. The school receives around 35 applications each month so if your baby is older than three month and you haven’t registered him, you might be too late. Unless you are a celebrity.

Despite the fact the school is non-selective the pace is fast and the boys are expected to keep up with the high standards. The school belongs to the Alpha Plus group of schools ‘We can attract a different kind of teacher – Alpha Plus pays very well, especially at this level, and we rarely lose anyone to another school’, says the Head of Wetherby school.

Hugh Grant, Claudia Schiffer’s son Caspar, Elle Macpherson’s son Cy all attended or are now attending this school.

Banking on the popularity of the Prep and Pre-Prep schools, Alpha Plus has opened a new senior Wetherby Senior school in Marylebone, having taken over the premises of DLD College that previously was based here.

The son of Prince William, George, is likely to go to a different school, however. Thomas’s Battersea is about to welcome him this September.
According to the Daily Mail newspaper: “In attending Thomas’s, George will, notably, become the first direct heir to the throne to attend a co-educational pre-prep school.
The family-run school has 540 pupils and is one of a group of six schools across London.
Society magazine Tatler says it is populated by ‘pushy professional parents’.
But while the Good School Guide admits that it is competitive, it says parents simply want ‘the best education money can buy’.
Headmaster Ben Thomas has insisted that Thomas’s Battersea, is ‘about so much more than getting children into their next school’ and a huge emphasis is placed on kindness and humility as well.”

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