Destination Education
00:06:43 · Ruth Benny, Scott Crawford
[00:06:43] S0: as you say it must have been a leap of faith for them or they must have seen something. [00:06:48] S1: When I was a kid growing up in Scotland I was desperate to go to boarding school and I asked my parents every year to send me off and they never did. So I feel as though I'm catching up now. [00:06:59] S0: We did 13 schools in three weeks in June and quite a lot of time in Scotland and I didn't know that 25% of students in Scotland are privately educated, as opposed to the, well it's always a 6% isn't it, in the rest of the country. It's amazing, do you know why that is? [00:07:18] S1: No, don't really. I mean there are some fantastic skills, building skills in Scotland and independent skills and there's a real cluster in Glasgow and Edinburgh. But no, it wasn't for me so I'm making up for lost time working in one. [00:07:35] S0: So it's been a full year and we're just a few weeks into your second year. What are some of the changes that maybe you were cautious not to make in the first year that you will be making going forward?
00:07:48 · Scott Crawford
[00:07:48] S1: Yes, think I did that classic thing that new heads do of taking time to take the temperature of the school and really learn to understand it. I had a huge run-in period, I had eighteen months before I actually started, which is a really long time between being appointed and actually getting there. Notwithstanding that I still needed the year really to understand how the school works. Boarding schools are hugely complex organisations and we have the College and three prep schools, so I was trying to get my head around not just the College but also the wider family That of Lancing skills and the takes a bit of time. But during that time I was testing some scientists talking, was testing the hypotheses of things that I might want to change and someone gave me the really good advice of if you're going to change something make sure it's important. Don't change something that's unimportant, which is sort of keeping your powder dry for those things that significant. And so as we got towards the end of the year, working with the exec team and the governors we have put together our plan now for where the school is going to go over the next three to five years. And we're working on a parent version of that, which will be going out soon. And there are some fairly obvious things in there that we should be doing as a school in 2026. We're looking at the curriculum with quite a focus on what we do in those middle years. My heart sinks when a skill gets defined by the exam syllabus and when we talk about the GCSE years. So we're looking at the courses, the subjects, what we're doing in year 10 and year 11 in a way which freezes up from the GCSE specifications. That doesn't mean that we're ditching GCSE's at all but we're trying to find some space to do other things.
00:09:44 · Ruth Benny, Scott Crawford
[00:09:44] S0: So in year seven, eight, maybe even nine, what is that? [00:09:47] S1: So we start at year nine. [00:09:49] S0: Oh you only start at year nine, right. So how much space do you have? Mean surely they need to get stuck into the GCSE curriculum. [00:09:57] S1: Yeah, I mean we, again boarding school, we've got time. So it's what you do around the outsides. I mean we do 10 GCSEs at present. Do we always need to do 10? You know, if we trim that down by a couple. Ad[00:10:10] S0: Let's take a quick break to talk about something that can make all the difference for your child's educational journey. I'm thrilled to share that this episode is sponsored by Top Schools, your trusted partner in navigating the complex world of school applications. If you're aiming for a top independent school in The UK, Top Schools offers personalised consulting to ensure your child finds the very best fit with a guaranteed outcome. From identifying those best fit schools to crafting stand out applications to invigilating the entrance exams, the expert team is with you every step of the way. Ready to take control of your child's future? Visit topschoolsadmissions.com or click the link in the show notes to learn more and book a consultation today. Use the code DESTINATION for 20% off. That code is DESTINATION for 20% off personalised support for entry into a top independent boarding school in The UK. Now back to our conversation.
00:10:10 · Ruth Benny, Scott Crawford
Ad[00:10:10] S0: Let's take a quick break to talk about something that can make all the difference for your child's educational journey. I'm thrilled to share that this episode is sponsored by Top Schools, your trusted partner in navigating the complex world of school applications. If you're aiming for a top independent school in The UK, Top Schools offers personalised consulting to ensure your child finds the very best fit with a guaranteed outcome. From identifying those best fit schools to crafting stand out applications to invigilating the entrance exams, the expert team is with you every step of the way. Ready to take control of your child's future? Visit topschoolsadmissions.com or click the link in the show notes to learn more and book a consultation today. Use the code DESTINATION for 20% off. That code is DESTINATION for 20% off personalised support for entry into a top independent boarding school in The UK. Now back to our conversation. [00:11:09] S1: Lancing has historically taught its own derived course in religion and philosophy, so we do an RPE course which is our own, and it's very successful, it's a great course, prepares kids really well for A level and we've come up with it and maybe we can do that in some other subjects too. So we're looking at that alongside our response to AI of course and how we're adapting to that. And then there are some CapEx plans, so we're investing a lot in sports which is our biggest announcement over the last few months. Did you [00:11:42] S0: make that announcement yet? Did I miss it?
00:11:42 · Ruth Benny, Scott Crawford
[00:11:42] S0: make that announcement yet? Did I miss it? [00:11:44] S1: Come out, so we've committed to investing £6,500,000 in our sporting estate at the College. We've just finished a £2,500,000 refurbishment of our swimming pool which looks amazing, it's a great resource. And we want to make a new covered space for hockey and tennis all year round. The Sussex weather is lovely but it's not always. If we have an extra covered space we can do more high quality sport all the way through the year. [00:12:12] S0: But you're developing that internally, what do you think, you hadn't gone down the pathway of doing a partnership with another branded sports team of some sort? I thought that's what you were going to say. Did you consider that? [00:12:25] S1: That might be [00:12:26] S0: Okay. Something in the Watch this space. Yeah, I mean the CapEx situation, tried, I mean it's very complicated, we won't go into that, but I'd be interested in the parent version. Because it's a very complicated structure of the school. Let me ask you more about your, you've taken a year, if I'd gone back to your old school, that was Magdalen College in Oxford, and asked them what's your leadership style, what would they say?
00:12:26 · Ruth Benny, Scott Crawford
[00:12:26] S0: Okay. Something in the Watch this space. Yeah, I mean the CapEx situation, tried, I mean it's very complicated, we won't go into that, but I'd be interested in the parent version. Because it's a very complicated structure of the school. Let me ask you more about your, you've taken a year, if I'd gone back to your old school, that was Magdalen College in Oxford, and asked them what's your leadership style, what would they say? [00:13:00] S1: I think they'd say that I'm consultative, too many T's in that, I think they would say I'm consultative but clear. So think I'm very keen to work with good teams to get their input, to take some time to understand a problem and then make a decision. Very quickly, as you know in any kind of leadership position, realise that you can't please everybody all the time. But maybe you can please most of the people most of the time by trying to find a way through. And I'll only consult on things that I'm genuinely consulting on. I think if you know what you're going to do then just do it. I think that's something I've become more confident about as a leader in school over the management experience I've had. [00:13:49] S0: Good job you weren't a politician. What was I gonna ask? I've completely lost my train of thought to about your leadership style. I don't remember. Do you, okay How Lancing College, what is a Lancing student, how do you define a student who will be successful in your school? [00:14:17] S1: I think we don't. [00:14:19] S0: Okay, fair enough.