Curriculum
Stanbridge Earls is a small independent boarding and day school for boys and girls with a teacher to pupil ratio of around 1 to 6. It was founded for boys who were unable to gain admission to larger boarding schools or who found them too restrictive. Gradually the school began to attract a disproportionate number of pupils who had learning difficulties- which at the time were often undetected and frequently misunderstood. And it has continued to specialise in this area. Currently the school has about 185 pupils on roll, three-quarters of them boarders. It has a thriving sixth form. Although the school started to admit girls in the late 1970s about 80% of pupils are boys, reflecting the greater incidence of special needs among boys. In the late 1980s the school recruited, for the first time, pupils into Years 7 & 8. Pupils are now drawn from across a wide social spectrum. Approximately sixty pupils are funded by local authorities.
The school has a reputation, in line with its mission statement, for building confidence and achieving success, often with pupils who have struggled with other forms of education. Most of these pupils receive small group or individual tuition from staff in the Accelerated Learning Centre (ALC) or the Mathematics Learning Centre (MLC). The Special Educational Needs Coordinator (SENCO) is assisted by staff specialising in occupational therapy and by speech and language therapists.
Class sizes are small, with not normally more than ten pupils. Pupils follow a mainstream Key Stage 3 curriculum in Years 7 and 8. Thereafter, they have the opportunity to select from a wider choice of subjects at GCSE and A level. Spanish is the primary modern language. In addition to the traditional subjects, pupils can select vocational subjects such as Home Economics, Fashion, Media Studies, and Motor Mechanics. Since the school has Cisco Networking Academy certification, many pupils gain practical experience and valuable qualifications in ICT. Results in public examinations, however modest, are among the greatest rewards for staff at Stanbridge. While many sixth formers transfer to university, a significant number go to colleges of Further Education or directly into employment.
The school has close links with the Council for the Registration of Schools Teaching Dyslexic Pupils (CReSTeD). It belongs to the Boarding Schools Association (BSA), and the Headmaster is a member of the Society of Headmasters and Headmistresses of Independent Schools (SHMIS). In 2010 the school launched an assistive technology programme in partnership with Kellogg College, University of Oxford.
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“If we focus exclusively on teaching our children to read, write, spell, and count in their first years of life, we turn our homes into extensions of school and turn bringing up a child into an exercise in curriculum development. We should be parents first and teachers of academic skills second.”
—Neil Kurshan (20th century)