The Chronicle, Autumn 2018

9 ST EDWARD’S CHRONICLE

Are you committed to offering A Level and IB into the long term? I confess that I was one of the sceptics when it was first mooted that we might offer the IB alongside A Levels. I’m happy to say that I was wrong. To offer both is exactly the right thing to do at this time. It is wholly in keeping with the academic culture we’ve just been talking about – a carefully considered and researched range of opportunities allowing individual pupils to choose their own pathway. And some 10 years on, we are a well-oiled machine, the dual approach works well.

You’ve just joined forces with Guanghau Education Group to develop a number of partner schools in China - why? We’ve been approached many times but, until now, had not met a partner organisation that seemed right for us. Many of the people who’ve approached us over the years have essentially been property developers looking for a prestigious school to bring cachet to their development. Guanghua is an educational group whose values chime with our own so it is easy for us to support their ambition to share our

academic ethos internationally. At the same time, there is much for us to learn from the new thinking emerging from Asia. It will be a truly exciting partnership with opportunities for both parties to grow and to develop. Beyond the educational advantages, the financial benefits will help us in a further ambition to offer as many assisted places in Oxford as we can. What does Oxford bring to the School? Oxford is a powerful word - it’s one of the biggest brand names in education. It

© Blink Image Limited

An artist’s impression of the new co-ed boarding house opening on Field Side in 2020. Through the wonders of modern technology, real pupils are playing football in front of our artist’s impression – from left to right: Zac Adeboye, Matisse Dubois-Pelerin and Shamil Aliyev, who will move into the new House in 2020; and Isabel Llabres Diaz, Jenifer Ellis, Inaya Ghalib and Charlotte Hanslip.