Cambridge University academic visits

On Thursday 9 June 2016 Christine Counsell visited The Cedars School, South Croydon. Christine is an academic from the Faculty of Education at the University of Cambridge she is a winner of Cambridge’s Pilkington Prize for Excellence in Teaching. Christine Counsell is an educational ‘big hitter’ by any standards, having significantly influenced national policy in several important areas. In October she
takes up a new post as Director of Education for the Inspiration Trust, a multi-academy trust in Norfolk.

It was a great honour to welcome her to spend the morning with Dr Radice’s English classes and she was very impressed by what she saw. “Nothing disappointed. It was an inspirational morning. The verve and joy of the boys…, their systematic training in grammar and writing, and their growing ability to talk about literature, in informed, rich and mature ways, all amounted to some of the most exceptional and productive teaching I’ve ever seen. It was also fascinating to see how Dr Radice attended to the strengths and deficits right across the attainment range, stretching the strongest and pushing the weakest relentlessly at every opportunity. It was a moving experience.”
Christine also met with other humanities teachers “Mr Davis was inspiring in his vision for setting a high base-line of geographical knowledge for all, as basic necessity for any educated person. He is the first geography teacher I have come across with such a developed rationale for this and the beginnings of a practical way forward in curriculum and pedagogy.”
Claire Heald, the Executive Principal from the Inspiration Trust joined Christine Counsell for the visit and echoed many of her sentiments: “As an English specialist myself I found the quality of teaching and the enthusiasm and commitment of the students so inspiring.”

The Cedars School will collaborate with the Inspiration Trust with the aim of boosting curriculum development that further. Mr Robert Teague was delighted at the response of the academics to the schools and said “These are really exciting times in education!”

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