Peter Goodyer

Let's start with the ethos of Bede's as the word 'joy' is one which is repeated across your website. How do you make a school joyful?
"I think for us the most important thing about delivering a joyful education is around every individual child. And what I think we are quite unique in our approach is focusing on individual children, their care, the support they need, the academic programme, the co-curricular programme, and that all of that sits very closely to the child's own interests, their own passions. So what we really want is that children will leave here and look back on their time and think to themselves, or know that what they had here was something really special, really unique, and it was a joyful experience."

Well, I noticed one particularly unique aspect of Bede's is that you have your own zoo and you've got to be the only school in the country that's got their own zoo. How does the zoo link with being joyful?
"So I think the zoo is unique. It's actually registered with the British Zoological Society. So it's a proper zoo. And that again is because it's about a curriculum and an opportunity that is provided, which plays to the needs of different children. And we have certainly got children that value the opportunities to spend time with animals, to work closely with animals. And I've got a brilliant deputy head and also an assistant head who have been the driving forces behind that zoo over the last... it must be 20 plus years now that that's provided education. And what's really important there is that when you're in the Sixth Form, it's a qualification. So we do BTECs and we do BTEC Animal Management. And animal husbandry is fundamental to that. So being a part of the zoo and helping in the zoo is core to that. But in the younger years, they get an opportunity to experience the zoo when they're here in their first year and that's our Year 9. And then at GCSE, they take it as an activity. So you can do it as a co-curricular activity to work in the zoo and to help out in the zoo. But again, it plays to that idea that there will be passions, there will be interests for children, which is different to what one might find by just simply focusing on a particular traditional narrow educational offer."

What qualities therefore would you say that, you know, a typical Bede's pupil would have? Because I mean, how do parents know therefore, if Bede's would be the right fit for their child? What would you advise them?
"It's a difficult question because I think every child..."‍

I mean, I appreciate you're biased!
‍"And I would suggest that every child is a typical Bede's pupil. Because the reason why I say that is because pupils are accepted to Bede's without an entrance exam. There's no academic criteria for entry. What we want to know is that children will gain from the experience that they have by being a part of the Bede's community. And if you are somebody who does fall into that category that you have got interests, you have got passions, and that we can facilitate those and we can support those, then you will be a success. And we believe that that will be the case. So for me, just being a part of an environment where you want to throw yourself into things and do things is really important. And that stretches, you know, we'll have a huge number of pupils that are very sporty and enjoy a lot of sport and they will gain a lot from sport. We've got a good number of pupils that are academically driven. We've just had pupils that have returned, for example, this weekend, they returned from the Model United Nations International Conference at The Hague. And they gave an incredibly good account of themselves out there. And we've also got pupils that will compete in the national Warhammer competition. So it's about finding a thing for every single child to allow every single child to flourish and to achieve what they want to achieve. And that to me is the most important things. It's not necessarily determined by me. It's not determined what I want. I think it's about the individual child and about what they want to achieve. And if they can be a part of that in a manner, which is, and this is the key qualities, is... are they individuals that are willing to be kind, willing to be courteous, willing to be considerate and develop a sense of self worth? Then, they can make a success of their time here at Bede's."

And when they get to the end of that journey, the end of that time with you at Bede's, what do you think they would remember most fondly?
"Relationships. I think the thing that's most important and has certainly been the thing that I found when I very first visited the school and I still find it to now, I think the collaboration, the willingness to support one another between pupils and other pupils in their year groups, between staff and pupils, I think makes for a very, very warm and very special environment. And I think... what I've found here, which has been particularly important is that regardless of who you are as a pupil, and what your needs might be, staff will bend over backwards to allow you to flourish, to make sure that you belong, to make sure that you do find whatever it is that you deem to be your success. And I'll often say to parents that every single child in the school has specific educational needs. If you're a pupil that's looking to go to Oxbridge, we know that there is particular support that we have to have in place for you, to help you, to support you, to facilitate that progress or that ambition. If you want to go and play professional football, if you want to go straight out into the world of work, professional cricket, if you want to go and do amazing things, because you're an amazing coder in IT, and computing, we know that we've got to specifically model things, and adjust things for your needs, and for your ambitions. And the same is true of those children that find education more challenging. Whether that's they're slightly vulnerable, that they're emotionally anxious, they're socially anxious, they've got challenges in terms of the way in which they see the world, whether that be through... ...what would traditionally might be special educational needs, then again, we know that we've got to support them in a particular way to again, ensure that they are successful and that they can leave here in a way which is, which is really beneficial to them and sets them up to leave. But my hope is ultimately they will look back in 10 years time, and they will look back at Bede's and they will say, that was a joyful experience. And I will value the relationships I had with my friends, what I was able to achieve through the support and the guidance and the encouragement that was given to me by my teachers."

Independent schools are under a lot of pressure in the current economic climate. How do you reassure parents that independent schooling is still the right choice?
"For parents that decide to send their child to Bede's we fundamentally recognise the significant sacrifice and the commitment that is made by a parent to make that particular choice. There are so many reasons why we believe that would be the right choice. And whether that's about... from my perspective, whether it's around the opportunities that are available to parents, and the manner in which a child might be able to engage in their education in a manner which would be different if they were in a maintained or a state sector school. And for so many... it's often to do with the way they view education, the ambitions that they've got beyond school. And I think, crucially, it's around the flexibility and the opportunities that lie ahead for any child in making, making a success of themselves. And often, I'll... you know, it's about realising that every child's success is different. I'll have 800 definitions of success. And I'll have another 150 definitions of success down at the prep school. Every single child needs to be recognised for their own individual criteria for success. And what we have the flexibility, and the opportunity to do is to nurture that, and to support that so that they can go off and make a success of themselves outside of school."

Peter Goodyer was talking to Attain's Editor, Matthew Smith.