Focus on Reed's School / Strong foundations

With a return to its fully co-educational roots, Reed’s School is entering an exciting new chapter. That, plus its merger with Feltonfleet, means it can offer a seamless 2-18 journey for boys and girls and expand Foundation support to even more young people

Words: Libby Norman

Reed’s School has always had an impressive vision, a sense of purpose, that sets it apart. Now it is entering a new chapter, and one that returns it to its roots. Alongside the news of a move to full co-education, beginning in 2027 when girls join Year 7, it has made another important announcement – Feltonfleet Preparatory School, just down the road in Cobham, is joining the Reed’s family.

For Reed’s Headmaster Mark Hoskins, it was a great pleasure to make the twin announcements in mid May, and the culmination of long thought-out strategy on the part of Governors, staff and the Andrew Reed Foundation. He points out that the move to full co-education is an evolution, not a revolution. “Really, we look at this as extending our co-education from the top down. There are 140 girls at the school already.”

Focus on Reed's School / Strong foundations — Reed’s Headmaster Mark Hoskins with pupils – the co-education announcement in May was greeted warmly by children, parents and staff

Girls have been welcomed to Reed’s Sixth Form since 2000. And the Sixth Form is currrently around one third girls. It is extremely popular – always heavily oversubscribed – so girls play a full part in school life already. Admitting girls at 11, and moving to full co-education in 2031, feels like a natural progression for staff and pupils alike. And, of course, there are some obvious side-benefits of having a strong female cohort in the Sixth Form to look up to. “They will be really important mentors for the younger girls,” says Mark Hoskins.

“We don’t see this as a radical change,” he adds. “My Reed’s colleagues are used to working with young boys and girls of that age, so it’s about adapting what we do rather than reinvention.” This experience with a mixed younger cohort comes in part thanks to a sharing of resources and expertise with lots of schools. That includes Ripley Court, the Surrey Prep School, which joined the Reed’s Foundation fold back in 2019. And now, with co-educational Feltonfleet in the family, there are two outstanding prep options close by for parents. Reed’s will, of course, continue to work with a range of other schools.

Reed’s and Feltonfleet have enjoyed a long and close relationship and many of the prep’s boys have headed on to Reed’s for their senior years. Now, that relationship can grow and girls have the option to move here, too. “At Feltonfleet we have some boarding provision as well so it’s a really exciting element,” says Mark Hoskins. “We’ve really got some options now to extend what the Foundation does – which is really getting back to the founder’s vision.”

“We look at this as extending our co-education from the top down – there are 140 girls at the school already”

You can’t talk about what gives Reed’s its unique character without going back to Reverend Dr Andrew Reed. That phrase often used to describe Reed’s – ‘a Foundation with a school’ – still shapes the character and ethos of the school today. What makes the co-education announcement so full-circle is that it really does return Reed’s to its beginnings. Andrew Reed’s first two orphaned pupils in 1813 were girls. It remained co-educational until after World War II, when boys and girls were moved to separate sites – and that was for practical rather than pedagogical reasons.

Some 12,000 young people have been supported through their Reed’s School journey by the Andrew Reed Foundation – around a tenth of pupils here receive some support. There are some female Foundation pupils in the Sixth form, and the through-school pathway provides opportunities to deliver support to girls, alongside boys, from a much earlier age. “Boarding is often a key part of supporting Foundation pupils,” says Mark Hoskins.

“There’s a real ‘why’ to what Reed’s is all about and Feltonfleet have a similar ethos and set of values”

“Certainly from my perspective and the Leadership team, and also the Governors’ perspective, the most important element of this is the ability for the Foundation to reach more children,” he says. “From the Feltonfleet Governers’ and Leadership perspective, the Foundation was a real draw. There’s a real ‘why’ to what Reed’s is all about and Feltonfleet are very keen to be part of that. They have a similar ethos and set of values.”

The co-education and and merger news has, as you’d expect, been greeted warmly by former pupils. Mark Hoskins’ daughter, a quite recent Old Reedonian, was able to report back that all her friends thought it was a great idea. A former Head Girl got in touch and praised the decision. But it goes much wider than that. “We’ve got a really active Old Reedonian network and have received really positive responses,” he says.

Parents have been warmly supportive – indeed, feedback from parents and prospective parents over many years has been consistent in asking why they didn’t admit girls all the way through the school. There has been the odd question about whether it will be more difficult to get younger brothers into the school if girls are also competing for places. “We always look to take siblings, so I’ve reassured parents on that front.”

Continuity and convenience are both factors that came into play in the decision made by Reed’s. Like all independent schools, it is acutely aware – in real time – of ripples and subtle movements in its landscape. In recent times, those changes have seemed seismic for everyone. “There’s been a lot of movement in the school sector, particularly since Covid and then with VAT on school fees, and that’s really quite unsettling for parents,” says Mark Hoskins.

“I think there’s a desire to really feel confident that, when they put their child into a school, it is going to remain intact all the time that their child is there. And then they want to have a sense of what that next destination might look like.” Of course, senior transitions have never beeen considered easy. “It has always been a very stressful time around that 11+ moment, for all parents,” says Mark Hoskins.

“Of course, nothing is ever guaranteed and there is always independence in where parents want to go from prep school. But if your child’s junior school is working very closely with a senior school that you’re attracted to and you think is a really excellent school – and I hope people would think that about Reed’s – then hopefully it gives that sense of comfort. It takes away a bit of that anxiety that parents increasingly feel.”

Reassurance is provided by the through-school option, and the day-to-day convenience of choosing one school for sons and daughters is another increasingly important consideration, Mark Hoskins adds, in school choice. “One of the bits of feedback we’ve already had is that logistics are really important. I don’t think it’s so often about co-ed or single sex but pick up and drop off of your daughter and son at the same school. It brings convenience for parents.”

The fact that there’s boarding here (around a tenth of pupils board) also means the 24/7 wraparound care that is so helpful in easing the logistics of family life and helping children make the most of time. And the school is very flexible in its boarding provision, with flexi and Monday-to-Friday alongside full boarding. Mark Hoskins notes that during the recent exam season, the Sixth Form Centre was packed until 8pm at night and busy at weekends. “It’s just so much easier – you find a teacher if you need them, you get work done.”

Academics are always a key concern for parents, and here Reed’s has a lot to shout about, with A-level outcomes that have helped ensure that heavily oversubscribed Sixth Form. There’s a great baseline to work this out in the pupils who join at 16+ – you can get a good prediction of A-level outcomes based on GCSE results. “So if we look at the girls – and actually the boys – when they come to us at Sixth Form, the value-added is off the chart. So we know that we’re adding real value.”

“If pupils are confident, what they can achieve is magnified a hundred times. It’s about getting people to believe in themselves”

It’s important to note that Reed’s doesn’t do a ‘weeding out’ of pupils who haven’t done quite as well as they might at 16. Every boy moved up to the Sixth Form last year. “We might say you can’t do Maths, Further Maths, Physics and Chemistry if we think it may not be the right mix, but we’ll find a combination for each pupil. So those A-level results that we’ve got are without playing the league table system. And we’re very proud of that.”

He is very conscious of the age and stage variations with young people – that not everyone finds their focus early. “Those weaker – so called weaker – students can often do incredibly well at sixth form once the penny has dropped and once they have some ambition for what they want to do next,” he says. And denying them that opportunity doesn’t sit right. “Going back to Andrew Reed, it’s not in the vein of what Andrew Reed would be about.”

In fact, when he arrived as Head in 2014, Mark Hoskins set very tough targets academically. “I said, ‘we’re going to get really great results but we’re going to do it the hard way and that way we’ll get the best out of everyone’.” Reed’s aims to do that by providing opportunities for children to shine in a myriad of areas – be it sport, drama, music or special interest clubs. “You need the academics. But at Reed’s we’ve all come to the realisation that you get better academic results if pupils are engaged in the wider life of the school.”

Like all schools, Reed’s is attuned to the current pressing challenges of the graduate careers market, so preparing young people for that makes elements beyond academics even more of a priority right now. “It’s very important for pupils to have those transferable skills – be able to work as part of a team, present well, speak publicly, move and interact with different sorts of people. And they need to be able to understand that leadership is a lot more subtle than that portrayed in some of the media. All of those things are hugely important, both within the classroom and in the co-curricular life of the school.”

Happiness is a word you hear a lot here. Mark Hoskins sees that as an intrinsic part of helping young people find both direction and self-belief. “If pupils are confident, what they can achieve is magnified a hundred times. It’s about getting people to believe in themselves, and also getting them not to compare themselves with others but be comfortable in their own skin and feel happy in their own unique combination of interests and attributes.”

There’s no ‘pecking order’ of the talents here. “We wouldn’t put an Oxbridge student or a medic on a higher pedestal than someone who wanted to go to art school, be a professional tennis player or go into law or accountancy. We see all those paths as equally wonderful and valid. Our job is to try and help all those individuals find the path that is unique to them.”

Reed’s has helped many individuals find their path to great success, from Tim Henman, Jeremy Ovenden and Tom Hardy in sports, music and drama to Forbes ’30 Under 30′-listed entrepreneurs Jessica Houlgrave and Sarah Neville. There are many who don’t have that public profile but have achieved great success in their field, and that Old Reedonian (OR) network is highly active in paying it forward by supporting the Andrew Reed Foundation.

Recent initiatives include Equity for Equity, an OR-led plan to fundraise for future generations of Foundation pupils. The ORs (and current parents) also give back with careers talks and entrepreneurship events, and by offering opportunities to gain work experience – something Reed’s is looking to scale up still further. The network continues well into working life, helping graduates and those on the career path to hook up with relevant people in their industry, wherever they may be in the world.

Andrew Reed is an ever-present influence, shaping the life of the school he founded over two centuries ago – both in the legacy and in the values it lives by. “We don’t identify Foundation pupils in any way, full stop,” says Mark Hoskins. “But I think we’re a very accepting and inclusive school. Almost by osmosis, boys and girls from different backgrounds, different parental experiences as well, work together. Collectively, we all learn from each other.”

The Head talks about Andrew Reed to prospective parents – describing him as the thread through the school since 1813 – and every pupil knows how much his work benefits them. “In assembly, we talk a lot about his legacy, so everybody is very aware of how important the Foundation is to the school.”

That story of a man of visionary purpose – who understood the value of education and of giving back – is a thread to unite the Reed’s boys and girls who continue to learn together and then head out to find their own unique path. “If you can send people off to university and careers who are compassionate, curious and have integrity, then you are doing a pretty good job,” says Mark Hoskins. “And that’s what we try to do.”