St Dunstan’s College has never been afraid to be different, and its model of a progressive education for the 21st century is paying dividends. Absolutely Education finds out more about this far-sighted approach
Words: Libby Norman
St Dunstan’s College is a school with a bold approach – a willingness to be different. But then, over the course of its history, it has form in this regard. It opened in 1888 in then leafy Catford (rebirth of a medieval school associated with St Dunstan’s-in-the-East). The founding vision was radical at a time when classical education ruled – here was a place setting out to prepare pupils for the modern industrial age.
The grand Victorian Gothic main building designed by E.M. Barry may have harked back to the medieval, but St Dunstan’s had the very first school laboratories in the country, a chemist for its founding headmaster and it favoured a heuristic (hands on and investigative) education. Learned educators travelled from far and wide to see what the new school in Catford was doing.
South London grew and green spaces shrank, although St Dunstan’s still had its grand building and 40-acre site. Somewhere around the late 1990s, St Dunstan’s began to look out of tune with its urban setting. When Nick Hewlett took up the reins as Head in 2014, he came with a clear vision – to revitalise the school’s founding principles in a way that worked for the 21st century. He saw much to celebrate, and work to do on academics and facilities. But, more than that, the school lacked a clear sense of place. And so he pivoted to make a strength of its location.
“I felt there was a huge opportunity to flip the Catford narrative and say, ‘look, we’re in the most dynamic, diverse, socioeconomically interesting borough of London’. We have an enormous asset here,” he says. He also saw something coming through in the independent-school landscape – what he describes as: “a changing Millennial purchaser for independent education”.
“They wanted the best for their children, but they just felt as though there was a values disconnect between the traditional private school and what they wanted as a family, and what they wanted for their children.” Just over a decade on, Nick Hewlett is CEO of St Dunstan’s Education Group – leading a family of schools that comprises not only St Dunstan’s Senior and Junior, but also local preps Rosemead and St Christopher’s The Hall. There are now some 1,800 pupils across four schools on seven sites.
“I am proud of it because we’ve worked really hard,” he says. Along the way, St Dunstan’s has transformed its facilities. Additions include a superb £25m STEM Centre, a theatre and performing arts space and a thoroughly modern learning resource centre,
“One of our biggest successes last year got into Oxford to read Music. He is a brilliant jazz musician. That’s what we like. We want the children to go out and be somebody”
Central to this success, and to Nick Hewlett’s original vision, is that St Dunstan’s College has re-emerged as a heavy hitter on academics. It has picked up a whole cabinet full of awards in recent times, including the big one – TES Independent Senior School of the Year. This summer, the school celebrated its best ever A-level results (89% A*-B with 64% of students awarded A -A*). It was a similar story at GCSE, where 55% of all grades were awarded at 9–8 (A*).
Jade McLellan, Head of St Dunstan’s Senior School, has been integral to this bold vision for renewal, as have many others on the Senior Leadership Team. ” I started in 2016,” she says. “We’ve all been part of the journey for a really long time. It lives in us, which is helpful for the continuity of the school.”
This longevity among a school leadership team is unusual. Another distinctive thing about St Dunstan’s is the diversity of staff backgrounds. Jade McLellan went to a state school before studying French at Oxford. She, like many of the team, has garnered broad experience across state and independent sectors. She says it’s important to understand the wider landscape – and that goes for students as much as staff. “For our children to be able to move between different environments and feel comfortable is important,” she says. “People in our community understand that there are lots of different lives being lived in London.”
“For our children to be able to move between different environments and feel comfortable is important – there are lots of different lives being lived in London”
This, of course, is a salient point for any London-educated child. They travel across different parts of the city and see those different lives. So who are the students of St Dunstan’s? It’s a question Jade McLellan gets asked a lot by prospective parents. “They are quite local. A slight stretch into the City and south, but it is mostly between Dulwich and Blackheath, taking in areas such as Forest Heath and Honor Oak – that swing round the South Circular is the majority.
“In terms of the type of families, they want the progressive, forward-thinking approach to education. In terms of the type of child, we generally say you have to be up for trying things and being quite an all-rounder.” There’s an even split of boys and girls and up to 150 in each year group – not a huge cohort. “So it’s not enough for you to be on the football team and nothing else,” she adds. “You can’t hide. Everyone has to be willing to join in and try new things.”
Joining in, yes, but certainly not fitting in to an identikit student profile. “Individuality is something we really stress,” says Jade McLellan. “There are lots of ways to be a boy here and there are lots of ways to be a girl here. When you look around you see boys and girls who are all quite different.”
St Dunstan’s loves individuals, but they do have to get down to work. “Academic selection is what we want to offer. Academics is what we offer best.” The school’s ascent up the school rankings has been dramatic. It was somewhere around 200 when she joined in 2016. “We’re now in the 60s, which is a huge, huge change in ten years.”
St Dunstan’s is generous with scholarships and bursaries, giving many gifted children life-changing opportunities, but these are proper scholarships. “Your child has to be able to keep up with the pace, so that’s really important, but equally there is such a menu of choice. The academic drive and the scholarship drive are not about, ‘well you need to be an engineer, lawyer or banker’. If you want to go to art foundation school or drama school, brilliant – let’s prepare you for the best in the country,” says Jade McLellan. “One of our biggest successes last year is a student who got into Oxford, but to read Music. He is a brilliant jazz musician. That’s what we like. We want the children to go out and change the world and be somebody.”
Leadership is talked about openly in discussions with students, and this year it sits alongside school-wide academic themes of respect and integrity. St Dunstan’s Head has a strong background in school pastoral care and she says we adults do have to be careful how much we load on young shoulders. “I talk to them in assembly about this – what are appropriate things they can do at their age, versus making them feel it’s their responsibility to fix the problems that we’ve created.”
There is much good work in support of local and London charities. “Start local, start with what you can do, and learn to make a difference that way.” But as students grow, the conversations grow with them – particularly around responsibility to give back to community. “We do think carefully about leadership. With Gen Z, and now Gen Alpha, there’s been a little bit of resistance about leadership and hierarchy, and we’re trying to push back on that,” she says. “You can’t have this leg up in society and not try and use that leg up to give back. It’s not really fair.”
Academic stretch is all part of this – helping students to fulfil their potential – and St Dunstan’s invests in teaching and learning methodology, using scholarly research from organisations such as the Educational Endowment Foundation. There’s a Director of Teaching and Learning and a team around her who help children work smarter and work to their strengths.
Academic selection does not exclude SEND children. “We’re trying to challenge the narrative that neurodiversity is some sort of deficit, says Jade McLellan. “Some of our brightest and best students in the school are on the SEND register because it brings huge, huge talents and strengths.” Positive messaging around diversity and inclusion is delivered through the Usherwood programme. There’s also support through the Wellness Centre (St Dunstan’s established this very early), a calm space in the grounds which also includes space for peer mentoring, chaplaincy and reflection.
Academics sit alongside a strong (and timetabled) co-curricular programme. Central to this is the Forder Programme – 40 minutes every day after lunch. With over 250 activities to choose from each term, there’s every opportunity to develop passions and talents – and build leadership strengths. Before and after-school clubs are plentiful and CCF is really strong – something that Jade McLellan says some prospective parents find puzzling. She has to explain that the school sees no opposition between progressive education and traditions of service. But then, St Dunstan’s lost a quarter of its pupils in World War I. Their names are written on the walls of the magnificent Great Hall and their stories are told during Remembrance Day activities. Many Catford residents come to stand outside the school gates on that day – it’s an annual reminder of the school’s deep sense of place.
“Individuality is something we really stress – when you look around you see boys and girls who are all quite different”
Sport is a big deal here – girls and boys are coached separately, but all sports run on an equal opportunities basis, and with “lots of healthy competition”. Football replaced rugby a few years back and the school has not looked back. “It has just been transformative – it appeals to our students so much more.” This year, two girls’ teams reached the ISFA national finals in football, and there’s a big investment to raise their game still further – and draw in more girl talent from across the local community. A thriving partnership with Chelsea FC Foundation is ensuring top quality coaching for all students, also benefiting the local community.
In Sixth Form, students embark on the St Dunstan’s Diploma alongside their A levels. This is a multi-strand programme of practical, creative and real-world experiences. St Dunstan’s Sixth Formers are told that more will be required in the world of work than A* grades – they need to have the character to put knowledge to good use. “We have got to make sure they that they understand how to lead, how to communicate with people, how to have good values, how to have integrity,” says Jade McLellan.
In fact, character development and individuality are strengths St Dunstan’s has cherished from the start. Children carry them on the school badge – a blank white shield with the motto Albam Exorna (adorn the white). It could have been dreamed up by a 21st-century advertising agency. But no, it is authentic – as old as the school itself. “I consider myself so lucky that I inherited that school with the blank shield – what a beautiful thing,” says Nick Hewlett. “In 1888 they decided that they wanted each child to be themselves.” That seems to sum up St Dunstan’s – a school confident in its progressive identity, and in celebrating its unique Catford traditions.
St Dunstan’s College
Stanstead Road, London SE6 4TY
Further reading: Focus on Hurtwood House
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