What I've learnt during my first year at Bedales Prep

Fifteen months ago, I arrived at Bedales Prep believing I knew what made a great school.

Twenty-two years in education had convinced me that high standards, ambitious curriculums and strong outcomes matter.

I still believe they do. But I had long suspected something else mattered just as much.

Childhood is not simply preparation for life; it is life.

It isn't a stepping stone to something more important. It matters in its own right.

Looking at education through that lens changes everything.

For example – and I never imagined I'd write this – I increasingly think uniforms are completely pointless. Worse than pointless. They turn so many interactions between adults and children into corrective ones.

Here, without uniforms, those conversations disappear. Instead, children stop me to tell me about the book they're reading, their football match or the new dog they've persuaded their parents to get.

I've also changed how I think about curriculum.

For years I focused on what we put in. Now I'm more interested in what we leave out – the space we create when adults stop over-leading.

Recently, one of our Block 2 (Year 8) students decided he wanted to abolish Saturday School. Rather than dismissing the idea, we asked him to research it. He analysed timetables, staffing and other schools before presenting a formal proposal.

Whether he was right became almost irrelevant. Research, analysis, persuasion, resilience and public speaking – that's curriculum.

Agency counts in childhood.

I’m not talking about the token sort where we ask students what colour beanbags they want in the library. It's learning that if something matters, you can build a case and make change happen.

We've seen it most recently in student-led enhancement grant bids to the Bedales Parents' Association. Students stood in front of governors, parent representatives, the head of the Senior School and myself to defend their ideas, ranging from a Lego library to laser cutters and wildlife equipment.

If we're serious about preparing young people for the future, agency has to be part of the curriculum, not an add-on.

The importance of space.

With 120 acres, I've seen what children gain when they have room to explore, create and simply be.

Too many schools keep children in fenced rectangles because they're easier to supervise. Yet play develops imagination, relationships and social confidence. It doesn't compete with learning; it underpins it.

And then there are the staff…

What surprised me most has been the generosity.

The teacher still thinking about a child's question on Friday evening. The colleague staying late so artwork is ready for Monday. The drama teacher creating another production because every child deserves a chance to perform.

Children absorb these acts of kindness. They grow up believing adults will help them, and that they are worthy of that time.

Childhood isn't a GCSE pit stop.

One of the privileges of prep education is that Years 7 and 8 can still learn without everything being filtered through future grades.

Children have space to get things wrong, pursue ideas and discover interests. The focus isn't on capping potential but creating the conditions for it to grow.

And finally…

If this year has taught me anything, it's that we've been asking the wrong question.

Instead of asking how we prepare children for the future, perhaps we should ask how we give them the kind of childhood that helps them thrive when that future comes.

Because childhood isn't something children have to get through before the real stuff starts.

This is the real stuff.