Advertising feature from Benenden School

As Year 11 and Year 13 students across the country are readying themselves for this year’s public exams season, it is the ideal time to remind ourselves what education is about. I am very clear that a good education is partly judged around exam results, but is also about developing students’ character and skills, largely by students engaging with activities outside of the curriculum. And fundamentally, we all learn best – whether in the classroom or on the sports pitch – when we’re happy. A focus on happiness is undoubtedly a key ingredient in our success at Benenden. When students feel happy, they are more engaged, resilient and capable of overcoming challenges. This approach is backed by the science.

A complete overhaul of the UK’s examination system is needed urgently, argues Samantha Price, headmistress at Benenden School. Clearly, the age of handwritten exams will soon come to an end – but we owe it to future generations to be far bolder than simply filling exam halls with laptops. This should be the moment that, as a country, we grasp the nettle and instigate major changes to our anachronistic means of testing our teenagers. The first change we must introduce is to move university applications until after A-level results are issued. Most people accept that the current practice of basing offers on predicted (in reality, aspirational) grades is rather arbitrary and unfair for the pupils and teachers involved.