School portraits: a snapshot of four notable schools

St Edward’s School, Oxford

St Edward’s School has featured in these pages before, because of its North Wall performing arts centre which attracts (in ‘normal’ times) more than 20,000 public visitors a year to its exhibitions and performances.

St Edward’s sets great store by being part of Oxford as a whole. ‘Beyond Teddies’ is the school’s community outreach programme, encompassing a community farm on school grounds where young people with learning disabilities and autism explore basic outdoor skills, marshalling the Oxford Half Marathon and visiting local care homes.

Academically, the co-ed boarding and day school also thinks outside the box, with its pioneering ‘Pathways and Perspectives’ courses. These are continually assessed, rather than by final exams, and aim to develop pupils’ research, communication and self-management skills, as well as allowing them to focus on their own interests, not simply those prescribed by the GCSE curriculum.

Bablake School, Coventry

When news emerged that two ‘rival schools’ in Coventry — Bablake School (founded in 1344 by the widow of Edward II) and King Henry VIII School (known as KHVIII, and founded in 1545) — were to join forces, there was uproar.