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Learning

"O sacred hunger of ambitious minds!"

                                                                          The School Poet, Sir Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene 

The Curriculum
The curriculum is kept under constant review, matching the needs of the boys and of the world beyond school. It aims to challenge but not to oppress, and to encourage a lifelong love of learning. Choices of A level are kept open for as long as possible by a broadly-based progression to GCSE, in which all boys take 9 or 10 subjects (some taking Maths and French a year early), and which balances sciences, languages and humanities evenly. In the sixth form there is a very wide choice of over 20 subjects, supported by a wealth of General Studies courses, and a particularly good learning atmosphere.

Class Sizes
Class sizes at Merchant Taylors’ are deliberately kept small, allowing teachers to concentrate on bringing out the best in individual pupils much more sensitively. They vary according to subject and course requirements, but on average there are 20 boys to a class in years 7 and 8, 18 in the GCSE years, and considerably smaller in the sixth form where there is an even greater emphasis on discussion, self-motivated study and independent thinking in order to prepare for university.

Parents receive an extensive written report three times a year, which a boy discusses in full by appointment with his Tutor on the last day of term. On such occasions boys are invited to discuss strengths and weaknesses, and to identify any difficulties and areas for further progress; praise is given and guidance offered. Grades and comments are similarly discussed and sent to parents each half-term, and there is a full Parents’ Evening each year when teachers, Tutors and the Head Master are available to consult.

The great advantage of the Tutor system is its continuity, which allows a Tutor to build an intimate knowledge of his pupils and to review their progress frequently throughout their school careers. Parents are encouraged to make informal contact with Tutors as often as they feel the need.

Homework and Study
The School aims to raise every boy to the level of self-sufficiency he will need at university and in later life. Evening study at home , and the maturity and discipline this requires, are therefore seen as essential to the process by which a boy becomes fully able to work on his own. Homework is set regularly and carefully monitored by Tutors, and boys are taught the appropriate study skills throughout their career. Relationships between teachers and pupils are sufficiently relaxed for boys to be able to feel that they can discuss any difficulties, and teachers will spend time helping to sort them out.

The Library and Information Centre, furnished in an attractive and modern style and run by professional librarians, is at the heart of this process. It has a large stock and a multi-media room. Each teaching department also has its own study centre and resource base.

Information Technology
The basic skills of information technology are taught to all boys at key stages during their School career, but they are also regarded as an essential tool in every subject, so that boys leave School having necessarily achieved a high standard of computer literacy. The School is extensively networked, with major clusters of computers in the Computer Centre, the Library, the Design and Technology workshops, Art and Design, Economics, Maths, the languages laboratory, and computers in every teaching and administrative department. Many of these areas are open every lunch-time and after school for boys to pursue their own work.

Some outstanding work has been done in this field. Recently, two pupils received substantial prizes in Los Angeles for their creation of a website, Sign Hear, for the deaf, used by over 11 million people worldwide.

Design and Technology
This is another exciting area of development. All boys study the subject in their first years in the School, and a large number aim for careers in engineering and design, inspired by the problem-solving work they do in the Design and Technology workshops. Here they learn the nature of the materials and the rudiments, and go on to study, among other things, electronics, micro-electronics and computer-aided design. The workshops are usually open throughout the school day for boys to pursue their projects, and site visits are arranged to successful businesses .

Some ingenious and innovative work has recently been done, including an aquarium in which the fish feed and maintain themselves while the owners go on holiday (winner of an Arkwright scholarship); a surfboard with retractable fins designed and engineered by the Head Monitor; and a computer mouse embedded in a cap, for use by the physically handicapped (winner of a Young Technologist of the Year national award at the Science Museum).

Art and Design
Art and Design is also fundamental to the curriculum when boys join the School. The subject is housed in a superb new set of studios, overlooking the School lakes, which opened in 2000. There are up-to-date facilities here, including a studio and dark-room for photography, computerised graphic design, printing, drawing and painting, with a gallery in which to display boys’ work, which is also exhibited all round the School.

Central London is easily accessible, and there are frequent trips to important galleries and exhibitions. There is a lively art trip each year to St Ives where sixth formers work alongside practising artists, which inspires a great deal of work that is later shown around the School. Art is an optional subject at both GCSE and A level, and the quality of work done here is often of a very high standard, with some boys going on to make their careers in this field.