In the news
The school that focuses on “building a personality and getting you ready for life”, December 2009
Article on the BBC website that looks at The Acorn School’s approach to education. “Universities are changing because they’re overwhelmed by three As and are looking for something different.”
Three words that sum up the school: child-centred, excellence and holistic, November 2009
Interview with Graeme Whiting, the headmaster, in the Times Educational Supplement: “I am more interested in developing able, upright citizens with strong positive values than teaching pupils how to jump through hoops.”
Acorn parent to run 150 miles in the Sahara, October 2009
Simon Dawson, an Acorn parent, is to raise money for the Acorn Overseas orphanage in Thailand by running the gruelling Sahara marathon, a six day, 150 mile run across the Sahara desert. (See also Simon’s website)
Sarah Whiting interviewed on BBC Radio, September 2009
“The only school in Britain that has direct entry to universities without public examinations.” Teacher Sarah Whiting and former student Dhyana Kim talk about The Acorn School’s approach to education, creating rounded individuals through its broad based curriculum.
Getting into uni after no exams, August 2009
Article on BBC Gloucestershire site about how “The Acorn School in Nailsworth is believed to be the only school in Britain where those who want to apply to university do so without any exam grades.”
Academics and teachers oppose the target-driven nature of the early years curriculum, May 2009
In an article in The Daily Telegraph, Rosie Stephens, the school’s secretary and parent of a child in the kindergarten, says she refuses to allow her daughter “to be a statistic”.
The Government’s curriculum for under-fives restricts children’s natural development, April 2009
Acorn School headmaster, Graeme Whiting, tells The Times: “We don’t want to drive children into early learning and assessment or to be inhibited whilst they are in the middle of their formative years.”
The school that becomes a family, April 2006
Article on the BBC News website describing The Acorn School, “for those who want an alternative with high standards”.
The Acorn School receives an outstanding Ofsted report, November 2005
Ofsted report praises the school’s “excellent teaching and the exemplary behaviour of its highly motivated students”. “Our ethos is simple,” says Graeme Whiting, the headmaster. “We respect and treasure childhood and adolescence”