Monday, March 20, 2023
  • Login
School Management Plus: School & education news worldwide
  • Home
  • Latest
  • Leaders
    • Heads & Governors
    • Admissions & Marketing
    • Bursars & Finance
    • Staff Recruitment
    • Development & Fundraising
    • Alumni Relations
    • Communications & PR
    • Estate Management
    • School Data Management
  • Educators
    • Safeguarding
    • College Counselling
    • Online Learning
    • Early Years
    • Exams & Qualifications
    • Assessment
    • Wellbeing
    • Inclusion
    • Sports and Outdoors
  • International
    • The View From Here
    • Wellbeing
    • Curriculum Design
    • Overseas Development
    • Staff Recruitment
    • EdTech
  • Your School
    • Are you a Kampus24 School?
    • Spotlight on a School
    • 30 minutes with…
    • Partnerships & Outreach
    • School News & Announcements
  • Jobs
    • Place a Vacancy
    • View Vacancies
    • Movers & Shakers
    • CPD
  • Video & Podcast
    • Inspiring Leadership
    • School Leaders
    • Membership Bodies
    • The ABC of Safeguarding
    • The Friday Club
  • Suppliers
    • Meet the Supplier
    • From Our Partners
    • Supplier Directory
    • Events Calendar
  • About
    • Editorial Board
    • Associations & Distribution
    • Our Publications
      • International School Magazine
      • School Management Plus Magazine
      • Wellbeing in International Schools Magazine
      • WISEducation newsletter
    • Advertise
    • Contact Us
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Latest
  • Leaders
    • Heads & Governors
    • Admissions & Marketing
    • Bursars & Finance
    • Staff Recruitment
    • Development & Fundraising
    • Alumni Relations
    • Communications & PR
    • Estate Management
    • School Data Management
  • Educators
    • Safeguarding
    • College Counselling
    • Online Learning
    • Early Years
    • Exams & Qualifications
    • Assessment
    • Wellbeing
    • Inclusion
    • Sports and Outdoors
  • International
    • The View From Here
    • Wellbeing
    • Curriculum Design
    • Overseas Development
    • Staff Recruitment
    • EdTech
  • Your School
    • Are you a Kampus24 School?
    • Spotlight on a School
    • 30 minutes with…
    • Partnerships & Outreach
    • School News & Announcements
  • Jobs
    • Place a Vacancy
    • View Vacancies
    • Movers & Shakers
    • CPD
  • Video & Podcast
    • Inspiring Leadership
    • School Leaders
    • Membership Bodies
    • The ABC of Safeguarding
    • The Friday Club
  • Suppliers
    • Meet the Supplier
    • From Our Partners
    • Supplier Directory
    • Events Calendar
  • About
    • Editorial Board
    • Associations & Distribution
    • Our Publications
      • International School Magazine
      • School Management Plus Magazine
      • Wellbeing in International Schools Magazine
      • WISEducation newsletter
    • Advertise
    • Contact Us
No Result
View All Result
School Management Plus: School & education news worldwide
No Result
View All Result
Home 30 minutes with...

30 minutes with: Nick Hewlett, St Dunstan’s College, London

After an adventure in South Korea, the call of South London was too strong for Nick Hewlett, who has made a huge asset of his school's urban location

Irena Barker by Irena Barker
October 6, 2022
in 30 minutes with..., Heads & Governors, Staff Recruitment
Reading Time: 4 mins read
36 0
A A
0
Nick Hewlett from St Dunstan's College
Linked InShare on FacebookShare on TwitterPin This

When Nick Hewlett was carving out his early career in school leadership, he took the chance to have the adventure of a lifetime.

Grabbing the opportunity to help set up a branch of North London Collegiate School in South Korea, he set off to the remote island of Jeju.

“I can’t begin to tell you, we turned up on an island where there was nothing, we were 45 minutes away from a pint of milk when it opened, there were no facilities at all,” he says, describing the forested area where he would soon become head of the boys’ school.

“We had to create a community from nothing,” he says.

After much hard work though, the state-of-the-art boarding school was built, teachers brought in from around the world and finally, the pupils. When Hewlett left after three years there were 1,000 pupils and some of the best IB results in the world.

“I love South London, I love the diversity and vibrancy, the down to earth nature of it.”

Hewlett is clearly proud of the achievement of the NLCS team, but after three years, he left, feeling the call to return to less exotic climes – the streets of South London where he grew up and was educated.

“I love South London, I love the diversity and vibrancy, the down to earth nature of it, all of that suits me and my personality very well,” says Hewlett, who took up the headship of St Dunstan’s College in Lewisham in 2014.

“I think it’s fair to say that the school needed quite a lot of attention, in the early days…but we’ve really put it in on the map in a really exciting way and a lot of that comes down to the geography and location,” says Hewlett.

One issue when he arrived, says Hewlett, was that the school was “almost apologetic for its location”.

“It’s really hard, because we’re on the South Circular in South London and it’s an independent school, that’s a paradox.

“I said, frankly, you need to turn that on its head and see it as an enormous opportunity…my strong belief is there is a huge market in South East London for a really diverse, rounded, down-to-earth education.

“We’re on the South Circular in South London and it’s an independent school, that’s a paradox.”

“I felt there was a real possibility to pull all of this together into a real liberal open-minded education that was proud of its heritage but equally wasn’t constrained by it. [It was important] that it was co-ed, incredibly diverse, multi-cultural, multi-racial in a socio-economically diverse environment.”

The school, he says, appeals to left-of-centre parents, many of whom are creatives, who want an independent education but don’t want their children to “get caught up in a monochrome environment” where everyone emerges the same.

The school, which won the Independent Senior School of the Year at the Tes School Awards 2022 offers a “renaissance education” with none of the trappings of privilege, he says.

He is adamant that the school is part of its diverse local community  – something that is reflected in the student body and staffing.

“When we audited our racial diversity like many schools did in the aftermath of Black Lives Matter, we were the most racially diverse of any school that had been studied in the independent sector in the UK,” says Hewlett.

“We are pretty confident that we are the most diverse in terms of the teaching staff.”

Many independent schools “hugely struggle” with diverse recruitment, says Hewlett, but he says St Dunstan’s has come on in “leaps and bounds”.

He says: “We are pretty confident that we are the most diverse in terms of the teaching staff, racially and ethnically; now why is that? You have to proactively make a point of recruiting into those areas of the workforce.”

St Dunstan’s is involved in an outreach project – Lewisham Young Leaders’ Academy – to support black African and Afro-Caribbean children to improve their life chances.

Those involved in the academy are huge advocates of the school. “That link into that community is one of the reasons we’ve had a lot more applicants from black teachers who are looking to come,” he says.

But most importantly, diverse recruitment hangs firstly on the sincerity of a school culture and an “underpinning belief in the importance of EDI in your strategy” rather than box-ticking, he says.

Recruitment aside, Hewlett has strong feelings about the state of education across-the-board and has identified what he believes is holding the country back.

One key issue, he says, is that the lack of a very high-profile profession-driven organisation steering policy means the system is always at the whims of education ministers who “become pseudo specialists based on their own educational experiences.”

“We have become obsessed with a very narrow definition of success.”

There is also intense disagreement over what education is for, he says.

“I think if you asked a whole range of educators about that I think they’d all give you different answers and I think that is a problem. My concern is that we have become obsessed with a very narrow definition of success.”

While assessment and assimilation of knowledge are important, education has to be about more than that, he says.

A focus on grades and rote learning at GCSE meant the sector waited for Everyone’s Invited to expose the culture of toxic masculinity in some independent schools, says Hewlett.

“Why weren’t we teaching it in schools when clearly and evidently it was so important? The answer is that the emphasis wasn’t there, that wasn’t what people were locked into thinking, they were locked into thinking, what we need as a nation is to get the highest possible GCSE and A-level results that we can.

“And how do you do that, you introduce effectively a programme of rote learning where you drill children like battery chickens to regurgitate parcels of knowledge onto an exam floor, that’s what you do to get them.

“Is that a healthy modus operandi for education in this country?”

 

Tags: LondonrecruitmentschoolsSouth Korea
Share8Share46Tweet29Pin10
Irena Barker

Irena Barker

Irena Barker is the digital editor of School Management Plus. She also works as a freelance journalist and copywriter specialising in education.

Video

  • All
  • Video
Bish Muir from West Buckland School
The Friday Club

The Friday Club: Bish Muir, West Buckland School

March 17, 2023
120
ABC of Safeguarding – Simon Milner, Jersey College for Girls
Heads & Governors

ABC of Safeguarding – Simon Milner, Jersey College for Girls

March 3, 2023
257
Myddelton College launches song for earthquake victims
School news and announcements

Myddelton College launches song for earthquake victims

February 24, 2023
142
The Firday Club, Andy Kemp, National Mathematics and Science College
The Friday Club

The Friday Club: Dr Andy Kemp, The National Mathematics and Science College

February 24, 2023
115

Latest News

not all private school teachers are proud of their schools
Latest News

Quarter of private sector staff ‘not proud’ to work at their school

March 16, 2023
151
workload unmanageable in international schools
International Schools

Third of international staff say workload ‘unmanageable’

March 16, 2023
138
Jo Duncan Wycombe Abbey
30 minutes with...

30 minutes with…Jo Duncan, headmistress, Wycombe Abbey School

March 15, 2023
341
Darren Coxon is keen on Literacy for AI
Features

‘It’s time to put Literacy for AI on the curriculum’

March 13, 2023
198
Beech Lodge School library
Choosing a school for your child

Spotlight on a School: Beech Lodge School, Maidenhead

March 13, 2023
622
overseas outposts record profits
Heads & Governors

Overseas satellites reap record profits for UK independent schools

March 13, 2023
188
School Management Plus: School & education news worldwide

© 2020 Independent School Management Plus.

Navigate Site

  • Home
  • Latest
  • Leaders
  • Educators
  • International
  • Your School
  • Jobs
  • Video & Podcast
  • Suppliers
  • About

Follow Us

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Latest
  • Leaders
    • Heads & Governors
    • Admissions & Marketing
    • Bursars & Finance
    • Staff Recruitment
    • Development & Fundraising
    • Alumni Relations
    • Communications & PR
    • Estate Management
    • School Data Management
  • Educators
    • Safeguarding
    • College Counselling
    • Online Learning
    • Early Years
    • Exams & Qualifications
    • Assessment
    • Wellbeing
    • Inclusion
    • Sports and Outdoors
  • International
    • The View From Here
    • Wellbeing
    • Curriculum Design
    • Overseas Development
    • Staff Recruitment
    • EdTech
  • Your School
    • Are you a Kampus24 School?
    • Spotlight on a School
    • 30 minutes with…
    • Partnerships & Outreach
    • School News & Announcements
  • Jobs
    • Place a Vacancy
    • View Vacancies
    • Movers & Shakers
    • CPD
  • Video & Podcast
    • Inspiring Leadership
    • School Leaders
    • Membership Bodies
    • The ABC of Safeguarding
    • The Friday Club
  • Suppliers
    • Meet the Supplier
    • From Our Partners
    • Supplier Directory
    • Events Calendar
  • About
    • Editorial Board
    • Associations & Distribution
    • Our Publications
      • International School Magazine
      • School Management Plus Magazine
      • Wellbeing in International Schools Magazine
      • WISEducation newsletter
    • Advertise
    • Contact Us

© 2020 Independent School Management Plus.

Welcome Back!

Sign In with Facebook
Sign In with Linked In
OR

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In

Add New Playlist

This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this website you are giving consent to cookies being used. Visit our Privacy and Cookie Policy.