Dr Squire discusses the past, present and future as she prepares to take the reins.
What about Cokethorpe attracted you to the School?
I have lived locally for a long time and had heard so many positive things about the School, professionally and personally, and I was intrigued. Everyone who knew the School spoke with genuine affection of it being a welcoming and friendly school, with a holistic approach to education, in an amazing setting. I certainly felt that when I arrived for the interview days, I was welcomed warmly by everyone I met and, as I am sure everyone says, I was struck by the immense beauty of the School. The opportunities that pupils have in this environment are fantastic. I also liked the sense of fun and creativity – not many schools have a bus, a telephone box and ski gondolas in the grounds! It is clearly a school that cherishes and nurtures the learning of the whole person – something that I really believe in.
The rounded approach, with wellbeing and co-curricular breadth, are part of your mantra, then?
Absolutely. I see pastoral care and academic care as being intertwined – it is artificial to separate them completely. Schools help foster and grow young minds and young people as a whole. Of course, there are times in children’s lives when they will need to draw on different skills, but I feel very strongly that a school should help its pupils nurture all of themselves and facilitate the opportunities for that. Schools are increasingly recognising the importance of wellbeing, particularly post-COVID, but Cokethorpe has always had that as part of its ethos.
The pupils I have met so far have been very impressive. At the interview, I was shown around by two of the prefects who spoke affectionately and proudly about their school. Their attitudes and verve sold the School, as did the opportunity to sit down and chat with members of the Sixth Form and some pupils’ parents – even within the interview context, I experienced Cokethorpe’s sense of family. More recently, I had the pleasure of visiting Prep classes and meeting some of the younger members of the School community. Whether it was sharing some of their writing or maths work with me, telling me about their upcoming PGL trip or the cuddly red panda they were hoping to be awarded, I was struck by how happy, focused and confident all the children were.
What do you think makes for a good education?
Children feeling and being known, in whatever setting they are in, is important. How they are learning, what progress they are making, what tailored support they need, what interests them, who they are as an individual. All teachers want the best for the children they teach, and all parents want that for their child. There are some settings which make that easier, small class sizes being a factor and the greater opportunities for the relationships to develop.
The self-esteem a child gains through that visibility provides significant benefit to their development. Of course, engaged, well-qualified staff and enriching environments are crucial ingredients. Children are naturally curious, and a good education allows learning to flourish so that young people leave school with the qualifications and confidence they need for their next steps.
Remind us of your professional background
My early career was in the field of psychology. My graduate research focused on young children’s understanding of mathematics. After my graduate research, I continued to lecture and tutor undergraduates in Developmental Psychology and at the same time I was a Junior Dean of one of the Colleges [at the University of Oxford], supporting students pastorally. In order to publish papers, my focus moved more and more to the research. I was working on some really interesting projects, including infant-parent interactions and later eating disorders. However, I found that I missed the teaching and the contact with inquisitive young minds discovering Psychology at university as a new subject for many of them.
As much as I enjoyed the research, the pull of teaching was stronger, and I decided to take the plunge, retraining as a teacher. It was a great decision and I have never looked back. I started my teaching career in a local state school, teaching Biology, Science and Psychology, and moving in due course to Oxford High School to be Head of Psychology. Various pastoral roles and responsibilities followed before becoming Deputy Head there. I moved to d’Overbroeck’s about five years ago and have learned so much from working in a co-ed school with both day students and boarders, though my introduction to international boarding was a baptism of fire because I joined just at the start of the pandemic, only three weeks before lockdown!
I do still enjoy keeping up with research, though, and catching up with those still working in the field and hearing what they are exploring is always fascinating.
Is there a particular research topic that stands out for you?
There is so much interesting research that it is hard to choose one topic. The topic I chose for my original research involved a lot of hands-on research focusing on the understanding of sharing and division among five- to eight-year-olds in local primary schools. I loved combining the practical work with children and the theory, and the crossover between teaching and research. Another area that fascinates me is infant cognitive development, because there are such clever techniques to help us learn about babies, even before they can talk. At the other end of childhood, the psychology of the teenage brain stands out because it is so important for us to understand in schools. Perhaps surprisingly, it is a relatively new area of Psychology. When I was an undergraduate, we did not know much about the teenage brain. Now we know how sparky and creative it is in so many ways, but we also better understand some of the challenges that can come with those years, such as risk-taking when with peers, in terms of brain development. It reminds me of the spirit of lifelong learning. Finally, my work in psychiatry got me interested in perfectionism. I think a lot of teachers share this interest because we recognise that, while having high standards is a good thing, students slipping over into perfectionism can be detrimental, both to wellbeing and to academic outcomes. It’s a cliché, but we do learn through mistakes.
You have mentioned students and primary-aged children; we are a through-school setting here, of course, is there an age group you most enjoy teaching?
As you can probably tell from my previous answer, I think each stage of a child’s learning development provides something different and new rewards for pupil and teacher alike. I have always been interested in working with children and young people, and I have always been interested in education. My teaching qualification is actually in secondary school science teaching. The excitement pupils have when learning or trying something new, whether it be lighting a Bunsen burner for the first time or getting a note out of a musical instrument, is something I am really passionate about – opening children’s eyes to a new concept or an entirely new subject and being there to witness their moment of discovery is such a powerful thing. That happens across the age ranges. So, I suppose my teaching style and skills are better suited to older age groups, whilst the psychologist in me works across the board.
I can imagine Psychology as a subject when working with teenagers, with the burgeoning self-awareness and personal discovery, can be particularly impactful.
Definitely. Psychology is a brilliant subject. I think people have traditionally associated it with analysing people and understanding the more pastoral and social aspects of development, but increasingly it’s being understood that cognitive psychology has so much to share with education and children’s academic progress. I know it is a view that Cokethorpe shares, and that learning and teaching at Cokethorpe is informed by many of the metacognition practices. When I first started teaching, there was a big gap between what we knew as developmental psychologists and what was happening in the classrooms. At the time, there were things like literacy hour, but when the equivalent in Mathematics was introduced, it did not really represent what we were finding out about children’s mathematics learning. Now, there is much more collaboration and professional dialogue between researchers and teachers.
Alongside the application of psychology to inform pupils and teachers about how children learn, it can also teach us about self-esteem, about building resilience, about mental health and wellbeing, and about understanding our behaviour and other people’s behaviour. This helps all of us, but especially young people, navigate tricky moments and tricky relationships. I could talk for hours about the applications of psychology in schools, but I do not need to because I think increasingly those who work in schools understand it and apply what they know in how they interact with young people every day
As you say, metacognition has been a focus of recent academic development at Cokethorpe; where does that take us?
It takes us to a point where each pupil not only learns, but learns how they learn, and teachers adapt their approaches to best support the learning of the pupils in front of them. It is research-informed practice, which is brilliant. For both the learner and the teacher, it takes us to a place where we understand what works best to embed and reinforce facts and skills, and can then build on these in tasks which require more complex thinking. The teachers at Cokethorpe are role modelling this, and I love how even visitors to the School are being introduced to metacognition via the banners en route through the grounds!
Character development is a key aspect of life at Cokethorpe, embodied in our Leadership Programme. What are your views on character development in education?
It is integral to the school environment. It is important for pupils to really reflect on character traits, including those which they admire and respect in others and would like to develop further themselves. The operative word is development – young people each have their own character and characteristics. It is a question of building on those which come naturally and supporting them in those that they would like to embody more, whether in school, their future careers, or the opportunities and challenges life will inevitably throw at them. We want to help young people to be the best version of themselves in an ever-changing world.
You have previously worked in a through-school setting. What are some of the benefits the model provides in your view?
One of the most powerful things for a young person is to experience a team of adults around them who really care. The relationships between pupils, staff and their parents develop particularly effectively when a school is part of a child’s journey from early childhood through to the teenage years. Those three stakeholders in the child’s development – the triangle of care, as it is sometimes called – build a strong understanding. You get to know the context better and what works well for that individual pupil.
