Led by Stuart Bird, Surbiton Outreach is the department in the school that makes sure we are living up to one of our key values: community. Over the years, Stuart has created educational programmes with neighbouring schools, including student mentoring, adult education lectures, arranging talks and lending out science resources to local schools. Each year Stuart arranges ‘Soul in the Community’ which sees hundreds of Surbiton pupils helping out into local senior citizens’ homes, youth clubs and parks to support the community in which our school is based. In this episode, we catch up with Stuart Bird and Bee Huntley on the Thames riverside, where the school is landscaping part of the Queen’s Promenade.

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Surbiton High School is proud to be part of a strong and sharing community, and we are committed to fostering positive, productive and caring relationships with other schools, parents, residents and businesses in the wider community.

Our programme is roughly comprised of three key strands: Community Classroom, Partnerships and Personal Enrichment.

Community Classrooms are an exciting and dynamic way to extend academic learning opportunities for young people, parents and local residents. They can take the form of adult evening courses, longer courses with qualification outcomes or weekend workshops for students of all ages.

Independent-State School Partnerships both broaden and enhance the experiences available for pupils and staff across all participants. Mutually beneficial relationships are invaluable in sharing support, knowledge and resources so that everyone gains; together we are stronger. Older pupils lead a range of ‘lessons’ and book clubs at neighbouring schools; leaders gain self-confidence, presentation skills and a genuine sense of selflessness. Clubbers can gain inspiration, knowledge and older, ‘cool’ friends.

Personal Enrichment gives wonderful opportunities for members of our local community and the School to develop through authentic and challenging experiences; these might arise as supporting work with charities or individual project work, global and local. Surbiton High School pupils flourish and thrive in the practical needs of project work and develop confidence and resilience outside of the classroom delivering project outcomes that really are appreciated by the community.

Known throughout the UK as the foremost programme for introducing young people to the great outdoors, the DofE programme at Surbiton takes hundreds of students on a dozen expeditions each year. In today’s episode, we talk with Graham Johnson, Head of Duke of Edinburgh and Outdoor Education, who tells us that it’s about much, much more than just hiking boots, gaiters and flasks of hot tea.

Literacy is access to knowledge. Getting your child into reading in an enthusiastic, but non-pushy way is the key to starting their education career. In this episode, Louise and Tracey (the Heads of Surbiton Girls’ Prep and Boys’ Prep, respectively) share their thoughts on reading strategies with young children.

The years we spend in education in our youth are miniscule when compared to the 30-40 years we spend working and building our careers in adulthood. However, education forms the foundation for all future development. At Surbiton High, the Careers Department work with students from Year 7-13 to ensure that students are exposed to opportunities and supported every step of the way in their career journey. Led by Terry McDermott, Director of Careers and Head of Oxbridge, (winner of the United Learning Support Worker of the Year Award 2020 for his work across United Learning Academies creating programmes to support entry into the most competitive universities), the Careers Department work tirelessly to ensure students know where they want to go – and get where they want to go.

Bonjour, bienvenue, willkommen to the Surbiton High School Podcast. In this episode we celebrate the European Week of Languages with a range of international cuisines from our canteen and students singing Euro pop hits in multi-lingual karaoke. Later on in the episode, we shine a light on the incredible work done by our Modern Foreign Languages Department, led by the enormously talented and passionate polyglot, Mme Paul.

Books are magical things that communicate experiences and bring people together. In a corner of the library, surrounded by hardbacks, paper backs and cups of tea, for 10 years Ms Huntley and Mr Humphreys have been bringing students together for an hour each week to talk about novels, non-fiction, poetry and plays with students from Year 7 to Year 13 – and even some Old Girls who come back every now and then. Lit Soc is a safe space from which students explore the world through the lens of literature.

According to a tremendous amount of research from a range of education academics such as Carol Dweck and Angela Duckworth, grit and resilience are two of the most important virtues that impact educational development. So, how do we build a sense of grit and resilience in our own children. In this episode, Louise and Tracey (the Heads of Surbiton Girls’ Prep and Boys’ Prep, respectively) share their thoughts on grit, how to build it, how to sustain it, and the role it plays in life-long learning

From Eric Carle’s ‘The Very Hungry Caterpillar’ to Julia Donaldson’s ‘Room on the Broom’, picture books are one of the most formative and magical experiences in a child’s educational development. In this episode, Louise and Tracey (the Heads of Surbiton Girls’ Prep and Boys’ Prep, respectively) share their love of picture books and their thoughts on it’s importance as a cornerstone of language and learning.