We speak with Headteacher Magnus Bashaarat to get his insight on what makes Maida Vale School exceptional.
What first inspired you to go into education and how did that journey lead you to Maida Vale?
After graduating I was working as a journalist in London, but I wanted to travel abroad. My cousin was working for the British Council in Prague, and he said that if I qualified as an EFL (English as a foreign language) teacher, then he could get me a job for the British Council in Prague. I did a course in London on how to teach English to foreign students, and it was while I was doing that that I discovered that I found the dynamic of the classroom exciting. And then I thought, rather than go abroad to teach, I think I want to teach in this country.
I qualified as a teacher at King’s College, London, and my first job was in a rural boarding school in Dorset. MVS is the seventh school where I have worked, and my third time as a Head. I still teach in the classroom, even though lots of head teachers don’t, because my subject, English, is what I still find fundamentally enjoyable about the job.
What makes Maida Vale special?
At MVS we have a live teaching and learning discourse. We meet every week to talk about teaching and learning in the classroom, we have lots of research-based training sessions around best teaching practices, and an ‘open-door’ policy of peer observation. It’s an exciting school because we are always looking at the dynamics of the classroom and how to get best outcomes for the students.
How would you describe the ethos of your school?
MVS is a very pastorally focused school. We’re a school that has strong relationships between students and staff. We’ve got an open-door policy with parents, so they feel comfortable coming to find any teacher first thing in the morning at drop-off. The very first room you see in the school is called the Parent Café; a shared space where parents can come and find teachers to check their children’s progress or discuss any other issue.
The MVS culture is one of partnership. We talk about co-curating the educational journey, a three-way conversation between parents, the school and the students themselves, so that they have a sense of agency in the way they learn and what they learn. Most London schools want parents to drop their children at the school gate and not really get involved thereafter, but we position ourselves to be the opposite of that. We welcome the involvement because we know that a student that feels understood and well supported is going to make the best progress in the classroom.
What would you say are your top priorities for the coming year, both academically and beyond the classroom?
We want to make sure that our growing cohort of A-level students who want to go to Russell Group, US, or QS Top 100 universities, get the right support to achieve those ambitions. We’ve had our first successful Cambridge applicant this year, so making sure that as a school, we’re ambitious in terms of Oxbridge and Russell Group applications, that’s one of our key priorities.
There are increasing numbers of young people interested in US, European and worldwide university destinations. Students at MVS come from quite a diverse international background, partly because of the part of London that we’re in, and they’re not all necessarily interested in UK university destinations, so we committed to supporting European and global applications, as well as UK.
How does your staff support the pupils to thrive?
Each student has a personal tutor that they check in with every morning. That’s their go-to for any academic or pastoral concerns., There’s a very open culture here of students putting their hands up and asking for support if they feel that they need it. The student voice is strong via the School Council, so students really feel involved and have a sense of agency in their own education.
What do you think sets your school apart?
I think that we are a school that has got creativity and creative problem solving at the heart of its curriculum. We’re new enough to change things and develop new ideas in the curriculum. We’ve got lots of project-based learning in KS3 and we try and take away the subject silos that establish themselves very early on in the English curriculum.
I also think we’re much more inventive, experimental and leaner than many other older established schools, and we’re still looking at what works well in the classroom, how we can develop a curriculum that’s contemporary, responsive and modern.
We’re not tied to delivering something that has been delivered in the same way for the last 10, 15, 20, 50 years. We’re happy to look at newer subjects alongside the traditional if there’s demand, and we’re thinking 5, 10 years further down the line, so we consider what our students will need for the workplace and life beyond.
Entry to Maida Vale School is at either Year 7 or Year 12 and is based on exams and interviews. Join their Open Morning on Thursday 30th April for more information.
W: maidavaleschool.com
T: 020 4511 6000
