The Spectator Magazine Features ‘Superhead’ Mr Ross Montague’s ‘School from 2+’ Plan

The Spectator Education Magazine, Autumn 2024, has highlighted the  move to ‘School from 2+’ at Eaton House Belgravia in an article called ‘Brain Child’, referring to Mr Ross Montague as an ‘educationalist and school superhead.’

Mr Montague, who has just received an MBA in Educational Leadership, spoke to well-known journalist Ysenda Maxtone-Graham about all things 7+ examination-related, a process which the magazine states has left many parents feeling at ‘fever pitch.’

The idea of school from 2+, to help Belgravia’s youngest pupils to have the longest run-in to the 7+ examinations, is covered in the feature, together with the idea that all the traditional fun of Nursery can be supplemented by short bursts of more structured learning in English and mathematics.

Mr Montague accepts that ‘the highly demanding assessment processes for Westminster Under School, St Paul’s Juniors and King’s College School Wimbledon are both fair and here to stay.’ This means that ‘it’s the school’s job to prepare children from an early an age as possible in a “responsible manner”.’

As the article says, ‘His aim is to train them [the boys] not just academically, but in the all-important “executive functioning skills” they’ll  need in order to have a chance of succeeding in the second round of those schools, if they’re lucky enough to be called back for a morning  of being judged on how they perform in group activities.’

Reverse engineering the learning from the exams is the answer, and this leads directly to the idea of ‘School from Two.’ This is ‘Montague’s solution to giving children the long run-up they’ll need. The sooner they start, the better they’ll be prepared to “access learning” when the time comes.’

This means that a toddler aged 2 + will be in the bottom class, called “The Cubs”, the magazine writes, ‘and he will very definitely be “at school” rather than just “at nursery”: in a proper classroom with an inter-active whiteboard.’

Each morning, ‘the boys and girls  will have a “short academic input”, including phonics and number recognition.’ This can lead to faster learning uptake, as the magazine points out. Mr Montague adds: ‘Some of our children aged three are already competent with subtraction. Children’s brains are like sponges at that age.’

The Spectator says that ‘Eaton House prides itself on getting an impressive number of its boys into London’s top three highly sought-after and heavily oversubscribed boys’ prep schools each year (Westminster, St Paul’s and King’s College, Wimbledon). It also does the maths, citing that of the 350-400 who apply to St Paul’s Juniors each year, 100 are called back and just 54 are offered places. At Westminster Under, 60 get called back for a second round, for just 22 places.

The article points out that parental competition can be fierce, especially when schools take far less pupils at 8+ than at 7+ – just 18+ at St Paul’s Juniors, ‘a tiny number when you consider many of the cleverest boys across London are trying.’ From 2027, there will be no 8+ entry, at which point they will also take girls, says Maxtone Graham, ‘making entry even more competitive for boys at that age.’

The article describes how Mr Montague’s aim, in the face of such over demand is to accept the situation, be frank with parents, and simply prepare the pupils as well as he possibly can.

This does not mean simply starting them aged two on the academic subjects – ‘we don’t over-teach maths and English and we’re not hot-housing.. we will not cram anything.’ He does not like to see ‘a child held back by a limiting curriculum’ and he believes that  a ‘ happy child is a learning child.’ As an ex-professional footballer, he’s ‘unashamedly a big believer in high performance and perseverance.’

What he ‘aims to instill in the children from the age of two are the “executive functioning skills” that will help them navigate life and give them a hope of getting into those seemingly impregnable schools.’ In order to succeed, he explains, ‘they’ll need all the three elements of the “hierarchy of needs”: first, wellbeing; then the executive functioning skills (which include task initiation, focus, perseverance, time management, meta-cognition and working memory); and then the academics.”

The article describes how, to facilitate this, ‘he’s installed a new “Innovation and Entrepreneurial Centre” on the top floor of the school building, where the Headmaster’s flat used to be.’  This Innovation Centre, which will be completed in the second half of term will be a game-changer. ‘The children will come into the Innovation  Centre regularly, to improve their executive functioning skills, using all kinds of apparatus, from Lego to VR headsets, and they’ll be doing the kinds of problem-solving group activities they’ll be required to do to get through to the second round of the seven-plus.’

Read the article in full on this link: https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/the-toddlers-being-prepared-for-the-seven-plus-exam/