A Screen-Free Education with Top Results: Heritage Featured in The Sunday Times

Photo credit: CHRIS RADBURN FOR THE SUNDAY TIMES/TIMES MEDIA LTD

We are delighted that The Sunday Times has featured Heritage School in its most recent issue, highlighting our innovative, screen-free approach to education. Heritage has emerged, the article says, as ‘a pioneer of the type of education many parents are desperately seeking for their children.’

‘Thought to be the UK’s only screen-free school’, the article explains that Heritage offers a rich curriculum that makes room for poetry, nature walks, enrichment, classical music and fine art – all while consistently achieving top academic results. It continues, ‘They also get the second-best GCSE results in the city, after the Perse School. Last year, 74 per cent of GCSE results at Heritage were scored 7-9, against an average of 22 per cent in England.’

The article underscores the significant benefits of our book and textbook based learning model, which, Mr Fletcher says, ‘actually delivers better outcomes. That’s because printed matter does a better job of cultivating the habit of sustained attentive engagement, the necessary precondition for effective learning.’

Having visited the school several times, actress Sophie Winkleman is quoted as saying, ‘I would love to join forces with someone and open many more Heritages around the country. If my husband and I weren’t stuck in London for work, I’d move there like a shot.’

Following on from the article, Mr Fletcher was interviewed for the Times Radio Breakfast show, where he discussed the reasons behind the school’s low-tech approach. He explained, ‘We’re trying to encourage our pupils to engage attentively with a knowledge-rich curriculum, because that is the thing that should be right at the heart of education.’ He noted that a book based approach to learning has worked for over 500 years, and he drew attention to the old adage, ‘If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.’

We are encouraged by the growing movement to re-evaluate the role that technology is having in the lives of children, including in schools. Heritage wholeheartedly supports the Smartphone Free Childhood campaign, and the associated movement for smartphone free schools. We believe the role of EdTech in schools today also needs urgent re-appraisal.

As we look to the future, we remain dedicated to providing an ‘education for life’ – one that engages our pupils with an inspiring, knowledge-rich curriculum. Over the past 17 years, we have seen that this works; it enables our pupils to realise their potential and grow into young people able to contribute to the common good.

The full article can be found on The Sunday Times website. (You will need a subscription—or can sign up for a free trial subscription—to view the full article.)

The interview with Mr Fletcher can be found on the Times Radio web page (skip ahead to 03:48:28). Note that you will need to register but it’s free to listen. There is also an earlier segment (from 1:56:20) where Sian Griffiths, The Sunday Times Education Editor, speaks about Heritage School.

We invite prospective parents and pupils to visit our school and explore our approach further.