ABOUT INDEPENDENT SCHOOLS OF THE YEAR 2021
Independent Schools of the Year 2021 is an awards programme brought to you by Independent School Parent magazine.
They are designed to showcase our schools’ success stories and celebrate the extraordinary and compelling student experience they provide.
This year there are 24 award categories which schools can enter. They have been designed to reflect the breadth and diversity of life as a student in the independent education sector. 2021 sees the introduction of three new awards:
- The Innovation Award for an Outstanding New Initiative
- The Development Award for an Outstanding Fundraising Achievement
- The Unsung Hero of the Year Award
We have also introduced the Special Award for an Outstanding Response to COVID-19, which we hope will provide schools with the opportunity to tell us how their communities rose to meet the unique challenges of this extraordinary academic year which impacted so many aspects of school life.
The awards are free to enter for all independent schools which are members of an association in membership of the Independent Schools Council and will be judged by a distinguished group of educationalists.
The judges will be looking for schools to share stories of success underpinned by supporting evidence. Success comes in many forms and we want to celebrate them all.
Nominations will open on 18 March and close on 16 June. Entries are easy to submit using the online forms on this website.
The 2021 Commended schools will be announced on 30 June, finalists on 7 September and the winners will be revealed at an awards ceremony in autumn.
The Winners, Finalists and Commended schools will be presented with specially commissioned rosettes and supporting collateral to use across their print and online marketing materials celebrating their success. Winning schools will also be awarded one of the much-coveted ISOTY trophies.
The awards will be chaired once again by Dr Helen Wright, international education adviser and past Vice Chair of the ISC, supported by a panel of judges which includes leading Head Teachers and representatives of the professional associations.
Helen Wright comments:
“I am so pleased to be chairing the judging panel for the Independent Schools of the Year for a fourth time.
As we navigate our way through the challenges of the pandemic, I hope that the awards will provide schools an opportunity to take stock of all they have achieved in 2020-21 – often against the odds – and celebrate the amazing student experience they have continued to be able to provide.
The announcement of the winners in the autumn will provide our schools with a great platform from which to tell their stories and underline the benefits of an independent school education as the sector regroups and pushes forward.
It is an enormous pleasure and privilege to chair a panel of judges which brings together such highly experienced leaders in the world of independent education. Between them the judges possess an unrivalled combined wealth of wisdom and insight into how top-achieving schools operate.
Great schools believe in their students’ ability to grow and develop and become the best of themselves. The UK’s independent schools are vibrant exciting places which, as the past year has demonstrated, are constantly evolving to respond to the needs of their individual students.
These highly-regarded awards recognise and celebrate the amazing experiences and opportunities for students in independent schools across the UK and British schools overseas. “
What the Judges will be looking for
The judges will be looking for stories of success which demonstrate how the schools applying for each award have fostered excellence and enhanced their students’ ability to grow and develop in whichever aspect of school life the award recognises. They will also wish to be persuaded that the schools submitting entries are continually evolving to meet the needs of their students and offer a vibrant learning – and living – environment.
The pandemic has been the dominant factor for the independent school sector – as for all others – in the past year and the efforts to which our schools have gone to support both their students and their local communities have been awe-inspiring. The Special Award for an Outstanding Response to COVID-19 is designed to recognise these activities.
But, of course, during these challenging times our schools have continued to deliver a top class educational experience to students, whether on line or in person – and the judges are keen that the awards can be used to showcase the impressive work that is being undertaken in every aspect of a school’s life and thereby look beyond the impact of the immediate issues presented by the COVID-19 restrictions, albeit that they will be an important part of the narrative context.
Success comes in many different guises – from winning national competitions to creating life-changing moments. The judges will be open to individual schools’ own interpretation of what represents success for them. They will be keen to see how the schools present their stories and narrate the achievement of excellence. Entries could talk about school life as a whole or focus on individual initiatives or achievements, but they will all need to be underpinned by supporting evidence and demonstrate how student life has been enriched.
Each award celebrates a different element or dimension of an independent school education. Consequently, the judges will expect each entry to focus on the achievement of excellence in the area of activity for which the particular award is being made rather than a holistic description of the school’s overall performance. The judges have worked hard to simplify the criteria for each award for 2021 and would encourage everyone who is going to be authoring an entry this year to take time to understand what the judges are looking for and to craft their stories accordingly.
The style and clarity of the written entry will also be important; the judges will be looking for a compelling story effectively told which draws them into the life of a school rather than a simple list of achievements.
The award categories for which schools can apply are:
- Independent Pre-Prep School of the Year
- Independent Prep School of the Year
- Co-educational Independent School of the Year
- Independent Girls’ School of the Year
- Independent Boys’ School of the Year
- Independent Boarding School of the Year
- British International School of the Year
- Small Independent School of the Year
- Overseas Campus of the Year
- The Special Award for an Outstanding Response to COVID
- Independent School of the Year for Sporting Achievement
- Independent School of the Year for the Performing Arts (music & drama)
- Independent School of the Year for Student Careers Programme
- Independent School of the Year for Community Outreach
- Independent School of the Year for Contribution to Social Mobility
- Independent School of the Year for Student Well-Being
- Independent School of the Year for International Student Experience
- Independent School of the Year for Healthy Eating
- The Innovation Award for an Outstanding New Initiative
- The Marketing Award for Effective Brand Communication
- The Development Award for an Outstanding Fundraising Achievement
- The Green Award for Environmental Achievement
- Rising Star of the Year Award
- The Unsung Hero of the Year Award
The Rising Star of the Year Award honours the particular success of individual students who are nominated by their schools for outstanding personal achievement. The winner of the Rising Star Award will be decided by the Independent School Parent editorial team. The Unsung Hero of the Year award, which recognises the sometimes hidden contribution of key players within a school community, will be chosen by members of the senior management team of the Chelsea Magazine Company.
A further award will be made for the Independent School of the Year which will be chosen by the judges from amongst the winners of all the other main school categories.
Nominations will open on 18 March 2021 and close on 16 June 2021. The stories of our winners – who will be announced in autumn – will be shared and celebrated across the Independent School Parent portfolio and the Chelsea Magazine Company’s wider platforms.
Winners, Finalists and Commended schools will be presented with specially commissioned award rosettes for use across their print and online marketing materials.
