I recently visited Magdalen College School in Brackley, to meet with the Head Teacher, Mr Ian Colling and hear about some of the excellent progress the school is making. 

During the COVID lockdown, the school has had a new building constructed, and I was shown around the superb new facilities by Mr Tom Hollis, the Assistant Headteacher.  As well as fantastic new food tech and music rooms there are new classrooms and a large new balcony overlooking the sports pitches.

I was impressed with the progress of Magdalen’s diploma awards system- where students work to achieve bronze, silver and gold. A number of year 8 students who were working towards their bronze diploma shared their experiences with me.   The scheme encourages students with teamwork, self- discipline and participation in after school clubs including football, organic gardening, textiles and dancing.

I also had a question and answer session with Year 11 students, where we discussed issues such as the Hillsborough Inquiry, HS2 and the problems it is causing locally, the voting age, social media and free lunches during school holidays. 

It was a real pleasure to debate with such a feisty group!