Unique Thinking Skills Programme in north-west London looks wider than exam success. 

Northwood College, a girls’ school in north-west London, has always been about more than preparing pupils to pass exams (which it does very well, of course). Head Mistress Jacqualyn Pain says, “the school takes a holistic approach to developing pupils as ‘active thinkers’, ready to face a fast-changing world, in which many of the jobs they will end up doing probably don’t even exist today”. 

It’s an obvious fit with the Go4it philosophy, and when Jane Simister, who heads Northwood College’s unique Thinking Skills Programme, came across the Go4it award in 2007, she instantly saw how it could benefit the school. “We felt Go4it chimed with the ethos we were developing and could help us to embed this more thoroughly. Achieving the award would be a great way to celebrate our successes,” says Mrs Simister. 

When you are doing something innovative, like putting thinking skills at the heart of a school, it is motivating to have external recognition, she adds. Some of Go4it’s assessment criteria were areas that the school had already decided it wanted to focus on – like developing a culture of positive risk-taking.  

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