Our Story
The New Model School Company was founded in 2004 with a simple philanthropic aim: to open schools that would provide an excellent affordable prep education.
It was the brainchild of a group of forward-thinking educationalists, social policy experts and proactive parents who wanted to do things differently. They believed there had to be a way to provide children with a rigorous, knowledge-rich education without it costing the earth.
Such was their belief that they were prepared to fund it themselves. When Maple Walk opened in a sports hall in North West London in 2004, it did so with seed investment from a number of individuals, all committed to this vision of a new model of education.
In 2009, Faraday School was opened in East London following the same model. Faraday is supported by the Fishmongers’ Company, one of the 12 great Livery Companies of the City of London, who sponsor our Fishmongers’ Faraday Award which offers a free, or subsidised school place, to a local child every year. We are hugely grateful for their support.
As both schools successfully grew, so did the investment required. But what remains distinctive about the NMS model is that the current and past shareholders do not expect a return on their investment. Philanthropy is still at the heart of the NMS ethos. Enormous efforts are made to maintain the company’s financial resilience while keeping fees as low as possible. All surpluses made at Maple Walk and Faraday are re-invested in the schools and put towards broadening our bursary support.
As the schools have grown, so the company has grown. NMS now has a hugely experienced board of Directors and Advisors who oversee the successful running of the schools, plus our education dynamo, the Teaching & Learning Committee, who oversee and drive our forward-thinking, ambitious, curriculum.
Twenty years on, the vision of our founders is bearing fruit. Both schools are thriving, parents are clearly drawn to our approach of teaching an ambitious knowledge-based curriculum in a creative way. And our results improve year-on-year with our Year 6 leavers consistently receiving offers and scholarships from many of the top senior schools in London and beyond.
Our Teaching and Learning Committee (TLC) is integral to the NMS project.
We aim to give our pupils the very best education, based on a knowledge-rich curriculum.
We are confident that the quality of the curriculum we cover and the education we deliver is excellent. A good curriculum costs no more to deliver than a bad one.
Advisors who are experienced educationalists sit on the committee along with the Head teachers and CEO, advising and supporting the Head Teachers. We are very fortunate to have the benefit of our advisors’ depth and breadth of experience.
The TLC has responsibility for overseeing all aspects of learning and how it is taught at the schools, reviewing the curriculum and discussing and debating new areas for development.
It monitors pupils’ progress by by reviewing assessment data in detail and discussing with the Head Teachers how this data is used to improve outcomes.
The quality of a child’s education is ultimately determined by what happens during the school day. A good school needs good teachers and so the TLC also considers the training and development needs of the teaching staff to ensure that they are properly supported in terms of professional development, training and resources.
