From technological advancements and experiential approaches to renewed focus on the fundamentals, Charlotte Phillips finds out what our local educators are most excited for in this 2026/27 school year – and why
Dr Theatre has a magical effect on actors. That ‘show-must-go-on’ spirit can see them transformed from the lowest ebb to dramatic heights, sustaining them until the curtain call.
Teachers depend on those same qualities, energy and stamina among them, to keep pupils – the toughest and most critical audience of them all – excited, inspired and learning every day of every school term. There’s a reason why school holidays are long and it has everything to do with recharging batteries.
Despite the demands coming at them from every direction, teachers in our area remain not just impressively positive but buoyant about this coming academic year and beyond.
For Johanna Sale, principal of Impington Village College and director of IB Programmes, Eastern Learning Alliance, every new academic year is “a chance for a fresh start; a time to leave old ways behind, embrace change and implement the new.”
At Abbey College Cambridge, principal Ellen Hesse radiates similarly positive emotions. “The beginning of a new academic year is always a source of great excitement for me,” she says. Part of that stems from watching last year’s students mature into new roles, while there’s also the satisfaction of welcoming new families and students and helping them to feel that they belong from day one. “I interview most of the new students so meeting them for the first time in person is truly special. Their enthusiasm and fresh perspectives are so energising,” she adds.
As Kate Latham, assistant head academic at Kimbolton School, points out, if you’re not feeling that enthusiasm then something is wrong. “We want to put joy back into the classroom and into education, and find as many ways as possible to do that. If you can’t enjoy it, you might as well hang up your boots,” she asserts.
Core analysis
Admittedly, Kimbolton School has a stronger reason than most to feel positive about the new academic year ahead, given that 2026 marks the 50th anniversary of co-education at the school. Light-hearted celebrations (a 70s-themed day complete with authentic clothes, uniform, hair and food – think perms and prawn cocktails – is being discussed) will be infused with a deeper message about what co-education means for the school.
For Kate, it’s a fundamental part of what the school stands for and the space it wants to occupy. “It’s really important for who we are,” she enthuses.
It also feeds into another main focus for the school. “One of the other pushes we’ve had in the past year is about inclusion, thinking about that intentionally and much more seriously.” That means “reflecting who we are as a community; really trying to allow each of our pupils to feel absolutely comfortable in their own skin and to feel they can be who they are.”
At Impington Village College, the new academic year will focus on developing existing initiatives rather than looking at wholesale change – and will be all the better for it, thinks Johanna Sale. “Sometimes a fresh perspective is all that’s needed,” she says.
The emphasis will be on understanding neuroscience and how it can transform the school’s pedagogy. That means going back to how children’s brains develop and ensuring that this is at the heart of the school’s curriculum development, behaviour and relationships policy. “A focus on a deeper understanding of neuroscience will underpin our learning about more effective adaptive teaching and impactful relationship building, as well as how we can make it positive for all of us,” she says.
Enriching education
Changes to schools’ environments and facilities are similarly thoughtful and considered. At Abbey College Cambridge, all staff are now based on one site rather than split across two campuses; a practical move that, as assistant principal pastoral Alison Bignell explains, will help strengthen the sense of community for everyone. “When staff work more closely together, students benefit from a more connected and consistent experience,” she says.
Other innovations at Abbey College Cambridge pivot between the technologically advanced – new digital platforms that improve communications between college and families or improve how students check in around the campus – and the retro, with the reintroduction of paper-based workbooks. “In an increasingly digital world, offering students a space to reflect, discuss and think critically without distraction can lead to richer conversations and deeper learning,” Alison explains.
That approach strikes a similar chord at Bishop’s Stortford College, which re-wrote its entire prep school curriculum last year – no mean feat – so that it was more experiential for the children. “I wanted them to experience something that as a seven-, eight-, nine- or ten-year-old you’d be excited about, while having a high level of academic rigour,” says prep school head Rachael Cox.
“I also wanted the children to have ownership of their learning,” she continues. This has included reading the children’s classic Stig of the Dump, building homes with found objects (tyres and sticks among them) and making showers out of hoses and watering cans, before writing descriptions of the resulting properties that secured pride of place in a local estate agent’s window.
This year, children in years 7 and 8 (the top two prep years) get their own hub: a space for, among other activities, podcasting, study and relaxing. They can even make their own drinks. “It’s a real bridge into our senior school offering,” says Rachael. “We can help them find their voice and forge their path.”
Also new for this year is the senior prep school diploma, which builds on the school values – belonging, scholarship and character – by encouraging pupils to see how these relate to life outside of school.
Pure passion
For other schools in our area, new systems, approaches and technologies – as well as a continued focus on top-class results – will be a priority this year, although it’s not the only one. For teachers, education is about so much more.
At Kimbolton School, pupils will be involved in the creation of an outdoor classroom, complete with a pond, while staff and students at Abbey College Cambridge learn about AI together. Also, prep pupils at Bishop’s Stortford College have the opportunity to hone soft skills that help them become ‘leaders, innovators and change makers’. It’s not surprising that, despite all the challenges, our educators are overwhelmingly positive about what the new school year will bring.
“It’s the love for learning that empowers us. At its heart is the question: how can we make lasting change for young human beings? And that question really excites me,” concludes Impington Village College’s Johanna Sale.
Upcoming open events
Abbey College Cambridge
14 November
Bishop’s Stortford College
Whole College 19 September
Sixth Form 7 October
Felsted School
3 October
Framlingham College
Prep School
2 October
Senior School & Sixth Form
3 October
Kimbolton School
Senior School
19 September
Preparatory School
9 October
Sixth Form
12 November
Old Buckenham Hall
2 October
St John’s College School
13 October
Sancton Wood School
26 September
St Faith’s Cambridge
10 October
St Mary’s School, Cambridge
Preschool & Junior School
26 September
Senior School & Sixth Form
3 October
Stephen Perse Cambridge
Dame Bradbury’s
16 September
Senior School
19 September
Cambridge Junior School
3 October
Cambridge Early Years
3 October
Sixth Form
15 October
The Perse School
Upper School 26 September
Sixth Form 26 September
Pelican School 3 October
Prep School 3 October