Product reviews for A School Built on Ethos

A School Built on Ethos offers a personal take on the world of education via an ingenious idea, whereby head teacher James Handscombe has written each chapter around assemblies delivered at his school over the past few years. That his school is Harris Westminster - a sixth-form school that serves a wide range of students yet is situated right in the centre of Britain's power and privilege, pomp and circumstance - gives this book a unique edge, too. Handscombe teaches us all a number of lessons from (sometimes literally) his pulpit, yet manages to make the style more conversational than preachy. This is to his credit.

A book that is a joy to dip in and out of, A School Built on Ethos conjures up an array of fascinating situations and characters, but it is the advice drawn from experience that will resonate long after the book has been read that will bring readers to it, safe in the knowledge that they are in the good hands of a thoughtful and empathetic head teacher.