Lincoln Minster School
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Overview

This is a school with small classes, an exceptional extracurricular offer and a nurturing environment in which pupils achieve well academically. ‘Every day they enjoy going to school,’ one parent commented. Despite the strong competition from nearby grammar schools, numbers are increasing and recent changes to the school day have been welcomed by parents. Its proximity to (and relationship with) the cathedral provides a strong identity for pupils whose school is in the historic heart of Lincoln.

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The Head

Since 2022, Jon Tyler BA, previously interim head of Lucton School (Herefordshire) and before that deputy head (academic) of Dauntsey’s for six years. He also held posts as a housemaster and head of history at other HMC schools. His academic success (a first in history from Durham) he attributes to his mother’s wisdom in putting him in for, and his fortunately winning, a bursary to a good independent school at 11. ‘Being there took me in a different direction,’ he says. After university he tried a corporate career path (Procter and Gamble) before deciding on teaching. ‘It felt the right fit for me and still does. Pupils are at the heart of the job and they make it always worthwhile.’

He took over the school at a time of transition, just after Covid, when some major decisions on the running of the school had to be made. ‘I knew the challenges when I came and thought the school’s potential was not being used to its full extent, but I felt the warmth of the place; it seemed a real community,’ he says. Moving the school onto a fully day-school footing ‘felt major, but was unavoidable once the cathedral changed their choir policy and the international pupils declined post-pandemic.’ Parents say, ‘He has the school’s best interests at heart. You have to be prepared to change and adapt.’ ‘He is not a nine-to-five guy, he is always around – in a tabard doing the parking at drop-off time, for example.’

Jon Tyler Headshot

From his first-floor study, a glass eyrie (we can vouch for the full greenhouse effects on a hot June day), he can view the entire playground right to the gates and all the comings and goings of his school, ‘and they can see me’. His wish to ‘learn the names of every single child in the school’ gets the seal of approval from parents. ‘His predecessor was only here eighteen months but when we saw her, she never seemed to acknowledge us,’ one commented.


Now well established as head, he wants the school to be a place ‘where happy pupils achieve their fullest potential’. When pressed, he is clear that ‘happy’ is not a wishy-washy state but refers to having goals and purpose and satisfaction in achieving them. Making certain key appointments, among them a new deputy head (pastoral), has also helped place his stamp on the school, and ‘we are confident about the future’. He lives close to the school and devotes free time to fitness (‘I have a home gym’), reading and trying to maintain a social life. Holidays are generally spent with his family in Hampshire.

Prep Wellbeing
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Entrance

Main entry points are reception, year 7 and year 12, but places can usually be found in other years. All applicants and parents are interviewed. Reports from current school required and pupils attend ‘taster’ days where the emphasis is on looking for pupils who want to work hard and who accept the school’s ethos. A wide ability range is accepted and the selection process helps discern particular educational needs, if not already known. Cognitive ability assessments, a creative writing paper and an interview all required for year 7 entrants and above. Pupils at the Minster Prep School transfer automatically to year 7 where they are joined by pupils from state primaries. Sixth form entry is subject to GCSE results.

Exit

As Lincolnshire retains the 11-plus, a certain number leave to take up grammar school places in year 7 but this is usually less than 15 per cent. Around half leave after GCSE, mostly for vocational courses or to attend a sixth form college that offers a particular course. After A levels, majority to university with Durham, Loughborough, Newcastle, York and Harper Adams all popular choices. Subjects studied include law, maths, geography, sport and exercise science, and business studies. Some leave each year for drama or music colleges such as RADA and the Leeds Conservatoire; the odd one abroad, often the USA. None to medicine in 2024 but one or two in most years. Others follow a more vocational pathway in the armed forces, real estate, rural enterprise and land management, and some join family businesses.

Results

- In 2024, 25% at GCSE; 30% A*/A at A level (56% A*-B).

- In 2023, 27% 9-7 at GCSE: 30% A*/A at A level (57% A*-B).

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Teaching and Learning

Results are respectable for an academically non-selective school. Parents all speak highly of ‘small classes and staff who really know their pupils’, but the school is not complacent. ‘We are proud of our diverse intake but getting the balance of abilities right is important and we need to differentiate our educational offer,’ says the head, and one or two parents did comment on the need for increased academic rigour: ‘They shouldn’t rest on their laurels.’ Setting for most subjects from year 8 onwards. A recent change, approved of by pupils and staff, includes an earlier start to the school day: ‘It is only twenty minutes but enables us to rejig the timetable so the co-curricular programme takes place during an extended lunchtime.’ All staff take part in this; ‘We do two sessions a week,’ the deputy head told us. There is a rather limited language offer since French is being phased out in favour of Spanish (‘It was more popular with the pupils,’ say the school), though French, along with other languages, such as Mandarin and Italian, can be studied in clubs. Foreign languages are introduced in the prep and most pupils take a language at GCSE but this is viewed flexibly for pupils requiring support elsewhere in the curriculum.


Parents speak highly of the teaching staff: ‘Enthusiastic, they really get the children excited about stuff;’ ‘They seem to have got rid of some old-timers and staff seem really young and energetic’ (they do indeed). High praise from parents for ‘the way they pick up on difficulties really early and get the best help straightaway. We didn’t need to make a fuss.’ Excellent facilities at both the prep and senior schools (separate sites) and a calm, purposeful atmosphere in the classrooms and corridors at change of lessons. Pupils have their own iPads and these are integral to learning but we saw lots of teacher-pupil exchanges in chemistry, maths and drama lessons – only in English were all heads down and total silence reigning, for a test. This is a school where putting your hand up in class and not shoving through doorways are the norm.


Class teaching for most lessons in the prep though some cross-pollination with the senior school when subject staff come to the prep (music and languages) and the higher forms go to the senior site to take advantage of science and sport facilities. Lessons in the prep take full advantage of the large, wooded grounds; teepees, water play, bug hotels, water gardens and rope bridges all contribute to the wellbeing of pupils as well as their learning. Pupils here receive a good grounding and though a small handful leave to take up places at one or other of the grammar schools in year 7, the school does not specifically prepare pupils for the 11-plus so parents will be forking out for private tuition if that is their aim.

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Learning Support & SEN

Exceptional provision for a wide range of educational needs with both senior and prep schools being led by fully qualified SENCo. The senior department includes two full-time LSAs and nine part-time; the prep has six part-time LSAs. Additional needs include literacy difficulties such as dyslexia, for which there is constant screening and very early diagnosis: ‘They picked up my daughter’s problem immediately and she has been really well looked after – no corridor learning, they treat the children like family.’ Those with ASD may require one-to-one support in the classroom but many benefit from sensible help with planning and organising their work. ‘We give them starter packs when they join the school, discovery journals, help with coloured screens, homework planning and they can always drop in to see us if they feel under pressure.’

The SEN department is a large airy room – a pleasure to be in – on the main corridor, and staff are always present. Around a third of pupils receive some kind of help; there are 11 EHCPs in the seniors and eight in the prep. The head of SEN is also a qualified assessor and a member of the British Psychological Society. Parents praise the tact shown towards pupils. ‘They can send a message to the department on their iPad, very discreetly, that they need help or they can go at break time to offload.’ 
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‘They really build self-esteem.’ A pupil we spoke to said being ASD ‘is my super power’, and there is complete acceptance throughout the school of difference and all pupils are well integrated with the mainstream.

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The Arts & Extracurricular

Music retains its importance despite Lincoln cathedral’s decision to broaden their chorister base (in common with several other cathedrals) and no longer funding chorister places at the school. If a pupil is accepted for the choir (generally year 3 for boys, a little later for girls), the school make allowance for their rehearsal time first thing in the morning, several times a week. ‘I don’t miss much school really,’ a chorister pupil told us. ‘Assembly, things like that, but we start rehearsals at 8am.’ There are at least two evensongs a week (boys and girls alternate) with rehearsals and tea beforehand, plus Sunday services, so it remains a big commitment. Choristers tend to be those also learning instruments; they take part in all the musical offerings of the school but so do plenty of other pupils. Bands, orchestras and choirs of all sorts proliferate and there are several productions each year, often a big musical, plus some Shakespeare – Night at the Musicals and A Midsummer Night’s Dream the most recent.

The Harper Building for music and drama provides several spaces for performance and rehearsal including a professional drama hall that doubles for assemblies and concerts, as well as smaller studios and practice rooms. The foyer showcases art, ‘usually A level work’, said our guides, ‘and we line up here for lessons’. Drama is taught up to year 9 and is a popular GCSE and A level choice. Art studio not only has panoramic views of the city but, unlike the rest of the school, enjoys the luxury of air-conditioning. Sixth formers have their own work stations in the studio.

The extended day makes time for lunchtime clubs and activities – the list of over a hundred includes archery, rowing and a Spanish film club. ‘It allows for some cross-pollination of staff interests,’ said the deputy head – herself a geographer and keen rower. DofE is popular and there are plenty of school trips, both abroad (New York, Barcelona and Iceland recently) and more local trips including team-building visits to Cambridge (rowing and looking at the colleges), London and bomber command. Skiing trips an annual fixture.

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Sport

Pupils have more than three hours a week of timetabled sport split between field (football, rugby, hockey) and gym. New sports hall provides basketball and indoor cricket and squash. Individual sports, such as tennis and squash and recently introduced archery, seem to be school strengths with plenty of area and national winners among pupils. Rowing is proving very popular.

Success in competitive team games perhaps rather less: ‘There are fewer pupils to pick a strong A team line-up but they have plenty of opportunity to shine in other sports and the main thing is there is encouragement to try new things,’ said a parent (also with a daughter thrilled by rowing). Lunchtime clubs and after-school activities provide endless opportunities to have fun and try things and there are regular school trips for rock climbing and skiing.

Lincoln Minster Boy Playing Squash
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 ‘My daughter and three of her friends are in a boat together and can’t row enough,’ was one remark, and all parents spoke of ‘young, enthusiastic staff’ and ‘plenty of encouragement to give things a go’.

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Ethos and Heritage

Formed from the amalgamation of four long-established schools in Lincoln, including the cathedral choir school with its roots in the twelfth century. Links with the cathedral remain strong as a number of pupils are choristers and school events such as carol and end of term services happen there. ‘We may not have extensive grounds,’ one parent commented, ‘but we do have the history.’

The school has two main sites in central Lincoln – both a stone’s throw from the cathedral and a brisk 10-minute walk from each other. Main base for the senior school is the Prior’s Building, opened in 2002, well designed with curving corridors and lots of glass. The prep benefits from the extensive garden surrounding the large Victorian house which is its core. ‘We are so lucky having all this space in historic Lincoln,’ say the school, and the outdoor learning is ‘one of the reasons we chose the school’, said a parent. All parents speak highly of the sense of community and friendliness at the school and the positive point to having a range of ability. ’It’s more like real life,’ said one and all parents praise the priority given to the extracurricular programme: ‘It’s why we chose it over the grammar school.’ The distinctive spearmint green striped blazers are liked by pupils (they call out for the addition of a boater in our view) and sixth formers are very happy with a ‘business dress’ code. Food is considered good and varied with an emphasis on locally sourced food.
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Pastoral Care, Inclusivity & Discipline

In a relatively small school everyone knows everyone, ‘so they don’t get away with much, nor do they want to!’ said a parent. Pupils are well behaved and courteous but very relaxed with staff and each other. Form tutors provide the daily anchor, with heads of year for more heavyweight matters, and all parents spoke of easy communication. There is other pastoral support available: trained counsellors and a full-time nurse, as well as the Hub for anyone who wants a bit of time out. School very conscious of being inclusive in language and behaviour with both sexes doing all sports and two head students, rather than a head boy and head girl. Plenty of LGBTQ posters and rainbow Pride displays. Few serious discipline issues; occasional detentions or suspensions are dealt with briskly. A parent spoke of how ‘an incident of bullying, spreading rumours via social media’ was handled very quickly.
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‘My daughter had a difficult experience at another school and lost confidence. She came here and on the first day made a friend, and has never looked back’

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Pupils & Parents

Mostly professional, business or farming families from Lincoln and the surrounding areas, Sleaford, Newark and Gainsborough; some families from the nearby RAF base and airfield. ‘Unpretentious’ was the word most parents used to describe the school. ‘It’s not for the very rich,’ said one, and another, even more direct, remark was, ‘No lottery winners!’ Word of mouth was the way most heard of the school. ‘It was an answer to a prayer. We moved here and knew no one, but a colleague at work suggested Lincoln Minster.’ A lot of two-career families, everyone working hard to pay the fees. ‘Plenty of ordinary Volvo drivers like me,’ one parent said. The grammar schools are not really seen as rivals.

Pupils certainly come across as a very contented bunch – friendly and forthcoming about themselves and their school. The benefits of a smaller school are manifest in the friendships forged across the different years, as well as within class and year groups.
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‘It’s a different offer completely. Our children passed the 11-plus but we chose the broader education here and have never regretted it. They do so much here and are so happy.’

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Money Matters

Scholarships for music, art, drama, sport and academic are offered in years 7, 9 and 12 for both existing and external applicants. A scholarship carries a small financial award (typically five per cent of fees) but means tested bursaries are available to top fees up to 50 per cent, but these are limited in number and reassessed on an annual basis. School fees include VAT and school lunches.

Our School

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