The Making of Us

What makes a good education?

‘A crucial book of the moment: the best-informed education insider laying out how schools should work’ David Bodanis




In a brilliant blend of memoir and manifesto, renowned educator Clarissa Farr tells stories from the frontlines of schools to offer vital lessons for the way we teach.



What are the challenges facing students and schools today? How do we encourage girls to become tomorrow’s leaders? What must change for students of all backgrounds to find ambition and succeed?


A handbook, a memoir, an urgent message for our time. If we care about the future of our schools and young people, here are the changes we must make.


‘Part memoir, part love letter to the mad, wonderful world of schools and school leadership, Farr brings to life her own experiences and interweaves them with wider reflections upon education in the UK today… She does not pull any punches … A warm and witty book’
Times Educational Supplement


‘Elegantly written … It is about the importance of good teachers and the influence a school community can have on the lives of children’
Sunday Times


‘Wise, courageous and compassionate’
Sir Anthony Seldon


‘An urgent call to improve the way we help young women prepare for this complex world written by someone with oodles of experience and a load of passion for good education’
George Osborne


Previously published as The Making of Her