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SCHOOLS
March 2015
Alex Massie Are Scottish schoolboys superior?
Ysenda Maxtone Graham Getting in and getting on
Sophia Waugh The myth of ‘teaching character’
James Delingpole An anatomy of parents’ evening
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Uncommon entrances
Getting your child into a decent school has long been high on a parent’s
list of priorities, and British parents now have to compete with foreign
parents for whom £30,000 a year is small change. It is for people like these,
Will Heaven explains, that many of our top schools are opening branches
as far afield as Seoul, Kazakhstan and Shanghai.
Even if you can afford the fees, getting your child into a good private
school is hard, because the best ones are vastly oversubscribed, as Ysenda
Maxtone Graham writes. What can you do about it? Lydia Hansell suggests
the new ‘super-tutors’, who do far more than your child’s maths homework.
If you have managed to get your child into the school of your choice,
then Lara Prendergast is on hand with a run-down of the uniform tribes
they might be expected to conform to, while James Delingpole explains
what to expect at your next parents’ evening. And if you haven’t, well, it’s
not the end of the world. Sebastian Payne tells the story of his recovery
from rejection by the school he applied to at the age of ten.
We’ve also included a handy guide to Easter revision courses, Ed
Cumming explores the wilder shores of the school trip, Mark Palmer sings
the praises of school reunions and Edward Bell and I discuss choir schools.
I hope you enjoy reading all this and more, and do keep an eye out for the
next issue of Spectator Schools, out in September.
Scottish schools Alex Massie
Editor
Camilla Swift
5
Writers’ reminiscences Daisy Dunn
20
Teaching character Sophia Waugh8
Britain’s educational empire Will Heaven 23
How to get in Ysenda Maxtone Graham10
In praise of reunions Mark Palmer24
IGCSEs vs GCSEs Ross Clark 13
The new school trips Ed Cumming26
Dress codes decoded Lara Prendergast14
Parents’ evenings James Delingpole28
Learning and IT Constance Watson15
My schooldays Sebastian Payne31
Super-tutors Lydia Hansell16
Easter revision colleges32
The ‘diamond’ model Eleanor Doughty19
Choirs Edward Bell; Camilla Swift34
Drawings
John Jensen
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The crème de la crème: Maggie Smith as Miss Jean Brodie, most famous of all Scottish public schoolmistresses
Caledonian contradictions
Scots public schools are a tribe apart, says Alex Massie
I
n 1919 the literary critic G. Gregory Smith coined
the term ‘Caledonian antisyzygy’, by which he
meant the ‘zigzag of contradictions’ that so dominated the national literature that it might be reckoned a useful summation of the Scottish character
itself. ‘Oxymoron,’ Smith observed, ‘was ever the bravest figure, and we must not forget that disorderly order
is order after all.’
Perhaps so. Certainly, the Scottish public schools
endure an often ambivalent, even awkward, relationship
with their native land. The most prestigious are outposts
of England in Scotland, custodians of an idea of Britishness that’s increasingly out of favour north of the border.
Schools such as Fettes, Loretto, Glenalmond and Merchiston generally follow the English curriculum, entering
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their pupils for GCSEs and A-levels. Their students learn
more about Tudor England than Stewart Scotland. They
play rugby and cricket in a land much more obsessed with
football. Above all — and most perniciously — they are
unashamedly ‘elitist’.
No wonder they are easy targets for politicians with
an axe to grind (a category of politician of which Scotland
has no shortage). Their status as educational charities —
and the consequent tax advantages conferred by that status — has been a matter of some controversy. Radicals
at Holyrood would, if only they could, rather like to go
further than stripping the public schools of their charitable status.
The great boarding schools in particular are perceived to be in Scotland but scarcely of Scotland. Real
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Scots, you see, don’t swank around in
tweed jackets and red trousers. Paradoxically, the products of the public
schools lie firmly outside the Scottish
mainstream even as their alumni also
dominate large swathes of Scottish
society, most notably the law.
But for many left-wingers, the
handful of Scottish boarding schools
are bastions of privilege and evidence
of what the wilder kind of radical
deems a form of ‘internal colonisation’ in which the native elite is taught
that Scottishness is unavoidably inferior to Britishness. An unfair accusation — these days, anyway — but
one with just enough historical accuracy to wound. Once, they groomed
pupils for the task of imperial administration and even today the Scottish
public schools are fertile territory for
army recruitment.
Only in Edinburgh, and to a lesser
extent Glasgow, is a private education
considered ‘normal’. One in four children in the Scottish capital attend the
city’s great private schools: George
Watson’s, Stewart’s Melville, Mary
Erskine, George Heriot’s and the
Edinburgh Academy. The oldest of these, Heriot’s, was
established in 1628 by the eponymous royal goldsmith
and philanthropist, whose bequest established a hospital
for the education of the city’s orphaned children. (To this
day the children of any Edinburgh-resident widow or widower qualify for scholarships to attend Heriot’s.)
Overall, however, a private education is rarer in Scotland than in England. Fewer than one in 20 Scottish
pupils attend fee-paying schools. The Westminster political establishment may be dominated by public schoolboys
but its Scottish counterpart is overwhelmingly comprehensive-educated. None of the leaders of the Scottish
political parties were educated privately. SNP politicians,
in particular, are vastly more likely to come from smalltown, provincial Scotland than the large cities in which
private education is more normal — that is, less unusual.
These days, like their counterparts south of the border,
the Scottish boarding schools sell the idea of a classical
British education to the international market. Gordonstoun led the way but Fettes has for a long time excelled
in attracting Asian students, while Glenalmond’s location
on the border of highland Perthshire has proved appealing to German parents attracted by a traditional British
education in a glorious Scottish setting. Without foreign
students some schools might find themselves in financial
difficulty, since rampant fee inflation has made it harder for farmers, GPs and other members of the affluent
middle-classes to afford a private education. In real terms,
boarding schools are £10,000 a year more expensive than
they were 20 years ago.
In such circumstances it is hardly surprising that the
public schools are the stoutest strongholds of an increasingly unfashionable brand of unionism. Strathallan, in
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How Scottish are they really?
Perthshire, hosted a BBC Scotland debate during the
campaign; 197 pupils voted to maintain the Union and just
three favoured independence. No comprehensive school
produced any such lopsided result. In this instance, the
rich really are different.
In general, however, Scotland’s ‘timid posh folk’, as
Hugo Rifkind (George Watson’s and Loretto) memorably described them in this magazine, generally preferred
to keep a low profile during that rumbustious campaign.
The landed and New Town classes had the most to lose
from independence but were painfully conscious that
protesting too much must damage the unionist cause
more than it might help it. If it is modestly simplistic to
say the Murrayfield crowd voted ‘no’
last September while the Hampden
crowd voted ‘yes’, there is some truth None of the leaders of the
in the observation.
Scottish political parties
Again, it would be foolish to insist were educated privately
too strongly that the products of the
Scottish private schools are foreigners in their own land. Nevertheless, they are a clan — an
easily identified one at that — whose members stick, and
club, together. A surprising, even disconcerting, proportion of them have relatively few friends who were not
schooled at Watson’s or the Glasgow Academy or wherever. If, as has become fashionable to observe, there are
many Scotlands, the alumni of the great private schools
are a tribe apart. Secure in their advantages, certainly, but
also aware of their vulnerability and the extent to which
they are unusual. Scotsmen — and now women — with
an English education, the better to serve and promulgate
an idea of Britishness that many of their compatriots now
suspect has long since outlived its usefulness.
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A question of character
Do public schools really teach it? By Sophia Waugh
I
n tough times, we have to be persuaded to buy the
non-essentials in life. While no one would deny
an education is essential, many parents are beginning to question whether paying tens of thousands of pounds for a clutch of GCSEs is really
worth it. Therefore public schools are having to come
up with ever more selling points to draw in the punters.
Anthony Seldon, the never willingly underquoted
Master of Wellington College, has a new reason to encourage you to send your children to his school. He claims
that his establishment, and others like it, can offer to teach
your children ‘character’ in a way that no state school can.
What is ‘character’ anyway? Can it really be taught by
a bunch of soldiers coming in and telling you about their
time in Afghanistan? The word coming as it does from the
Greek charakter ‘engraved mark’, or ‘symbol or imprint
on the soul’, we should immediately raise the questions
a) whether a school can and b) whether a school should
be imprinting our children’s souls. Are they not meant
to be educated — led out — rather than stamped upon?
Yes, there is such a thing as an (invisible) Eton hallmark,
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but do we really want our children hallmarked so young?
The phrase ‘character building’ is not
a new one; it is usually applied to difficult, stressful situations, to rejection or
failure, to sorrow or strife. It suggests
that your character is strengthened
through your experiences, not through
listening to a talk, however moving or
inspiring that talk may be.
Those of us who work in state schools
become increasingly frustrated with this
kind patronage from the public schools, who pat us on
the head and tell us there, there, they know it’s hard for
us, but we don’t really work with the same material, do
we? What can we expect? Well, we expect very much the
same as you do, Mr Seldon. We expect our children to be
well mannered and to work hard. We expect them to show
courtesy towards each other, not to mock those less fortunate than themselves, to show restraint in times of anger
and understanding in times of trouble. We may tell them
again and again that education is the way forward, but we
also try to show them that respect garners respect, that
kindness will be met with kindness.
Seldon says, with some reason, that a lack of social
mobility is a modern curse, but I would question his assertion that giving children free places in expensive public
schools is the way forward. I for one would not want a
child to be the poorest in a rich society. There might be the
opportunity of learning Latin (which has alas vanished
from the state sector) and the lovely soldiers to listen to,
but won’t it be hideously isolating in the holidays to watch
the others scamper off to the Val d’Isère and Mustique?
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05/03/2015 13:02
Mixing with richer peers is as likely to foster resentment
and revolution as it is to teach character.
State schools used to focus their PHSE (personal
health and social education) on the mechanics of sex and
drugs. If you have unprotected sex, you will get pregnant
or… and a series of pictures of hideously diseased genitals is put on to the board. If you take drugs, you will die
or… and some of those frightening before and after pictures appear. We did not seem to address morals, indeed
seemed to shy away from any suggestion that there was
such a thing as right or wrong. My cupboard was full of
plastic blue penises and lesson plans on how to put on a
condom, but while we could suggest that maybe children
(and most of them are still children) should think before
having sex, we were discouraged from telling them it was
positively a bad idea to do so.
However, things have changed since then. PHSE still
covers the mechanics, but pays much more heed to the
morals of which Seldon implies we in the state sector are
ignorant. With much more open discussion (and it is amazing how much children, in the right atmosphere, join in)
we do now cover more contentious issues than ‘how to’.
While this might reassure the public schools’ view of
state school morality, I would still argue that morality and
character are not anyway the same thing. Character, to
me, implies moral courage rather than morality — something completely different. A solider who follows orders
into battle does not necessarily have a fine character; it is
the soldier who refuses to follow orders which go against
his conscience who has character.
Children who go to public schools are of course very
lucky in many ways, and the public schools have much
to offer that we cannot. Public schools have better facilities and smaller classes; they often teach subjects that we
have lost. A public school child is still more likely to make
friends with a future prime minister than is a state school
child in County Durham. They are also more likely to
have the superficial charm and good
manners of the ruling classes — but
isn’t that as much because those are A soldier who follows
learnt at home as well as at school?
orders does not necessarily
The school in which I teach is
have a ﬁne character
a very successful comprehensive. We
are not, however, entirely middle
class; indeed we have a very wide socioeconomic intake.
We also have children of every ability, from those who can
barely read to those who could sit an A-level. While not
for a moment suggesting that there is no suffering among
better-off families, I would say that the children in our
school will have much more awareness of social differences, of the terrible effects of bad choices, of the need we
have to look after each other. Our children do not leave
school expecting life to be easy, far from it. Even those
who have not experienced much trouble or sorrow are
more likely to have seen it at close hand.
I would suggest to Dr Seldon and his like that maybe
some of his children should go and spend a term or two
in a comprehensive school. Even one like ours, where
respect and support are the norm, would open their eyes
and, just possibly, give them a little character.
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Frank admissions
Your child may not Get In, says Ysenda Maxtone Graham
I
n recent years I’ve started putting the verb ‘to get
in’ (when it refers to the action of being offered a
place at a sought-after school) into capital letters:
‘To Get In’. It seems to merit capitals, so much has
it become the defining verb of one’s child’s success
and therefore future happiness, as perceived by the desperate parent. ‘He Got In to Eton.’ ‘She Got In to Latymer.’ Or (whispered only to one’s most trusted friends),
‘He didn’t Get In to St Paul’s.’
I suppose it’s quite amusing that being able to Get your
child In to the private school of your dreams is the one
prized item that the fee-paying middle classes cannot simply buy. The Getting In system is a meritocracy. Fee-payers are up against bursary-receivers: private schools these
days are proud of their bursary schemes, wishing to be
seen to be socially inclusive. Good for them; but this keeps
ever-growing numbers of paying parents awake at night
for decades in an agony of anxiety about their children’s
prospects in what the director of admissions at St Paul’s
calls ‘the white-hot market’. It keeps tutorial firms and the
publishers of the Bond Verbal and Non-Verbal Reasoning Assessment Papers in business. Because, of course, the
schools of our dreams are vastly oversubscribed — especially the ones in London and the south-east.
When demand outstrips supply, both parties resort to
playing games. Parents’ weapons are (a) to have the child
heavily tutored, (b) to apply for six or seven schools and
(c) to pay acceptance deposits for
more than one. The schools’ weapons
What parents most dread
are (a) to devise exams which you
can’t prepare for and which can tell
is the ‘thin envelope’ of
whether a child has been overtutored
rejection landing on the mat
and (b) to demand a dauntingly large
deposit on acceptance of a conditional place. The parents’ agonised wait for the letter of
acceptance or rejection is followed by the schools’ agonised wait for acceptance or rejection of the offer.
If you would like to know exactly how oversubscribed
the top schools in London and the south-east are, read on.
The statistics might make your nights even worse; but the
consolation is that if there is only a one-in-eight chance
that your child will Get In, it will not be a disgrace if he
or she doesn’t. You can just blame the absurd mismatch
of demand and supply. Apparently, no child has ever been
found roaming the streets in mid-September with no
school to go to, though this always seems an all-too-likely outcome to the sleepless mother, who foresees acrossthe-board rejection. What parents dread most is the ‘thin
envelope’ landing on the mat. A thin envelope means: ‘We
are very sorry to have to give you the disappointing news
that we are unable to offer N a place. We wish him the best
10 Ysenda_Spectator Schools Mar 2015_Spectator Supplements 210x260_
of luck in his future schooling.’ (‘No, you don’t,’ thinks the
fainting reader.) The coveted thick envelope contains a
form for you to fill in and send back with the four-figure
deposit cheque.
Many top boys’ public schools have for years required
boys to sit a ‘pre-test’ in Year 6 — a process whereby
11-year-old boys are offered places for Year 9, on condition that they get a good enough mark in Common
Entrance. But the numbers of applicants for Westminster
and St Paul’s have grown so much that these schools now
require boys to sit a pre-pre-test to see whether the applicants are even allowed to sit the pre-test (or, at St Paul’s,
have a pre-test interview). This test, the ISEB Common
Pre-Test, is done at the prep schools, on computers.
John Curtis, the registrar of Westminster, explained,
‘We have 95 places for non-Westminster Under School
boys; 500 register for the process. When I started 14 years
ago it used to be 300. Of the 500 who sit the ISEB pre-test,
250 are invited to go on to the next stage.’ Andy Mayfield,
director of admissions at St Paul’s School for boys, said,
‘About 600 apply for 90 places. When we saw the numbers
jump from 400 to 600 recently, we decided we just couldn’t
interview all those children. We needed to find some way
of reducing the numbers down to 350.’
That’s what the ISEB test does. It’s a way of bidding an
instant, polite goodbye to 250. The lucky survivors then go
on to the next stage: at Westminster, a day of written tests
plus a half-hour interview; at St Paul’s, an interview laced
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05/03/2015 12:23
with academic questions. The numbers show that you now
have a one-in-three chance at Westminster and a one-infour chance at St Paul’s.
I put it to Andy Mayfield that this system gives no
chance to life’s late developers. He disagreed. ‘We have a
reserve list. We offer a number of places on that list, and
you’d be surprised how in this market the reserve list can
become very short, as parents decide to take their sons off
it and go to a school that is perhaps geographically closer.’
Adding to the London madness is the fact that many
of the best senior day schools have become 11+ schools,
while many of the best boys’ prep schools are 13+ ones.
If you dream about your son progressing seamlessly at
13+ to the excellent Latymer Upper down the road, forget it. ‘Last time we had a 13+ entry exam,’ said the registrar Catriona Sutherland-Hawes, ‘we had 68 applying for
just eight places. So we’ve decided to drop the formal 13+
entry. For our 11+ this year, we had 1,100 candidates sitting for 170 places. That has grown from 650 candidates in
2007.’ Latymer has given up setting verbal and non-verbal
reasoning tests because children were being overtutored
for these. ‘So now it’s just English and maths. Children are
dropped off and collected in staggered slots on exam day,
so no one sees how many other candidates there are, and
there are no more that 24 candidates in a room.’
I happened to speak to Sutherland-Hawes on the very
day Latymer were to decide to whom they offered places.
‘We’ll sit down at 2 p.m. and we probably won’t finish the
Few shall be
chosen… perhaps
only one in eight
14 MARCH 2015 | SPECTATOR SCHOOLS | IN ASSOCIATION WITH BREWIN DOLPHIN Ysenda_Spectator Schools Mar 2015_Spectator Supplements 210x260_
11
meeting till nine. I’ll always say a short prayer for guidance before the meeting.’ The school does not have a siblings policy. ‘I disappoint as many siblings as I make happy.
But I do believe there’s the right place for everyone.’
At Alleyn’s in Dulwich this year, more than 100 candidates sat the 13+ exam for just 11 places. ‘It’s a very difficult entry,’ admits Antony Faccinello, the senior deputy
head. ‘At 11+, the ratio is more like five or six to one. Whoever applies is allowed to sit the exam: we don’t put a cap
on numbers.’
Emanuel School in Battersea has an extra form in
Year 9, providing 20 to 25 new places at 13+, and applicants are flocking there. ‘We limit the number of applications we accept at 11+ to 600,’ explained the headmaster,
Mark Hanley-Browne. ‘We interview every child on the
list: that is why we have to limit the length, because this
is so staff-intensive: 20 minutes per child, and individual
interviews.Demand has increased hugely over the past
few years… the date in the year when we hit 600 registrations is getting earlier and earlier. One of the reasons is
that a lot of students from London used to go to boarding
schools, but given the high cost, many parents are switching their attention to London day schools.’
If it’s boarding you are looking for, try Eton’s computerised pre-test, which takes place in Year 6: boys come to
the school in batches of 16 for the test and a short interview. There are a great many testing days, as Bob Stevenson, the lower master and designer of this test, explained.
‘We have 1,300 applying for 250 places. The test is a cognitive test, designed to give an indication of a boy’s underlying aptitude. It’s different from other tests, so boys can’t
practise for it: there are no questions anywhere else that
would resemble the test’s questions.’
How do they whittle the numbers down? ‘It would be
easy,’ said Stevenson, ‘simply to take the top 250 in the
test, but we don’t. We interview every boy, to find out
whether what the prep-school or primary school have told
us about them is accurate. We’re looking for a spark in
lots of ways. We’re not just looking for the brightest boys.
We go through each candidate and rank them, comparing
five rankings. It’s the most difficult thing we have to do,
as there are huge numbers of boys who would fulfil the
criteria. But sometimes we have to say no. If there were
another couple of Etons, it would be OK.’
Another couple of Etons: exactly. That’s just what
we need; plus another couple of St Paul’s, Westminsters,
Alleyn’s, Emanuels and Latymers. One enterprising
school, Wetherby Prep, has responded to this dire need:
Wetherby (which already has highly oversubscribed boys’
pre-prep and prep schools) is opening a new senior school
for boys in Marylebone in September. On entrance exam
day in November there was a long queue at the door. ‘We
had about 250 applying for 90 places,’ said Nick Baker,
the headmaster of Wetherby Prep, who is also going to
be headmaster of the new senior school. He intends to
make it ‘a centre of excellence’ and is looking for normally bright boys, not only hyper-bright ones. ‘The value
of a school,’ he says, ‘is what you do with the middle and
bottom third.’ Quite.
Meanwhile, on doormats across the country, envelopes
have landed on mats. The vast majority (the thin ones)
fluttered quietly downwards.
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05/03/2015 12:23
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‘I’ is for independent
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IGCSE exams widen the divide between state and
private sectors, writes Ross Clark
I
always thought that rugby was invented so that
there was no chance of public schoolboys having to
meet grotty kids from football-playing state schools
on the playing fields. But until recently all children,
whether in the state or independent sector, did at
least take the same exams. Until, that is, there emerged
a great divide between GCSE and IGCSE.
In January, Education Secretary Nicky Morgan confirmed that international GCSEs, or IGCSEs, will no
longer be counted in school performance tables once
the first reformed GCSEs start to be taken in 2017. The
new courses, like IGCSEs, will be examined at the end of
the course, not in modular instalments. The move, which
reverses a decision by her predecessor, Michael Gove,
is the latest instalment of a long saga which has driven
a wedge between the state and independent sectors.
GCSEs, introduced in the late 1980s, had long been
criticised for their modular structure and for the large
amount of coursework they involve. A decade ago some
independent schools decided to do something about it.
They noticed that the IGSCEs still offered by examination boards for the benefit of English-language schools
abroad had retained the structure of the old O-level:
pupils were taught for two years and then examined at the
end. Moreover, they discovered that your school didn’t
have to be abroad to be able to offer the exam.
There was one problem, or maybe it wasn’t a problem at all. The exam performance tables produced by the
Department for Education failed to recognise the IGCSE,
with the result that schools taking them would appear at
the bottom of the tables, with a score of zero. Highly selective independent schools sank below the worst-performing comprehensives. Independent
schools could enjoy the marketing
Some teachers have said
benefit of offering a ‘more rigorous’
that the English Language
exam — while simultaneously not
IGCSE is an ‘absolute doddle’ having to compete with state schools
in the league tables. An appearance at the bottom of the tables
came to be worn as a badge of pride: far better that your
£30,000-a-year school is a principled outcast than appears
sort of near the top of the league tables but embarrassingly below a few state comprehensives.
In one of his first moves after becoming Education Secretary in 2010, Gove decided that IGCSEs would count
towards the league tables, and encouraged state schools
to take them too. He perhaps imagined that grammar
schools plus a few academies and free schools would rise
to his invitation, risking a fall in grades for the higher purpose of subjecting pupils to greater intellectual challenge.
Gove’s initiative went well. Too well, in fact. By 2013,
state schools were switching to the IGCSE in droves.
Ross Clark_Spectator Schools Mar 2015_Spectator Supplements 210x260_
13
Test match: revamped GCSEs versus IGCSEs
That year, entries for IGSCE English soared from 18,000
to 78,000. Trouble was, they weren’t doing it to give their
pupils a greater challenge but rather for the opposite reason. State school teachers conversing on the discussion
boards of the TES were adamant that far from being more
rigorous, the IGCSE in English language was ‘super-easy’
and an ‘absolute doddle’. While the comments referred
only to the English language exam, this did unquestionably damage the IGCSE brand. Morgan’s reasoning for
kicking IGCSEs out of the league tables again is that
she claims they may be less rigorous than the revamped
GCSE, as exam boards tout for business and some teachers hunt for whatever exam will flatter their pass rate.
But then that potentially takes us back to the situation we were in before: a divided exam system, with many
independent schools disappearing off the performance
tables. So will independent schools make the switch?
Three quarters of pupils in their GCSE year at independent schools this year will take at least one IGCSE.
One per cent will take nothing but IGCSEs. Morgan
shouldn’t count on that changing all that much, and on her
new GCSE becoming the ‘gold standard’, as she hopes.
Of the three new GCSE courses being introduced this
autumn, for example, pupils at Cheltenham College will
be taking just one, English Language.
‘The new English language GCSE is a huge improvement,’ says Duncan Byrne, deputy head. ‘But we want to
continue to offer the best exam and we will continue to
take English literature and maths as an IGCSE. The official league tables are not terribly important to our parents,
who are more interested in the league tables compiled
by the newspapers.’ One man’s ‘gold standard’, in other
words, is another man’s brass. The ‘I’ before your school
qualifications will go back to meaning that you have
attended an independent school. The worthy aim of trying to reduce the divide between state and private education is unlikely to be fulfilled.
13
05/03/2015 12:26
Tribal dress explained
Why they wear it, by Lara Prendergast
T
here’s no better way to improve character
and cure self-consciousness than to insist your
child dress like a fool during their formative
years. Distinct fashion tribes exist at some of
Britain’s top schools and a boring old blazer
simply won’t do. You can never be overdressed or overeducated, suggested Oscar Wilde. But why not at least
aim for both by using this guide to school style? ly love these witchlike skirts; when it’s cold and wet,
nobody can tell they are wearing pyjama bottoms and
wellies underneath.
The Eccentrics
The Boaters
Harrow insists their students wear boaters at all times
while outdoors. Flouting this is cause for punishment.
Entrepreneurial types make a quick bob by flogging
their hats to Chinese tourists, before buying new ones at
a cheaper rate from the school shop.
Christ’s Hospital provides a Tudor-style uniform to its
pupils for free, which includes a long blue coat, knee
breeches, yellow socks and a neckerchief. A few years
ago, when the school was thinking of updating it, 95 per
cent of the pupils voted in favour of keeping it. The Free Spirits
The Witches
Girls at Marlborough and Downe House wear long
black skirts in the sixth form. Rumour has it this puritanical garment was introduced to stop male teachers
becoming distracted by short hemlines. Pupils secret14 Lara tribes_Spectator Schools Mar 2015_Spectator Supplements 210x260_
Bedales doesn’t have a uniform, which fits with its
laissez-faire vibe. Model Cara Delevingne was ‘discovered’ there and other gamine girls dream of the same
fate, so dress accordingly. Other characters one might
spot in the average classroom include punks, goths and
new romantics. They’re all secretly sloanes, of course.
14
05/03/2015 12:27
Five children and IT
Online education pros and cons, by Constance Watson
The City Blenders
London schools like Westminster and St Paul’s don’t
want their boys to be duffed up, so ask them to blend
into the city with an urban uniform of suit and tie. An
extreme take on the look includes a briefcase.
The Tails David Cameron’s school uniform has haunted him
throughout his political career. The iconic tailcoat, falsecollar and pinstriped trousers worn by Etonians is hardly a subtle look. Still, there’s much to be said for knowing
how to dress for an occasion.
The Scholars
Winchester ingrains a sense of intellectual superiority in
its star pupils from a young age. The Scholars stand out
from the fee-paying Commoners thanks to their black
gowns. A thick skin is as much of a genetic advantage
as a good brain.
The St Trinian’s Tribute Act
Cheltenham Ladies’ College insists the girls dress in
shirts, pleated skirts and blazers. Ronald Searle would
recognise the desire to untuck, hitch up and generally
loosen this look. Is internet technology turning our
brains to mush? For those born
after 1990, it is a constant fear. Most
of us struggle to read a poster, let
alone a book. We’ve overstimulated
our prefrontal cortexes to near
death through incessant multiscreening. Our brains aren’t wired
to do anything except be wired.
But technology fans tell
us to be positive. We should
embrace the new world and its
limitless possibility. In education,
in particular, there is a sense
of optimism. When I started
secondary school at the turn
of the millennium, we had just
one interactive whiteboard.
It immediately became the
epicentre of the school. By the
time I graduated from university,
all students were equipped with
their own laptop, and essays were
uploaded electronically.
The students of the future will
increasingly use virtual classrooms,
whereby learning is delivered to
them wherever they are. But will
they learn more as a result?
Distance learning is nothing
new. Harold Wilson outlined
plans for a ‘University of the
Air’, and the Open University
was founded in the late 1960s,
with students enrolling early the
following decade. Development
in communications technology,
however, means that distance
learning has been greatly enhanced
in recent years.
It is easy to get excited.
Educational techno-utopians claim
technology will ‘democratise’
learning. The barriers of
educational privilege can be
torn down. Courses are free or
cost very little. Everybody can
have access to the best teachers.
You can delve into subjects that
hitherto you could never have
known about. Cryptology or canine
theriogenology tickle your fancy?
One click and away we go.
It’s big business too. The number
of virtual learning ‘solutions’ is on
the rise. CloudRooms, an American
virtual learning school, ‘are here to
help you with the transition’ from
bricks and mortar to computers.
A British education provider
is currently working with the
Malaysian government to connect
14 MARCH 2015 | SPECTATOR SCHOOLS | IN ASSOCIATION WITH BREWIN DOLPHIN Lara tribes_Spectator Schools Mar 2015_Spectator Supplements 210x260_
15
the entire country through a cloudbased learning platform — the first
of its kind. Last year marked the
founding year of Minerva Schools
at KGI, an online undergraduate
programme. These courses are
extremely attractive to bright
young things: Minerva admitted
only 45 students from the 1,794
applications.
So what’s not to like? A lot, it
turns out. Guiding students towards
screens draws them away from
each other. Why does the current
curriculum emphasise sport? Not
because every Tom, Dick and
Fatima is a Pelé in the making, but
because it teaches competitiveness
and teamwork. Video games, on
the other hand, isolate rather than
encouraging co-operation. The
same applies to the classroom.
Virtual learning can be useful
when employed alongside classic
teaching methods. Language
teaching can be greatly improved
by connecting international
students. In the developing world,
too, virtual learning on mobile
phones gives disadvantaged people
more educational possibilities. In
2005 the Open University launched
TESSA, a programme that equips
teachers in Sub-Saharan African
schools with techie resources. More
recently, USAID established the
research initiative M4Ed4Dev
(Mobile for Education For
Development).
But let’s not pretend that
the virtual classroom can be a
substitute for the real world. ‘Every
time I see some bright young
nerd chanting about the future of
education online, my heart sinks,’
says Sophie Cooke, a Somersetbased teacher. ‘If technology is
really enabling children to learn
more, why are their attention spans
ever more diminished? What we
need is the same as it always was
— smaller classes and face-to-face
interaction with pupils.’
Virtual learning misses the
point of education, whereby a
teacher should bring out of the
student questioning, reasoning and
critical enquiry. Think of the great
teachers — Socrates and Jesus: they
gathered people around them and
spoke. You cannot do this from
a cloud.
15
05/03/2015 12:27
The rise of the ‘super-tutor’
GETTY IMAGES
They teach more than passing exams, says Lydia Hansell
‘ W
ill Isis really use migrants as a weapon
of mass destruction?’ asked one Common Entrance pupil in a tutoring session. Where such a profound question
emerged from is anyone’s guess. Perhaps
it was a cunning ruse to avoid analysing an especially
tedious Wordsworth poem. But for a 13-year-old to feel
comfortable enough to initiate a discussion about so
politically sensitive a topic is becoming a rarity.
We desperately encourage our children to ask such
questions and then, when they do, tend to answer them
with vague platitudes. It would be easy to blame ‘timestarved’ parents, or vilify the ‘pushy parent’ brigade stereotyped so brilliantly in Amy Chua’s Battle Hymn of the
Tiger Mother, so often condemned for maintaining that
relentless testing is the only way their children can sprint
up the educational ladder.
It is becoming clear that such politically or ethically
sensitive questions are being ignored so as not to cause
offence. Children are being held back from questioning,
thinking and exploring out of fear that curiosity be confused with politically incorrect bigotry. As Education Secretary, Michael Gove introduced the concept of lessons in
British values in the wake of the Trojan Horse scandal in
Birmingham. His successor, Nicky Morgan, seems keen to
continue with this, stating earlier this year: ‘Every school
regardless, faith or none, should be promoting British values, because it’s the right thing to do.’
However, perhaps the answer lies not in teaching children British values but in equipping them with the tools
to articulate difficult positions in a complex world. In
classrooms of 30 children, this is pure fantasy. But in a
more intimate one-on-one setting, it
becomes a desirable possibility. Enter
In some parts of the globe
the private tutor.
tutors regularly command
Recent headlines have charted
the rise of the ‘super-tutor’, profesupwards of £1,000 a hour
sionals who in some corners of the
globe regularly command upwards of
£1,000 per hour. But such media focus detracts from the
true value of a tutor in a world filled with digital distraction, information overload and a growing attention deficit.
Absolutely, children should be taught about coding, apps,
programming and anything else needed to put them at the
cutting edge of technological innovations. But when can
they find those moments of quiet reflection in which, in
the words of Cardinal Newman, they can truly ‘disentangle a skein of thought’?
Some would argue that retaining a tutor for any longer
than the time necessary for exam preparation is detrimental to a child’s ability to learn independently. Certainly it
is if the child in question is essentially having their home16 Lydia Hansell_Spectator Schools Mar 2015_Spectator Supplements 210x260_
Welcome to the world of learning
work done for them. However, tutors who are able to
engender in a child the confidence to address adult or
taboo issues are increasingly sought after. Most tutoring
websites trumpet the ‘confidence-building’ of private tuition, but this is generally in relation to exam prep. Only
the top tier agencies have access to really gifted tutors.
Will Orr-Ewing, the founder of Keystone Tutors, selects
only 30 tutors out of an application pool of 3,000 while
others including Bright Young Things, Osborne Cawkwell
and Quintessentially Education conduct rigorous interviews and background checks.
There will always be a market for exam preparation,
just as there will hopefully always be one for a British education. But tutoring is no longer the preserve of a wealthy
international elite who view tutors as an accessory as
much as the latest Lamborghini Aventador. Increasingly,
they are being hired to stretch the ablest of minds as much
as they are to strive to boost the confidence of others.
That the ability to analyse complex questions is something we are in danger of losing is underlined by the furore surrounding a question pitched at 13-year-old scholars
sitting an Eton entrance examination. The question laid
out the following scenario and instructions: ‘The government has deployed the Army to curb protests. After two
days the protests have been stopped, but the Army killed
25 protesters in the process. You are the Prime Minister.
Write the script for a speech to be broadcast to the nation
in which you explain why employing the Army against
violent protesters was the only option available to you,
and one which was both necessary and moral.’ The tale
of the question spread like wildfire, with people appalled
that children would be asked to ‘justify’ killing.
Teaching a child how to organise and express their
views is something teachers have been doing for decades. That hasn’t changed. But unless children feel able to
express and explore their own opinions without the risk of
censorship, they will have no views to organise.
16
05/03/2015 13:03
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GETTY IMAGES
Separate but together: sexes interact in the diamond model
Schools of life
‘Diamonds’ are for everyone, says Eleanor Doughty
I
magine a school that you could send your son and
daughter to. A single school that fitted your ideal
for both single-sex and co-ed education, operating
from nursery to sixth form, covering all bases. One
school — not three or four. A school that, for the
final two years, allowed young adults of both genders to
share lessons and facilities.
But imagine no more, for these schools exist, and
they’re called diamond schools. (So-called because of the
shape of the structure: genders together at the beginning
and end, but apart in the middle.) There are just 13 of
them in the country. Blending singlesex and co-ed teaching in the same
The basic idea is co-ed junior institution makes them stand out as
school, single-sex senior
shining beacons in a fairly conservative landscape. Offerings vary, but the
school and co-ed sixth form
basic idea of co-ed junior years, single-sex for senior school and a co-ed
sixth form prevails throughout. As the fashionable preference swings from single-sex to co-ed and back again, diamond schools occupy a unique compromise.
There are two types, the two-site model and the
single-site. The two-site model, as Mark Steed, principal
of Berkhamsted School in Hertfordshire explains, ‘usually came about because of the merger of two schools in
the same town’. At these schools, boys and girls are taught
on separate sites from the ages of 11 to 16, allowing each
to retain its single-sex character. During the sixth form,
pupils move between the two schools for lessons.
The other type, the single-site model, sprang from the
admission of the opposite gender into single-sex schools.
14 MARCH 2015 | SPECTATOR SCHOOLS | IN ASSOCIATION WITH BREWIN DOLPHIN Eleanor Doughty_Spectator Schools Mar 2015_Spectator Supplements 210x260_
19
Instead of merging in full, boys and girls are taught in the
same buildings separately, but can eat lunch together.
But why go diamond? Single-site ‘diamond schools
are very convenient for parents,’ says Steed. ‘They provide a “one-stop drop” for the school run — children of
both sexes from nursery to sixth form can be dropped
off together.’ This ‘one-stop’ idea is echoed in the shared
ethos. Because both brothers and sisters attend the same
school, there is no pastoral discontinuity; parents can be
assured that their children are being taught in a way that
suits their gender, but that the core values of their sons’
and daughters’ education will remain the same.
The pupils also benefit from the physical model. ‘Each
part is often of a size that will allow pupils to know everyone in the school, while benefiting from the infrastructure
and economies of scale of a much larger school,’ Steed
explains. Those benefits include facilities: at Berkhamsted
and most other ‘all-through’ (three-to-18) schools, sports
and drama facilities are shared across age groups, allowing
the individually small schools to feel like larger entities.
As facilities are shared, so are social hours. Unlike a
handful of unlucky single-sex set-ups, there is no scrabbling to find a partner school for bops and sports dinners.
‘The boys and girls grow up knowing each other,’ Steed
explains. ‘They have friends of the opposite sex, they just
don’t have academic lessons with them, and are able to
maintain an appropriate level of social contact that means
it is possible to develop friendships with the opposite sex.’
While this might sound heavy-handed to those accustomed to a co-ed environment, the academic-social mix
can be compelling. ‘We offer the right combination of
single-sex and co-education that helps the child to progress academically and socially in the best possible way,’
says Tricia Kelleher, principal of the Stephen Perse Foundation in Cambridge.
Dr John Hind, principal of Dame Allan’s School in
Newcastle, also believes that the system combines the best
of both worlds by providing ‘all the benefits of single-sex
education, combined with the social advantages of coeducation’. He explains, ‘There was a time when the boys
and girls were kept separated for the whole of the school
day. Those days are long gone and students benefit from
being allowed to mix during break times.’
The benefits of separation are seen inside the classroom, argues Lynne Taylor-Gooby, headmistress of the
Royal School in Surrey. ‘Generally boys and girls show
distinct characteristics. In the case of boys, shorter attention spans and greater physicality are significant and in
the case of girls, their ability to concentrate is often undermined by the needs of the boys.’ It’s important outside
the classroom too. ‘Pastoral staff appreciate the different
challenges faced by boys and girls,’ Hind says. It is easily
argued that this applies in fully co-educational set-ups too:
staff of both genders may find it easier to connect with
one type of pupil than another.
Diamond schools thus occupy a distinctive position
in the school system, and it’s a position that might just
catch on. Combining separateness and togetherness, they
cater, ostensibly, for all. For those that might have second
thoughts about a co-ed move after five successful singlesex years, Mark Steed has the answer. ‘Life, after all, is coeducational.’ You can’t argue with that.
19
05/03/2015 12:30
Tales told out of school
Writers’ reminiscences terrify Daisy Dunn
T
om Brown’s Schooldays is a depressing
book. It’s hard to see why anyone would
encourage their child to read it before starting school, particularly Rugby, where the
story is set. Tom Brown’s peers stand in the
window near the school gates, surveying the town as if
they own it. They fight behind the chapel, where the masters cannot see them, and bully and fag, day and night.
Writing in The Spectator in 1956, Richard Usborne,
the great scholar of P.G. Wodehouse, cursed the novel for
inspiring fear in young boys. A present from his father, he
read it shortly before starting prep school and, needless
to say, understood why he’d been forced to take up boxing. With time he forgot how terrifying it was and, to his
immense embarrassment, gave his own son a copy. Only
when he reread it later in life did he come to the conclusion that its influence on teachers, parents, new boarders
and writers ‘in all cases has been for the bad’.
Lynn Barber’s early memoirs An Education (which
20 Daisy Dunn_Spectator Schools Mar 2015_Spectator Supplements 210x260_
inspired Nick Hornby’s screenplay of the same name)
were published some years after I left school, but would
no doubt have filled me with a similar sense of dread. At
16, you see, I joined the Lady Eleanor Holles School in
Hampton, where Barber found herself surrounded by girls
who owned ponies and never asked questions, which she
found tolerable only because questions were ‘bourgeois’,
and she wanted to be Existentialist, or at least French.
The school she described was dull and conformist,
while the boys’ school next door, Hampton Grammar
(now the independent Hampton School), was full of ‘little squirts’ who ‘turned into octupuses in the cinema dark,
clamping damp tentacles to your breast’. I laughed when
I read the book after leaving school, for parts of it rang
true. My generation of LEH girls retained a (shamefully
unfair) sense of superiority over the Hamptons, were as
keen on ‘lax’ (lacrosse) as Barber recalls, and had Latin
homework graded with an old-fashioned ‘alpha’ — or
‘beta plus plus’ if there were a few ‘howlers’. But so opin-
20
05/03/2015 12:33
Radio 4 listeners voted Miss Pym a Literary Heroine of
2014. In life as in literature, it’s often the teacher who
makes a more lasting impression than the school itself.
Unless, that is, the teacher is the school. James Hilton
probably based Brookfield in his classic novel Goodbye,
Mr Chips on his former school, The Leys in Cambridge.
In the book, he describes how the wonderful Chips educated the darling rascals for around
40 years until he was Brookfield —
the greatest compliment a school Lynn Barber’s
could have. Then there’s that terribly An Education
sad moment where Chips looks on as
rang a few bells
Speech Day turns into Ascot, and the
headmaster rounds up prospective
parents in London clubs to persuade them that Brookfield is the next big thing. And ‘since they couldn’t buy
their way into Eton or Harrow, they greedily swallowed
the bait’. The Leys is nothing like this today.
It’s more enjoyable — and less perilous — to read
these books after leaving school than before starting it,
but one can always allay a child’s fears and false expectations with the caveat that the stories are fictional, as many
of them indeed are. But far better, I think, to listen to Mr
Chips, who said that even great schools suffer vicissitudes,
‘dwindling almost to non-existence at one time, becoming
almost illustrious at another’.
Pupils who visit Rugby or The Leys or LEH today
would do well to tell themselves that these great schools
were merely going through bad spells when the more horrid tales were set down.
engineer
teacher
surgeon
entrepreneur
artist
scientist
journalist
architect
financier
Bo
bu ard
s s ers
er ’ Fr
vi id
ce ay
to e
Lo ven
nd in
on g
ionated were we that, on a trip to the Houses of Parliament, an MP told us we were like lions unto Christians. If
only Ms Barber had been there then.
I doubt we’d have been any less inquisitive if we had
read her memoirs before starting. Call me biased, but
headstrong girls are, I think, less prone than boys to turn
a book into a self-perpetuating prophecy. Even at university, many boys were attracted to the idea of the Bullingdon Club because it meant ‘being a part of something’,
and that something was what they had read about in the
novels of Evelyn Waugh. There were Old Etonians who
seemed convinced that they were re-enacting the antics
of Bertie Wooster, and already had Wodehousian sobriquets when they came up. Few girls, by contrast, cared to
consider themselves offspring of St Trinian’s (said to have
been inspired by the former Perse School for Girls and St
Mary’s School, Cambridge).
Looking back, the charades of boys so wedded to the
literary traditions of their schools made life more colourful than it might have been in the drab noughties. Ridiculous, yes, but such fun!
If such a prospect does little to temper the often intimidating act of finding your school in books, there are at
least some brilliant teachers to discover. The wonderful
Miss Jean Brodie nurtured vivacious girls in her school,
based on Gillespie High School in Edinburgh. Miss Pym,
of Josephine Tey’s 1946 novel, Miss Pym Disposes, might
well have been on the staff of Anstey Physical Training
College, where Tey was a student. Though the college was
dissolved into Birmingham City University in the 1970s,
Day, full & weekly boarding
900 GSA School 4-18 years
academic
composer
lawyer
actor
StCatherine’s
B r a m l e y
Igniting bright
sparks at
Open MOrnings
11th March | 1st May | 17th June
Bramley, Guildford, Surrey GU5 0DF | t: 01483 899609 | e: [email protected]
e | [email protected]
t | 01280 818205
w | www.stowe.co.uk
www.stcatherines.info
spectator01 February 2015.indd 1
Daisy Dunn_Spectator Schools Mar 2015_Spectator Supplements 210x260_
21
21
2/12/2015 3:41:56 PM
05/03/2015 12:33
BUILDING A NEST EGG FOR YOUR CHILD
It is natural for any parent to want the
best start in life for their children and
putting money away for their future –
perhaps to help with their education,
career choices or buying their first home
or car – is an important goal. But choosing
the best way of saving for your child needs
careful consideration.
USE AN ISA TO INVEST FOR JUNIOR
The best way to ensure you are able to
fund your child’s school fees is to start
saving and investing as soon as possible,
in a tax-efficient manner.
One of the main options available to
parents is investing in a Junior Individual
Savings Account (or ‘Junior ISA’). These
allow parents to invest up to £4,000 a year
for each of their children, which will be able
to grow tax free. Investing regularly in a
Junior ISA could reap handsome rewards –
if you were to invest £4,000 a year into a
Junior ISA for a new born child, when they
reach 18 the ISA could be worth £131,996.
This assumes that the fund grows at 7%
per annum with inflation at 2.5%.
This capital will be accessible once the
child reaches the age of 18 and so could be
used to finance them through university,
covering fees, accommodation and
maintenance.
Alternatively, the Junior ISA can be
converted into an adult ISA with the full
annual allowance available to continue to
grow free of taxation.
Other options can include directly held
investments in the parent’s own name,
which can be used to take annual gains
tax free if within the capital gains tax
(CGT) allowance.
Capital can also be invested via an
offshore bond. This allows a portfolio to
be invested without taxation (deferred
rather than tax free) and allows withdrawals
of up to 5% per annum to be taken, again
without a tax liability at the time. This can
be useful when it comes to paying annual
school fees.
If grandparents want to contribute, there
are inheritance tax benefits. Each person
can gift up to £3,000 a year completely
free from inheritance tax. It may be possible
to set up a discretionary trust so that
grandparents can help fund school
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05/03/2015 13:18
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state-of-the-art facilities and a 500seat theatre, surrounded by the same
green playing fields. This one, however, is in Tianjin, China, about 90 miles
south-east of Beijing. It’s a replica,
but with genuine British roots.
Wellington College International
Tianjin was set up in 2011 to offer expats and Chinese families the option
of a ‘first-class British education for
two- to 18-year-olds’. The imitation
of the original Wellington runs deep:
pupils wear the same uniform as their
UK peers, including tartan skirts for
the girls, and experience the same
distinctive ethos. Fees aren’t cheap
(up to £23,000 a year) but parents are
Shipping out: Harrow led the charge, opening a school in Bangkok in 1998
eager to pay. The school is so popular that Wellington last year opened a
second outpost in Shanghai and plans
to open a third in Hong Kong.
For parents in the UK, the revolutionary thing is that these schools
British satellite schools are everywhere, writes Will Heaven
are already starting to send profits
back to Britain to fund bursaries and
scholarships. Sir Anthony Seldon,
Master of Wellington College, tells
me it’s ‘not huge sums’ yet, but he
ate last year Britain’s independent schools hopes that within five years £3 million could be fed back
received a wake-up call. Andrew Halls, head- from China to his school every year. That could make a
master of King’s College School in Wimble- huge difference in terms of affordability, which he agrees
don, delivered it. Far too many of them, he is a major issue for independent schooling in the UK.
said, have become the ‘finishing schools for the
Wellington is not alone. Dulwich College realised it
children of oligarchs’ because of an ‘apparently endless was so popular with Asian parents that, a decade ago, it
queue’ of wealthy foreigners who have pushed fees sky- began to move the mountain to Mohammed. It now has
high; there’s a ‘fees time bomb ticking away’ and one day, seven schools in Asia teaching more than 5,000 children:
when it explodes, a lot of these schools are going to be there are Dulwich Colleges in Shanghai, Beijing, Seoul,
screwed. It really was that blunt. Cue cheers from strug- Suzhou, Zhuhai and Singapore. It’s the Starbucks of Britgling parents all over the country, and squeals from school ish public schools — a massive international franchise.
governors, who’d rather no one asked too many questions
Harrow also has satellite schools abroad. In fact it was
about the £30,000 price tag on a child’s yearly education. the first, with a school in Bangkok in 1998. Its straw boatMartin Stephen, the former High Master of St Paul’s ers amused the locals, who associated them not with playSchool, once issued a similarly forth- ing fields but paddy fields. Again, profits in Asia equals
right warning about extortionate fees bursaries in the UK. Andrew Halls recently revealed that
There are Dulwich Colleges
in the pages of the Daily Telegraph: his own school also hopes to raise money from China.
in Shanghai, Beijing, Seoul,
‘I was rapped so hard on the knuck- KCS is reportedly signing a deal to help establish ten
les that I nearly lost my hands,’ he schools in China over the next 20 years — which would
Suzhou, Zhuhai, Singapore
remembered recently.
bring in £7 million a year in bursary funding.
But could it be that the answer to
The scale of this Asian expansion is astonishing. It’s
this problem — rich foreigners pricing out British families a new British Empire of education. The Independent
— is staring us in the face? If there’s an ‘endless queue’ Schools Council says there are now 29 outposts of UK
of aspirational foreigners for our top private schools, why independent schools across the world, educating some
not go to the source, educate them overseas and then use 18,784 pupils. There’s even a Haileybury in Kazakhstan
the profits from this to fund bursaries and scholarships and a Sherborne in Qatar. The great risk is that the market
for pupils in the UK? It’s a progressive idea, and one that reaches saturation point — or that British schooling simply goes out of fashion. Foreign parents suddenly decide
a handful of independent schools are already trying out.
The famous red-brick buildings of Wellington College that actually they want their kids to head to US universibelong to the village of Crowthorne in Berkshire. That’s ties and they’re not convinced the straw boaters will help. At the moment, however, that day seems very far off.
where Queen Victoria herself laid the foundation stone of
the public school in 1859. But scroll down a few pages on There’s an enormous and growing appetite for this great
Google and you’ll find another Wellington College. It has British export. In time it could be the thing that makes
an identical look: the same classical buildings, including independent schooling in the UK affordable once again.
Our educational empire
L
14 MARCH 2015 | SPECTATOR SCHOOLS | IN ASSOCIATION WITH BREWIN DOLPHIN Will Heaven_Spectator Schools Mar 2015_Spectator Supplements 210x260_
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GETTY IMAGES
Churchill returns to Harrow, his alma mater, in 1960
State of the reunion
Going to an old boys’ gathering can be great fun
and really rather cheering, says Mark Palmer
T
hank goodness for name badges. There comes
a time when they are indispensable — and
none more so than at school reunions.
Big lettering on the badges helps, too.
It means you can read the name of Perkins
minor at a distance before shuffling over to offer a friendly handshake or scurrying behind a pillar before the bastard spots you.
Of course, there are those who resolutely refuse to go
to reunions on principle. After all, if you really wanted to
re-establish contact with that boy or girl you sat next to in
Mr Winter’s history class, you would have done so ten, 20
or 60 years ago. Facebook, LinkedIn and suchlike can all
help trace people who were part of your life as a student.
So why bother?
I’ve not bothered many times but have also bothered
quite a lot over the years. Not long before Christmas an
email arrived from my prep school, Sunningdale, inviting old boys to the Rifles Club near London’s Grosvenor
Square for a 140th anniversary drinks party.
There was no mention of buying a ticket or any suspicion of an auction to raise funds for a new science block.
Just turn up, find your badge and fill your glass. And that’s
what a couple of hundred or so of us did.
The current headmaster, Tom Dawson, gave a good
speech; his father, Tim, and uncle, Nick, who were joint
headmasters before him, were in sprightly form; and even
24 Mark Palmer_Spectator Schools Mar 2015_Spectator Supplements 210x260_
Mary Sheepshanks, wife of Charlie, who was the head
from 1953 to 1967, turned up at the age of 83, kissing all
the ‘boys’ as if they were eight-year-olds on their first
night in the Lower Dorm.
One of the highlights was hearing that earlier in the
day Sunningdale had beaten Ludgrove at Fives. Sunningdale beating Ludgrove at anything was always cause for
unbridled celebration. If you ever wanted to appeal to the
Dawson twins for leniency over some minor misdemeanour, the moment to do it was just after Sunningdale had
held Ludgrove to a draw on the football pitch. And on the
rare occasion when we beat them, you could ask for pretty
much anything you wanted.
Sunningdale, I grant you, has always been an acquired
taste. My brother, who was hopeless at games, struggled,
and Ferdinand Mount was disparaging about the place in
his memoir Cold Cream. But I loved it from the moment
I turned up shortly before my eighth birthday in 1962 —
and so I loved those couple of hours at the Rifles Club.
Five or six from my year were there, all charming, some
rich, some without a bean. We drank a lot of bubbly and
then moved next door to the pub for burgers and Merlot.
We might never see each other again but a circle had been
completed.
During the evening I found myself chatting to a bearded man even older than me. He was not wearing a badge.
That’s because he was HRH Prince Michael of Kent. He
told me what a ‘great occasion’ it was, and although he has
to say that wherever he goes, I think he meant it.
I’ve also been to a few reunions of my house at senior
school. In fact, although my housemaster, Martin ‘Bush’
Forrest, died some years ago, dinners are still held in his
honour. The speeches are normally terrific. Yes, you might
easily find yourself sitting next to someone you’ve spent
decades avoiding, but there’s no denying the camaraderie.
Forrest was a kind and forgiving man (once, when
he had to beat me, he made such a rotten job of it that I
almost felt I should have asked him to try again), and the
dinners always seem to be imbued with his gentle spirit.
Forrest was replaced as housemaster by a classicist
called Alastair Graham, who was a very different character. He didn’t much care for me and, frankly, the feeling
was mutual. A couple of years ago I was invited to attend
a dinner at White’s to celebrate his 80th birthday. I went
because a couple of friends persuaded me to do so. Then,
to my horror, I was asked to give the speech, because
apparently I was one of the oldest who had signed up
to attend.
Politely, I refused. ‘Well, would you say grace?’ asked
the fellow who was organising the bash. A pleasure,
I replied.
I then spent the next couple of months learning by
heart the longest Latin grace I could find. It went on and
on and on. The ‘Amen’ at the end was thunderous, a mixture of relief and bemusement.
Graham looked down the table at me, the stroppy
teenager who failed Latin O-level first time round and
only just scraped through in French. ‘I always thought
Palmer would be a late developer,’ he said.
A week or so later Graham wrote to me warmly, and
I wrote back just as warmly. I feel good about that. Reunions are better for the soul than they are for the liver.
24
05/03/2015 12:36
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03/03/2015 16:57
Trip adviser
School outings have been transformed, says Ed Cumming
T
o an older generation a school trip was something to be endured as much as enjoyed. It
meant an expedition to peer at frogspawn
in Epping Forest or, for the recklessly profligate, maybe a coach to Skegness. Over
recent decades, however, as top schools have raised their
fees in line with the international oligarchy’s ability to
pay them, school trips have come to resemble the work
of chichi travel agents. Designed to build character, they
now build air miles.
The trend was already well under way when I was at
school in the austere early noughties. Twice a year we
went on ‘expeditions’. Some were to the traditional sodden youth hostels in Wales, but there were also such tests
26 Ed Cumming_Spectator Schools Mar 2015_Spectator Supplements 210x260_
of young manhood as ‘swimming in the south of France’
and ‘culture break in Marrakech’. Good preparations for
life, if the life you have in mind is that of an ageing gay
aristocrat from an Alan Hollinghurst novel. There was
one trip to Skegness, but it was to play golf rather than
the bracing seaside trials of yore.
At any rate, the real preoccupations on these missions
were smoking, drinking and chasing girls. By the time we
hit sixth form and went to Florence and Paris for history
of art (there’s no art in London, seemingly) we were to
be ‘treated like adults’. This meant that the preoccupations were still smoking, drinking and chasing girls, but
the teachers no longer had to pretend to care. Bliss for
all concerned.
26
05/03/2015 12:43
I have since come to realise that compared to what
some other schools got up to, these outings were a model
of parsimony and restraint. A girl I know went on a threeweek creative writing trip to South Africa in her final
year of school. This involved lying in the bush waiting for
‘the Muse’, presumably while her parents lay awake at
home waiting for the bill. ‘We weren’t allowed our mobile
phones,’ she recalls, ‘or any other technology. But it was
quite fun. The stars looked amazing. I guess it was quite
good value — it wasn’t my money, after all.’
South Africa is a mere hop compared to some voyages. A close relative went on a biology field trip to the
Galápagos. ‘It was good,’ he says. ‘A lot of guys got action
with these American girls at the hotel in Ecuador. We
went swimming with giant sea turtles and sea lions. Then
we went to a hummingbird sanctuary, which was cool but
this boy killed one by accident and looked like the most
cruel man in the world. It was very unlucky. He just spun
around with his arm and happened to kill it.’ The boy has
apparently made a full recovery.
Even in this era of profligacy, most beanos still require
an excuse. Sport and drama have long been the most obvious — especially cricket, which is played mainly in places
— aside from England, of course — where it doesn’t rain.
But there are other admirable ruses out there. Catherine
went on a school camel ride across the Sinai desert ‘for
Religious Studies’. ‘I was 17,’ she says. ‘We had to keep
loo roll in a plastic bag so as not to pollute. We trekked
and slept literally on the sand. No tents. One day we had
to go off and meditate. I fell asleep and was nearly left
stranded by the camel fleet. It didn’t help that our teacher
was nearly 80.’
Other destinations mentioned by those I spoke to
included Canada (wildlife), Iceland, Greenland (aurora borealis), New York (culture), China (culture), Japan
(singing). The whole globe covered, more or less, by a tiny
selection of British schools.
What do the teachers make of all this gallivanting
around? They are hardly blind to the cost, and unless they
went to Hogwarts, it’s unlikely that they were exposed to
the same calibre of outing during their own childhood.
Is the modern school trip the independent schools’ version of the spurious ‘conference’ in Hawaii? ‘I think ‘All these kids run round
there is this perception that the trips getting drunk so it’s quite
are a big jolly,’ says one departmental
hard to do so yourself’
head at a top public school. ‘But actually they’re very hard work. You have
all these kids running around getting drunk so it’s quite
hard to do so yourself.’
Still, it’s hard to see the trend reversing soon. Britain’s
best schools represent a large and expanding global industry. School trips, like the Festival Hall-style concert facilities and Olympic-standard swimming pools, are part of
the package offered as compensation for the inability to
guarantee little Johnny’s IQ. School-leavers have always
been asked, ‘Where are you going next?’ It used to be a
polite question about university or career plans. Increasingly it is a desperate inquiry about whether they have
anywhere left in the world to visit.
14 MARCH 2015 | SPECTATOR SCHOOLS | IN ASSOCIATION WITH BREWIN DOLPHIN Ed Cumming_Spectator Schools Mar 2015_Spectator Supplements 210x260_
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GETTY IMAGES
rather be doing whatever boring
thing you’ve just been invited to, but
you can’t, you simply can’t, because
little Johnny and his teachers would
never forgive you.
And I love it because parents’
evenings are one of the few events
in the school calendar you can really enjoy. Unlike with plays or concerts, you don’t have to sit there for
hours, alternating between boredom
(at having to watch other people’s
kids do their thing) and terror (that
your child might fluff his lines or play
a bum note).
Unlike with remembrance services you don’t have to be solemn.
Unlike with sports days, no one gets
to see how crap your car is or how
basic your picnic. Unlike the rest of
the time, you don’t have to be embarrassed about forgetting all the teachers’ or other parents’ names because
the teachers are labelled for you
at their desks and the parents wear
badges with names on (usually
their kids’, which isn’t perfect but
does at least get you into the right
ball park).
Also, they’re such brilliant occasions for people-watching. Here are
some stereotypes I’ve encountered
over the years. See how many of these
are familiar.
‘In case you haven’t noticed, I’m not at bloody Eton. I’m a girl. Idiot!’
Parent-watching
You see all sorts at school evenings, says James Delingpole
O
ne of the most satisfying phrases in the
English language is: ‘Sorry. I’m afraid
I have to go to a parents’ evening.’
I love it because it’s such a perfect
excuse for turning down dreary social
engagements: you come across like someone who takes
his parental responsibilities seriously but at the same
time, if you use the right tone, as someone who’d much
28 James Delingpole_Spectator Schools Mar 2015_Spectator Supplements 210x260_
Miss Squib Wet primary school
teacher. All you bloody want is to
hear how well your child is doing.
But she can’t or won’t tell you a)
because she’s drippy and useless and
b) it seems the rules in the state system forbid any form of grading or
criticism. Instead, she shows you a
form your child has filled in outlining
his ‘goals’ for the year. They consist
of crap like ‘writing more tidily’ and
‘listening more to other people in
group discussions’.
Miss DeKlerk Heavenly colonial.
She’s usually Antipodean or South
African and because she hails from
a tradition where they haven’t quite
fallen for all that dumbed-down,
PC crap, she breaks all the state primary rules by
talking knowledgeably and enthusiastically about
stuff like times tables and grammar and how well your
child is doing in spelling tests. You come away feeling
smug and happy over the £5,000 a term you’re saving
because she’s easily as good as you get in the private sector. Next year, unfortunately, your child’s class teacher is
Miss Squib.
28
05/03/2015 13:11
Miss Yummy Mmmmm. Miss Yummy has the most dar-
ling, exquisite freckles on her sweet nose and a fetching
blush to her cheeks and eyes like pools of — what? —
molten dark chocolate infused with essence of wild rose,
maybe, and lips so tender and pouty that you really must
stop staring in case she notices. For some reason, the wife
can’t stand her.
Mrs Push Mrs Push is the mother of Quentin Push who is
in the first XI, doing grade VIII piano and flugelhorn and
is expected to get the top scholarship to Winchester. Like
all the other mums who can afford not to work, she spends
so much time at Quentin’s prep school watching matches,
organising the organic fayre, etc that she knows all the
staff members by name and hovers round them proprietorially at parents’ evening, making you — and your wife
especially — feel like shit.
Barry Hedgefund Barry is sleek, expensively dressed
and is buggered if, what with the money he spent on the
new sports hall and his time being so valuable, he is going
to stick to the strict five minutes per pupil that has been
allotted for each parent. As his time overruns and the
parents whose slot it is now shuffle from foot to foot and
make coughing noises, Barry leans forward more intently
the better to concentrate on what the teacher is saying.
Time slots are for the little people.
Jeremy Celebrity Jeremy Celebrity is the most famous
parent in the school but today he is just a parent like
all the others. Except for the permanent rictus grin —
designed simultaneously to reassure and ward off. All the
other dads go to extravagant lengths not to make eye contact lest they give the impression that they are impressed.
ash_qp.indd 1
Emily Blush Emily’s headmaster has given her the job
of ringing a little bell to mark the end of each five-minute slot which is, like, so totally embarrassing because it
means that she’s standing in the same room as her parents
and her teachers at the same time. Which is, like, so never
meant to happen and she just wants to die. Later her dad
tells her it could be worse. At Eton, you actually have to sit
with your parents, listening together to what your teacher is saying. ‘Yeah,’ says Emily. ‘But in case you haven’t
noticed, I’m not at bloody stupid Eton. I’m a girl. Idiot!’
inspiring
8/7/14 11:07:16
independent minds
Ivo Fforde-fforde-d’eath Because more than three gen-
erations of Fforde-fforde-d’eaths have been to ‘School’,
their names are inscribed on the wall, which Ivo loves.
Another great thing about having been at School is that
on parents’ day while you’re hanging around in Bekynton,
you get to see all your old schoolfriends and check out
who has bagged the most rogerable wife.
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to slag off the crap poetry gobbets in the English syllabus which are probably only there because the authors
are black; and to embarrass his children. In the car home
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Seb Payne’s schooldays
GETTY IMAGES
How it all went right, by Sebastian Payne
T
he 17th of December 1999, nothing more than
an ordinary school day close to the Christmas
break. But to my family, it was a devastating
moment. That morning a letter dropped on to
the doormat informing us that I would not be
attending Emmanuel College for my secondary education. Places at Emmanuel, one of the original city technology colleges, were the most coveted in Gateshead.
It’s easy to see why: a school with no fees offering a topnotch education. It was such a successful venture that
it inspired Andrew Adonis to start the academies programme during his time as schools minister.
Five years later, the Paynes were waiting for another
communiqué on the future of my education. This time it
was from a small private school across the river in Newcastle-upon-Tyne. Thankfully, it was good news. The sixth
form at Dame Allan’s Schools accepted my application
and I waved goodbye to the state sector. Making this rare
switch for the last two years of my schooling was an unsettling and costly move, especially for a single-parent family.
My mother and father were both educated at grammar
schools, something they would have wished for me. But
like many families in the latter half of the 20th century,
we were stuck in the middle-class quandary of choosing
between the local comprehensive or doling out money.
After failing to get a place at Emmanuel, I had spent
the first five years of my secondary education at St Thomas More Catholic High School, an excellent comprehensive in a suburb of Gateshead. Thomas More was marked
‘an outstanding and inclusive school’ by Ofsted in 2013,
after becoming an academy in 2012. But my time there
was far from smooth. I was dumped in the third-from-bottom stream in my first year and had to work my way up to
the top tier. Being labelled the most nerdy boy in the year
(undeniably true) does not make for an easy existence
among a group of 200-odd teenagers vying to fit in. And in
retrospect, the lack of anything computing or technology-related on the
As a prefect in Dame Allan’s
curriculum was appalling.
junior school I was attacked
So by the time I reached the end
with metal rulers every day
of Year 11, it was time for a change.
Emmanuel was out of the question
— too much resentment — so we
opted for the smaller of Newcastle’s main private schools:
Dame Allan’s. Compared to the Royal Grammar School,
it is friendlier and less of a hothouse. My first few days
were terrifying and a tad lonely, just like starting any new
school. The primary, secondary and sixth-form schools
of Dame Allan’s form a diamond structure, as described
by Eleanor Doughty on page 19, so most of the students
knew each other already. Our band of newcomers stuck
together until we drifted into different groups of friends.
14 MARCH 2015 | SPECTATOR SCHOOLS | IN ASSOCIATION WITH BREWIN DOLPHIN Seb Payne_Spectator Schools Mar 2015_Spectator Supplements 210x260_
31
Stairway to heaven
It’s hard to pin down exactly what I found so wonderful about Dame Allan’s. The facilities were not spectacularly better than those at Thomas More. Nor did I feel I
was being worked infinitely harder. It was probably the
ethos and being surrounded by like-minded people. The
camaraderie of a smaller school makes it easier to be more
individual yet still feel part of something. The school had
a different spirit, and focused on achieving greater things.
From the Young Enterprise society to being a prefect in
the junior school — where I was attacked daily with sharp
metal rulers — Dame Allan’s did everything possible to
turn me into a well-rounded individual.
The teachers in my core A-level subjects of politics,
computing and business were highly experienced and not
overly concerned about sticking to the curriculum. I was
encouraged to dig further into topics I found of particular interest during my spare time — something I continue
to do now. When I moved to Dame Allan’s, friends from
the state school would ask whether it was really worth all
that money, and what I thought of the people, assuming
the private school was full of unsavoury characters. In fact
it was the opposite. I was happier than I had ever been,
with a group of friends I still remain in regular touch with
almost a decade after we first met.
As my two short years came to an end, there was one
moment that had a very definite impact on the rest of my
life. While mulling over whether to study politics or computer science at university with my tutor Robert Oliver,
he offered me some sage advice. ‘Sebastian, if you want
to get a job after university, I’d advise studying something
other than politics. Go and do computer science and you
can rediscover politics later.’ I did just that and a few
years later, I landed my dream job of becoming a political
journalist for The Spectator. Were it not for the teaching,
advice and encouragement of a small independent school,
that would not have happened. It was the best decision
of my life.
31
05/03/2015 12:53
A guide to Easter revision colleges
College
Courses
Av. class Dates
size
Fees
Website
Ashbourne
College
17 Old Court Place
London W8 4PL
020 7937 3858
admin@
ashbournecollege.
co.uk
All main subjects offered at
all levels. Specific individual
unit revision courses offered in
mathematics; otherwise AS or A2
for specific sessions restricted to
Ashbourne’s exam boards. Useful
course pack provided and end-ofcourse report.
7
Monday 30 March to
Friday 3 April; Monday
6 April to Friday 10 April;
Monday 13 April to
Friday 17 April
£500 per
course
(15 hours’
tuition)
www.ashbournecollege.co.uk
Bath Academy
27 Queen Square
Bath BA1 2HX
01225 334 577
revision@
bathacademy.co.uk
Small group tuition and bespoke
one-to-one tuition available in all
major A-level and GCSE subjects.
Half-day courses run Monday to
Friday (20 hours). Students study
four hours per day per course,
including assessment with written
feedback. End of course report.
2/3
Monday 30 March to
Thursday 2 April; Tuesday
Monday 13 April to
Friday 17 April
Small group
£620 (fiveday) or £500
(4-day). Oneto-one tuition
is £192.50 for
four hours,
Single hours
£55
www.bathacademy.co.uk
Cambridge Centre
for Sixth-form
Studies
4-5 Benet Place
Lensfield Road
Cambridge CB2 1EL
01223 707942
admissions@ccss.
co.uk
All main GCSE and A-level
subjects. Intensive revision of
core topics and exam practice.
Individual tuition available for
some subjects. We can provide
boarding for AS/A2 students.
Courses run in 3.5-hour sessions
with option in maths and science
to take sessions on specific units.
6
Monday 30 March to
Friday 10 April (excluding
bank holidays)
£125 per
session;
courses run
for two to
six sessions.
Option to
take several
courses over
one or two
weeks
www.ccss.co.uk
Carfax Tutorial
Establishment
39-42 Hythe
Bridge Street
Oxford OX1 2EP
01865 200676
admissions@
carfax-oxford.com
All subjects offered at A-level
(AS/A2) and GCSE. Subject
tutorials one-to-one, study skills
and exam technique taught
in groups. Formal mock exam
practice included. Morning and/
or afternoon sessions. Post-course
report. Half days: 22 hours total
per week. Whole days: 38 hours
total per week.
1
Monday 30 March to
Friday 3 April; Monday 6
April to Friday 10 April;
Monday 13 April to
Friday 17 April. Tuition
possible on other dates.
Please inquire
Half days
£515 per
week. Whole
days £945
per week.
Acommodation from
£200 a week
www.carfax-oxford.com
Chelsea
Independent
College
517-523 Fulham
Road, London
SW6 1HD
020 7610 1114
[email protected]
All main subjects offered for AS,
A2 and GCSE. Twenty- or 40-hour
sessions. Intensive tuition in small
classes, comprehensive revision
of exam syllabus, focus on exam
technique, daily exam practice
on past papers, takeaway course
notes. Boarding accommodation
available.
6
Monday 30 March to
Friday 3 April; Monday 6
April to Friday 10 April;
Monday 13 April to Friday
17 April
Full A-level
£1,050 per
subject (40
hours); AS
or A2 £600
per subject
(20 hours);
GCSE £475
per subject
(20 hours)
www.chelseaindependent
college.com
Collingham
College
23 Collingham
Gardens
London SW5 0HL
020 7244 7414
easter
@collingham.co.uk
All main subjects at A-level
(A2 & AS) and GCSE offered.
Homework set throughout with
reports at end of course. GCSE
combined science (28 hours) £770.
Examination skills day £160, or
£80 when in conjunction with a full
revision course.
5
Monday 30 March to
Friday 3 April (GCSE:
Monday 30 to Thursday
2); Monday 6 to Friday 10
April (GCSE: Tuesday 7
to Friday 10); Monday 13
to Friday 17 April (GCSE:
Monday 13 to Thursday
16)
A-level (17.5
hours): one
subject £520,
two £1,000.
GCSE (14
hours): one
subject £410,
two £780,
three £1,150
www.collingham.co.uk
32
Listings_Spectator Schools Mar 2015_Spectator Supplements 210x260_
32
05/03/2015 14:19
College
Courses
Av. class Dates
size
Fees
Website
Duff Miller College
59 Queen’s Gate
London SW7 5JP
020 7225 0577
[email protected]
All main subjects offered for
AS, A2, GCSE or IGCSE levels.
(combined science counts as two
GCSE subjects.) Individual tuition
often available for subjects that
will not have a class. Boarding
accommodation available.
6
Monday 30 March to
Friday 3 April; Monday
Monday 13 April to
Friday 17 April
Full A-level
£1,050 (40
hours). AS
or A2 £600
(20 hours).
GCSE £475
(20 hours)
www.duffmiller.com
Lansdowne
College
40-44 Bark Place
London W2 4AT
020 7616 4400
education@
lansdownecollege.
com
All main subjects at A-level (A2
and AS) and GCSE are offered.
Combined science counts as
two GCSE subjects. Individual
tuition available on request. All
exam boards offered. Boarding
accommodation available
6
Monday 30 March to
Friday 3 April;
Monday 6 April to
Friday 10 April;
Monday 13 April to
Friday 17 April
Full A-level
£1,050 (40
hours). AS
or A2 £600
(20 hours);
GCSE £475
(20 hours)
www.lansdownecollege.com
MPW
(Birmingham)
17-18 Greenfield
Crescent
Birmingham
B15 3AU
0121 454 9637
enq@birmingham.
mpw.co.uk
All major A-level and GCSE
subjects offered. Half-day
specialist modules (e.g. in history
and English literature) available
for £138 per session.
4
Monday 30 March to
Friday 3 April;
Monday 6 April to
Friday 10 April;
Monday 13 April to
Friday 17 April
£509 per
course (17.5
hours)
www.mpw.co.uk/
birmingham
MPW (London)
90/92 Queen’s Gate
London SW7 5AB
020 7835 1355
[email protected]
All main subjects at A-level
(A2 & AS) and GCSE offered.
Forty-hour A-level mathematics
course available for £1,095. Eighthour seminar courses in classical
civilisation, English literature and
religious studies for £312. Thirtyhour combined science GCSE
course for £943. Board-specific.
7
(max 9)
Monday 30 March to
Friday 3 April;
Monday 6 April to
Friday 10 April;
Monday 13 April to
Friday 17 April
Per course
(20 hours):
one subject
£708; two
£1,416; three
£1,928; four
£2,407
www.mpw.co.uk
Oxford
International
College
Oxford Centre for
Innovation
1 London Place
Oxford OX4 1BD
01865 240637
[email protected]
All main subjects at A-level,
GCSE, IGCSE and IB. Weeklong residential or non-residential
courses. Study skills included. End
of course reports provided.
3
(max 6)
Monday 23 March to
Friday 27 March;
Monday 30 March to
Friday 3 April;
Monday 6 April to
Friday 10 April
£730 for fiveday course
(30 hours of
timetabled
study).
Additional
£315 for
full-board
www.oxcoll.com
Oxford Tutorial
College
12 King Edward
Street
Oxford OX1 4HT
01865 793333
[email protected]
All main A-level and Pre-U
subjects offered; GCSE
mathematics, English and science
offered on half-day and full-day
basis. Fully residential A-level and
Pre-U courses available for £1,040.
6
Sunday 29 March to
Thursday 2 April (GCSE:
30 March to 2 April);
Tuesday 7 April to
Saturday 11 April (GCSE:
7 April to 10 April)
A-level £680
(21 hours);
GCSE £275
(12 hours)
or £500 (24
hours)
www.otc.ac.uk
All the above colleges are members of the Council for Independent Education (www.cife.org.uk), a national organisation of
independent colleges which specialise in preparing students for university entrance.
Listings_Spectator Schools Mar 2015_Spectator Supplements 210x260_
33
33
05/03/2015 14:19
An acquired taste
Happy memories of singing at school
Boys, by Edward Bell
B
oy or girl, it isn’t easy being a full-time chorister, but the rewards are vast. For me, it was
a good two years before the homesickness
fully dissipated, and I was a veteran nine-yearold before I started really having fun. A year
later the school became co-ed and our elite band had to
adjust to the sudden arrival of girls. For a brief moment
I thought they were even going to infiltrate the ranks of
the choir. I couldn’t articulate why, but I remember thinking that would have been a bad thing.
Very aware of the limitations of my own voice, I
developed an obsession with the voices of others. Singing with the girls at school, I noticed that while their
voices lacked the individuality of boys’ voices, they had
a natural purity and sounded cleaner. There’s a lot to
be said for that purity. I’d postulate that — for trained
singers — girls’ voices blend more naturally than boys’.
Beyond that there really isn’t much between the two. It’s
like being asked to comment on the difference between
two types of Rioja. Many can’t and, as per girls and boys
voices, wouldn’t notice if you mixed the two together.
Chris Gray, director of music at Truro Cathedral, is in
the process of setting up a girls’ choir and says the difference between voices reminds him of the Pepsi Challenge,
but that despite the vocal similarities Truro’s choirs will
sing separately. Truro’s girls’ choir will be drawn from 13to 18-year-olds since, as Gray says, it makes sense to work
with emotionally maturing young women, rather than
girls. Voice breaks mean that boys, on the other hand,
must be trained from a comparatively immature age.
Given the vast difference in rehearsal needs between a
seven-year-old boy and an 18-year-old woman, the decision to keep the choirs separate is understandable.
Even if mixed choirs aren’t going to be a reality yet
for our top cathedrals, it’s right to encourage girl choristers. Britain has a strong choral tradition, which has been
going for longer than you’d think. The midpoint between
now and when my old school started to educate boy trebles for the choir at Windsor Castle predates Haydn and
Bach being born. Astonishing when you think about it.
Girls, by Camilla Swift
U
ntil the age of eight I attended a very nice
school for little girls, in Windsor. We wore
pinafores and cardigans; straw boaters in
the summer, felt ones in the winter, and
when there was a state visit to Windsor
Castle we all lined up along the Long Walk, like the wellbehaved little girls we were (well, sometimes at least).
Then everything changed. Our local choir school, after
34 Choirs_Spectator Schools Mar 2015_Spectator Supplements 210x260_
644 years of educating young boys, decided to admit
girls, and I became one of their first ever intake.
My new school was very different. The houses were
named after Royal Navy ships, Latin grammar was taught
from the age of eight and blackboard rubbers were regularly thrown around the classroom. Slowly but surely the
school adjusted to girls. We got our own PE teacher, which
meant we no longer played football and cricket with the
boys, and in my final year we even got our own dormitory.
But there was one aspect of the school where girls
were never going to be accepted; the choir. In every year
group there were six or so boys who wore a red tie rather
than a blue, all of whom boarded. They got up early every
morning for choir practice, practising again every afternoon before their Evensong service.
While they did that, we ‘supers’ — as non-choristers
were called — had plenty of other things to do. German
lessons while the choristers did their morning practice,
and prep and after-school activities during the school day,
while they had to do theirs after Evensong. But perhaps
most important musically, we also had our own choir,
which girls could join, and sang at places including Long
leat House, St Bartholomew the Great, Windsor Castle,
and Eton’s Sunday chapel services.
Was being persona non grata in the choir proper such
a bad thing? I think I did jolly well by it. The musical
experience I gained served me in good stead all the way
to music A-level and Grade VIII singing. I didn’t miss out
on German classes or after-school activities, and although
our choir didn’t have the prestige of the Chapel Choir, it
was a far sight better than most school choirs. Perhaps
some girls will still feel left out by being prevented from
auditioning by their sex, and no, it’s not ‘gender equal’.
But rightly or wrongly, I don’t think that’s a bad thing.
Voice trials for the boys’ choir at Truro Cathedral can be
arranged through Polwhele House School. Auditions for
the girls’ choir are through Truro School.
34
05/03/2015 13:19
Sculpture produced by Dunhurst Art scholarship
group and Art teacher Andy Cheese
Bedales Prep,
Dunhurst 8 -13
“The quality of academic
and other achievements
is excellent.”
ISI Report, 2014
Flexi boarding | Main entry points to
Bedales Schools available at Nursery,
8+, 11+, 13+, 16+
To book a place on an open morning or to
arrange an individual visit, please contact
Janie Jarman, Registrar T: 01730 711733
E: [email protected]
Petersfield, Hampshire
www.bedales.org.uk
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04/03/2015 15:57
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03/03/2015 16:59

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