Our Distinguished Visitor, Chairman, Governors, Ladies and Gentlemen, Boys and Girls. I Start by Welcoming Alison Mitchell, Whos
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Our distinguished Visitor, Chairman, Governors, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls. I start by welcoming Alison Mitchell, whose impressive biography you can read it today’s programme. All I can say is that, as a lover of sports, especially cricket, I am extremely jealous of what she does for a living! Last summer, I had the idea of inviting Alison while working away in my office, listening to the BBC’s iconic Test Match Special Team commentating on the Lord’s test against Sri Lanka. Not only were her observations and analysis first-rate, but she wasn’t afraid to challenge Geoffrey Boycott, a man who, like many producers, seems to think that if you haven’t played at the highest level then you can’t commentate or even have an opinion! If only education was like that… but I digress. That Alison has bucked that trend makes her success notable; even more so, she is the first woman to commentate regularly on 'Test Match Special', a great achievement, one that matters and sets a significant example. So, Alison, welcome and we look forward to hearing from you shortly. Sadly, Alison is a part-time Leicester City fan and not an Arsenal fan, so I can’t gloat. I say that because, as those of you for whom this is not your first Speech Day will know – because I start with it every year - that I am a Tottenham fan. The last two Visitors have been Arsenal fans, but this year, for the first time since 1995, Spurs have outperformed Arsenal. Talking of Arsenal, you may well be familiar with the problems that their manager, Arsene Wenger, has faced this 1 season – they have been well-documented in the press and highlight some of the challenges of leadership, particularly after 20 years at the helm. He’s a had tough few months: 67 years old, based in Islington, north London, not entirely in touch with reality, and, as the Guardian put it, “white-haired and wiry, with an expression suggesting a bee-sting trauma. Critics accuse him of refusing to speculate about his own future beyond the end of the season, maintaining he is staying right where he is, despite everyone else saying the opposite and a growing speculation that he’s content to finish fifth.” I am, of course, talking about Jeremy Corbyn. So, what did Mr Corbyn do to try and deflect some of the criticism? By jumping on the political bandwagon, of course, and attacking the independent sector. He recently announced plans to fund free school meals by placing VAT on private school fees, characterising the idea, typically, as the rich bailing out the poor. The addition of 20% to fees would, I believe, lead to the closure of a significant number of independent schools; the great majority of parents make enormous sacrifices to afford the fees and our schools are not cash-cows. While many wouldn’t shed a tear at their demise, there is another, pertinent point for the Government to bear in mind. 500,000 children are educated privately in Britain. The ISC (the Independent Schools Council) estimates that that saves the British 2 taxpayer in the region of £4bn a year. At a time when state school budgets are being cut, when there is a crisis (and I don’t use the word lightly) in the recruitment of teachers in some core subjects, and when class sizes in many state schools are now around the 40 mark, the closure of independent schools would return large numbers of pupils to an already overstretched state sector. That notwithstanding, there is a wider issue here. Why do so many politicians still feel the need to attack the independent sector? Too many of them make lazy, unfair and unhelpful assumptions and make reference to toffs and ivory towers. In reality, there are huge numbers of state and independent schools working closely and effectively in collaboration for the benefit of all children. It's frustrating that this gets so much less acknowledgement. A year ago, standing here, I outlined the reasons why we had agreed to take part in the ITV documentary ‘School Swap – the class divided’. Those of you who heard me, may remember that one of the reasons was to represent the independent sector and highlight the excellent work that it does and its willingness to engage with the state sector. Our sector continues to receive strong criticism from many sides and we have few friends in the press. Another outcome of the television programme was to raise national awareness of the transformational power of boarding; indeed, you may recall that Jo Ward, my opposite number at Bemrose said at the 3 end of Episode 2 (and then repeated herself when we appeared on the BBC One Breakfast sofa): “I’ve gone from thinking every independent school in the country should be abolished to thinking every school in the country should be a boarding school.” That was some change! Boarding can indeed be transformational; it is also teaches independence and what I call social learning, not least learning to be part of a community, something bigger than oneself, an ever-more important trait in an increasingly narcissistic and introspective world. I am very proud that boarding continues to thrive here, but as a school, we face the same pressures as all boarding schools. It is expensive, society’s views of boarding are undoubtedly changing and the impact of Brexit remains unclear. Earlier in the year, HMC, the Headmasters’ and Headmistresses’ Conference, of which organisation we are a member school, proposed creating up to 10,000 new school places a year in boarding schools for children from disadvantaged backgrounds. This would, I believe support social mobility, which has stagnated in the UK, and help the Government reach its target of more good school places. The places would be co-funded by independent schools and the government, which would provide only the allocated state funding per child. As my fellow head, Patrick Derham at Westminster, has said: 4 This scheme, like so many in our schools, is not about choosing the brightest pupils but about providing genuine transformational opportunities for those who need them most. We all want all young people to flourish and to be authors of their own life stories.” I am hugely proud of the fact that boarding here at Warminster we have several children who come from difficult backgrounds and whose fees are paid either by benefactors or by an enlightened local council. Depressingly, the biggest critics of the HMC proposal have been social workers and it is hard to avoid the conclusion that it stems from ideological prejudice or poverty of aspiration for the children with whom they work. As Goethe put it: “If you treat an individual as he is, he will remain how he is. But if you treat him as if he were what he ought to be and could be, he will become what he ought to be and could be.” Proud as I am to be headmaster of a boarding school, I am also proud of the fact that we have an equal number of day pupils. Three weeks ago, I attended the Boarding School Association Heads’ Conference and there listened to a fascinating presentation entitled ‘The Boarding Effect – steering with others in mind.’ It was based on a research project that had tracked 20,000 pupils over five years, in a mixture of day, boarding, state and independent schools. Its analogical premise was that our minds have an engine, which generates speed; a big IQ engine can process lots of data 5 quickly when the road is straight (i.e. in a formal classroom or examination) environment. However, we also need good steering cognition in order to drive well on bumpy roads – in other words, to navigate through life and relationships. The presenter also claimed that the evidence of his research showed that good steering cognition contributes about 15% to academic success and, more importantly, is vital to good mental health during adolescence and in the development of emotional intelligence. Currently, too much of education policy is focused on driving fast rather than steering and, as we all know, clever people who drive fast with poor steering can collectively make mistakes. Falling out of this argument is the increased need, therefore, to focus on teaching children to steer (as well as drive fast - that still matters). The research found that children in boarding schools – and this is the most important bit for us – not just the boarders, but the day pupils in a boarding school too – are 15% more socially agile and emotionally responsive. Linked to that, the evidence suggests that pupils in a boarding school are more sensitive to the needs of others, more likely to consider others and thus more likely to develop into good citizens. It comes back to the social learning I mentioned a moment ago – tolerance, patience, understanding, listening to the ideas of others and the willingness to change one’s mind. We have had, this week, a desperately sad reminder of how critically important those qualities are. 6 The final reason for our involvement in School Swap was to highlight the opportunities that exist for state and independent to work in collaboration. Despite the expedient rhetoric of many ill-informed politicians, such partnerships are flourishing across the land: 88% of ISC schools now have some form of partnership with a state school. I am very proud of our meaningful working relationships with several local state schools. Earlier this year, I chaired a meeting in my office of local heads, primary, secondary, state and private to discuss our intention to set up, from September, an ISSP – an Independent State School Partnership here in West Wiltshire.