Old Caldicotian News: April 2014 FROM THE HEADMASTER Dear Old Caldicotian, This edition contains much happy news, but the immediate past has been distressing for all of us. The testimony given in court at the sex abuse trials of ex teachers has been harrowing. As I am sure you are all aware, Peter Wright was convicted of sex offences committed between 1959 and 1970 and three other teachers, Martin Carson, Hugh Henry and John Addrison have been convicted on similar charges relating to offences committed in the 1960s and 1970s. It is a painful reminder that although so many of you have very happy memories of your time at Caldicott, this is certainly not true for everyone. On behalf of the school, I would like to offer sincere apologies to anyone who suffered at the hands of teachers at Caldicott. That the abuse was committed between thirty-five and fifty years ago does not lessen the pain. We are truly sorry and although we cannot erase what happened in the past, we do work tirelessly to make present day Caldicott the safest environment possible. These convictions were the culmination of a lengthy police investigation, in which the school has played an active supporting role. The school issued the following statement at the time: “This verdict brings to a close a lengthy police investigation and subsequent prosecutions of some staff members for abuse committed at the school during the 1960’s and 1970’s. The school cooperated fully with the police during their enquiries and we want to thank them for their thorough investigations. We are deeply saddened that adults in a position of trust and responsibility have committed crimes of this nature against children in their care at Caldicott. Although these offences took place a generation ago, they remain shocking, and we applaud the bravery of the victims who came forward to give evidence against Peter Wright and the other staff members. Although long delayed, we are pleased to see justice done. “Caldicott is now a very different school. We put the safety and welfare of our pupils at the heart of everything we do. Our policies are fully in line with current legal requirements. These policies were developed with guidance from police, victims and child protection regulators. They are constantly being updated in conjunction with changes in the law and in collaboration with the regulators. The school’s pastoral care is now the subject of continual scrutiny by the school’s governing body. We have been the subject of regular independent inspection by Ofsted and ISI. Our most recent inspection reports found that the level of residential and pastoral care respectively was “outstanding” and “excellent”. These reports can be read on our website at www.caldicott.com.” The police have issued a statement which said: “I would like to thank staff at Caldicott Boys' Preparatory School for their continued support to Thames Valley Police whilst it investigated these claims. The investigation would not have succeeded without their assistance.” I hope that this brings to an end the very distressing chapter in the history of the school. Caldicott is currently a strong and successful prep school where the boys are thriving. We continue to prepare boys for the top senior boarding schools in the country. Despite the dreadful revelations from the past, the staff, boys and parents are proud of what the school has become and feel part of a happy community. The school is full with 294 boys including 104 boarders in the final two years. The Summer Term begins tomorrow and Steve Wood and his team have done a wonderful job in ensuring the grounds look excellent and the cricket squares are in immaculate condition. Old boys would be amazed by the transformation of Spens Field in the last few years. It is now the busiest sports field with rugby and football pitches as well as three hard cricket wickets. There is a pavilion and parents can park on the field. The extra pitches allow us to organise matches for all levels and all age groups in rugby, cricket and football. There have been a number of recent developments that ensure that Caldicott facilities remain impressive. The Junior Corridor has been extended to encompass the other classrooms in that area. New classrooms have been built at the southern end of the Academic Block and we are awaiting the opening of the new split level library where the lecture room and meeting room used to be. All the dormitories have been renovated. There has been extensive upgrading of the equipment in the Centenary Hall with a new sound and lighting console and the Music School has been completely overhauled. In Chapel the Harrison and Harrison organ sounds as good as new after its thirty-five year service! Boys enjoy being at Caldicott. I believe there is a healthy balance between hard work, competitive sport, lots of culture as well as the time to be carefree prep school boys. In an increasingly hectic world this sense of balance and wellbeing is an essential part of education for seven to thirteen year olds. I would welcome old boys returning to the school and I hope that we will see many of you in the year ahead. If any past pupil would like to see me, please do not hesitate to get in contact. Simon Doggart FROM CHRIS MASTERMAN Dear OC, I hope you enjoy the latest edition of your news and would just like to ask that you remember these few points: please email your news to me at [email protected] and be aware that I shall generally reproduce the message per se unless you have personal details that you would rather not be included, in which case please do point this out to me. I have in the past, indeed still do, tended to add personal comments of a ‘lovely to meet…’ nature; I think it is perhaps unduly subjective, overdone and unnecessary, so I shall endeavour to reduce their frequency in the future, but rest assured that I genuinely do enjoy my many meetings with you all. Many hours are spent trawling through senior school magazines and as I get even older I would appreciate doing this less often and therefore ask you, especially younger OCs, to send me news of their achievements, something that has been happening less in recent years than it once used. Please accept my apologies for any errors and omissions; there would perhaps be fewer mistakes were more news to be received in writing. I send you all my very best wishes, Chris Masterman GENERAL, SOCIAL & SPORT The Headmaster hosted a marvellous cricket dinner here at school in May to raise money for a new charity to assist young cricketers in the West Indies with the legendary Sir Garfield Sobers as the main guest and speaker. The many other guests comprised several of our staff, past and present, as with fathers, and colleagues from other prep and senior schools who enjoyed Sir Garry answering questions posed by past parent and England captain Chris Cowdrey. Old Boys included Simon Bradshaw, whose son Charlie is here in the 4th form, and Charlie Langley until called away when his wife Kirsty seemed ready to give birth to their daughter Thea Mae. Past parents included: Heywood, Figg, Rogers, Wildblood, McCreery and I am sure many more too. Past staff included James Fletcher, Kevin Rich, Steve Ilett and James Woodcock. The Staff v Parents cricket match was, needless to say, won by the staff, but in a close game the maximum scores, retiring at 30, were achieved by the three OCs playing, Charlie Langley for the staff and Simon Bradshaw and Ryan Thomas for the Parents. All three were again present at school the following day which was the Saturday morning of the annual fête; also present were other current parents Ross Baker, Guy Butterwick and Charles Bracken, and other OCs Daniel Jolowicz and Philip Clarkin, and from Radley with most of their GCSEs behind them, Tom Lloyd, Charlie Bracken and William Swift, all of whom, I think are likely to be including English as one of their A levels; Tom is also doing Maths and Latin and, I think, Greek too. Another post GCSE boy here was Muyiwa Ariyo who was going on a pre-season tour with the 1st XV squad, and past staff included Debs Kroiter and Jane Balgobin: lovely to see them all… as indeed it was later to see Alex Wright (Radley) and Sam Wood-Dow (Bradfield) who dropped in during the evening, both having finished their A levels. Our 2013 Sports Day took place on a lovely Saturday morning in late June and saw returns from OCs including, I think: Barnaby Nunn, Toritse Atake, Muyima Ariyo, Mustafa Ahmed, Duncan Eglinton, Henry Revill, Harry McCullagh, Samuel Sogbesan and Taryn Gosal as well as several OC current fathers. Sports Day, Speech Day or its subsequent staff party saw the return of William Pritchard, Harry McCullagh, Bryn Williams and Jack Taylor who share a flat at Newcastle university, Ben Maxwell, and Jameses Doggart and Walker who were both far too efficient at running the bar later that day. The following evening and Andy Baker and I went to the Oval to which we had been invited by Oli Broom for the launch of his book ‘Cycling to the Ashes’, the account of his wonderful trip to raise money for two deserving charities, from Lords to Brisbane a few years ago. It was a lovely evening enriched by seeing again Oli, who modestly recalled his exploits, his parents and his old friend Mark Singleton.