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Monday November 20th, 2023
It’s Christmas o’clock in the UK! From Christmas adverts on TV to Christmas decorations in the shops, all that glitter and sparkle can’t help but get you feeling a little festive. But before we focus on the festivities, we want to take a look at who shapes the UK’s independent schools. Is it the Governors or the Heads who hold the sway, or is it really those who hold the school purse strings? We’ll take a peek behind the scenes at some of the UK’s top independent schools.
We all know how important a head teacher can be in maintaining a school’s ethos and standards – or in driving change in terms of intake, values and ‘output’. For example, although moving to full co-education had been embedded in Westminster’s long-term strategic plan, new Heads Gary Savage and Kate Jefferson brought forward its implementation.
But what about the board? Every school has a board of governors, ultimately responsible for the school’s governance, but also bringing a wealth of expertise and connections with them. The board will offer support and advice to a head teacher, act as a sounding board for new ideas and help shape the future strategy of a school. All school boards are led by a chair, carefully chosen for his or her experience and influence. And arguably the most influential of all chairs, presiding over a board of ‘fellows’ in this case, is the chair of Eton, known as the Provost.
Eton will welcome a new Provost next September, Sir Nicholas Coleridge CBE DL. Beyond his distinguished career in media and publishing – managing, leading and ultimately chairing magazine company Condé Nast International – Sir Nicholas has been involved in a wide range of prestigious events and institutions, including co-chairing the Platinum Jubilee Pageant for Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. Formerly Chair of the British Fashion Council and the Professional Publishers Association, currently Chair of the Victoria and Albert Museum, and soon-to-be Chair of the Historic Royal Palaces – he has the sort of wide-ranging portfolio of interests and influence you’d expect the 43rd Provost of Eton to possess.
An Old Etonian himself, Sir Nicholas will be stepping (according to the Daily Telegraph) “into shoes that are sometimes big, often controversial and always considered to be hugely influential on society at large.”
That seems a grand statement, but in fact you don’t need to look far to see the truth borne out. From the very first Provost – Henry VI’s chaplain Henry Sever (1440-42) – Eton’s top post has always been filled by people that reflect or direct the wider national story.
Take a look at the last three Provosts for example: Sir Antony Acland (1991 – 2000) was ambassador to the US (among other nations) and appointed a Knight of the Order of the Garter. Sir Eric Anderson (2000 to 2009) was previously head of Eton (1980 to 1994) when David Cameron and Boris Johnson were among his students. Other influential alumni under his charge include Tony Blair (he was the former Labour PM’s housemaster at Fettes College) and King Charles III (he taught at Gordonstoun when the King was enrolled there.) William Waldegrave, Baron Waldegrave of North Hill, (2009 – 2024) – from whom Coleridge will take the reins next September – was a former Cabinet minister under John Major, between 1990 and 1997 and was made a life peer in the House of Lords in 1999.
One of Sir Nicholas’ first memories of Eton is “the huge number of terribly misshapen carvings of the name Coleridge standing out from the others” in the Upper Chamber. That sense of heritage, pride and tradition is undoubtedly something he will wish to preserve in his post as Provost, synonymous as it is with an Eton education.
He himself arrived as a student at Eton in 1970, “at exactly the moment when Eton was in the midst of change”. I wonder whether Eton will see another period of change under his tenure. Certainly, he does not take lightly the responsibility of leading a school renowned for shaping students and wider society, judging by his own admission of the impact Eton had and continues to have on him:
“Eton made a much more profound impact on me than Cambridge, which I would say really made none, and all my attitudes and real friends were made at Eton. The friendships I made at Eton provide the entire infrastructure for my life now.” (Source: Eton Voices, Sir Nicholas Coleridge, 1988).
From an almost-600-year-old school, to one a mere 160 or so years old – Wellington College.
The remarkable Sir Anthony Seldon – educator, contemporary historian and author of at least half a dozen former UK Prime Minister’s biographies – was Headmaster at Wellington College for almost 10 years (2006 – 2015), and head of Brighton College before that. His pioneering work around pupil and staff wellbeing and positive psychology changed Wellington – and arguably the wider education sector – for good.
Changes at Wellington during his tenure included timetabling stillness and wellbeing sessions, and opening the biggest centre dedicated to Chinese culture in the country. Having discovered yoga and meditation later in life, he credits Eastern philosophy with a mindset that has helped him find the happiness and meaning that was perhaps missing from his own education.
With thought-provoking statements such as ‘happiness is the very opposite of selfishness’ and ‘worry is a denial of trust’, Sir Anthony encouraged his students to be themselves, make their own choices, embrace their mistakes, learn how to live and make a conscious decision to be happy. Mantras and approaches that we see echoing through our society and the education sector today.
Perhaps unsurprisingly – given his interest in and practice of mindfulness – he believes teachers should share their pupils’ experience, saying: “teachers should sit the subjects that they teach… It’s very important for teachers to sit an exam and have the experience that the children they’re teaching have.”
He practises what he preaches, having taught a class of philosophers then sitting a module with them for the AS exam in the subject. He set the students the goal of beating him, and he says they almost all did! But far from diminishing his students’ respect, I bet this inspired them with new-found self-confidence and admiration for the man who motivated them to learn and succeed.
He is a man of many firsts, including The Wellington Academy, which he set up in 2009 and which was the first state school to have the same name as its founding independent school. In 2015, he became vice-chancellor of the University of Buckingham, the first private university in Britain. He also founded an annual festival of education, a forum for debate about schooling for anyone who cared about education, featuring speakers such as Sir Bob Geldof, Michael Gove, Charles Clarke, David Miliband and Chris Woodhead. And he’s written, co-authored and edited numerous books on many topics, including ‘character’ education, AI, trust, happiness, diplomacy, politics and world war.
Since March this year, he’s been headmaster of Epsom College, having been asked to take over the running of the school following former head Emma Pattison’s tragic death.
Still on the topic of who’s in charge and what does it mean for a school and its pupils, the last decade has seen a growing global trend in investment funds founding or acquiring schools. And it’s a trend that has become even more marked in the last couple of years. Independent schools – like all schools and many other sectors – have faced financial challenges post-pandemic. An injection of funding from financial experts can bring welcome stability and security, enabling schools to invest in all-important marketing and IT infrastructure as well as teaching and facilities. The challenge is, perhaps, maintaining independence in terms of educational values and approaches. For now, the relationships seem to be working well, with schools’ finances better managed and more cost-effectively invested for everyone’s benefit. Financiers focusing on their area of expertise and the educators theirs, but it’s a developing relationship we’ll continue to watch with interest.
For more insights into independent schools, in the UK and elsewhere, drop us a line, and we’d be delighted to talk.
Before we finish for this issue, I wanted to share with you a couple of university-focused updates.
One is the Oxford University Graduate Scholarships for Ukraine Programme, offering financial support and scholarships to Ukraine nationals displaced by the war. Ukraine graduate scholars can study one-year full-time taught master’s courses at Oxford in the 2024-25 academic year, choosing from a wide range of subjects. Course fees are covered in full; free accommodation and meals are provided, plus a £10,000 grant towards living expenses.
It had been rumoured that UCAS might be changing the personal statement section of the university application form for the next academic cycle. But UCAS have confirmed this section won’t change for the 24/25 intake. However, they have made changes to the academic references section so that universities can make more meaningful comparisons.
So, instead of a free text approach, academic references will now be split into three structured sections and teachers / advisers must add the following information as relevant:
UCAS says the changes should benefit everyone involved in the process, with advisers able to provide relevant information more quickly and with greater confidence, freeing them up to support students with the discovery phase of their application journey. And universities and colleges will be able to identify more easily the information they need to make selection decisions.
Alongside these changes, which will start from the 2024 entry cycle opening in May for all undergraduate applications, applicants will see additional options in the gender question and a simplified application fee (of £27.50). This will allow all applicants to add five choices to their application and use additional services such as UCAS Extra, Clearing, and Clearing Plus should they need to.
If you’ve any questions about what these changes might mean for you, please don’t hesitate to get in touch.
Until next time…
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“ REGENCY EDUCATION WAS ABLE TO HELP US WITH EVERY STEP OF THE APPLICATION PROCESS ENSURING THE EDUCATIONAL SUCCESS OF OUR CHILDREN - AN INVALUABLE SERVICE. ”
