Why did the Scarecrow receive an award?

The scarecrow received an award for being outstanding in his field.

Unlike the scarecrow, parents need to decide whether their child will enter a field that is single sex, co-educational or a diamond structure.

Looking back over the last quarter of a century, it is striking how the landscape has changed. The sea-change within the membership of HMC (the Headmasters’ & Headmistresses’ Conference) is remarkable. In 1989, it was mainly a gentleman’s club for the Heads of boys’ schools: of the 240 members at the time, only 40 were from co-ed schools. Today that situation is rather neatly reversed: the number of all boys’ schools in HMC is approximately 40. This is not unique to independent schools in the UK. The latter part of last century witnessed the inexorable rise of co-education in schools across the world.

From my own perspective, I spent 22 years in all boys’ schools preaching the virtues of a single sex education. 16 in a full boys’ boarding at Eton and 6 years as Head of Campbell College, an independent boys’ day and boarding school in Ireland. On the co-educational side of the ledger, I amassed 13 years – three years at the outset of my career at Millfield School and ten to finish as Head of Epsom College.

I thoroughly enjoyed all my time living alongside teenage boys; equally, being a Head and a parent in a co-ed school is markedly rewarding.

Endless ink has been spilt in the debate regarding single-sex or co-educational schools; however, over time, I came to appreciate that the key question is not the field in which you stand, what makes a school outstanding is the creation of community and the personal development of everyone withing that community, both pupils and staff.

This academic year I have been fortunate to spend time in a Quaker school, a school for the Performing Arts, single sex schools and high achieving co-educational schools; those schools that present as outstanding tend to adopt a holistic approach to education. An approach that sees the curriculum as a totality:? an educational philosophy in which sport, music, art, drama and many other activities are seen as being of a piece with moral and social development, and importantly intellectual achievement.??

What the experience of spending time in these communities demonstrates is that a virtuous circle is created when time (often including Saturday school), is given to the nurturing of relationships – pupil to pupil, adult to pupil. From these relationships, everything that is valuable and long-lasting will grow: and this flows from the vocational commitment of well-chosen, well-trained and devoted staff. Anything worthwhile and long-lasting in this life tends to be built over time, nurtured from the ground up, and built on relationships of true quality.

If you are seeking a school for your child that is, like the scarecrow, outstanding in its field, look to the quality of the support and teaching staff, assess the quality of the shared existence of the community, and see if it is united by a gentle sense of humour.