Framlinghamian 2022 - Flipbook - Page 9
SPEECH DAY
Everyone here will be familiar with my
heartfelt belief that a successful education
is not only to be measured in examination
grades in the same way that no person
should ever be defined by those grades.
Yes – we are so proud this year to have
had one of our pupils in the top 0.12%
of GCSE candidates nationally; and of
our over 20 1st class degrees in the last 2
years (and these are just the ones we have
heard about); and we are equally proud
of that pupil who secured 7 decent passes
having been told by his last school that he
would never pass any GCSEs. Yes – we
do both here, increasingly well. But what
we hope to work for - with parents - is
to create balanced, happy and rounded
human beings; yes, we want them to have
achieved academically and in other areas
at the very top of their potential, but we
also want them to have a sense of self, an
innate sense of right and wrong and the
moral courage to do something about the
difference.
So if I have one parting wish as I take my
leave from the profession it is to, please,
change the educational conversation and
its focus on academic league tables as
a measure of a school (and they, by the
way, are mostly about selective intake).
You know my position on this and I
am aggressively opposed to such onedimensional tables - though we are wholly
transparent about our results, as we should
be. There is a local school, for example,
that demands at least 6 GCSEs at grade 6
and 2 at 5 for their own pupils to enter their
own Sixth Form – even if they have been
in their care since 11. What is that about?
Where is the joint responsibility for those
results? Which is why I have always said
that if you take a child at 13 you see them
through to 18 unless you come to a mutual
agreement that there is a better route for
them (not for the school) elsewhere. I hear
lots of parents who ask about our academic
results but this is the key and the formula
remains: if they work hard,the teaching is
very good here – and they will do well.
I have worked in far more academically
selective schools and can honestly say
that what goes on in the classroom here
comfortably stands comparison with any of
them.
So… please don’t talk to me about league
tables and overall results – all that matters
is how we are doing for each individual
child against their own ability level. Yes
– ask me and please even challenge me
about that, and about the quality of our
teaching and learning and the culture and
environment we have here, but please
don’t tell me that a child who struggles and
works hard to get that D grade, or who
just loves his or her sport but ‘only’ makes
the C team, or who doesn’t get that part
in the play: please don’t tell me that that
pupil is any less valuable a member of
this community than our A* scholars or 1st
team captains.
Don’t get me wrong: the very best possible
examination results remain critically
important, but they are not sufficient
alone. They also need those personal
qualities – resilience, self-belief, creativity,
presentation, articulacy, manners; the
ability to work with other people; measured
risk-taking; flexibility, adaptability, honesty,
integrity and – importantly – a ready smile:
Susan Wessels and Paul Taylor
the fact that such qualities are less easy to
measure than pure academic achievement
does not mean they are less important
educational objectives, not if we are to
enable our leavers to enter the adult world
excited – rather than daunted – by the
challenges that lie ahead. To do that we
have to protect the breadth of education
as it is: the sport, the performing arts, CCF,
DofE, chapel and chaplaincy, community
service and the huge range of activities
in schools such as ours that foster these
qualities. These are not just fripperies to
pass the time, they are absolutely core to
our educational philosophy. Please protect
in particular our creative subjects against
the current tide of educational directives
that militate against them: this is where
pupils can explore who they are and what
they think: creativity is one of the things
that make us human; what Victor Hugo
said about music in my view applies to
all the creative arts: that ‘Music expresses
that which cannot be said and on which
it is impossible to be silent’. I will always
cherish those moments when I see children
who might be reticent in the classroom or
awkward socially come alive on stage, in
a concert or play, or through producing
an outstanding painting, film or artefact.
And then to see that child walking that little
bit taller the next day. That is what it is all
about and it is good schools like this that
unlock such things.
Another thing that distinguishes us as
human is an appreciation of the spiritual.
Now wherever our charges come out on
their faith – and that is a question solely
for them – we must make sure they engage
with this element of their humanity. We live
in increasingly uncertain times and I would
argue we therefore need - even more than
usual - to look to less transient things;
eternal truths and values; a strong moral
compass; a spiritual appreciation based
on knowledge, respect and emotional
maturity. Schools have to play a central
role, alongside families, in providing this
framework and those boundaries (even
if that is a framework against which they
could rebel). This is a school for those of
all faiths and none, but the values that
permeate this community are unequivocally
Christian and our charges need to
recognise and understand that before
deciding where they stand on such things.
As I leave the profession, I know I do so
when independent schools are facing
challenging times. Without a political
or media ally in sight (publicly at least!)
they have become easy targets for cheap
political point scoring. I also have to say
that I do not doubt the sincerity of some
critics, and even admire their ideological
motivation, and I even admit to feeling
conflicted myself at times. But every time
I do I remember how strongly I believe in
the right of people to spend their hardearned money as they choose and my
profound belief in and passion for the
educational product here at Framlingham
– that has very few genuine equivalents in
the maintained sector - and we must not
apologise for that. I hope you understand
my meaning when I say that it should be
the aim of every Secretary of State for
Education to make independent schools
unnecessary but please, in the meantime,
let’s use our schools – alongside the many
excellent schools in the state sector – as
aspirational Highest Common Factors
to share good practice and educational
philosophy rather than run the danger
of succumbing to the Lowest Common
Denominator model of education.
THE FRAMLINGHAMIAN 2019
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