The Wykehamist
over again, particularly from VIBk entrants who have come in from other schools, that, yes, the syllabus is the same, but the framework in which the ideas are presented is different. Even when it comes to exam preparation, our dons are more likely to say‘ If this comes up in the exam, this is how you answer it, but the true story is this’— I’ m sure you’ ve had some experience of that. Ultimately, we love learning, we love it for its own sake, and we pride ourselves on producing truly original thinkers. That’ s different! I can’ t provide a league table for it, I can’ t give a statistic for it, but it absolutely is distinctive, and it’ s frankly something of a miracle that that commitment to the higher vision of education has lasted as long as it has. Because the pressures on that now are formidable, but I still think that’ s what Wykehamists are known for. And, you know, the best exemplar of that is Div, but it’ s not just that, it’ s a style of thinking that goes right through, and beyond, the curriculum.
JD: Is there anything about Winchester College that you think should always remain true, but won’ t?
HM: But won’ t! Well … I’ m an optimist, so no. [ laughs ] The economic pressures, and the affordability crisis for independent education, which has obviously been greatly exacerbated by the policies of the government, are a problem. I mean, what we do is just not possible in a state school for a whole lot of reasons. And I want what we do to be accessible as widely as possible to talented young people who can make the most of what we have. But it’ s under huge pressure economically, and it’ s also under huge pressure because of the exam system. If I wanted to eliminate as much risk as possible, I would be saying to dons,‘ Forget all of that stuff that goes beyond the curriculum. Forget the stuff that goes deeper. Forget the stuff that transcends the subject boundaries. Don’ t worry about all of that, just home in on the syllabus and the three bullet points under that syllabus heading, and make sure the kids spit out the right things at the right time.’ That’ s how I would do it. And, of course, if we did that, Winchester would just become like any other school.
And yet, we have to have really strong exam results. No parent is going to commit their child to us to get substandard exam results which don’ t allow them access to whatever the next stage is. That’ s a really tricky balancing act, and I think every year the pressure gets greater. Old Wykehamists are quite happy to tell me that they came in, did all of their GCSEs in their first year, then spent two years in this wonderful exploratory intellectual sandpit, they failed an O-Level, or they did their A-Levels and something went wrong, and they went on and they got a firstclass degree at Oxbridge. That doesn’ t happen. There is no slip between cup and lip that is permissible in the current system, and the problem is that if you are risk-averse intellectually, you tend to stifle the top. That’ s what that challenge fundamentally boils down to. And in the end, if we lost our willingness to look beyond exams completely, well, we’ d be like other school; we’ d be a very good school, but we wouldn’ t be the Winchester that I know and love.
TD: When it comes to Winkies and sports, how does the-
HM: [ laughs ]
TD: How does the school make decisions regarding which takes priority?
JD: This was a popular one.
HM: Yeah.
TD: Very highly requested.
HM: Has a granular feel. [ laughs ]
TD: For example, the decision to move VIs Festival to Palmer last year.
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