No . 131 The Trusty Servant
HM : I admit that I did say that and I don ’ t disown a word of it . I would say that girls came to Magdalen College in my time and there weren ’ t any boys there , apart from one , who wanted that to happen . Now they ’ ll all tell you how excellent it was . The Warden and I share an Oxford College where it was all men when he was there , and accepted women only a year after he ’ d left . I was opposed to that change . I think it depends on the specific needs of the institution you ’ re looking at . I would not suggest that any boy from Winchester College is massively in favour of this , but I do think it ’ s right for the School and for future boys .
Q : How long has this idea been in the works ?
Warden : The issue has been around for a long time . The Governing Body in 2005 spent a year looking at it and I think they ended up ( a bit like the boys at school ) quite torn between the two options . The school at that stage was going through quite a difficult period , with three headmasters in five years . I think the conclusion was that at that moment consolidation was probably the right answer , rather than adding new change onto the existing challenges . In the case of the decision that was taken in December , I think the first detailed discussion took place in May 2019 and it has been pretty much on the agenda ever since . Our reasoning on the admission of girls was that we wanted to help our pupils better face the challenges of the real world .
Q : Many are complaining about a lack of communication with the school community , apart from the warning in The Times a week before . Before deciding on such a decision , why did you make the decision to keep it a closed discussion ?
Warden : The ‘ warning ’ as you describe it in The Times was actually a leak . One or two people have suggested this was a skilful piece of Alistair-Campbell-like manipulation of the media . I ’ m afraid that was entirely wrong ; it was instead something that came out unintentionally .
HM : I have the minutes written down of a meeting there was in Common Room in 1979 . They discussed the motion that ‘ This common room declares itself to be in favour of a move towards co-education ’ and asked the Headmaster and Governing Body to investigate the practicalities of this idea . It was passed by 38 votes to 20 votes . In general , the indications we ’ ve had from Common Room have always been in favour . I did talk with senior staff and to my surprise all have been in favour of it . Fourteen dons have responded to
Photograph by Angus Bremner ( C ) the consultation – all are in favour , some of them such as Mr Billington for example passionately so .
Q : Pupils are more concerned about the admission of day pupils than the admission of girls . As someone who teaches at Winchester College , in what way do you think day pupils will change the dynamic of Winchester College if at all ?
HM : The concerns about day pupils are really interesting . How would this alter something like Div ( we ’ ll obviously continue with Div )? How will this affect Chapel ? How will we keep the house spirit that we ’ ve got if day could dilute it ? Dr Hodgins is currently running a committee looking at this ; he ’ s been talking to many of the OWs who ’ ve already experienced this and been day pupils themselves and Co Ro will have talks from these OWs . In short , we ’ re researching the answers .
Q : Do you think after this change there will be more of a balance between genders in teaching staff ?
HM : Yes . You ’ ll know that there ’ s considerable debate in all organisations about diversity . One of the things that we have done already is to look at the way we describe ourselves in job applications . We ’ ve found that it ’ s been quite old-fashioned . This has now been changed for the appointment of the new Deputy to the Bursar , and it brought us a different kind of field . So , it is likely that there now will be more balance .
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