Bursar’s Report:
12/13
And yet… demand for bursaries far exceeds
the funds available. It is now normal for me
to have to turn away pupils who have already
been offered a place in the school because we
do not have the money to help them. This
year, 11 boys were unfortunate enough to
find themselves as non-Wykehamists. Those
telephone calls are the worst part of the job.
There remains much to do.
As ever, I commend the College’s statutory
accounts to you. The first thirty pages are a cracking
good read but I would say that, wouldn’t I?
To finish, I joined the College as Chief
Accountant in 1999 and that truly feels like
another century. There has been constant
change over those 20 years, particularly in
parents’ and pupils’ and society’s expectations
of a leading school. Safeguarding is now, rightly,
front and centre in our thinking and in this
and other respects we are now highly regulated.
Compliance requires greater resources and
a more professional approach. The school has
met the challenge, in no small measure due to
the professionalism of the bursary team which
I have had the pleasure of leading since 2014.
The most recent addition is the Director of IT.
At the risk of incurring the wrath of the IT gods,
it is a source of particular pride that IT is used
ubiquitously across the school, by pupils and
teachers alike; we are now acknowledged as
one of the leaders of its use in the classroom.
AV E R AG E VA LU E O F
B U R SA R I E S AWA R DE D
N U M B E R O F BOYS
RECEIVING BURSARIES
£2,981,313
TOTA L VA L U E O F
B U R SA R I E S AWA R DE D (£)
steven little
There is much to look forward to. The
Kingsgate Park Project is well underway:
the “temporary” sports facilities are impressive
and the old PE Centre is being demolished. We
move forward confidently in the knowledge that
the project is on a sound financial footing and
fundraising is in full swing. Yet, we cannot stand
still; we are already looking beyond the Sports
Centre’s completion in 2022 to plan how the school
will meet further challenges over the next 25 years.
More topically, Winchester has been
introducing low carbon technologies for a
decade - solar panels and a biomass boiler,
the latter satisfyingly serving the most energy-
hungry buildings at the medieval heart of the
school. Every opportunity is taken to replace
old-fashioned lighting and heating systems,
and to mitigate waste wherever possible. It
goes without saying that particular attention
has been paid to the new Sports Centre where
we are targeting a BREEAM ‘excellent’ rating.
Yet for all the constant change, some things
are timeless. The beauty of the school’s buildings
and natural environment, the quality and
inventiveness of the teaching, and the pupils —
we staff may get older but they are ever young,
and talented. The school’s commitment to the
enduring principles of excellence and a traditional
liberal education remains as relevant today as
ever, equipping our pupils for a globalised world.
Propino tibi, domine, et omnibus Wiccamicis.
.
The Wykeham Journal 2019 11