THE WYKEHAM JOURNAL 2021
HEADMASTER ’ S MESSAGE
DR TIM HANDS
Winston Churchill once said that he believed in vision , but only in vision so far as he could see . This is a small account of some of the things I have so far seen as the school implements the developments set out by the Warden and Fellows in their Vision for Winchester College in the 21st Century .
The College would like its young people to be confident , global citizens . Div has always reflected the changing interests of pupils and dons . Recently , for example , one div don identified a significant gap in his knowledge and that of his div in the history and culture of the United States , and he set about remedying this with topics ranging from the War of Independence to the Civil Rights Movement . Div is one of Win Coll ’ s most important USPs : we all know the benefits of free-ranging discussion and breadth of topic , unconstrained by syllabus . Dons and pupils alike have embraced and enjoyed the challenge of casting the old nets ever wider . For myself , having once studied Matthew Arnold and been brought up on Kenneth Clark ’ s Civilisation , it was a delight to welcome New Men with a Div lecture about these two Wykehamists ’ influential views of culture , and test their
WE ARE ACTIVELY ENCOURAGING THOSE WITH TALENT IN SPORT , MUSIC , OR THE ARTS . ideas against those of the cultural critic CLR James , as set out in his Beyond a Boundary . This Christmas I read Harry Altham ’ s account of the origins of cricket and its moral force , with its views extolled in the Preface by Don Bradman . When Hampshire starts playing County Cricket here in 2024 , they should find some well-informed spectators .
A significant addition to the curriculum has been the re-introduction of Computer Science . Until two years ago , top universities did not significantly welcome this qualification ; rather the exclusive emphasis was on Maths and Further Maths . That opinion has been changing , chiefly because of the number of students from overseas wishing to study in this country who have had a secondary qualification in Computer Science . The College has followed suit . The subject has a focus on pupils developing broader critical skills , including problem-solving , coding , analytical and meta-cognitive thinking , as well as engineering and programming skills . It also lends itself surprisingly well to collaboration , as evidenced by the societies that have sprung up around it , led by the pupils themselves , ranging from AI to Game Development .
The greatest change taking place this year , of course , will be the expansion of our Sixth Form to welcome day pupils , including girls . A considerable amount of thought has gone into the logistics , informed by the feedback we received from the whole school community throughout the consultation period after the Vision was first announced .
8