THE WYKEHAM JOURNAL 2023
And we now have planning permission to build two new Boarding Houses for girls — the first new Boarding Houses at Winchester for over 100 years . In addition , Elizabeth Stone has succeeded Tim Hands , after his seven successful years as Headmaster . Elizabeth knows the school ( and many dons ) well from her time in Common Room just over ten years ago . She has started with great energy and enthusiasm , combining an instinctive understanding of what makes Winchester special with a well-judged willingness to challenge comfortable assumptions .
All that said , none of us is complacent about the future . We are living through a time when education is politically charged , whether because of the continuing and uneven impact of Covid , the closure of state school buildings made from aerated concrete , the debate about overseas students in UK universities or the Labour Party ’ s proposals to impose VAT on independent schools . Unfortunately , education has not benefitted financially from this political focus . In the 1990s education and healthcare both received about 4 % of GDP in state support . Health spending rose to over 7 % of GDP just before the pandemic , while education spending was little changed as a percentage . In the decade from 2009 / 10 government spending per pupil at school fell by 9 % in real terms . Decisions on public spending are notoriously difficult . But these figures suggest that the contribution of schools such as Winchester ( allied to our determination to widen access ) is of growing importance — not least in ensuring that minority subjects do not disappear entirely .
The latter threat seems all too real . The sharp decline in Modern Languages ( with the exception of Spanish ) is well documented . Latin and Greek are endangered species — even in top state and independent schools . By way of example , an excellent local state school now offers no Greek A-level and had 7
Elizabeth combines an instinctive understanding of what makes Winchester special with a well-judged willingness to challenge comfortable assumptions .
candidates for Latin in 2023 ( compared to 534 for Maths ). Music A-level numbers in England have declined by 45 % since 2010 . The Governing Body continues to believe in offering a wide-ranging curriculum which stretches our pupils intellectually and is designed to prepare them for success in life , not just exams .
It is entirely understandable that the government should want schools to provide their pupils with skills which will help them to flourish in a modern economy . But , even in times of tight public finances , it is less obvious that trying to do more with less is the right strategy for education — which holds the
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