Radley Newsletter 09

RadleyN E W S L E T T E R

THE

| The Education of Boys | Hall | First Impressions |

| The Next Generation | Les Misérables |

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for all boys to perform in public. Debating, giving talks in class, and presenting papers to societies again help boys develop important oral skills. Equally the research found that boys in boys’ schools are involved in many areas of the arts and in greater numbers than their peers in mixed schools. Fewer will sing in choirs unless they are single sex. Radley has a Chapel Choir of 85, large numbers of boys play in the Orchestra, Wind Band, Big Band, Soul Band, various ensembles, or sing in the Clerkes. Many would have given up, faced with confident and accomplished girls – at Radley the boys feel valued and so stay involved with music making. The sheer volume and quality of the boys’ artworks which colonise the campus shows the vitality of visual arts at Radley. Drama develops emotional intelligence and the range of plays, from Les Miserables to the Shell Haddon Cup competition, provide

Its painstaking research provides concrete proof of what many who taught or led boys’ schools long thought but couldn’t statistically prove; it also chimes in with the experience of dons at Radley. It shows that boys have different educational needs from girls, and these are often neglected in mixed groups; boys are naturally less verbal, mature physically later yet have strengths in spatial skills, have more acute vision, and are more active. Boys’ schools recognise this and have developed an education suited to boys’ needs. Radley has a great sporting tradition, but as important as the quality and success of its top teams is the sheer number of sides it fields every Saturday, and the regularity of games’ practices – all to direct the physical energies of boys.

To counter boys’ lack of verbal confidence Radley has Declamations, a wonderful training

For long the tide has run in favour of co-education in schools; its proponents have argued for the naturalness of social arrangements, even if there is a suspicion that some Damascene conversions to co-education coincided with sickly balance sheets. A few of the great schools have cleaved to single-sex education for boys and they have been given powerful ammunition for that decision by findings of the International Boys School Coalition, a world-wide body of boys’ schools in USA, Australia, N.Z. and Europe, which includes Radley, Eton and Dulwich from the United Kingdom.

The Educat

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Radleians with every opportunity to act. Again the research found that ‘boys in boys’ schools love to write poetry; in mixed schools poetry can be seen as something primarily of interest to girls’. Creative writing at Radley since the days of Harold Monro, Peter Cook and Andrew Motion has been strong, and the present generation fostered by Chris Ellott, the Head of English, is very productive, publishing termly anthologies of writing.

It has long been observed that ‘for young adolescent boys, performance in mixed settings often sensitive about status and the presence of girls, their performative stance may be risk averse, cloaked and cool’. Equally it may be ‘disruptive and attention-seeking’. It may, too, of course, be a very natural relationship for some. Nevertheless, at Radley we would concur with the authors’ observation that an all-boy format frees ‘boys to be more sensitive and thoughtful in discussion’ and ‘find their freedom of expression’. The strength of our Modern Languages confirms the researchers who found boys in co-educational modern language classes often feel self-conscious about speaking up but flourish in single sex schools where there are no girls to dominate at

the top of the class! The boys at Radley do, however, have a chance to debate and discuss with girls; for example, our 6.2 Conference with St Helen’s is a stimulating and successful event.

It is probably true to say that many of these observations only articulate what parents have long known; ‘that boys and girls are different, and they require different approaches to help them grow up’. What is new is that now a number of prominent educationalists are arguing that boys positively need single sex education to enable them to be more confident and to help them grow up to be men; for these professionals the rush to co-education in the last few decades has actually tipped the balance in schools towards girls, and feminised education. The emphasis on coursework and modules in exams, playing to girls’ diligence and planning, are but two examples of a wider trend. Radley dons are experienced at getting the best from boys, a different skill from that of teaching co-educational classes. It is because we fully appreciate that boys require an education tailored to their needs that we have resisted siren calls to change our nature; many parents, current and prospective, seem to agree.

ion of Boys

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Hall A Hundred Years On

In July 1909 work began on architect Robert Jackson’s design of Hall and thus we celebrate this year the centenary of the completion of this imposing building. Reminiscent of the dining hall of an Oxford college with its oak panelling and portraits of past Wardens and, to some, not unlike the dining hall in Hogwarts, the present building is rendered more welcoming with the rich coral that covers the walls above the heraldic shields of erstwhile Senior Prefects and School Prefects. Before the self-service system was introduced in the final months of the 60s, there was no choice of food, which was often cold and rarely appetizing. The current Radleian benefits from an altogether more pleasurable experience, enhanced by recent refurbishments of the kitchens and serving areas. Whilst all meals are taken in Hall, he can choose when to eat, what to eat and importantly with whom to sit. Meal times now have a more informal air and the family nature of the school is reflected in the presence of the families of the younger dons at lunch.

However, like an army, Radley marches on its stomach and it is the food itself

that is inevitably uppermost in teenaged boys’ minds many hours of the day. Overwhelmingly, Radleians and visitors consider the food to be of a high standard and credit for this must go to the Catering Manager, Pam Dickens, and her team, ably led by the Head Chef, Tomasz.

There is a great variety of dishes on offer, ranging from the well-stocked salad bar to Lamb Tagine and Hungarian Lecho, but the caterers are always mindful of the importance of a balanced and healthy diet. For most boys, however, there are two highlights of the week: burger night on Wednesday, when the McDonald’s factor kicks in, and Friday evenings when the duty Social chooses the menu, often of the Caesar Salad/Chicken Kiev variety. Formal dinners for dons, boys and guests are, of course, outstanding.

Twice a term the Senior Master’s Advisory Committee (the acronym SMAC may be a brave one in these litigious times), which includes a representative from each Social, meets with the Catering staff to discuss catering issues. These range from

queuing times to the lack of salt on tables, from why smoothies cannot be produced everyday to why a particular variety of onion has suddenly appeared in the spaghetti bolognese. The most popular dishes and the least favoured are discussed and, importantly, the catering staff take heed of the boys’ views. Occasionally a tasting session is held to decide which is, for example, a preferred variety of sandwich or flavour of ice cream.

Socials, too, play their part in keeping the boys well fuelled, particularly at Cocoa from 9.00pm onwards when the boys benefit from a spread of cakes and biscuits as well as stimulating conversation. On Saturday evenings the Tutors have open house in the winter months when the boys are treated to a roast joint or a pizza, while in the summer the sound of meat sizzling on the barbecue can be heard most weekends. As if this were not enough, the boys can stock up between meals in Shop, which offers such delights as chicken rolls, chips and sweets.

Charlie Barker,Senior Master


The New Boys’ Swimming Test

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Rugby Trials

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Meeting the other K Social Shee

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My first term at Radley has been, to say the least, busy from day one. As you stand in your cubicle wearing your new uniform and trying to get used to the strange gown that is falling off your shoulders you do not quite realise how quickly the next few weeks will go. In the first couple of weeks we did the games circus which is an opportunity to try all of the minor sports that Radley has on offer, including real tennis, rackets and squash. I have enjoyed playing rackets and fives for the first time and most boys have found a new sport that they enjoy playing.

On the first Sunday of term there was the Shells’ tug of war on pups’ field followed by a barbecue. During the second week the Shell athletics standards took place; this is held on two afternoons when every boy in the first year takes part in as many athletic events as they can to earn points for their Social, and my Social, K, won!

The Haddon Cup, the Inter-Social Drama Competition, auditions started early on in the third week of term and then each Social began to rehearse their different plays in preparation for their performance a week before half term. The Haddon Cup is great fun and every Shell boy takes part in it to try and claim the prize. It was a really good way of

Rehersals for the


Standards - the Inter-Social Athetics Competition

K Social Shells are shown the Golf Course as part of the New Boys’ Games Circusrst

ssionsgetting to know all of the boys in Social and a great thing to do.

There is a new responsibility with your work and more independence, forcing you to learn how to manage your time. The Shell projects are a big part of the first term; each boy has to pick a person from before and after 1960 and then write about them in depth and compare them. There is a wide range of activities that you can do; the art and music departments are always open.

I have been going to boarding school for five years already but there is a huge difference from prep school boarding life, where nearly every minute of your day is planned out, to public school where you are given a responsibility to use time sensibly yourself. The first place that you learn your way around when you arrive at Radley is your Social where you work, sleep and spend much of your free time and most boys settle into it very quickly.

I have really enjoyed my first term at Radley and look forward to the rest of my time.

Hector Neill-Edwards, Ludgrove and K Social

Relaxing in Social Hall at the end of Prep

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All are academically able and highly qualified, with most being Oxbridge graduates, several with Masters and PhDs, experienced in teaching undergraduates at Oxford and Cambridge. Several played for their universities, with a rugby blue, university lightweights and divisional rugby representation among them. Several were choral scholars, several professional actors, and a couple were experienced in banking and inter-governmental organisations. A couple had taught before, or had done PGCE teaching practice in other schools. Most had grown up with boarding, and all seemingly instinctively understood the demands of a seven day week boarding environment. Readers of the national press know how difficult it is to appoint teachers of real academic quality to

further than mentioning the boys – to have the chance to work every day in the classroom, on the sports’ field or in the boarding house with young men so keen to learn, who want to do well and yet are ready to have a laugh, is an absolute pleasure’. Ed Tolputt, Cambridge physicist, choral scholar and formerly professional actor also enthuses about the boys; ‘when I have taken guests into the school the polite friendliness of the boys around and about made me glowingly proud’. For Tim Lawson, politics teacher, Loughborough trained rugby and cricket coach, ‘the respect between staff and boys – I simply could not believe how polite the boys are at all times’ – explains the ‘whole atmosphere of Radley’.

Gareth Hughes, geographer, Cambridge doctorate, a Welsh rugby player, rower and runner, talked of the ‘incredibly high academic pedigree of Common Room’, and yet of Radley’s encouragement to dons to pursue non-academic interests and hobbies to help them be roundEd He points out the centrality of the department in providing the early support network and

schools, but it is perhaps because schools like Radley still demand much of their pupils, still believe in learning for its own sake, and still encourage the pursuit of academic enthusiasm as important in its own right, that talented young people want to go back into our schools.

Similar things strike these ‘new boys’ about their first few terms at Radley. Tony Jackson, historian and rugby blue loves the ‘total’ curriculum that can only be gained through a boarding education, where you can build and develop relationships through seeing boys in different areas. He is struck forcibly by the quality of Common Room, ‘where everyone is welcoming and a communal ambience is created’. ‘Support is always available’. Above all, ‘you cannot go

The Next GeneraWhen asked about Radley’s strengths, parents and boys will overwhelmingly point to the quality of Common Room, the dons’ outstanding teaching and coaching, and the warmth and support by which boys are sustained. So, making appointments which maintain those standards is of central importance to the school. Every few years, as a generation of experienced schoolmasters retires, the task of recruiting a phalanx of new young dons becomes crucial. Over the last two years this has happened at Radley, but we have been exceptionally fortunate in the ten or so young teachers we have appointed.



how senior dons (like outgoing Head of Geography John Harris) provide superb mentoring in those first terms. He was also struck by the ‘formidable breadth and depth of musical, academic and sporting talent in the boys’. His only caveat; he worried that so excellent was the academic provision that some boys could avoid developing that necessary self-reliance.

For many, the boarding experience is a vital part of their Radley life. Charlie Scott-Malden, English and Learning Support, Cambridge graduate, Hockey and Cricket coach, commented on the pleasure of ‘playing an active part in the new, happy and thriving J Social’. Ed Tolputt, again, mentioned that being associated with F Social, as one of the sub-tutorial team, provides opportunity for non-teaching, Radley-style support.

Dan Palmer, physicist, Oxford graduate, a formidable rugby prop, has previously taught in a state boarding school, and has loved the intellectual stimulus, in particular the Oxbridge sessions. Beyond the department he is struck by ‘the fantastic standard of Common

ation

Room’; ‘it is refreshing and interesting to be able to talk at lunch about your subject (or listen to another don who is passionate about his or hers)’. His only concern is that the sheer amount on at Radley can ‘eat into boys’ teaching time’. It is a balance a busy school constantly needs to review.

It is gratifying that several new young dons were educated at Radley. Oli Langton, Edinburgh historian and cricketer, and Ed Holt, Oxford classicist, have both returned to their alma mater. They know both the expectations, and the form. Ed Holt, for example, says

that ‘it has struck me afresh how much each individual don contributes, and the breadth of skills in Common Room’.

It is this talented cohort which will provide the next generation of tutors and heads of department; indeed, the process has started with Gareth Hughes’ appointment after his first year to be Head of Geography in September 2010. If Radley’s past is a guide, some will stay on and become senior masters or sub warden; and some will go off to be heads at top schools in the future. But for now, we feel the future at Radley is all the brighter for their being part of it.



Les Mis



érables



What made Robert Lowe’s production so special? Above all it was the teamwork; over 140 people were involved and they worked together to the highest professional standards. Overcoming difficulties of aligning orchestra (behind the stage) with singers out front; unobtrusive miking of all the lead singers; the sophistication of the lighting so that no two scenes were ever the same; a stage set which involved a wonderful barricade of mountainous proportions; costumes which were colourful and rich. All these were the technical casters on which the show smoothly ran. And with these in place the actors could perform to their best, and they certainly did. What impressed most was the consistency, from the character with but one line through to those playing major roles – all acted in part every moment they were on stage. Everyone who sang a solo line was spot on – powerful, confident, convincing, and the choreographed big numbers showcased that discipline and focus. Some of those routines – ‘Master of the House’, ‘Red and Black’, ‘Do You Hear the People Sing?’ – were superb, being inventive, colourful, varied and witty.

Of course there were even brighter stars shining out, those leading players taking central roles: Natasha Edwards as Fantine

example: Fred Ahern (Sussex House, F Social) acted but was also a member of a successful 1st XV, Head of Chapel Choir and Head of F Social; Jamie Bruce-Crampton (Winchester House, F Social), 1st XV, top oarsman, and Chapel Choir member; Owen Petty and Jack Emmett (Moulsford, H Social) rehearsing and acting, but also playing for the 2nd XV, and Tommy Siman (Abingdon Prep, H Social) lighting up the students’ routine and playing – and defeating – Harrow Colts 1st XV in the afternoon of the Saturday performance. Radley expects boys to multi-task....

Putting on such a show requires stamina; rehearsals started in April, seven months before the performance. It relies on real talent in Common Room. Stephen Clarke, Musical Director is also Precentor and his skill in training singers and choirs was at the heart of this strong musical performance. Matt Barker (lighting and stage manager), and Lianne Oakley-Rowland (costumes) are exceptional, giving hours of expertise to getting things just right. Finally, Robert Lowe, Director, had a clear vision of what Les Misérables could be, and his energy and drive, his skill at drawing performances from his cast, his persistence, and insistence on only the best, brought this great enterprise to its triumphant conclusion.

importantly set the tone and the standards for the rest of the show with the early brilliance of her ‘I Dreamed a Dream’. The girls had come from thirteen different schools and colleges, and played a key part in the success of Les Misérables. Charlotte Smith as Eponine, Hetty Gullifer as Cosette and a rumbustious Lucy Hole as Madame Thénardier all sang and acted beautifully. Of the boys, Piers Saich (Papplewick, K Social) as Javert was wonderfully sinister and dangerous, a powerful, terrifying, yet tortured figure. Tom Milligan (Caldicott, K Social), fresh from starring with the National Youth Music Theatre in the summer, was consistently excellent in the major part of Jean Valjean, Ali Maxwell (Cothill, A Social) was a dynamic Enjolras, leader of the revolutionary uprising, Jonathan Tarcy (Shrewsbury House, G Social) ensured that his Marius was charming and winning, where in others’ hands it might have been merely soppy, and Owen Petty (Elstree, C Social) as Monsieur Thénardier was the living incarnation of a burlesque figure from a Gillray cartoon – simply larger than life, a scene stealer.

Perhaps even more impressive than the quality of the leading players was that so many of the supporting actors were involved elsewhere in Radley life. For

Around 2000 people over six performances witnessed something special in late November at Radley, a school play which was about as far removed from standard examples of the genre as it is possible to be. Spontaneous standing ovations occurred every evening; and milling audiences afterwards talked of being emotionally drained, but also exhilarated, by an exceptional production. A packed and enthusiastic matinee performance for Prep and Primary school children showed that the appeal was universal.

Les Misérables

12 T H E R A D L E Y N E W S L E T T E R Website: www.radley.org.uk . Admissions enquiries: 01235 543174 . [email protected]

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Radley Newsletter 09