Celebrating 25 Years Of The Good Schools Guide - Winchester College

Describe the school when you arrived?

Winchester in 1984 was like a small university with rather separate and diffuse departments and boarding houses that ran, to an extent, on their own. There was only a degree of central control, otherwise the departments and the houses had quite a lot of individualism about them.

What was the Winchester boy like then?

Much the same then as he is now: Intellectually curious, rather grown up, capable of individual thought – that is there isn’t much of a group ethic here, I don't mean there aren't corporate enthusiasms,

But boys don't do things because that's what other boys do. If they're interested in physics, they’re interested in physics.

They’re just as likely to get kudos from playing the violin well as being in the first fifteen.

And now?

I don't think the boys have changed that much, they still have passions for all sorts of things intellectual and I don’t think that has changed.

In the first edition of The Good Schools Guide we noted that,

'In the 60s /early 70s bright boys would go here, thicker brothers to Eton. Now though still immensely strong.... the school may have lost its keen academic edge, possibly owing to a tendency to inflexibility.'

Was that a fair comment?

For a very long time in the A-level league tables (especially the Financial Times) we were first for years. I don't think that intellectual edge has ever been lost. If you were to ask me about Winchester and Eton – well we’re still great rivals! I suspect that Winchester and Eton are more on a par academically now. I don’t recognise the charge of inflexibility; this is a seven-day-a week boarding school and there is plenty of time to pursue any number of academic, cultural and sporting interests – stimulated by very committed teachers and a procession of top-notch visiting speakers and coaches.

In the last edition it said it’s like 'A little bit of Oxford fell to earth one day, it landed in Winchester. That's what it looks like and feels like.' Does that ring true?

Yes, ancient buildings, bicycles, community; the whole academic staff lives here, with their families. We don’t have any day boys, so all these passions for all sorts of things go on through the evenings and weekends, very like Oxford. Very similar, I would say.

Is there anything about the school now that you could never have imagined when you first arrived?

I don't think there is really – except, of course, the wonders of technology. I would say we're more of a polyglot society now; we have pupils from all over the world. Certainly more foreign pupils than we had 25 years ago. We’ve stopped A-level in preference for the Cambridge Pre-U. I think I’d have been a bit surprised 25 years ago if anyone had said we’d stop teaching A-level.

GSCEs are very important now, 25 years ago we didn’t much bother with those. They weren’t important.

Now they’re very important because universities use GCSE grades as a benchmark for applications. We do the International GCSE here.

How has education, more generally, changed in the last 25 years?

First of all there are a lot more exams. For example 25 years ago there were no exams in the Lower VI^th. In 2000 the AS level was introduced and examinations have become modular, so that gives pupils the opportunity to resit modules all the time, at different points in the year. At Winchester we’ve got round this because Cambridge Pre-U examinations can only be taken at the end of a two-year course; there are no re-sits.

University entrance has changed because there are so many more people applying. Certainly 50 years ago, rather less than 10% of the population went to university. Now, the government is aiming to get 50% of young people into tertiary education. So, for example, if you apply to read a very popular subject at a top university you may be in competition with several thousand applicants. Most universities do not give individual interviews.

The other change is the National Curriculum. As an independent school we have a measure of independence from government edicts, but of course these impinge on us as well. There is regular and thorough inspection by Government approved agencies; mostly a very good thing.

I can tell you that compared with, say the 1960s, those who are at school today are a great deal more sensible and serious about their education, they know it really counts and there ‘s a pretty responsible and serious attitude towards education today.

Do you foresee a day you take girls? Or day pupils?

Girls, yes – day pupils, possibly, but not in the near future to either. The sense of community is very greatly strengthened by the fact that we don't take day pupils. It's not unusual for us to arrange events and activities all through the evenings and weekends, not because the staff are imposing them but because the boys want to do more music, matches, discussion,etc: we are all here.

With regards to taking girls, my personal view is that there will come a time when most of the population has been at co-ed schools themselves, therefore when they look for a school to send their children to they will automatically go to a co-ed school, but that‘s a long way off.

Right now there are a great many people who want to go to single sex schools. It works well because Winchester College is in a city - we have a successful girls’ school and a successful Sixth Form college nearby, so we’re not cut off from the rest of society. I happen to think, and I have experience of both, that it’s easier to teach boys on their own because there aren’t the social pressures that come with co-education at the age of 16, 17, and 18.

Is there a place for single sex education in the 21^st Century?

The single sex schools are immensely successful at the moment and I don’t think there will be any great move to change the constitution of these schools in the immediate future. But Winchester College has given very serious consideration to co-education; the decision was taken to remain as a boys’ school

What do you imagine Winchester College will be like in 25 years time?

Same as now. That is, boys from families that value education highly.

It'll be a school of high academic standards but more importantly a school that inculcates a love of learning.

And it’ll be a very strong community. I don't see that changing very much in the next 25 years.

Keith Pusey was interviewed by Emily Palmer as part of The Good Schools Guide 25th Anniversary celebrations.