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Head Master's Commemoration 2010 Speech

Ladies and gentlemen...

It is said that Gordon Brown can brighten the mood in a room merely by leaving it. As he takes his post – “Bigotgate” leave from Downing Street, a number of myths about him were exposed, not least the myth that he was a good chancellor with sound economic judgement. One wonders how these myths are created and gain currency; perhaps it is as Mark Twain observed that a lie runs two miles in the time it takes the truth to pull on its shoes. But myths, urban or otherwise do gain currency remarkably quickly and Clifton seems to generate more than its fair share. Some of the myths are quite pervasive and keep coming round. Today I want to address some of those myths in the hope that they, like Gordon Brown, will leave the room once and for all. Myth number one: Clifton is not a first rate academic school.

The year began with record results in public examinations. The key statistics for 2009 are: 76.2% A and B grades at A level and 60% A*/A at GCSE. The former, the first time Clifton has been over 75% A/B or three-quarters of all exams taken, is significant in that it means that the overwhelming majority of our leavers can progress to the best universities. But it is the GCSE statistic that is the most pleasing. In 2007 the equivalent figure was 48% A*/A; in 2008 it was 56%. The graph shows a very steep upward rise; furthermore last year’s 60% A*/A placed us alongside the most selective schools in Bristol, a truth that has not been universally acknowledged and this year we could very well beat them. So let us have no more talk of Clifton not being an academic school because the statistics clearly demonstrate that we are. This year’s Upper Sixth are on track to close in on 80% A/B at A level and we are confident that there will be a good number of A*s at the top end.

Myth number two: that universities operate a bias against Clifton-educated candidates and indeed privately educated candidates generally. The statistics do not bear this out. According to the 2010 admission figures from Cambridge published recently entrants from state schools and colleges dropped five per cent to 1,675, while those from independent schools increased by three per cent to 1,318. Some 5,817 students with straight As at A level, from both the private and the state sectors, were rejected – an increase of more than 300 on the previous year. Many of you will know, or know of, people in that category: people with “perfect scores” in public exams who are rejected by the top universities. But clearly what the statistics prove is that there is no bias at all, it is simply that entry is more competitive each year. That is borne out by the preliminary figures for Oxford entry for 2010 showed a record number of applications at more than 17,000, an increase of 12% on the previous year. So it is harder than ever to get in. Against that background, the most popular destination this year for our leavers was Imperial (ranked 3 in Times Good University Guide 2011, published on Thursday) followed by Oxford, King’s London, UCL, Durham, Exeter, Warwick and Bristol, and Manchester all of which received more than four of our leavers. In addition to receiving offers from the best universities this year no fewer than 12 of the Upper Sixth have gained places at the most prestigious Art schools such as Wimbledon and Chelsea. This proves that our pupils gain places at the very best universities and colleges.

(And) we achieved these outcomes without changing the ethos of the school which remains devoted to an all round education for a broad intake of pupils of diverse talents and abilities. Few other schools do that. This fact was recognised in Tatler’s Good School’s Guide 2010 which said “Clifton is the school that everybody is talking about right now” because “you can send your child to Clifton and they will come out the other end clutching a fistful of high alphabet grades and an offer at a good university. But they will also have a sophisticated mix of friends and the confidence that comes from being in a city like Bristol. They are a cosmopolitan bunch”.

Quite right: this year there are 39 different nationalities represented in the pupil body and all six major world religions. As well as a local and regional appeal, Clifton has a genuinely global catchment area, with the majority of our overseas pupils coming from mainland Europe, with easy access via Bristol airport. This brings a richness and diversity of experience to the School, with highly talented pupils from all sorts of backgrounds brought together: this is a real strength of the School. So myth number three, that Clifton has too many overseas pupils, also stands exposed: the truth is that, on the contrary, our international dimension is one of our greatest strengths. We know that Clifton’s eclectic mix of pupils means that all kinds of people can flourish here and we provide a climate in which they can do so; we do not expect pupils to be anything other them themselves, although we do expect them to become the best possible version of themselves that they can be. This emphasis on allowing the pupils to revel in their own distinct personalities gives them real assurance, real confidence, and the ability to go anywhere in the world, talk to anyone and be comfortable doing so. And they do and they are. That is perhaps the single greatest benefit of a Clifton education, and it is priceless.

Talking of price I come to myth number four: that the school must be suffering the effects of the recession. We have not experienced any downturn at least not in terms of demand for places in the school. Last September we opened with a record 711 pupils in the Upper School. Recruitment for next September is so strong that we are very likely to be over 700 again with 720 confirmed places as we speak. There are a significant number of registrations for September 2011 too. So, once again the facts of the matter give the lie to the myth.

There is one urban myth that has some truth in it however; Clifton pupils know how to party. No doubt about that. So do their parents. Quite right too. But you have, as the Beastie Boys song says, to fight for the right to party. There is absolutely no reason to begrudge the pupils their celebrations when they have earned the right to them.

We have so many pupils who have earned that right; pupils who excel in so many areas of their lives; one of the purposes of a day like this is to recognise and celebrate their achievements. As is right and proper we will begin with those who have achieved particular intellectual distinction in their studies and then move on to those who have excelled in other areas of school life. The President, Mr Nick Tarsh, an alumnus of Polack’s, and of Clare College, Cambridge, will present the prizes.

Prize Giving

Four years ago I introduced a “world premiere” at this point in the proceedings in asking the Head of School to speak to you. That was Andrew Bailey and those of you who heard him speak on that day will not be surprised that he has recently achieved a first class degree at Cambridge; not only that but he was right at the top of the Class lists in Geography. This part of the proceedings is therefore now a much loved Clifton tradition. This year all three of this year’s Heads of School will speak, namely Kerstin Gill, Josh Brown and the current Head of School, Josh Barnes.

The Head of School

As we reflect on the rites of passage of the Upper Sixth so we must also pay tribute to their teachers and especially those who are moving on.

During the course of the year we said farewell to John Heritage, Assistant Director of Music and Assistant Housemaster in South Town. John came to Clifton in 1993 but as many of you will know John struggled with MS for a number of years; this year after some prolonged and more frequent spells of absence he decided to call it a day and retired altogether from teaching. Also during the course of year Shannon Shriver who taught Economics and Business Studies, departed for Madrid after her husband was relocated. A number of teachers are moving on at the end of the year. After two years at Clifton Verity King moves to St George’s Weybridge, to teach Maths and to coach hockey. The girls in Oakeley’s, where she has been Assistant Housemistress this year will miss her. Last year Head of Physics Tony Reeves was voted Physics Teacher of the Year by the Institute of Physics and with his accolade takes a free transfer back to Christ’s College Brecon where he had taught since September 1984 before coming to Clifton in 2007. During his three year loan period out of the Principality he has enthused us with his arcane knowledge of all sorts of trivia, his love of games of all kinds and his football refereeing; the Welsh however are welcome to his dreadful puns. Clare Smith came to Clifton originally to teach Mandarin, of which she is a fluent speaker, but branched out into History as well. After a Maternity Leave last year she has decided to move with her daughter back to China, where she had lived for four years after graduating from Oxford. After three years of setting exactingly high standards in the French and Spanish departments Laura Davies is moving to Jumeirah College Dubai, which will no doubt require a whole new wardrobe, and also moving to Dubai, and you may be able to spot a link there, is Bobby Trivic, who takes up a post as Head of Spanish at Dubai College. Bobby, currently Head of French, came to Clifton in 2004 and has been an enthusiast for all languages as well as for Tottenham Hotspur. He has coached the 2nd X1 football, boys’ tennis and advanced the study of French and Spanish in his time here. The most senior leaver this year is Annie Musgrove who has been Housemistress of Worcester since 2002. Annie had until that point enjoyed a varied and interesting career and not just in teaching. After Cambridge she had a spell of teaching in state comprehensive schools, a Private Prep school, then a period working as a self employed publisher before studying for an MBA and working in marketing and Public Relations. She brought all that richness of experience and her many talents to bear in looking after the girls in Worcester in whom she has a loyal following; at a recent OC dinner in Oxford one end of the room saw a number of ex-Worcester House girls gathered in laughter around Annie. As well as running Worcester Annie can be seen running cross country and teaching geography to the highest standard. Geography teachers are more likely than most of us to take a keen interest in ecology; Annie and Paul’s next project is to build a carbon neutral home in Somerset and in order, in part, to be on hand to work on that project Annie is moving to Wellington School as Housemistress, a school just four miles from the new home which is gradually taking shape. Also moving on but not really very far is Paul Simcox, The Marshal. In fact Paul is moving less than four hundred yards to the Village and will still be a presence in Clifton as a Butcombe parent. However, a man of his very considerable talents and abilities, and his experience in both the military and diplomatic services, was always going to attract a steady stream of job offers and Paul is moving to an Associate position with a company (John Taylor International Partnership) conducting recruitment, employee and management training both in the UK and abroad. We have been lucky to have had him for two years and it was always going to be difficult to retain him, but it is good to know that he is sufficiently impressed by Clifton to live here in order to educate his children at Clifton. Let us wish them all well in their various new ventures and thank them all for all that they have done for Clifton ...

There are 8 newly appointed teachers joining the Senior Common room in September and there are a couple of other internal changes too. One which you might already be aware of is that Simon Reece has become the Old Cliftonian Society Secretary. He succeeds the much missed Charlie Colquhoun, in whose memory we are to set up, this summer, The Charles Colquhoun Memorial Fund. This will seek to raise money for a specifically dedicated bursary to bring to Clifton an outstanding sportsman or woman whose parents would not otherwise be able to pay the fees. This is exactly what Charlie would have wanted.

Clifton has experienced an unusual and indeed unfair share of loss recently and the most difficult thing we had to cope with this year was the cruelly premature death of Ryan Bresnahan. Many tears have flowed; many words have been spoken; many more of both will follow. As the poet Wordsworth concluded after the death of his brother in “Elegiac Stanzas Suggested by a Picture of Peele Castle”, “Not without hope we suffer and we mourn”.

There is strength to be found in adversity; the pupils drew strength from one another in the face of that extreme adversity and continue to do so. It is a remarkable feature of Clifton that the pupils form such strong friendships and bonds; as I walk around the school my heart warms at the sight of the pupils scattered in groups along the parapet and on the Close; one can see the pleasure that the pupils take in one another’s company and know that they are cementing lasting friendships. Such faith, belief and trust in one another is of course what makes them such good team players, in music, in drama and on the games field.

In boys rugby we had an unbeaten Second XI and across the school won a very high percentage of matches against the toughest of opposition schools; we won more matches, 5, against Millfield, unarguably the best rugby playing school in the land, than any other school and yet again a girls hockey team went to the National Finals. Boys’ hockey is now established at a new level. Over the past two years the First XI has been essentially the same group of boys and they have won a staggering 26 out of 28 matches in that two year period. Next year we will have a new water-based artificial surface for hockey, at Beggar’s Bush. This will be a facility of International standard and a major addition to our facilities. The standard of music at Clifton is quite breathtaking: the new Music School has made a real difference, which is funnily enough what we say a Clifton education will do for our pupils. There is more to be done. We have an ambitious development plan to bring all of our facilities up to the highest standards. In the short term these include: a new teaching block to bring the classroom facilities for all subjects up to the standard of those for Science and Music; a dedicated Sixth Form Centre with a focus on Careers, Universities and Independent Learning, as well as a common room providing leisure facilities and in the longer term a new Performing Arts Centre. These will dovetail with equally exciting developments in the Pre.

Ladies and gentlemen, Clifton is, unquestionably, a great school and getting greater with each passing year. And in closing I want to add my voice to the tributes paid to Andrew Thornhill whose 15 year Chairmanship of the Council has been instrumental in re-establishing Clifton’s greatness. In these days of a Lib-Con coalition, or Con-Lib, or the Con-dems as the Guardian rather predictably describes it, we have seen a coming together of Whigs and Tories, just as we did in the 1880s. Andrew is both Whig and Tory, and stands proudly in a tradition of radical Conservatism. Like the Tories Andrew seeks to preserve a certain regard for the old order, particularly in terms of the institutions and traditions of state, and in terms of decorum and good manners. But like the Whigs Andrew is also a non-conformist, a dissenter, a believer in free trade and a free thinker. Intellectually there is no idea to which Andrew will not give house room and it is no exaggeration to say that it is his ingenuity and determination, together with the much missed and equally radical conservative, John Barron, Nick’s predecessor as President, that has put Clifton in the strong position it enjoys today. So let us join together now for a drink and in so doing raise a glass to the inimitable Mr Thornhill.

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