Headmaster's Bulletin (38)

I get a bit fed up when I see articles in the media portraying all private schools as similar to Eton or Harrow! They are keen to perpetuate the myth that we are all very ‘posh’ and ridiculously expensive.

A fortnight ago, The Sunday Times carried an interview with Andrew Halls, Head of King’s College School, Wimbledon. He warned that private schools were pricing themselves out of the market, fast becoming “finishing schools for the children of oligarchs”. His is a day school like Bablake, but with annual fees of £19,455! One of our greatest strengths as an inclusive community is that we draw our pupils from diverse cultural and social backgrounds. We are also determined to make the opportunities of a Bablake education as accessible to as many bright children as possible, and our fees are therefore the lowest in the area - and easily offer the best value for money relative to academic outcomes. We know what sacrifices our parents will often make to invest in their children’s education – and we are therefore also determined to give the best return as we nurture our pupils in their growth to adulthood.

That nurture enables them to develop as self-confident and generous human beings – and visitors will often comment on how natural that self-confidence is, devoid of arrogance. In Monday’s Times, the same Mr Halls was this time quoted as saying: “Some independent school children can asphyxiate the society they move in because their confidence is so bullish and charmless.” The front page headline read: ‘Private-school confidence hurts society’. Not so at Bablake, where we are very proud of the well-rounded young people who leave us to embark on a life of adventure and responsibility.