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N E W S L E T T E R - Radley College

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<strong>Radley</strong><br />

THE<br />

N E W S L E T T E R<br />

| The Education of Boys | Hall | First Impressions |<br />

| The Next Generation | Les Misérables |


The Educat<br />

For long the tide has run in favour of co-education in schools; its proponents<br />

have argued for the naturalness of social arrangements, even if there is a<br />

suspicion that some Damascene conversions to co-education coincided with<br />

sickly balance sheets. A few of the great schools have cleaved to single-sex<br />

education for boys and they have been given powerful ammunition for that<br />

decision by findings of the International Boys School Coalition, a world-wide<br />

body of boys’ schools in USA, Australia, N.Z. and Europe, which includes<br />

<strong>Radley</strong>, Eton and Dulwich from the United Kingdom.<br />

Its painstaking research provides<br />

concrete proof of what many who<br />

taught or led boys’ schools long<br />

thought but couldn’t statistically<br />

prove; it also chimes in with the<br />

experience of dons at <strong>Radley</strong>. It<br />

shows that boys have different<br />

educational needs from girls, and<br />

these are often neglected in mixed<br />

groups; boys are naturally less<br />

verbal, mature physically later yet<br />

have strengths in spatial skills, have<br />

more acute vision, and are more<br />

active. Boys’ schools recognise this<br />

and have developed an education<br />

suited to boys’ needs. <strong>Radley</strong> has<br />

a great sporting tradition, but as<br />

important as the quality and success<br />

of its top teams is the sheer number<br />

of sides it fields every Saturday, and<br />

the regularity of games’ practices –<br />

all to direct the physical energies of<br />

boys.<br />

To counter boys’ lack of verbal<br />

confidence <strong>Radley</strong> has<br />

Declamations, a wonderful training<br />

for all boys to perform in public.<br />

Debating, giving talks in class,<br />

and presenting papers to societies<br />

again help boys develop important<br />

oral skills. Equally the research<br />

found that boys in boys’ schools<br />

are involved in many areas of the<br />

arts and in greater numbers than<br />

their peers in mixed schools. Fewer<br />

will sing in choirs unless they are<br />

single sex. <strong>Radley</strong> has a Chapel<br />

Choir of 85, large numbers of boys<br />

play in the Orchestra, Wind Band,<br />

Big Band, Soul Band, various<br />

ensembles, or sing in the Clerkes.<br />

Many would have given up, faced<br />

with confident and accomplished<br />

girls – at <strong>Radley</strong> the boys feel<br />

valued and so stay involved with<br />

music making. The sheer volume<br />

and quality of the boys’ artworks<br />

which colonise the campus shows<br />

the vitality of visual arts at <strong>Radley</strong>.<br />

Drama develops emotional<br />

intelligence and the range of plays,<br />

from Les Miserables to the Shell<br />

Haddon Cup competition, provide<br />

2 THE RADLEIAN RADLEY NEWSLETTER


on of Boys<br />

Radleians with every opportunity to<br />

act. Again the research found that<br />

‘boys in boys’ schools love to write<br />

poetry; in mixed schools poetry<br />

can be seen as something primarily<br />

of interest to girls’. Creative writing<br />

at <strong>Radley</strong> since the days of Harold<br />

Monro, Peter Cook and Andrew<br />

Motion has been strong, and the<br />

present generation fostered by<br />

Chris Ellott, the Head of English, is<br />

very productive, publishing termly<br />

anthologies of writing.<br />

It has long been observed that<br />

‘for young adolescent boys,<br />

performance in mixed settings<br />

often sensitive about status<br />

and the presence of girls, their<br />

performative stance may be risk<br />

averse, cloaked and cool’. Equally it<br />

may be ‘disruptive and attentionseeking’.<br />

It may, too, of course,<br />

be a very natural relationship for<br />

some. Nevertheless, at <strong>Radley</strong> we<br />

would concur with the authors’<br />

observation that an all-boy format<br />

frees ‘boys to be more sensitive and<br />

thoughtful in discussion’ and ‘find<br />

their freedom of expression’. The<br />

strength of our Modern Languages<br />

confirms the researchers who found<br />

boys in co-educational modern<br />

language classes often feel selfconscious<br />

about speaking up but<br />

flourish in single sex schools where<br />

there are no girls to dominate at<br />

the top of the class! The boys at<br />

<strong>Radley</strong> do, however, have a chance<br />

to debate and discuss with girls;<br />

for example, our 6.2 Conference<br />

with St Helen’s is a stimulating and<br />

successful event.<br />

It is probably true to say that<br />

many of these observations only<br />

articulate what parents have long<br />

known; ‘that boys and girls are<br />

different, and they require different<br />

approaches to help them grow up’.<br />

What is new is that now a number<br />

of prominent educationalists are<br />

arguing that boys positively need<br />

single sex education to enable<br />

them to be more confident and<br />

to help them grow up to be men;<br />

for these professionals the rush to<br />

co-education in the last few decades<br />

has actually tipped the balance<br />

in schools towards girls, and<br />

feminised education. The emphasis<br />

on coursework and modules in<br />

exams, playing to girls’ diligence<br />

and planning, are but two examples<br />

of a wider trend. <strong>Radley</strong> dons are<br />

experienced at getting the best from<br />

boys, a different skill from that of<br />

teaching co-educational classes.<br />

It is because we fully appreciate<br />

that boys require an education<br />

tailored to their needs that we have<br />

resisted siren calls to change our<br />

nature; many parents, current and<br />

prospective, seem to agree.<br />

THE RADLEIAN NEWSLETTER 3<br />

THE RADLEY NEWSLETTER 3


4 THE RADLEIAN NEWSLETTER<br />

4 THE RADLEY NEWSLETTER


Hall<br />

A Hundred Years On<br />

In July 1909 work began on architect<br />

Robert Jackson’s design of Hall and thus<br />

we celebrate this year the centenary of<br />

the completion of this imposing building.<br />

Reminiscent of the dining hall of an Oxford<br />

college with its oak panelling and portraits<br />

of past Wardens and, to some, not unlike<br />

the dining hall in Hogwarts, the present<br />

building is rendered more welcoming with<br />

the rich coral that covers the walls above the<br />

heraldic shields of erstwhile Senior Prefects<br />

and School Prefects. Before the self-service<br />

system was introduced in the final months of<br />

the 60s, there was no choice of food, which<br />

was often cold and rarely appetizing. The<br />

current Radleian benefits from an altogether<br />

more pleasurable experience, enhanced by<br />

recent refurbishments of the kitchens and<br />

serving areas. Whilst all meals are taken in<br />

Hall, he can choose when to eat, what to<br />

eat and importantly with whom to sit. Meal<br />

times now have a more informal air and the<br />

family nature of the school is reflected in the<br />

presence of the families of the younger dons<br />

at lunch.<br />

However, like an army, <strong>Radley</strong> marches<br />

on its stomach and it is the food itself<br />

that is inevitably uppermost in teenaged<br />

boys’ minds many hours of the day.<br />

Overwhelmingly, Radleians and visitors<br />

consider the food to be of a high standard<br />

and credit for this must go to the Catering<br />

Manager, Pam Dickens, and her team, ably<br />

led by the Head Chef, Tomasz.<br />

There is a great variety of dishes on offer,<br />

ranging from the well-stocked salad bar<br />

to Lamb Tagine and Hungarian Lecho,<br />

but the caterers are always mindful of the<br />

importance of a balanced and healthy diet.<br />

For most boys, however, there are two<br />

highlights of the week: burger night on<br />

Wednesday, when the McDonald’s factor<br />

kicks in, and Friday evenings when the duty<br />

Social chooses the menu, often of the Caesar<br />

Salad/Chicken Kiev variety. Formal dinners<br />

for dons, boys and guests are, of course,<br />

outstanding.<br />

Twice a term the Senior Master’s Advisory<br />

Committee (the acronym SMAC may<br />

be a brave one in these litigious times),<br />

which includes a representative from each<br />

Social, meets with the Catering staff to<br />

discuss catering issues. These range from<br />

queuing times to the lack of salt on tables,<br />

from why smoothies cannot be produced<br />

everyday to why a particular variety<br />

of onion has suddenly appeared in the<br />

spaghetti bolognese. The most popular<br />

dishes and the least favoured are discussed<br />

and, importantly, the catering staff take<br />

heed of the boys’ views. Occasionally a<br />

tasting session is held to decide which is, for<br />

example, a preferred variety of sandwich or<br />

flavour of ice cream.<br />

Socials, too, play their part in keeping the<br />

boys well fuelled, particularly at Cocoa from<br />

9.00pm onwards when the boys benefit<br />

from a spread of cakes and biscuits as well<br />

as stimulating conversation. On Saturday<br />

evenings the Tutors have open house in the<br />

winter months when the boys are treated to<br />

a roast joint or a pizza, while in the summer<br />

the sound of meat sizzling on the barbecue<br />

can be heard most weekends. As if this were<br />

not enough, the boys can stock up between<br />

meals in Shop, which offers such delights as<br />

chicken rolls, chips and sweets.<br />

Charlie Barker,<br />

Senior Master<br />

THE RADLEIAN NEWSLETTER 5<br />

THE RADLEY NEWSLETTER 5


Meeting the other K Social Sheels on Day 1<br />

Fir<br />

Impres<br />

My first term at <strong>Radley</strong> has been, to say the least, busy<br />

from day one. As you stand in your cubicle wearing<br />

your new uniform and trying to get used to the strange<br />

gown that is falling off your shoulders you do not quite<br />

realise how quickly the next few weeks will go.<br />

In the first couple of weeks we did the games circus<br />

which is an opportunity to try all of the minor sports<br />

that <strong>Radley</strong> has on offer, including real tennis, rackets<br />

and squash. I have enjoyed playing rackets and fives for<br />

the first time and most boys have found a new sport<br />

that they enjoy playing.<br />

On the first Sunday of term there was the Shells’ tug of<br />

war on pups’ field followed by a barbecue. During the<br />

second week the Shell athletics standards took place;<br />

this is held on two afternoons when every boy in the<br />

first year takes part in as many athletic events as they<br />

can to earn points for their Social, and my Social, K,<br />

won!<br />

The New Boys’ Swimming Test<br />

The Haddon Cup, the Inter-Social Drama<br />

Competition, auditions started early on in the<br />

third week of term and then each Social began to<br />

rehearse their different plays in preparation for their<br />

performance a week before half term. The Haddon<br />

Cup is great fun and every Shell boy takes part in it<br />

to try and claim the prize. It was a really good way of<br />

Tucking into a hot dog at the Shell Barbeque<br />

Rehersals for the<br />

Rugby Trials<br />

6 THE RADLEY NEWSLETTER


K Social Shells are shown the Golf Course as part<br />

of the New Boys’ Games Circus<br />

st<br />

sions<br />

getting to know all of the boys in Social and a great<br />

thing to do.<br />

There is a new responsibility with your work and more<br />

independence, forcing you to learn how to manage<br />

your time. The Shell projects are a big part of the first<br />

term; each boy has to pick a person from before and<br />

after 1960 and then write about them in depth and<br />

compare them. There is a wide range of activities that<br />

you can do; the art and music departments are always<br />

open.<br />

Relaxing in Social Hall at the end of Prep<br />

I have been going to boarding school for five years<br />

already but there is a huge difference from prep school<br />

boarding life, where nearly every minute of your day<br />

is planned out, to public school where you are given a<br />

responsibility to use time sensibly yourself. The first<br />

place that you learn your way around when you arrive<br />

at <strong>Radley</strong> is your Social where you work, sleep and<br />

spend much of your free time and most boys settle into<br />

it very quickly.<br />

I have really enjoyed my first term at <strong>Radley</strong> and look<br />

forward to the rest of my time.<br />

Hector Neill-Edwards,<br />

Ludgrove and K Social<br />

e Haddon Cup<br />

The Inter-Social Tug of War<br />

Standards - the Inter-Social Athetics Competition<br />

7


The Next Genera<br />

When asked about <strong>Radley</strong>’s strengths, parents and boys will overwhelmingly point to<br />

the quality of Common Room, the dons’ outstanding teaching and coaching, and the<br />

warmth and support by which boys are sustained. So, making appointments which<br />

maintain those standards is of central importance to the school. Every few years, as a<br />

generation of experienced schoolmasters retires, the task of recruiting a phalanx of new<br />

young dons becomes crucial. Over the last two years this has happened at <strong>Radley</strong>, but<br />

we have been exceptionally fortunate in the ten or so young teachers we have appointed.<br />

All are academically able and<br />

highly qualified, with most being<br />

Oxbridge graduates, several with<br />

Masters and PhDs, experienced in<br />

teaching undergraduates at Oxford<br />

and Cambridge. Several played for<br />

their universities, with a rugby blue,<br />

university lightweights and divisional<br />

rugby representation among them.<br />

Several were choral scholars, several<br />

professional actors, and a couple were<br />

experienced in banking and intergovernmental<br />

organisations. A couple<br />

had taught before, or had done PGCE<br />

teaching practice in other schools. Most<br />

had grown up with boarding, and all<br />

seemingly instinctively understood the<br />

demands of a seven day week boarding<br />

environment. Readers of the national<br />

press know how difficult it is to appoint<br />

teachers of real academic quality to<br />

schools, but it is perhaps because<br />

schools like <strong>Radley</strong> still demand much<br />

of their pupils, still believe in learning<br />

for its own sake, and still encourage<br />

the pursuit of academic enthusiasm as<br />

important in its own right, that talented<br />

young people want to go back into our<br />

schools.<br />

Similar things strike these ‘new boys’<br />

about their first few terms at <strong>Radley</strong>.<br />

Tony Jackson, historian and rugby blue<br />

loves the ‘total’ curriculum that can only<br />

be gained through a boarding education,<br />

where you can build and develop<br />

relationships through seeing boys in<br />

different areas. He is struck forcibly by<br />

the quality of Common Room, ‘where<br />

everyone is welcoming and a communal<br />

ambience is created’. ‘Support is always<br />

available’. Above all, ‘you cannot go<br />

further than mentioning the boys – to<br />

have the chance to work every day in the<br />

classroom, on the sports’ field or in the<br />

boarding house with young men so keen<br />

to learn, who want to do well and yet<br />

are ready to have a laugh, is an absolute<br />

pleasure’. Ed Tolputt, Cambridge<br />

physicist, choral scholar and formerly<br />

professional actor also enthuses about<br />

the boys; ‘when I have taken guests<br />

into the school the polite friendliness<br />

of the boys around and about made<br />

me glowingly proud’. For Tim Lawson,<br />

politics teacher, Loughborough trained<br />

rugby and cricket coach, ‘the respect<br />

between staff and boys – I simply could<br />

not believe how polite the boys are at all<br />

times’ – explains the ‘whole atmosphere<br />

of <strong>Radley</strong>’.<br />

Gareth Hughes, geographer, Cambridge<br />

doctorate, a Welsh rugby player,<br />

rower and runner, talked of the<br />

‘incredibly high academic pedigree of<br />

Common Room’, and yet of <strong>Radley</strong>’s<br />

encouragement to dons to pursue<br />

non-academic interests and hobbies<br />

to help them be roundEd He points<br />

out the centrality of the department in<br />

providing the early support network and<br />

8 THE RADLEIAN RADLEY NEWSLETTER


tion<br />

how senior dons (like outgoing Head of<br />

Geography John Harris) provide superb<br />

mentoring in those first terms. He was<br />

also struck by the ‘formidable breadth<br />

and depth of musical, academic and<br />

sporting talent in the boys’. His only<br />

caveat; he worried that so excellent was<br />

the academic provision that some boys<br />

could avoid developing that necessary<br />

self-reliance.<br />

For many, the boarding experience is<br />

a vital part of their <strong>Radley</strong> life. Charlie<br />

Scott-Malden, English and Learning<br />

Support, Cambridge graduate, Hockey<br />

and Cricket coach, commented on the<br />

pleasure of ‘playing an active part in the<br />

new, happy and thriving J Social’. Ed<br />

Tolputt, again, mentioned that being<br />

associated with F Social, as one of the<br />

sub-tutorial team, provides opportunity<br />

for non-teaching, <strong>Radley</strong>-style support.<br />

Dan Palmer, physicist, Oxford graduate,<br />

a formidable rugby prop, has previously<br />

taught in a state boarding school, and<br />

has loved the intellectual stimulus,<br />

in particular the Oxbridge sessions.<br />

Beyond the department he is struck<br />

by ‘the fantastic standard of Common<br />

Room’; ‘it is refreshing and interesting<br />

to be able to talk at lunch about your<br />

subject (or listen to another don who is<br />

passionate about his or hers)’. His only<br />

concern is that the sheer amount on at<br />

<strong>Radley</strong> can ‘eat into boys’ teaching time’.<br />

It is a balance a busy school constantly<br />

needs to review.<br />

It is gratifying that several new young<br />

dons were educated at <strong>Radley</strong>. Oli<br />

Langton, Edinburgh historian and<br />

cricketer, and Ed Holt, Oxford classicist,<br />

have both returned to their alma mater.<br />

They know both the expectations, and<br />

the form. Ed Holt, for example, says<br />

that ‘it has struck me afresh how much<br />

each individual don contributes, and the<br />

breadth of skills in Common Room’.<br />

It is this talented cohort which will<br />

provide the next generation of tutors<br />

and heads of department; indeed, the<br />

process has started with Gareth Hughes’<br />

appointment after his first year to be<br />

Head of Geography in September 2010.<br />

If <strong>Radley</strong>’s past is a guide, some will stay<br />

on and become senior masters or sub<br />

warden; and some will go off to be heads<br />

at top schools in the future. But for now,<br />

we feel the future at <strong>Radley</strong> is all the<br />

brighter for their being part of it.<br />

THE RADLEIAN NEWSLETTER 9<br />

THE RADLEY NEWSLETTER 9


Les Mis<br />

10 10 THE THE RADLEIAN RADLEY NEWSLETTER<br />

NEWSLETTER


ables<br />

THE RADLEIAN NEWSLETTER 11<br />

THE RADLEY NEWSLETTER 11


Les Misérables<br />

Around 2000 people over six performances witnessed something special in late November<br />

at <strong>Radley</strong>, a school play which was about as far removed from standard examples of the<br />

genre as it is possible to be. Spontaneous standing ovations occurred every evening; and<br />

milling audiences afterwards talked of being emotionally drained, but also exhilarated,<br />

by an exceptional production. A packed and enthusiastic matinee performance for Prep<br />

and Primary school children showed that the appeal was universal.<br />

What made Robert Lowe’s production so<br />

special? Above all it was the teamwork;<br />

over 140 people were involved and they<br />

worked together to the highest professional<br />

standards. Overcoming difficulties of<br />

aligning orchestra (behind the stage) with<br />

singers out front; unobtrusive miking of<br />

all the lead singers; the sophistication of<br />

the lighting so that no two scenes were<br />

ever the same; a stage set which involved<br />

a wonderful barricade of mountainous<br />

proportions; costumes which were<br />

colourful and rich. All these were the<br />

technical casters on which the show<br />

smoothly ran. And with these in place the<br />

actors could perform to their best, and they<br />

certainly did. What impressed most was<br />

the consistency, from the character with<br />

but one line through to those playing major<br />

roles – all acted in part every moment they<br />

were on stage. Everyone who sang a solo<br />

line was spot on – powerful, confident,<br />

convincing, and the choreographed big<br />

numbers showcased that discipline and<br />

focus. Some of those routines – ‘Master of<br />

the House’, ‘Red and Black’, ‘Do You Hear<br />

the People Sing?’ – were superb, being<br />

inventive, colourful, varied and witty.<br />

Of course there were even brighter stars<br />

shining out, those leading players taking<br />

central roles: Natasha Edwards as Fantine<br />

importantly set the tone and the standards<br />

for the rest of the show with the early<br />

brilliance of her ‘I Dreamed a Dream’. The<br />

girls had come from thirteen different<br />

schools and colleges, and played a key part<br />

in the success of Les Misérables. Charlotte<br />

Smith as Eponine, Hetty Gullifer as Cosette<br />

and a rumbustious Lucy Hole as Madame<br />

Thénardier all sang and acted beautifully.<br />

Of the boys, Piers Saich (Papplewick, K<br />

Social) as Javert was wonderfully sinister<br />

and dangerous, a powerful, terrifying, yet<br />

tortured figure. Tom Milligan (Caldicott,<br />

K Social), fresh from starring with the<br />

National Youth Music Theatre in the<br />

summer, was consistently excellent in the<br />

major part of Jean Valjean, Ali Maxwell<br />

(Cothill, A Social) was a dynamic Enjolras,<br />

leader of the revolutionary uprising,<br />

Jonathan Tarcy (Shrewsbury House,<br />

G Social) ensured that his Marius was<br />

charming and winning, where in others’<br />

hands it might have been merely soppy, and<br />

Owen Petty (Elstree, C Social) as Monsieur<br />

Thénardier was the living incarnation of a<br />

burlesque figure from a Gillray cartoon –<br />

simply larger than life, a scene stealer.<br />

Perhaps even more impressive than the<br />

quality of the leading players was that<br />

so many of the supporting actors were<br />

involved elsewhere in <strong>Radley</strong> life. For<br />

example: Fred Ahern (Sussex House,<br />

F Social) acted but was also a member<br />

of a successful 1st XV, Head of Chapel<br />

Choir and Head of F Social; Jamie Bruce-<br />

Crampton (Winchester House, F Social),<br />

1st XV, top oarsman, and Chapel Choir<br />

member; Owen Petty and Jack Emmett<br />

(Moulsford, H Social) rehearsing and<br />

acting, but also playing for the 2nd XV,<br />

and Tommy Siman (Abingdon Prep, H<br />

Social) lighting up the students’ routine and<br />

playing – and defeating – Harrow Colts<br />

1st XV in the afternoon of the Saturday<br />

performance. <strong>Radley</strong> expects boys to multitask....<br />

Putting on such a show requires stamina;<br />

rehearsals started in April, seven months<br />

before the performance. It relies on real<br />

talent in Common Room. Stephen Clarke,<br />

Musical Director is also Precentor and<br />

his skill in training singers and choirs<br />

was at the heart of this strong musical<br />

performance. Matt Barker (lighting and<br />

stage manager), and Lianne Oakley-<br />

Rowland (costumes) are exceptional,<br />

giving hours of expertise to getting things<br />

just right. Finally, Robert Lowe, Director,<br />

had a clear vision of what Les Misérables<br />

could be, and his energy and drive, his skill<br />

at drawing performances from his cast,<br />

his persistence, and insistence on only the<br />

best, brought this great enterprise to its<br />

triumphant conclusion.<br />

12 12 THE THE RADLEIAN RADLEY NEWSLETTER Website: www.radley.org.uk . Admissions enquiries: 01235 543174 . admissions@radley.org.uk

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