EAC Magazine - Alleyn's School

S c h o o lWelcome to Dr SavageIt was with some trepidation that I steppedinto the role of interviewer of our newHeadmaster, Dr Gary Savage, a man who hasan impressive CV and who is now the School’stwelfth headmaster in its 128-year history.Gary has had a stellar career spending his firstten years teaching at Eton College where he wasfirst Head of History and then Master-in-College(House Master of the 70 King’s Scholars).He followed this in 2006 by four years atWestminster School as its Under Master, orSenior Deputy Head. At 39, he is one of theSchool’s youngest Headmasters to have beenappointed. And so it was that a whirlwind ofenergy and enthusiasm stepped into my officeand our interview began.Except it very nearly didn’t. We became sidetracked by one ofthe questions in the – admittedly tongue-in-cheek – 60-secondquestionnaire: the one which asks the interviewee to name hisor her hero. Given our debate that ensued, I suspect that thistouched one of the nerve-centres of Gary’s historical thinking ashe explained how he doesn’t really have any heroes. ‘I mistrustcults of individualism where the individual is alleged to exert somuch influence over society’. He continued that ‘reading Warand Peace clarified this for me so, if pushed, I’d probably have tonominate Tolstoy as my hero – paradoxically, as he helped me tode-bunk the very notion of heroes!’Aware that time was pressing on, we forced ourselves back to thetask in hand. I began by asking him what he knew about Alleyn’sbefore he applied for the job. ‘Some years ago I was discussingschools with a colleague of mine at Westminster. He claimed thathe knew exactly the school for me and – no word of a lie – hesaid Alleyn’s. I asked him why and he said that Alleyn’s was smartyet down-to-earth. I looked the school up and liked what I saw.When, lo and behold, I ended up becoming Headmaster ofAlleyn’s, my colleague reminded me of our conversation and triedto claim the credit! I do think he was right though: Alleyn’s andI do seem like a good fit.’Gary began his term of office as Headmaster in the summerand I asked him what his first impressions of Alleyn’s were.He remarked on its beauty: ‘It’s a beautiful site – as youapproach it over the crest of Calton Avenue it’s a stunningview. I’m really impressed by the maintenance of the fabric ofthe buildings as well as the beauty of the grounds. But best ofall is the warmth, energy and enthusiasm of the people whowork here. When Natalie and I first came into the School wewere really impressed by the pupils – they’re bright, groundedand well-mannered – they even held the door open for us!You can sense that there’s a mutual respect between pupils andstaff, which is so important in terms of getting the best out ofeveryone. It’s going to be a wonderful place to work!’And speaking of pupils, I asked Gary what he was like as a pupil –enfant terrible or model scholar? He went to a co-ed statecomprehensive – Bungay High School – in North Suffolk.Gary remembers that he was ‘very enthusiastic – I was involvedin lots of things. I played the euphonium very badly and wasSky Masterson in the school’s production of Guys and Dolls.I was very involved in lessons and contributed in class a lot.’So clearly a model scholar…n e w sIt was this love of learningthat led him to his career inteaching. ‘After doing my degreeand PhD at Sidney SussexCollege, Cambridge I wanted tocontinue in an educationalenvironment so teaching wasthe obvious choice. The job atEton was advertised and I spentthe next ten years thereteaching (and of coursecontinuing to learn) history, aswell as coaching football andcricket, running volunteering,getting involved in drama – all the things which goodindependent schools, like Alleyn’s, do so well.’We went on to talk about his new career as Headmaster andI asked him what excites him about the role. ‘As Housemaster atEton and Under Master at Westminster,’ Gary explains, ‘I gained agenuine pleasure working with people to help them make the mostof their talents and to feel fulfilled and motivated in what theywere doing. I also enjoy problem-solving and I get a real sense ofsatisfaction from this. At Alleyn’s, my door will very much be opento all. It’s wonderful being able to help someone – be they sevenor 107 – to love what they do and develop that enthusiasm.’Gary admits that he’d ‘like to continue teaching as Headmasterbut I’m aware it could be a luxury. The pulse of the school is inthe classroom. I’ve already opted to offer an enrichment coursefor Year 12 [Lower Sixth] pupils this year on aspects of theFrench Revolution, examining things like the relationshipbetween the state and individual, the use and misuse ofpropaganda, art and music, and so forth. We’ll have to see ifany pupils actually opt for it!’I asked him about his change from teaching at single sexboarding schools to a co-educational day school and he pointedout that ‘co-education is what I grew up with so I’m verycomfortable with it. You could say I’m going back to my roots. Inmy teaching career I started out at Eton (all boys) and then wentto Westminster, where two-thirds of the pupils are day pupils andwhich has a co-educational sixth form. I’m a passionate believerin co-education and I’m glad that I’ve gradually got back into fullco-ed in my career. As for the difference between a boardingschool and a day one, I imagine a key one is the intensity of the(shorter) working day – something which I think will suit me.This line of conversation segued conveniently for me to find outwhat Gary sees as some of the key challenges facing independentschools today. Immediately he replied: ‘The independent sectordoes a fantastic job and has a key role to play in the debateabout, and development of, education in the twenty-first-century.To do this effectively, we must assert our independence and ourvision of educational excellence in the face of challenges thatpoliticians, bureaucrats and others can, sometimes, throw ourway. At the same time, we should continue to develop goodcommunity links such as the Southwark Schools’ LearningPartnership [a collaboration of six state and three independentschools founded in 2003; see p11 for more details] and work toenable as many families as possible to take advantage ofeverything that wonderful schools like Alleyn’s have to offer.’Another key to a school’s success are its alumni. Gary says:‘alumni associations are pivotal to the health of a school. Anyschool that ignores its alumni risks losing its soul and identity.At Eton, for instance, we had annual gatherings of OldCollegers to play the Eton Wall Game against the current cropof scholars. (I sometimes played, but usually umpired!) This was12