4.3 MB - Blundell's School

interviewWhat are your roles at Blundell’s? – I am Head of Boardingand a Head of Department, but most importantly a teacherand housemaster. I also make the tea for the staff at breaktime.How long have you been at Blundell’s? – Fourteen years. Itreally doesn’t seem that long though. If I don’t think about ittoo much, it seems like about five.Was Blundell’s the first school you taught at? No, havingworked for Procter and Gamble in London, I taught atWarwick School.Since your arrival what has been the biggest change atthe School? – The march of technology. It’s startling toreflect that I’d never used the internet before I came here asit really had no place in education. The only member of staffwith an email address was the Director of Studies (and wecouldn’t really see the point of that and thought it a bitpretentious…), there were three computers in the library andno network. It’s sobering to think of the impact thattechnology has had on education in such a short space oftime. I think that’s a global thing though, so I won’t countthat. The school itself has changed very much for the betterover the time I’ve been here – there has been a great deal ofinvestment and it’s a much smarter place. The refurbishmentof the houses would be a very good example. Academicallythings are much better – the curriculum is better balancedthan when I arrived and the pupils are rather more focused.Thus they achieve rather more.Apart from collecting gadgets and fast cars, do you haveany other hobbies? – Leaving aside my fell running and gymwork, I enjoy sailing, flying (although I haven’t had much timefor that recently), and travel. I spend most of the summer inthe USA, a country I enjoy exploring.What would you describe as the most amusing momentyou have experienced as a house master? Most of themare unprintable in a family magazine such as this. There wasthe student from abroad who refused to have his copioussupplies of dubious magazines confiscated on the groundsthat he was a collector and some of them were rare…. Thepupil who tried to hide a cat in his room – I got rid of it bytelling him that it had fleas. The mouse mat that they madefrom the skin of a rabbit that their ferret had caught – thatstank out the house, but they were terribly proud of it… thedead badger incident which was one of the most surrealmoments of my housemastership - I was collared in theCommon Room by one of my colleagues. Long experiencehas taught me that any sentence beginning with the words,“I thought I should let you know, I’ve just seen one of yourboys....” always ends badly. On this occasion however, it ran“thought I should let you know, I’ve just seen two of yourboys....carrying a dead badger across the road. I think thatthey were headed for Biology to dissect it.” The thing wasflea ridden, stiff as a board, two days dead and the maggotswere just setting up residence. I think it was fair to say thatMr Rhodes was less than impressed. One of mypredecessors however, was far more enlightened; MrFrench allowed the boys to keep snakes in a speciallyconstructed snake pit at the bottom of the Petergate patch.This included, and I quote, “the monster that SH producedin a paper bag.” All was well until the housemaster’s dogfell in. History does not record what happened next.Then there are the countless times when I’ve turned up atexactly the wrong time to find someone doing or sayingsomething which, on reflection, they’d rather I’d not seen orheard. The strained “Hello Sir” is always a joy.If you could live anywhere in the world where would itbe and why? Tiverton, obviously. Is there anywhere elsewith better café society, cultural opportunities and lightphilosophical banter than that available in our own town?Joking apart however, there are many worse places to bethan in Devon. The people, the attitudes and the beauty ofour own county takes some beating. Failing this, I’d go for asmall New England town in the summer and New York inthe winter.If you where given £500,000 tomorrow and had tospend it or something other than a house or charitywhat would you buy? If I spent it on myself, it’d probablybe a car, that’s where most of my cash seems to end up.An Alvis Speed 20 would be nice. They’re surprisingly quickfor a 1930s car of that size and irritate the drivers of elderlyhot hatches with loud exhausts when you outrun them. If Ispent it on someone else, it would have to be split evenlybetween a week’s supply of pizza for Petergate Year 10(£250,000 should just about cover that) and the other halfon hair care product for Year 11 – that amount might stretchas far as three or four days.Are there any old Blundell’s traditions you would like tosee re-instated at the school? – There is a tradition thatthe Head of School could grow a beard (if capable) and keepa goat on Big Field. I have only seen a goat kept on BigField by the Head of School once in my time here and,neither the goat nor the groundsman, seemed impressed.It became very apparent that goats are surprisingly strongand easily capable of defending themselves. It was right upthere with the time that the pig from the “Guess theWeight of the Porker” stand at the school fete escaped andstarted rooting up the cricket square. That too wassurprisingly difficult to corral.How would you describe Blundell’s as a whole in twowords? – It’s not a hole, it’s a great school.19