The Salopian Summer 2023

SCHOOL NEWS 5
and tennis courts on Lower Kingsland.
Preparations for our move to the fully
integrated House system in September
2023 have continued strongly, with
year group welcome events for
current dayboys to ease their move to
their preferred House. Most recently,
Housemasters have hosted evenings
for parents at each of the seven boys’
houses. There has been much careful
planning to enable a really smooth
beginning for all, as we revise daily
routines, communications and the
overall shape of the week. For the
230 plus new pupils joining us in
September, the ‘new’ will simply be
how things are. In the meantime, we
are mindful of ensuring a strong finish
for Port Hill and Radbrook.
Dr David Gee - the only human being I
know with a data set superior to that of
ChatGPT - kindly accepted my request
to put together a commemorative
booklet detailing the 38-year history of
Port Hill and Radbrook, an important
chapter in the long story of day boys
at Shrewsbury School. This work will
preserve what is a significant slice
of our history as we move onto the
next chapter. We have also worked
with senior pupils on how honours
boards and other House items are best
preserved for posterity. We want Old
Salopian day boys to be able to return
in decades to come and see such things
displayed with pride.
From September, there will be 12
Houses – seven for boys and five for
girls – with day and boarding pupils
alongside one another. Individual
Houses will tend to have about 70
pupils (of whom around 55 will be
full boarders) and an overall school
roll of roughly 840. This is an exciting,
carefully planned change as the School
moves confidently forward.
The economic and political headwinds
that we face are far from artificial.
However, we are in an excellent
position to meet them. We do so
with the confidence that comes from
knowing that we are committed to
excellence and contributing positively
to the world around us. Not everyone
understands the value that the truly
great independent boarding schools
bring to society. Not everyone knows
that we currently have 23 pupils
in the school on transformative
bursaries as we partner with Royal
National Springboard Foundation
and other agencies to widen access
to a Shrewsbury education. Or that
our means-tested bursary programme
currently provides financial support for
194 pupils.
Not everyone knows that we provide
opportunities for thousands of pupils
in our partner state schools, through
our numerous music, sport, STEM,
languages, dance, sport and character
development programmes. Not
everyone knows that Shrewsbury
School is a champion supporter of the
School Partnerships Alliance, a national
charity that promotes cross sector
educational partnerships to help the
disadvantaged. Not everyone knows
about The Shewsy.
We are not doing these things for
show. Neither are we doing these
things for awards, though it is lovely
to be nominated for three TES schools
awards for 2023. We are doing them
because they are good. Because they
are an integral part of the identity of
our school, whatever the political and
economic weather.
We will keep arguing our case and
presenting the truth as we see it.
Even more importantly, we will keep
focused on providing an outstanding
education for our pupils, harnessing
the generative power of excellence and
sharing it with others.