Mallory Towers for Tower Hamlets?
Anastasia De Waal, 10 May 2010
Anthony Little, head master of Eton, has captured headlines over the last week with his suggestions for improving education in the state sector. In the wake of the establishment of several boarding academies, Little’s initial reason for not getting involved in academy sponsorship – his lack of expertise in running day schools in tough areas – has, in part, been nullified.
He has endorsed state-funded boarding schools, stating that they can offer an answer to concerns about our ‘broken society’.
Admittedly, the British boarding school is a ‘great brand’. The 4.6% of pupils in independent schools who are non-British and live overseas are a great economic boon for schools and UK higher education, results are good – and the schools are subject to the endless fascination of tourists and writers. Yet Little’s belief that boarding schools could address problems of social cohesion is a function rarely attributed to them; almost exclusively linked to the private sector, boarding schools are understandably viewed as socially exclusive and divisive.
Wellington College’s promise to export its ‘DNA’ to the boarding academy of the same name will be an interesting opportunity to unpick the factors which make a school succeed –ethos, intake and resources all have a part to play. Yet, there is a more apt way for politicians to examine the impact of boarding schools without conflating the impact of the latter two with the former. There are 35 state boarding schools in England and Wales. In these, tuition is funded by the state and parents pay boarding fees; at Queen Elizabeth’s Community College in Devon, this was £7920 in 2009/10. Thus, although state boarding schools remain at around a third of the price of a private boarding school, having children attend would put a financial strain on most families.
Under Labour, boarding schools are not a container to allow pupils greater academic support, but more akin to their ‘extended schools’ projects, in which the aim is to provide another facet of a flexible school and pastoral system which can accommodate those homes where there may not be breakfast, or anyone at home before 6pm. State boarding schools have long provided stability and opportunities when these are not integral to pupils’ home environments.
Last month, a Lambeth school became the first state primary school to buy a boarding school to educate its pupils. It will send inner London pupils aged 13 to the 35-acre boarding school site in West Sussex to board free of charge for four nights a week. The money will be raised from a health club run on the Lambeth site and the school hopes for a £25million grant from central government. This truly grassroots move is a comment on the challenges of providing secondary education in an inner city setting, acknowledging the enormous impact environment has on pupils’ aspirations and ability to learn. Little does warn against creating a ‘borstal’ of the most deprived – he fails to acknowledge how the independent sector themselves contribute to the possibility of such segregation – but raises the valid question of how a small sector, which provides specialised educational support, can remain comprehensive.
Zenobe Reade