End of Year Messages

Mr Anthony Stanton, Guest Speaker
Mr Peregrine Massey, Chairman
Mr Michael Buchanan, Head 

Let's play the game "Psychiatrist"  for a minute: I say a word; you just listen to what first comes into your mind (I'm not going to ask you to do anything embarrassing like "sharing" it with your neighbour ...) and ask yourself: "What am I going to talk about?"

"Can't", "Won't","Don't"; - anybody thinking of  adolescents?

But that would be unfair; I want to start with a big "well done" to all those young people who have just received prizes; they have worked really hard for them and deserve today's tribute. 

Looking at them, I wonder if I detect in the girls and boys who have done their public exams, GCSE, AS, A2, a massive feeling of relief? "Thank goodness that's over; I shall never have to go through that again." Well, I am sorry; the, perhaps unwelcome, news is: no it's not over and even for those who have finished their A Levels; it's still won't be over even when you've done university and maybe medical school and had yet more exams, assessments, dissertations, vivas. Even then, it's not over... So what is this "it"  I'm getting at, that I keep saying is not all over? - Let's try Psychiatrist again:

"Think, Imagine, Create, Analyse, Understand" - Yes, I'm on about learning.

The fact is that this long stage of life at school is just one, really important, part of a learning-process that started when we were in the womb and needs to carry on through our whole lives. Becoming a "life-long learner", if you get it right, will be the most important and satisfying thing that you can imagine.

For the last year,  I have had the pleasure of working with some of your teachers, supporting what Ashford School proudly and bravely proclaims as its "Adventurous Learning" programme. This is something very special, so I hope you won't all fall asleep if I explore with you what I think this splendid-sounding phrase actually means. So, what is Adventurous Learning? Why is it a good thing?

All of us, however long ago our schooldays were, can remember what unadventurous learning is like: basically dead boring; pages of identical sums, or one of those so-called "experiments" where you had to "hypothesise" what will happen when you wrap more coils of wire round an iron rod and whether or not it will pick up more paper-clips when you switch the current on and EVERYBODY knows what the answer is going to be before you start doing it and yet you have to dutifully plough through a process that nobody could properly describe with the word "experimental" and which has been done by thousands of children before, with identical results - and we know that we learned very little from it.

Good teachers can transform what would otherwise be tedious repetitive stuff into (at its own level) an intellectual adventure for each student, taking them on individual journeys from the place where their understanding is now, to find themselves standing in a different place and seeing that selected bit of life and the world in a different way - like climbing a mountain; new views unfold as you go higher.  

Creating this kind of learning is a difficult and impressive skill and one that the best teachers continue to sharpen throughout their careers. Such teachers work the magic trick of engaging their students in unpromising-looking material, persuading them to work hard sometimes without realising it; of making them laugh, inveigling them out of their comfort zones, inventing bait to entice them into doing things that they didn't believe that they were capable of; persuading them that this is not torture, that actually teachers and students are all on the same side. They will give students confidence to take the risk of getting it wrong, trying again, welcoming mistakes as fantastic ways of learning. They will re-make mundane learning-matter into tasks where all the students can bring their own creativity to bear, set their imagination going, feel that they are having  original thoughts, not just copying what someone else has thought before. The students will see new possibilities opening and feel personally involved in something that now seems to matter. To quote Benjamin Zander: "You can't really learn anything unless you have something at stake."

...and in the process they will raise their standards of achievement beyond what even their fond parents wanted to hope. Teachers in the land of Adventurous Learning deserve your support and, may I suggest, a round of applause for them.

And yes, this will create Life-Long Learners - people who will respond more flexibly and imaginatively than my generation has, to the increasingly changing world that they face. They will invent solutions to problems  which don't even exist yet, as well as the hugely pressing ones that we have already; they will treat the unknown as a challenge to be tackled with confidence; they will bring skills of group-working and communicating to their work-lives; they will work out in their personal and social lives the priorities of managing family life in a world with few rules.

Let's have a final go at Psychiatrist:

"Parental choice, competition, standards, fees" - do I need to tell you? - I don't think so.

We've been talking of the future; I also work with many headteachers in state schools; they are looking gloomily at the virtual certainty of very tight financial budgets over the next five or ten years. Future governments of whatever political colour will be spending more of the taxpayers' contributions on interest and paying off public debt, which will leave less for running the normal business of the state, let alone for making new developments in health, education, science. It's going to be a tough time; I know that the best state schools will continue to forge ahead, keeping very high standards and developing new ways of teaching and learning, and meeting individuals' needs, but a lot of schools will find it desperately hard. The private sector has the privilege of spending a lot more money per student on their learning, giving the room for manoeuvre to develop the powerful learning-environments you see around you here and the teaching-methods I have tried to describe.   

Facing the future, what's going to be the most important thing for your children, our children, the world's children? I'm in no doubt about the answer and it's very simply expressed: 

They must live to learn and learn to love, but the question for the parents and schools is, as ever, "How do we best help them do that?" Ashford School has chosen a very powerful answer.

From Mr Peregrine Massey, Chairman of Governors

As you will have gathered, this has been an important and an encouraging year in the school's history, and we have much to celebrate - at a time when in the world outside encouraging news has been strictly rationed. The perspective of historians is useful here, because we have of course lived through troubled times before.
 
The Vice-Chancellor of Cambridge University, Professor Alison Richard, recently wrote to all alumni of the university in the following terms: "Isaac Newton was born in 1642, the year when the English Civil War broke out. He left school the year Cromwell died, went up to Cambridge as the monarchy was restored, graduated the year the Great Plague struck, and was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society as England renewed its periodic war with the Dutch. Over a lifetime punctuated by upheavals and disaster, Newton made use of Cambridge's academic freedoms to forge the principles of mathematics that changed the world."
 
Pestilence and pandemics, financial institutions under stress, wars local and global, industrial unrest and widescale unemployment. We have lived through all of these, and whilst tuning in as we must to the spirit of the age, we have nonetheless continued with our mission to provide good education to the children entrusted to our care. So it is with a sense of some confidence that we can reflect on the present situation. With tough economic circumstances facing so many people and institutions around the world, this may seem a curious time for us to be expressing a quiet confidence in what Ashford offers and delivers. There are many ways in which schools such as Ashford and universities such as Cambridge have to take measures to tighten their belts, but while we are doing that, we also have to recognise that the urgent need to provide good education to the children who pass through this school cannot simply be met when times are good.

When you return in September, the landscape at the Prep School in Great Chart will look very different. Progress with our new buildings there has been satisfyingly rapid in recent weeks and months, and we are looking forward immensely to moving the Pre-Prep to Great Chart in the autumn, and to freeing up and developing additional space on the other side of East Hill for our senior school community.

When the merger between Ashford and Friars was concluded, some of you were understandably uncertain how the perceived benefits would flow through. I hope you will feel that we have moved sensibly on this, and that these developments are a good indication of both the commitment of Church Schools and of our in-depth approach to planning for the future. We live in troubled times financially, politically and socially, but this simply reinforces our belief that, at a time when there is going to be even less public money available in the state sector, it is incumbent on us in the private sector to keep raising the standard. We simply do not believe that it is acceptable to put the education of your children on the back-burner until better times return, and so, through the steps that Mr Buchanan has outlined to you, we shall continue to build on these now very obvious developments at Great Chart, and we shall enjoy doing so. We see it as a duty, but also as a privilege and a necessity. 
 
Now I want before I finish to mention one or two others who have been to the fore during the course of this year. First, our school doctor, Dr Kym Gardner, who has borne the brunt of preparations for an outbreak of the H1N1 flu virus, and has treated the first early cases. We are most grateful to her for the work she has been doing with us, and we believe we are as ready as we can be for the inevitable cases that will develop during the remainder of this year.

I also want to draw to your attention the work that is being done to refocus the Ashford School Association by its new Chairman, Mrs Sarah Dean. And I am now going to embarrass her by asking her to stand so that you can all identify her. She knows most of you, but you may not yet know her, and I would encourage you to have a word with her in the marquee later. 

A word of thanks too to those who led our service in the Parish Church this morning: our Chaplain, The Rev. Margaret Roylance; Mr Clay and Miss Tesh and the choirs performing under their baton; and someone who goes largely unsung on these occasions, our Head of Art, Mrs Bay Lees, who takes responsibility for the flower arrangements in church each year. May we perhaps give all of them a round of applause here.

I come now to our retiring school captains for the year. My wife and I had the privilege of entertaining them and their parents to dinner recently. They have led their year and the prefect body in exemplary fashion, and I want to take this opportunity to acknowledge the contribution they have made to the school: the retiring School Captain, Lizzie Ashworth, her Deputy, Tara Gray, and the Boarding Captain, Adaeze Onii-Egbunine. Would you please join me in giving them a big round of applause. 

Finally, a word to all our leavers: Many of you will recall the visit to this country, shortly after he was elected, by the President of the United States, Barrack Obama, and his wife, Michelle. And it was something that Mrs Obama said on a visit to a North London school during that visit that I want to bring back to your attention today. She said: "The world needs each and every one of you. We love you all. Good luck to you all." And as you go out into the world beyond Ashford, I invite you to reflect on those who have helped you to this point in your lives. Coming back again to Isaac Newton: "If I can see further, it's because I have been able to stand on the shoulders of others." Could we give all our leavers, both staff and pupils, one final round of applause.

Tea beckons, during which you will be able to tackle Mr Wordsworth and others about the missing pound in the mathematical tongue-twister I gave you earlier on this afternoon. May I wish you and your families an enjoyable summer, and we look forward to seeing you here again in September. Thank you all very much for coming.

From Mr Michael Buchanan, Head

According to a piece in the Daily Telegraph recently, psychologists calculate that the happiest day of the year is 20th June. The day before the summer solstice, on that day the feeling of optimism caused by a combination of lighter evenings, the prospect of holidays and memories of childhood summers is at its peak.

For those of us in schools we know that actually the latter part of the Summer Term is an often nightmarish rush to get plans in place for September and a merry-go-round of events where we veer between feelings of immense pride in what our pupils achieve and waves of utter exhaustion. It is also when I sit down to write this speech and so reflect on the last three terms.

Firstly, may I thank you for entrusting your children to us? A record number joined the School in September and it has been a pleasure to watch them develop. Of the pupils who joined us in Year 7, for example, all are above national average and many are in the top quartile. Our experience is that with sustained effort and developing maturity they should all be capable of top grades at A level and progression on to a leading university which is one of the outcomes we seek.

Our focus this year has been on delivering three things that matter most to the pupils: good teaching, a strong co-curricular programme and warm and effective pastoral care.

In terms of the academic life of the school, we celebrated the best ever A level results in 2008 with 60% of all papers graded A, over half of all students achieving at least three A grades and nearly all students getting into their first choice university. Our GCSEs were also amongst our best with nearly 50% of all papers graded A*/A. In the Prep school the pupils achieved excellent SATs, 11+ and scholarship results. What the headlines do not tell you is that each boy or girl is realising his or her potential and his or her own particular ambitions.

My sense is that the buzz in the school has never been more pronounced and there is every sign of this continuing; I am delighted we devote significant time to education beyond the classroom as it clearly enables the pupils give of their best and enhances their academic attainment. Adventurous learning follows from quality teaching and I know how lucky I am to work with such a talented and committed team.

We say farewell and best wishes to a number of teaching staff in the prep and senior schools as well as some long standing support staff. We thank you all for the care you have provided to the children and your loyal support.

You will see from watching the website and reading the review of the year just how much is achieved each year. Of particular note has been the rapid development and success of boys' sport in the senior school, the proliferation of musical events including our first major choral concert just before Easter (a moving piece by John Rutter), and the more recent AshBash rock concerts, the enormously successful Les Miserables and other plays including Anansi this week. These few are the tip of a vibrant co-curricular life. There have been few, if any, challenges put the pupils during the year that they have not met with vigour and success (the pilgrimage is a good example and thank you for helping to raise over £1500 towards Red Balloon)

In terms of pastoral care, we were pleased but not surprised to receive an outstanding grade in the inspection in February. The steps taken in the last year to further enhance the individual attention and oversight of your child's progress have borne fruit. Helen Tesh has guided Year 7 with close care and warmth and Helen Semple has managed successfully to walk the tight rope of giving the Sixth Form increasing freedom and making sure they exercise it responsibly. The pastoral side of the senior school has been ably led by Yvonne Howard and I am grateful to her, my senior colleagues in all sections of the school and to all the staff, teaching and support, who take such close care of the children.

The PTA grows in strength each year with a myriad of events designed to provide a social focus (such as the highly popular Spring Ball or Golf Day's) and raise much needed funds for those extras that make the difference such as playground equipment or funding the Arts festival last summer. We are conscious that as they reach adolescence many pupils wish to keep their school life to themselves and not share it with their parents so social contact can sometimes diminishes. The PTA wishes to ensure that this does not happen and urge you to support events and get involved. The committee members are all volunteers and they work tirelessly on your behalf most ably led by John Hopley. Thanks to all of them.

So to the future. We are looking forward to the opening of the substantial new building at Great Chart. This development is another sign of our commitment to bring the best to Ashford School and to grow a thriving school from the bottom up. The Governors and I are in the process of reviewing our strategic building plan so that we can look to develop the buildings here in East Hill vacated by the Pre-Prep as soon as funding allows.

The next few years will be challenging in a number of ways. In these recessionary times, we appreciate that value for money is more crucial than ever. Our fees are already competitive, and have been only moderately adjusted for next year. In addition, however, it has long been my wish to move to an all-inclusive fee, and we are pleased to announce that from September no extras will be charged for any compulsory course in the Prep and Senior Schools. This will cover all text books, essential equipment/materials, visits etc. (Optional visits or co-curricular activities etc will still be charged as extras, as will examination fees.). And you need not be concerned that this will mean a reduction in what we do. It will not.

The recession is also likely to affect the rate at which we develop our facilities. The new buildings at the Prep School are an indication of the strength in depth that we derive from being a part of the Church Schools group, but we must ensure that our priority is to deliver first class teaching in the Prep and Senior Schools. So, while we relish the opportunity to update and develop significant sections of the East Hill site, attracting and retaining first class teachers is at least as important to us as major capital projects in the immediate short term. Good teaching will in turn enable us to cater for a relatively broad ability range at prep school level, whilst moving to a more selective approach in the Senior School, and increasing our numbers overall.

At this time last year I reported that we will be seeking to raise standards of attainment at GCSE and A level and the percentage of students attending Russell Group universities; providing more and better opportunities for competitive sport; encouraging even greater involvement and higher standards in Music and Drama; developing our facilities to match our aspirations; and, majoring on developing leadership in all our people.  All of these are being achieved to a great extent and they will continue to be our focus for the coming year.

One of the comments made in our recent inspection report was that our mantra of Adventurous Learning was not yet fully embedded. I don't agree. As I explain to parents and pupils, adventurous learning means enabling the individual to move on and make progress; it means testing the limits to which an individual can aspire, sometimes uncomfortably so, and providing the support needed to meet the challenge. Looking at your children, I cannot see one who has not risen to the challenges that he or she has faced this year.

My own perception is that, apart from the occasional adolescent "moment", the boys and girls here enjoy school, have a great rapport with their teachers, mix well with one another and feel, crucially, that they can talk to anyone about a problem. Just as importantly, I believe that they feel we treat them as individuals. I am encouraged that parents quite often remark that there is no Ashford School "product". I want every child here to retain what makes them unique because only by being themselves, comfortable in their own skins, will they truly flourish. What everyone here has in common is our shared values; compassion, confidence, boldness, resilience and humility.  Long may that continue.

11 July 2009