From the ChAir

Leading the Way

In May this year I will have the great privilege of chairing the BSA’s Annual Conference for Heads, the first such gathering in person since the heady pre-COVID days of 2019.

The theme for this year’s conference is Leading the Way which seems also a good hook for this introduction to the spring edition of Boarding Magazine.

Like you, I lose track of the thousands of opinions expressed every day by those who believe their views on education are better than the next person’s.

Countless politicians placed in charge of schools invariably cannot resist the urge to tinker with structures, curricula, funding or policies, sometimes making little or no positive difference in the long run.

It is easy to become bewildered by it all. We are told for instance that parents prefer smaller class sizes (naturally) but cannot refute the performance in subjects like maths by students in some far east schools where classes are huge by British standards.

We are told that Finland has one of the best state school systems in the world, but that does mean we should copy it exactly and expect the same outcomes here? Underneath all this contradiction is something that despite new initiatives and political policy shifts remains consistent and good in thousands of schools across the world – boarding.

It is impossible to prove the advantage of one type of schooling over another, unless you can split a child in two and get them to try both at the same time! But those who know boarding schools, work in boarding, went to boarding school or chose boarding for their children (or a combination of all these things), realise that as an education system boarding can truly claim to ‘lead the way’ in its benefit for young people. Bringing young people together from all corners of the globe to learn and live, grow up, become more confident, and try more new things than they ever could otherwise, is a package of positives that boarding offers regardless of politics and policies. And when those young people receive the best possible pastoral care from boarding professionals, that package becomes iron strong.

As BSA Chair for 2022, I’d like to salute all the sung and unsung heroes and heroines of boarding for your part in helping it to ‘lead the way’ in the education world.

While others chatter and pontificate, boarding staff get on with what they do best – helping young people develop through the unique experience of boarding.

Andrew Rattue Principal, St Clare’s, Oxford and BSA Chair 2022

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