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Meet the headteacher Mr Hans van Mourik Broekman, Principal of Liverpool College
When something becomes common it becomes less newsworthy. The huge number of schools, for instance, converting to academy status, whilst interesting, is hardly ground breaking. For one school in particular however such a move is exactly that.
The start of a whole new era by Christine Toner Liverpool College, in Mossley Hill, was opened on January 6 1843 by William Gladstone (who would of course go on to be four time Prime Minister). Since that day it has always been a fee-paying independent school. But in September 2013 the school will make an historic transition to become a publicly funded academy. The move means parents will no longer have to pay to send their children to the school and pupil numbers are expected to increase by several hundred. Principal, Hans van Mourik Broekman, is clearly excited about the prospect. “Some people would say it’s a national first,” says Dutch-born Hans. “We’re not actually the first but we are one of them. In my opinion this will happen more and more in the future. We’re terribly excited about it partly because it is very in keeping with the foundation of the school.” Hans says Liverpool College was founded to serve the people of Liverpool and to provide them with an extraordinary education. 24
“We think that we do provide that extraordinary education experience and now it’s going to be available to the people of Liverpool regardless of their ability to pay,” he says. Hans joined the college in 2008, after a spell as head of a school in Nashville, Tennessee. He had worked at a British school before that and his decision to return was based on his previous experience of teaching in this country. “I think British schools are great,” he says. “I think schools like Liverpool College are great and I thought it would be a wonderful opportunity to lead the school.” And not only is he leading the school, but leading it into a whole new era. “The average independent school in the country has about 500 pupils in it, we have 730 pupils at the moment so we’re a relatively large independent school,” says Hans, when explaining the decision to become an academy. “We could have gone on as we’ve always had. However, we did note that the ability of parents to afford this education entirely from after tax income was an enormous strain on everybody.” Hans says if the school was to continue
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as a private school it would come at the cost of social inclusion. “When you’re in a situation like this you’re beginning to serve a smaller and smaller section of the people of Merseyside,” he says. “You can do that, there is a viable school there. But instead we thought ‘We’ve provided this great experience for the last 172 years, shouldn’t that be available to all children?’”
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We’re terribly excited about it partly because it is very in keeping with the foundation of the school
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Another major factor in the decision was the results of an inspection report in March this year. “The Independent Schools Inspectorate said all these wonderful things about us and that gave us a lot of confidence that we could do something bold, innovative