Radley Newsletter 11

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| The Old Gym Redevelopment | Standing on the Shoulders of Giants | | A Week at Radley | College Oak | Making the Whole Man | Radleians |

THE OLD GYM The unimaginative title of this piece reflects both the antiquity of the site of Radley’s newest building project and the fact that it has not one but a number of functions, none of which is so overridingly important as to lay claim to its renaming. So the new building is not just the History Department, or the Art Gallery, or the Coffee Shop, but it is all of these, married together in a stunning concept – by the winners of our competition the architects, Design Engine. It is important to emphasise at the outset that we still await planning permission before Easter, but provided the planners’ dangerous shoals are successfully navigated this spring, we envisage getting underway with clearing the site in the high summer, with building commencing in the autumn. Realistically, we aim to be in by Easter 2013.

That 60 to 70 weeks of building reflects the scale of this project.

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First it incorporates 10 new History (and Politics) classrooms, with accompanying offices, to accommodate one of the biggest departments in the school; over 130 boys take A level History, at present inadequately accommodated in a few beautiful old classrooms facing Bigside. Secondly, and at the building’s heart, is a Coffee Shop and Social Centre for senior boys, and their guests, and parents and visitors to sit in comfort, have a snack, and talk. We felt this need especially for weekends; as a full boarding school it is important to have a stylish social space for boys, visiting girls and adults to meet, especially on Saturdays and Sundays, and the design has imaginatively satisfied that need, additionally providing meeting rooms for more formal discourse. These social areas flow easily into the third element, the expanded Art gallery spaces, for we have long wanted to provide our Art

M REDEVELOPMENT department and the beautiful, high quality Art emanating from it, with exhibition spaces which do justice to Radley’s artistic productivity. The Art will be both wrapped round the social spaces, and have discrete galleries of its own. Design, too, benefits from extended workshop and exhibition spaces.

As a whole, this great new building will make a powerful statement in the heart of the College. There may have been some residual affection for the corrugated construction which morphed from 19th century chapel into Gym, then into Radley’s theatre space, but the shell has long since lost its usefulness, the new theatre superseding it in 2005. Now, an exciting new concept, enhancing the Rackets Court and setting off Clock Tower, will radically transform the centre of Radley College for the better.

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Standing o Shoulders This is only the second full year of the ‘Standing on the Shoulders of Giants’ Sixth-form Lecture, Seminar and Research Project Programme – yet already it seems difficult to imagine sixth-form life without what is now known affectionately as ‘SOTSOG’.

What is SOTSOG? Every academic cycle, in the first half of the academic year, the entire 6.1 yeargroup attends a Lecture period in the Theatre. Two different dons have roughly twenty minutes each to inspire their audiences on topics and issues central to sixth-form intellectual life and indeed to the issues of university study that lie ahead. Subjects like The Whig View of History, Revolution in Science, The Ethics of Terrorism, Marxism and Feminism, the Nature versus Nurture debate and many others have been covered – with the use of powerful film and audio clips to help bring these issues alive.

These lectures have proved a show-case for Common Room to demonstrate their intellectual talents and inspire the boys. As someone lucky enough to have seen all of the lectures thus far, I can testify that the standards of presentation and content have been exceptional.

Lectures that seem to have especially gripped the sixth-formers over the past few months have included Alex Hawkins (Music) and Charlie Barker (Modern Languages and Senior Master) on Race in the Cinema and in Music and Ed Tolputt (Physics) and Anthony Williams (Music) on those contrasting European Geniuses, Alan Turing and Beethoven. Another highlight was Ian Yorston’s (IT) lecture on the emergence of the Big Brother state in Britain – which was not only full of impact, it also proved particularly

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timely, as it coincided with the 6.2/ St Helen’s Conference focusing on these selfsame issues in November 2010.

After each lecture, the lecturers’ slides are sent out to the yeargroup, so boys have a record of the material covered. They are also given a Course booklet, containing summary notes on each topic from each of the Lecturers, together with follow-up reading and research suggestions, guiding them on the next steps once their interest is sparked.

The second SOTSOG period each academic cycle is taken up with a university-style Seminar, where boys meet with their Seminar leader, in small groups of around a dozen, to discuss issues that have interested them in the lectures. Discussions have been full, frank and often stimulating.

Such intellectual stimulation over and above their mainstream A level subjects is of course an educational end in itself. It can be hugely helpful in A level classes, for example, to be able to reference names like Sir Isaac Newton (who himself used the ‘standing on the shoulders of giants’ analogy to describe his own investigations), Nietzsche and Marx, safe in the knowledge that sixthformers will have an understanding of the enormous legacy of such key figures from their SOTSOG lectures.

But SOTSOG doesn’t end there. In the second part of the 6.1 year, the interest triggered by these lectures and seminars is followed up with the third and final part of the Programme: the undertaking of a research project. There are two types of research project; every sixth former chooses one of them. The simplest is the internally-marked 2,000 word ‘Radley Project’ – on any of the titles suggested by the 34 individual lectures they have heard.

A stimulating question is posed – for example, Can or should Art be dangerous? – then explored in the research essay.

Even this comparatively short Project carries strong research and independent learning benefits – precisely the kind of skills universities are increasingly valuing, as places become evermore competitive. Will a university applicant be capable of working independently without close supervision? Is he likely to drop out, unable to complete the rigours of the course? Having completed a research project at Radley, all the evidence points to success - and, as we’ve already seen in our UCAS application cycle this year, those boys, the majority, undertaking the Radley Project, have been highlighting its benefits in their UCAS ‘Personal Statements’.

And for the even more academically ambitious and organised there is the demanding externally-assessed project – the Edexcel Extended Project - worth half an A level.

This is by no means an easy option, requiring a great deal of planning and organisational skill, with for example, around 20-25 research

on the of Giants sources needing to be consulted and incorporated into a final dissertation. That said, the benefits to any applicant aiming for a top university are clear to see. If a Radleian can successfully, on top of taking four A levels, complete a 7,000 word research project, then without question, he is likely to prove a very strong candidate indeed for university study.

over fifty, of all dons have been voluntarily involved with SOTSOG in some form or another – whether as Lecturers, Seminar Leaders or Research Project Supervisors. It is interesting to note that a number of schools are currently looking at the idea of research projects

and independent learning skills, as a means of supplementing their sixth-form curriculum in these increasingly competitive times.

Very few will be able to call upon the talents Radley has been able to muster from its Common Room.

Dr Andrew Cunningham

This year around 35 completed projects will be submitted to Edexcel from our current 6.2s (who did most of the research for these Projects in their 6.1 year).

We await the results with interest.

What has been particularly pleasing is that not only has there been some exceptional work at the ‘top end’ – with outstanding original research written on topics like Climate Change, Middle Eastern Politics, Sport Science, Feminism in Literature – some boys who may not necessarily seem natural academic high-flyers have also successfully produced original and high-quality research, again motivated purely by their own personal interest and determination.

This sense of seeking to spark and inspire is of course the very cornerstone of the SOTSOG course.

And whatever else it may achieve, SOTSOG seems to be encouraging a significant number of boys to be more academically ambitious – at the same time giving them a taste of the research skills that will be needed once they arrive at university.

None of this could have been possible without the enthusiasm of Common Room. A clear majority,

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A WEEK A WEEK 8

CYCLE 15

Sunday, March 6 The Sunday next before Lent CCF Field Weekend Rugby Sevens: Windsor RFC 10.00 Service for Lent, Preb. Charles Marnham, The Lent Visitor 11.00 ‘The History Boys’ Technical (Theatre) ____________________________________________________________________ Monday, March 7 Day 5 Matthew 7:13-23 CCF Field Day C Social Duty Week 8.30 6.2 to AER (SLT) 8.45 6.2 Study Day begins 9.20 - 10.00 6.1 Lecture: ‘Research Skills’ (CDS/AC)

____________________________________________________________________ Tuesday, March 8 Day 6 Matthew 7:24-29 Art Scholarship A level Mocks begin 8.00 - 4.30 U14 South regional hockey heats 1.00-6.00 Art AS Exam 1.15 Coffee Concert: Instrumentalists and Singers (Silk Hall) ____________________________________________________________________ Wednesday, March 9 Day 7 Isaiah 58:1-8 Ash Wednesday Academic Scholarship 8.00 Ash Wednesday Roman Catholic Mass 8.45 Ash Wednesday Service (Chapel) 9.20 Period 2 ____________________________________________________________________ Thursday, March 10 Day 8 John 13:1-11 Academic Scholarship Departmental Outings 8.00 - 4.30 U16 South regional hockey heats 8.30 - 6.00 Fifths: Art Trip to London 8.30 - 6.00 6.1 Geology fieldtrip to Aust Cliff 8.30 - 6.00 6.1 Geography Energy field trip 1.00 6.1, Remove, Shell Interim Reports deadline (CR) ____________________________________________________________________ Friday, March 11 Day 1 John 13:12-17 All Rounder Scholarship ____________________________________________________________________ Saturday, March 12 Day 2 John 13:18-30 8.00 Sailing Match: NSSA 2 boat team racing (Farmoor) 9.00 - 4.00 Rowing: Reading University Head 9.30 Council (Radley)

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AT RADLEY 11.00 - 5.00 Art GCSE Remove Exam 11.15 - 12.30 Cricket: Academy Squad Training 11.30 - 4.30 Choral Society Rehearsal Day 1 - (Silk Hall) Lunch in Hall 2.00 Shell Golf v Summer Fields (H) ____________________________________________________________________ 2.40 Warden’s Spelling Test: Shells 4.30 CCF/Wednesday Activities 6.00 ‘The History Boys’ Dress Rehearsal (Theatre) No Chapel 9.05 Hudson Society 9.05 Vth Form Society 9.05 Crowson Society 9.05 Lent Address (New Pavilion) 9.05 Upper Sixth 10.00 6.1 Interim Reports deadline (Boys) ____________________________________________________________________ Academic Scholarship (from 3.30pm) 2.00-9.00 Music GCSE/A Level Composition Workshop: Bingham String Quartet - Removes and 6.1 (Silk Hall) 5.15 Shell 1 Guides for Scholarship (until Thursday) 6.00 ‘The History Boys’ Dress Rehearsal (Theatre) 9.05-10.00 Inter-Social Debating Competition - Sixth Form: Round 1 (SLT) 9.05 Lent Address (New Pavilion) ____________________________________________________________________ 4.30 Games 6.30 D of E Gold Spotlight 6.45 English Dept Shell 1 and Lit Soc theatre trip: ‘The Tempest’ (Oxford Playhouse) 8.30 Keyboard Krazy Koncert (Silk Hall) 9.05-10.00 Inter-Social Debating Competition - Sixth Form: Round 1 (SLT) 9.05 Lent Address (New Pavilion) ____________________________________________________________________ APT for 6.1 (no priority) Rackets v Clifton (H) 12.05-7.45 Golf v ORs (at The Berkshire) 12.40-7.00 Fives v Malvern (H) U14 A&B 2.00-6.00 Squash v Abingdon (H) 7.45 ‘The History Boys’ (Theatre) 9.05-10.00 Inter-Social Debating Competition - Sixth Form: Round 1 (New Pavilion) ____________________________________________________________________ 1.30 Form Masters’ Period: 6.1, R, S Reports 4.00 Council (Radley) 7.45-9.45 Choral Society Evening Rehearsal 2 (Silk Hall) 7.45 ‘The History Boys’ (Theatre) - Council attending ____________________________________________________________________ 12.00-6.00 Cross Country SE Championships (Harrow) Hockey v Charterhouse 3, C1-3, JC1-4 (H); 1,2,4,5, M1-6 (A) lunch12:00, leave 12:20 Soccer v Haberdashers Aske’s 1-3 (H); C1-2 (A) leave 12:00 Soccer v Oratory C3, JC3 (H) 2.00 D of E Bronze Expedition departs Fifths Dance with Westonbirt (H) 7.45 J Social Culture Evening (Silk Hall)

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College Oak

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Every Wednesday evening Radleians congregate in their boarding houses for ‘Social Prayers’. Talks are given by dons which may have a moral or spiritual element, often they relate to events in the news, but sometimes they simply inform the boys about interesting ideas and facts which might not otherwise find their way into a curriculum. This is an address given by the Acting Warden, Andrew Reekes: Standing at the bottom of a broad track, alongside Capability Brown’s picturesque lake, is a gnarled and twisted oak tree of considerable girth and obvious antiquity. Since Radley’s early days it has been known as College Oak, but Radley College is a Johnny-come-lately when set alongside this noble tree, which dendrochronologists from the EU have recently dated as being c.1060 years old. In truth, it is one of the oldest extant trees anywhere in Europe.

Pigs foraging for pannage through the forests attached to Abingdon Abbey evidently missed a stray nut. It took root at a time when Edgar the Peacable, from Wessex, was King of England and St Aethelwold the Bishop of Winchester held the Abbacy at Abingdon and so owned the woods.

The tree was already a century old when William of Normandy conquered England; he came to Abingdon in 1084 to celebrate Easter, hunted boar across Radley land and left his son, later to be Henry 1st, to board at the Abbey. College Oak grew and flourished through the Angevin and Plantagent centuries, one of scores of such trees in these parts. A layman here would have been trespassing and it is likely that only boar and deer sheltered under its boughs; perhaps the occasional courting couple romped in its leafy shelter.

At some stage, centuries ago, a lightening strike or a natural deformity led to a strange perversion which makes College Oak unique; its 60 foot long sideshoot, as thick as a child is high, lying parallel to the ground and rooting in the soil in its own right. It probably explains why the tree is here today. With Henry VIII came a passionate, competitive, dynastic desire to make a mark in Europe and war inevitably meant the need to defend these shores with a strong navy. Henry ordered the building of huge oak men-of-war of which the Mary Rose was one example. Because of its size, and height, and the design of is gunports it shipped water and turned turtle one benign summer’s day on the Solent. Surveyors then, as in the time of his daughter Elizabeth, scoured the south of England for thick, tall, straight oak timber. Radley’s was even then too old, too bent, to pass muster. As in the late 18th century when the Admiralty looked for English oak to construct a navy against Bourbon, then Revolutionary, finally Napoleonic, France, College Oak survived the cull.

By then, too, something else had happened to it.

It had been incorporated into the leisure industry of its era. Capability Brown, the greatest garden designer of his era, architect of over 140 such schemes, was employed here to landscape the grounds surrounding newish Radley Hall on lands freed, after Henry VIII’s dissolution, from ecclesiastical ownership. Capability Brown’s style was one of smooth, undulating grass accompanied by artistically devised clumps and softening of trees, with serpentine lakes, all with the aim of creating the gardenless garden. College Oak was a picturesque prop in an 18th century stage set, part of a contrived landscape in the style of Claude Lorraine.

Its final incarnation, now 900 years old, was to act as bit part player in the new Radley College, founded in 1847. So hungry were early Radleians that they foraged like those Anglo-Saxon wild boar of old, for acorns from College Oak; they hid tuck from prying authorities in its hollow interior.

At some stage – not, of course, now – it was also the secret repository of illicit cigarettes and the occasional bottles of hooch. By the 21st century it was, indeed, a hollowed-out oak, a hoary old growth, but it still had life, and survived the attentions of tree surgeons round the grounds in the last decade.

So, it is rather humbling to review what it has outlived. It was 100 years old when the Normans came, 400 years old when England’s population was halved by Black Death, 600 years old when Shakespeare was born, 700 years old when Royalists and Parliamentarians surged to and fro across Radley’s lands as they contested the Thames Valley and Royalist Oxford; 850 years old when beacons were lit across Southern England to warn of impending invasion by Napoleon in 1805; the tree celebrated its millennium as Radleians and Eastbournians (evacuated here for the war’s duration) gazed skywards at German bombers passing north overhead to seek out Birmingham and Coventry. It is quite extraordinary that a living thing could have survived so much – over 1000 years – of our island history. That survival perfectly illustrates why we revere the oak tree – its resilience, strength and durability has long symbolised those enduring rugged, yeoman qualities of the idealised Englishman.

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Making the Whole Man Some schools are obsessed with academic league tables; some worship at the shrine of sport; some pay lip-service to the spiritual traditions of their foundations. Radley aims to educate the whole person. One of the advantages of the boarding environment is that the dons and boys are living in a community. Thus the values and skills which are essential to build a successful and caring society can be nurtured in an effective and authentic manner.

Successive governments have identified the erosion of social, moral and personal values as weakening the fabric of society.

The response was to develop as a part of the National Curriculum subjects called PSHE (Personal, Social and Health Education) and Citizenship . More recently the National Healthy Schools Programme was established as a joint initiative by the Department of Health and the Department for Education and Skills (DfES) to reduce health inequalities. Healthy Schools, as envisaged for the maintained sector, advocates a whole school approach to PSHE, involving pupils, the leadership team, governors and the relevant parts of the local community.

The most innovative method of delivering PSHE recommended by Healthy Schools is the ‘normative’ or social norms approach rather than the negative approach to such

issues which polarizes attitudes and can even make illicit or unhealthy behaviour more appealing to a rebellious teenager. This model fits well with Radley’s ethos.

To promote this normative approach, PSHE and Citizenship are integrated into all aspects of life at Radley; classroom teaching, tutor groups, socials, and games. The development of the whole person is central to Radley’s education. As Radley is also a religious and charitable institution its culture promotes a spirit of responsible and selfless giving in its staff and pupils.

The more obvious aspects of PSHE: healthy diet, alcohol, smoking and drugs awareness, and sexual health are taught, in the main, within the Biology curriculum, but these are supported by talks from medical staff,

external specialists and developed further in small Social-based discussion groups by boys’ form-masters.

We have been very lucky to establish a large and reliable network of excellent guest speakers who have fully endorsed our approach. For example, the Shells receive very different talks from Alex Corkran and Kaz Ghalmi on issues of self-esteem, eating disorders and awareness of peer pressure. Alex Corkran comments that she finds Radleians a pleasure to speak to, as they listen intently. She is impressed greatly by the questions they ask and by their willingness to approach her afterwards with more questions, or just to say thank you.

“What a fabulous group of young people they are!” she told me after giving her last talk. Kaz Ghalmi is a former drug addict and a specialist in professional drugs-awareness training. He was recommended to us by Thames Valley Police and, having lived in Radley village, he knows our situation well.

He is a very amusing speaker who manages to get the boys in the Shells to think about their attitudes towards one another. He and another drugs worker run workshops with small groups in the Vth form. In these they address in more depth any questions about drugs and alcohol abuse. Another local specialist in this field is Mark Stevens, the clinical psychiatric nursing manager for Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Community Addiction Services. He comes in weekly for the first half of the Michaelmas Term to speak to a couple of form groups at a time about drugs and alcohol abuse.

Both he and Kaz Ghalmi also give talks to Common Room and to parents to complement their work with the boys. These sessions have always proved very popular and are strategically important in keeping all those looking after boys fully informed.

A number of Old Radleians have generously given talks to our boys. About eight years ago, I went to a dinner talk on Addiction given at Brooks’s Club by Lord Birdwood. He

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gave such an entertaining and compelling insight into his own life experience as an alcoholic that I was delighted that he has been able to return to Radley each year to speak to the 6.1 year group. He comments, “The reaction of the audience of older boys is everything one could hope for. From the beginning, they are engaged, clearly identifying with the pitfalls which I am describing. There is real identification. Mind you, the topic - addiction in general, and alcohol in particular - is likely to ring bells as most families have a problem somewhere in their spread. I focus particularly on AA (Alcoholics Anonymous).” He reports that he received some feedback unexpectedly in Brooks’s one evening when a Radleian’s father said, out of the blue, that his son had raved about the talk and how much of an eye-opener it had been and stimulated discussion amongst his friends afterwards.

different charities, often with very personal links to boys in the school. These activities range from individual endurance record attempts and sponsored long-distance cycle or rowing events, to whole-school charity dress-down days and selling special Radley-branded novelties such as pyjamas or boxer shorts. Many thousands of pounds are raised annually through the boys’ ingenuity and resourcefulness.

It should not come as any surprise that the spiritual barometer of the school is the atmosphere in Chapel. The school chapel is a special place, a holy place: the generations of past pupils who return and visit to pray

and reminisce in silence or at services are a testimony to its power. It forms and confirms Christians on their discipleship journey. For some it begins as a routine chore, for others it seems irrelevant at first, but it soon becomes a spiritual refuge and refectory. Very few schools still have a daily chapel service for the entire school, or even the principle of a weekly Sunday Eucharist.

When I arrived at Radley in 1997, I was struck by Chapel’s peaceful atmosphere and the stillness maintained by the whole congregation in the five minutes before weekday Evensongs and during prayers and the taking of Communion.

Perhaps a few ORs have memories of watching scratchy black and white films on How babies are made, or The dangers of venereal disease. We have an old 16mm film reel sitting on the shelf in Biology entitled Human Reproduction but (un) fortunately no projector with which to view it. Things have advanced a lot. As well as excellent materials from Channel 4 and BBC Education, Prof Robert Winston’s acclaimed Human Body series provides a superb set of programmes covering puberty and pregnancy. Using models, condoms and other contraceptives, the Biology Department and Medical Centre provide guidance on contraception and sexually transmitted infections with special emphasis on Chlamydia: a particularly nasty, but often symptomless, bacterial infection which is currently spreading through the UK’s teenage population at an alarming rate.

The context of all PSHE and Citizenship is always considered in light of Radley’s identity as a Christian school. Over their time here, boys need to develop a mature emotional and spiritual self-awareness to help them cope with the psychological and moral challenges which they will undoubtedly meet throughout their lives.

An awareness of the effects of depression and anxiety on oneself, family and friends has been acutely brought to the Radleian consciousness through the work of the Charlie Waller Memorial Trust and Alex Corkran’s talks.

Another remarkable expression of Radleians’ generosity of spirit is exemplified by the sustained and diverse range of fund-raising activities for so many

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r a dl e i a n s On the academic front, I felt at once that I was in safe hands. Lessons were productive and informative and teachers managed to keep each and every lesson interesting. However, the relative informality that existed in lessons and the friendly relationships boys struck up with teachers was the aspect that surprised and impressed me the most. This kind of relationship not only contributed to the friendly atmosphere of the place, but helped drive the boys to better and higher achievements, as they tried desperately not to disappoint the teachers after their hard work.

The voluntary candlelit Eucharists on Friday evenings would gather thirty or more boys together in prayer to receive the Blessed Sacrament. This term the Chaplain has introduced a short said Eucharist after lunch on Wednesdays.

Having had the privilege of preparing boys for Confirmation, I am acutely aware of how embarrassing they find it to talk openly in groups about their spiritual journeys as opposed to other PSHE topics, their favourite team’s performance, or which film star they fancy most. However, individually, they all relate different, but no less real experiences of fear, inadequacy, joy, and hope which are healed and nurtured in Chapel, where they are reminded that they are not just pupils, but the living Body of Christ.

I will never forget the sight of hundreds and hundreds of candles being lit on the Altar at the voluntary evening service the Revd Tim Fernyhough and I led in response to the 2004 Boxing Day Tsunami. In those precious minutes boys were not too embarrassed to cry, to pray fervently, to thank God and to struggle with the tragedy of natural disasters. It was perhaps the most overt expression of a school’s corporate Christian faith I have experienced for many years: quiet, candlelit, prayerful and dignified liturgy followed by the most rousing hymn-singing.

It is not just the boys who are nurtured

by Radley’s spiritual tradition. In my time here the Holy Spirit has been hard at work in Common Room: Katie Jones, James Wesson, Matthew Bemand, Brenda Stewart, Rebecca Peters and I have all been ordained priests, and two more Radley dons are currently exploring this calling.

Before my own ordination training, I would lead a simple said Compline on Wednesday evenings in the Chapel of the Resurrection above Memorial Arch. This was always supported by the dedicated team of Sacristans, one of whom is himself now following his own vocation. Boys and dons alike can become whole people at Radley.

The Revd Dr Simon Thorn Head of Science and PSHE

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Vannevar Taylor (VI-1) DRAGON, ETON, K SOCIAL There is no denying that when I first set foot on Radley soil as a Radleian, doubts were scurrying around my head and my heart thumping with nervousness. I knew of the immense beauty of the grounds, I knew of its reputation as an all-round school. I had captained an Eton side that was thumped by Radley at rugby: their sporting prowess was no secret to me.

Equally, some of the brightest boys of my prep school, the Dragon, had gone on to Radley: it was easy to guess that they were no slouches on the academic side of things too.

This did not prevent the doubts from assailing me. I had laboured all summer-long to catch up on GCSE syllabuses which differed from those I had studied at Eton, I was determined to make this place the right one. I was prepared for challenges, and therefore anticipation was normal.

This was reckoning without the character of the place. From my first evening at the school, I felt welcome.

Boys went out of their way to be friendly to me and to make me feel at home in a way I had not experienced before. Thanks to this, I settled down quickly to the Radley way of life.

Sport was integral to this, and my participation as openside flanker to the Colts 2 unbeaten season in my first term confirmed my impression of all Radleians’ dedication to sports. I felt from the off that it would provide for me what Eton had not been able to: a warm, friendly environment where pleasant and sociable boys were the rule rather than the exception.

Having already been to one of the best public schools in the business, it would have been natural for me to have been critical of aspects that left something to be desired. This was rendered impossible by the lack of flaws in the Radley system.

Societies were without exception stimulating and of profound interest.

Better still, there was no lack of them; lectures were constantly being given, either by teachers or experts in all fields brought in to talk to us. Most impressively, boys seemed eager to involve themselves in these extracurricular opportunities, and many took a genuine interest in multiple shades of the spectrum.

Life in socials was another aspect of Radley life that I immediately took to.

K Social, as one of the two new houses, was easy to like for its cleanliness and striking interior, but its atmosphere was something that no other school could, in my opinion, replicate. Again, the informality of it all struck me, but the idea of “cocoa” was one that had never occurred to me before, and one that suited the camaraderie present in all socials.

Having been successfully guided through GCSEs and having embarked on the A level course, every aspect of life in school continues to impress me, not least the fantastic facilities we have at our disposal, or the competitiveness of boys on the games fields, but equally the friendliness of everybody no matter what the situation.

I have much to be grateful for at Radley for, particularly the recent award of an honorary academic scholarship. I shall always be thankful for the opportunities it has given, and continues to give to me, as I make my way through the sixth form.

Website: www.radley.org.uk . Admissions enquiries: 01235 543174 . admissions@radley.org.uk