For those of us who work in education, it seems quite natural to apply particular labels to schools and institutions, to make it easier for us to understand what they represent, what they do and what they might be like. The result is a whole host of terminology, some of which actually causes more confusion. What is a public school for example? Well in the rest of the world this is one funded through taxes, whilst here in the UK from the 19th century, it was a well-established (possibly ancient) boarding school which received no tax income, but is dependent on the fees paid by parents of the pupils who attend.
Public or private?
In the days when these public schools were first established, often by philanthropists and wealthy benefactors, with some supported by the livery companies and craftsman’s’ guilds in London and other cities, the concept of private education was completely different to what it is associated with today. Private education happened in wealthy people’s homes, delivered by tutors and governesses, in a private space…. Today we would call it home-learning. Hence the schools were public, and more likely to be providing education for the poor boys (almost uniquely) of the area as well as those affluent families who could afford to pay fees for their sons to attend school. In the late 19th century, schools for girls started to be established, again allowing them a formal education, and the chance to have a broad academic curriculum. Quite right – the girls wanted to go to school in the way that their brothers did and there was a swathe of girls’ schools established, perhaps the most well-known of these being those which today are collectively called the Girls Day School Trust (GDST), the charitable organisation which started its life as The Girls’ Public Day School Company by four pioneering women in 1872.
Exeter school and the city of Exeter
Over time the use of the word private school has come to mean any which are not tax-payer funded, but which charge fees. Some of these are commercial organisations and others, like our own, are not-for-profit, charitable foundations which plough all their surpluses back into the school to develop the buildings, resources and staff who make them such great places to work and learn. As part of our charitable objects, our aim is to better the educational opportunities for all in the city of Exeter and we remain true to these aims, as was the case in the early 17th century when were established. Historically, Exeter School developed from one established in 1633, which provided education for the sons of Freemen of the City. This school operated from the complex of buildings at St John’s Hospital in Exeter where, from 1636, the Blue Boy School, designed mainly to drum the three ‘Rs’ into orphans and sons of the poor, also operated. So the use of the word private to describe what we and all the other schools like us, do does not seem right; we are a school which throws our gates open (both in reality and metaphorically) to engage with the wider public in the city, and to ensure that we contribute to the education of the city’s children at large, not just those who are on our school roll. We work for the good of all Exeter’s children, not just those who attend classes with us every day.
Independence is key
Actually, we are proudly independent as a school, and all of us in the sector would, I hope, agree with this statement. Our independence from the local authorities (and from government funding) allows us to make choices about which curricula, subjects and specifications we teach, what our term dates and length of day looks like, how we assess and admit pupils to the school and so much more. Whilst the exam specifications that we teach at GCSE and A Level are guided by the national curriculum, we are not strait jacketed by it. That’s why we can include electronics in our curriculum both at Year 8 and in the sixth form, and we maintain three modern foreign languages to A Level, as well as Latin and classics, why music and the arts have a strong presence in all our pupils lives at school, and also why we can commit so much of our curriculum time and resources to excellence in sport, outdoor pursuits and service activities. We also have space to develop character in our pupils, explicitly delivered through our virtue-ethics programme, based on the teachings of Aristotle in Ancient Greece.
Quite apart from the novel and exciting learning and teaching opportunities in our curriculum, our independence frees us from being beholden to the national targets and league table data which drives the decisions made in many schools and shapes the experience of their pupils. You won’t hear discussions about a year group’s progress 8 scores going on in our staff room, but more likely about what is right for a particular individual, or small group of pupils. It is wonderful to be able to sit down with governors and senior leaders and devise new strategic initiatives, plans and ideas, and to do so knowing that we have the freedom to manage our budgets as we wish and spend them in the way that we know will best suit our children, and colleagues, and help them to thrive.
Being a staff team member in an independent school allows more autonomy and freedoms than might typically be found in maintained schools. With smaller class sizes (which we can define as we set our own budgets and admissions criteria) teaching staff can focus more on each pupil, and work to ensure that they get individualised support, stretch and challenge in their academic work, supported by the best pastoral care.
Independence brings us great freedoms to shape the school experience for the benefit of every young Exonian, both within the school and in the city as a whole and long may this continue. As we look towards our 400th birthday in 2033, I hope that we will keep our doors open, working for the 100% of the city of Exeter’s children, and remaining proudly independent, (and certainly not private) for the centuries to come…..
