SE CHRONICLE 684

AUTUMN 2022 | VOLUME XLI I | NUMBER 684

CHRONICLE

Location, Location, Location Putting the intellectual might of the city of Oxford at the heart of our academic programme

The Joy of a Good Book

Side by Side A celebration of co-education as we mark two important anniversaries

The launch of Time to Read unleashes all the benefits of reading for pleasure

Important School Occasions You are warmly invited to join us at the following whole-school occasions open to all parents. Put the following dates in your diary now and look out for reminders across all school publications. Please note that this is not an exhaustive list – dates for other popular whole-school events such as the Friends’ Quiz have yet to be fixed and announcements will follow. If you are not able to attend in person some of these events will be streamed or recorded –

details will follow in E News. Academic Conference: The Oxford Movement and Education FRIDAY 23RD SEPTEMBER Find out more on page 4 Headliner Weekend Event, Comedy: The Noise Next Door SATURDAY 24TH SEPTEMBER The Steeplechase, preceded by lunch and presentations, and followed by the Steeplechase Tea THURSDAY 29TH SEPTEMBER The annual whole-school cross country run before Leave Weekend pick-up (see page 33) Headliner Weekend Event, Music: Swede Dreamz, an ABBA tribute band SATURDAY 5TH NOVEMBER A Festival of Fireworks

The Arvo Pärt Festival at the Olivier SATURDAY 19TH NOVEMBER A concert dedicated to the Estonian composer as part of Music at Oxford’s major celebration of his work Othello at The North Wall WEDNESDAY 23RD TO SATURDAY 26TH NOVEMBER The school play The Carol Service SUNDAY 4TH DECEMBER Handel’s Messiah in the Olivier Hall WEDNESDAY 21ST DECEMBER The Oxford Philharmonic Orchestra returns to the Olivier to perform Handel’s towering creation for soloists, chorus and orchestra. Book tickets online at oxfordphil.com The CCF Inspection FRIDAY 28TH APRIL Gaudy Week 2023 FRIDAY 23RD JUNE TO SATURDAY 1ST JULY The cultural and academic festival with which term ends

SUNDAY 6TH NOVEMBER The Ballet Recital SUNDAY 6TH NOVEMBER

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Word from the Warden

As the Autumn Term gets underway at Teddies, it is a great pleasure to introduce the latest edition of the Chronicle and to extend a very warm welcome to all parents, guardians and pupils new to the School this term. In this upbeat edition, you will read about many recent and imminent initiatives milestones: 40 years since the first Sixth Form girls joined us and 25 years since we became fully co-educational. There are interviews on the theme of co-education with the new Sub-Warden, Clare Hamilton, with the Deputy Head Pastoral, Rachel Bellamy, and with me from page 8, where you will also be able to read pupils’ views on this fundamental feature of a Teddies education. On a related note, it was very pleasing to learn that parents rate this aspect of St Edward’s very highly too, a point which shone through the results of the parent survey carried out in the Summer Term. David Flower, Deputy Head Academic, summarises from page 16 how we plan to harness the immense power of Oxford as an inspiration for scholarship, a centre at the School. Most importantly, we celebrate two major co-educational

of excellence and a place for service for our pupils and staff. David also shares the headlines of our record-breaking academic results on page 7. As the autumn nights draw in, you might find the book reviews featured in this edition a useful resource. We invited people from across our community – pupils, staff, governors past and present, and OSE across the generations – to tell us about one of their favourite books to mark the launch of Time to Read, a fantastic new scheme being rolled out for pupils in all year groups this term. Dedicated reading time has been ring-fenced in the timetable, to give everyone the space and time they need to enjoy the many benefits of reading for pleasure. You can find out more on page 20, and you will come across the book reviews throughout the magazine. The focus on reading extends to parents, too: the Friends’ Virtual Book Club, open to all parents and guardians, takes place on 15th November, and you can read more about it on page 33. Elsewhere you can enjoy an interview with Grand National winner Sam Waley-Cohen OSE on page 42, read an extraordinarily vivid account of life at the

School at the end of the 19th century on page 38, catch up with news from many areas of school life, and take stock of all the sporting action from page 48. Zannah, Mary, Lizzie and I have almost finished unpacking in the Warden’s House in the Quad, to which we are looking forward to welcoming you very soon.

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Alastair Chirnside, 14th Warden and David Christie, 11th Warden, at the June opening of the Christie Centre, named in David’s honour

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The Oxford Movement & Education As we went to press, we were preparing to host an important academic conference taking place at St Edward’s on Friday 23rd September. A distinguished team of leading academics will convene to explore the distinctive role of the Movement in the context of schools, universities and the nation.

Oxford Movement that it should feature in any conversation about religious reform in England. St Edward’s history is tightly entwined with these 19th-century developments. The School’s founder, Thomas Chamberlain, was a devoted adherent of the Oxford Movement. When he founded the School in 1863, Chamberlain’s vision was to establish a number of schools with Anglo-Catholic traditions at their heart, thus embedding the principles of the Oxford Movement in the education system. St Edward’s School’s rich association with the Movement is embodied in its buildings, most notably the chapel which stands at the centre of our community. The chapel was completed in 1878, only five years after the School was re-located to Summertown – this physical embodiment of the Oxford Movement’s values was a key priority in the early years of the School’s foundation. St Edward’s School is the only school established by Chamberlain that still survives today.

Religious reform in England is most commonly attributed to the 1500s and Henry VIII’s break with the Catholic Church when he established the Church of England and made Protestantism the country’s dominant faith. However, three hundred years later, a group of scholars from the University of Oxford campaigned for their own series of cultural and religious reforms. The intellectuals quickly gathered a national following and became known as ‘The Oxford Movement’. They challenged many of the changes brought about by Henry VIII and campaigned to reassert the Church of England as a divine organisation detached from English politics. The Oxford Movement began in the early 1800s and its impact was immediate

and long-lasting. Many of the scholars involved in the movement debated arguments of theology and sought to bring back established forms of Catholic worship that had been abandoned after Henry VIII’s Protestant reforms. However, their impact went beyond simply matters of religion; their ambition to revive the old features of the Catholic Church led to a number of architectural changes, which can still be seen today. The Oxford Movement re-established the prominence of Gothic architecture and inspired the designs of many mid-19th-century building projects, such as the Palace of Westminster, Big Ben and the Royal Courts of Justice in London, and also the design of Keble College, Oxford. So significant is the legacy of the

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Seeing Red

Joshua Pilling as the Red Queen flanked by Lola Parker Bowles and Freddie Fox in the Gaudy production of A.L.I.C.E

Nick Rutter

The Oxford Philharmonic

We were delighted to welcome the Oxford Philharmonic Orchestra to the Olivier Hall this summer and are even more delighted that they are set to return for their Christmas performance of Handel’s Messiah on Wednesday 21st December. ‘I did think I did see all Heaven before me,’ wrote Handel as he finished Messiah . Part German Passion, part English anthem, part Italian opera, Messiah changed the landscape of vocal music in Britain from the moment it was first performed in 1742. Book to see this towering and inspired creation in the Olivier at oxphil.com.

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Huw Thomas What do you do at Teddies and how long have you been here? I took over as Housemaster in Apsley at the start of term. I have been at Teddies for seven years and have loved my whole time at the School. No two years have been the same and I have enjoyed the variety of opportunities in which I have been involved. What did you do before? I have been very fortunate to have experienced different areas of school life. When I first joined Teddies in 2015 I was a teacher of History and Resident Tutor in Apsley. I then moved to Tilly’s, where I was Assistant Housemaster for five years before moving to Cooper Lodge to be a Tutor for one year. During my time in Tilly’s, I also became Assistant Head of Sixth Form and was responsible for managing the universities programme. Until the end of last year I had also been Head of History for two years, which brought me an enormous amount of joy to witness the love for the subject shown by great colleagues and wonderful pupils. I was also 1st XV rugby coach for four years, which was an incredible privilege and I will never forget the electrifying last-minute 21-15 victory over the Oratory School in 2019. It has been a very busy seven years, but I am grateful for all the different roles I have occupied. I am excited to now be back in Apsley where it all began (but don’t tell the boys in Tilly’s that I said that!). What are you most looking forward to about becoming a Housemaster? Getting to know every pupil in Apsley. I want to share and celebrate everyone’s personal interests, ambitions and achievements, so this is something that I am very excited about. What do you see as the benefits of co-educational Houses? We live in a society in which tolerance, acceptance and equality are perhaps more important than they have ever been. Living in a co-educational House gives pupils the chance to become more tolerant and inclusive people, ready to step into and thrive within the ‘real world’ of mixed personalities beyond the walls of school. What are your ambitions for the pupils in Apsley? I have three ambitions for the pupils in Apsley. My immediate priority is to establish the full integration of girls in the Sixth Form now that the girls and boys are all living under one roof. My second ambition is to improve the academic endeavour and outcomes of all pupils in the House. My third ambition is to cultivate pupils’ pride in the House’s identity as one with a robust culture and a cohesive community in which every pupil feels a sense of belonging.

Name some highlights from your Teddies career so far. There is one highlight of my career that stands apart from all others, and that was meeting my now wife, Beckie. She and I met at Teddies in 2017 and we got married in July. She has been an incredible inspiration to me and a constant support in everything that I have done. Without her, many of the other highlights of my career would probably not have happened. Best advice you’ve ever been given? I am an admirer of Marcus Aurelius’s writings on Stoicism in his Meditations . Life often throws at us seemingly insurmountable challenges, but these words from Marcus Aurelius have often given me the reassurance to be able to endure tough times: ‘Be like the rocky headland on which the waves constantly break. It stands firm, and round it the seething waters are laid to rest.’ Which book would you take to a desert island and why? The Mabinogion which was a series of tales written in Welsh during the 12th – 13th centuries based on ancient oral traditions. They are brilliant, imaginative stories that would connect me to my Welsh roots whilst being marooned on a desert island.

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Academic Results 2022 By David Flower, Sub-Warden Academic

that outcomes went into reverse across the country as Ofqual and the Government sought to control pandemic-related grade inflation. Even better news was to follow a week later with the release of GCSE and Pathways & Perspectives results. With almost two thirds of all grades awarded at 9-7, these were the highest results ever achieved by pupils at the School and confirm the upward trend in our results over the last decade. Pupils deserve the highest praise. It is clear that all of them worked extremely hard in the spring and early summer of this year and they can be truly proud of what they have achieved. More than 80% of our leavers will go onto their first-choice

university and others, who did not apply this year, will go into the 2023 admissions round in a very strong position. Given the turmoil that this generation of pupils has faced, their achievements are remarkable; we are equally proud of the tenacity and ingenuity displayed by the teachers and House teams as we all learnt to adapt to the restrictions of the pandemic. Having been here a year, I have observed the sense of hard work and community endeavour for which our School is rightly known and it is therefore of no surprise to me that the School goes from strength to strength. The baton now passes to the 2023 cohorts and we are excited by what they will go on to achieve.

The public exam results of 2022 gave much cause for celebration. Prior to the national release of results, the press had already dubbed this cohort the ‘most disrupted since the Second World War,’ so it was with a great sense of joy, and no little relief, that both the Upper Sixth and Fifth Form achieved record results. At IB, more than 60% of Higher Level grades were awarded at the 7 or 6 level and almost 94% were at grades 7-5. The A Level cohort matched their IB peers, with 52% of grades at A*/A and 83% at A*-B. All of these figures are up on 2019 and, after re-marks, will come close to matching the Teacher Assessed Grades of 2021, a remarkable achievement given

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Celebrating Co-education As we celebrate 40 years since Sixth Form girls joined St Edward’s and 25 years since we became fully co-educational, we talked to the Warden, to the new Sub-Warden, Clare Hamilton, to the Deputy Head Pastoral, Rachel Bellamy, and to pupils to find out why this aspect of a Teddies education is so central to our ethos.

The Warden on Co-education How important is co-education to the fundamental purpose of education? Education is about preparing children for the world in which they will be adults, so that they can play a full part in society and so that they can lead happy and fulfilling lives – so co-education is fundamentally important. It gives children more points of social reference, and it leads to greater emotional intelligence. Co-education makes children’s experience of school more rounded, more complete. The purpose of education can be achieved without it, but there’s no doubt that it’s more easily achieved – and more likely to be successfully achieved – when boys and girls are educated together.

What are the specific benefits to young people of having lived and worked as part of a co-educational community like St Edward’s? When boys and girls are at school together, they will have opportunities which are very unlikely to have been available to them in a single-sex school. In practical terms, boys at boys’ schools can’t usually take dance lessons, and girls at girls’ schools don’t often have the chance to play rugby. At a co-educational school like Teddies, they have those opportunities and they take them. When they leave school to go to university or into work, pupils will be in a mixed environment which is

entirely familiar, entirely natural – there’s a significant risk that children leaving single-sex schools find those transitions much harder. I think the experience of a co-educational school really helps children to develop universal interpersonal skills. Society and the opportunities for jobs are changing all the time, and none of us can know with certainty what skills our children are going to need in the future. But we can all be certain that the ability to relate well to other people – regardless of background, ability and, most relevantly here, gender – is always going to be a vitally important skill for life.

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What does co-education bring to the atmosphere and culture of the School? One of the most obvious differences is in the mix of people who work in the School – where the balance between men and women on the teaching staff is approximately 60:40. That’s not yet where we would like it to be, but it is moving in the right direction and the balance is already much better than it tends to be in single sex schools. It’s also much closer to 50:50 among the Heads of Department and in the senior management team. The benefits for pupils are obvious – a wider range of role models, more life experience among the people working as teachers and leaders in the School. But pupils live their everyday lives at Teddies with each other more than with their teachers, and it’s in lessons, in activities and in unstructured time that the benefits of co-education are most obvious. Stereotypes are not perpetuated, excesses in behaviour are moderated, differences in personality and in approach are respected – all because children learn best from the example of their peers rather than the instruction of their teachers. And co education helps to make those peer groups structurally and rightly diverse. How do you plan to strengthen further the co-educational ethos at Teddies? That’s absolutely the plan, and we’re going to use this anniversary year as the platform on which to do it. Most obviously, we are going to bring the balance of boys and girls in the School much closer to 50:50. We are just about there already in the Sixth Form, where 47% of pupils are girls and 53% are boys, but overall in the School the balance is 59:41. We’re already seeing positive trends in admissions, and we are aiming to

Sixth Form girls at Teddies in the early 1980s

get close to 50:50 within the first five years of my time as Warden. But ethos is about much more than numbers. We’re looking to bring boys’ Houses and girls’ Houses together much more frequently, and we have plans for much more co-educational sport – helped by the introduction of football as an option for boys and girls in all year groups. We’re also looking to expand inter-house competitions in all sports, bringing boys and girls together. That happens very easily in the other areas of the co-curriculum – for example in music, drama, dance and art. In sport, we need to work a little harder at it, and that’s what we are going to do. The co-educational boarding model is relatively new at Teddies. Do you have plans to extend this further? The co-educational Houses have been hugely successful, and really popular with

prospective pupils and their families. Often pupils in the boys’ or girls’ Houses tell me how much they would like to be in a co educational House. I’m also often asked by pupils in Cooper Lodge, Apsley and Sing’s why we are not making all our Houses co ed, not just in the Sixth Form but from the Shell. The answer is that we will always want to offer children and their parents choice – so I can see perhaps one or two more Houses with boys and girls together in the Sixth Form during my time as Warden, but I think there will always be Houses only for boys and only for girls too. What are the specific benefits of co educational boarding? There are two obvious benefits – the first for the pupils in the Sixth Form and the second for the pupils in the younger year groups. The older girls and boys are getting the best possible preparation for their halls OLGA MURAVITSKAYA Co-education allows for shared experiences, both academically and practically. Many lessons encourage debates and in a co-educational setting they seem to be livelier and more balanced. I really value this aspect of Teddies and I don’t think I would have learned as much in a gender-segregated environment. In addition, the ability to hang out outside of lessons and have the option to join co-curricular activities with whoever you like further broadens our experiences.

PATRICK MAXWELL If school is a preparation for life, then it should represent what life will be like. This Teddies does very well, and the co-educational aspect is crucial to that. The Teddies community allows us to be more of who we are; few of the expectations, identities and cultures of single-sex environments survive.

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of residence and for the flats and houses that they are likely to share when they start work – living and working alongside each other in Cooper Lodge, Apsley and Sing’s. The younger pupils have role models who are both boys and girls – not just because they see both boys and girls serving as Prefects and Heads of House but also because they see great examples in academic work, in sport and in the arts among the girls and boys in the Sixth Form to whom they naturally look up – and whose example they are then inspired to follow in different directions and different ways. That’s what diversity looks like. The sports programme has undergone a number of changes in recent years. Tell us how it is shaped by our co-educational ethos. The programme for sport is about performance and about participation, but above all it is about education – some of the best lessons for life are learnt on the court, on the pitch or on the river. Hockey provides a great example – it has been a hugely successful sport for boys and girls at Teddies for many years. Cricket has followed the same model, and our girls’ teams have become as successful and highly regarded as our boys’ teams. One of the highlights of last year was the festival of cricket at Wormsley, when the girls’ 1st XI played Downe House in the morning and the boys 1st XI played Eton in the afternoon. It was made even better by the fact that we won both fixtures! So, to answer your question, girls and boys are inspired by each other’s example in sport, training together, sometimes competing together, always learning together.

Fourth Form Army cadets following their win in the obstacle course competition in April

What’s your own experience of co educational or single-sex education or workplace environments? How have these experiences shaped your current thinking about co-education? When I was at Eton, there was not much flexibility at weekends and it was a much more closed community, so it was quite a change to move from an all-boys environment at school to a mixed college at Oxford. University was a completely different environment, and it would have been easier for me and for some of my peers from single sex schools – both boys and girls – if that co-ed environment had been more familiar. Two of my three bosses at Schroders, where I worked as a fund-manager for five years before becoming a teacher, were women – of whom there were not many in senior roles in the City in the early 2000s. Schroders was then and is now a progressive employer, but there’s no doubt that lessons in equality

and inclusion are best learnt at school. That’s another strength of a co-educational school – children learn a huge amount just through observation, and here they can see equality, diversity and inclusion every day. You have no doubt given co-education a great deal of thought. Have any particular studies or pieces of research been particularly helpful? When I started to look at moving from Eton and from Harrow, I did a lot of research into co-education. It was the obvious gap in my CV for interviewers to ask about! Two of the best papers that I have read were published by the Centre for Education and Employment Research (CEER), both written by Pamela Robinson and Alan Smithers. The first in 1997 was a summary built on their previous research, the second in 2006 was supported by the HMC. There are always arguments on both sides of an educational debate, and Smithers and Robinson set them out very clearly. I’m sure the governors of the many schools which have gone co-ed in the last ten years are very familiar with their work! We’re obviously going in that direction. Until the 1960s, almost all children in the UK went to single-sex schools; by 2018, it was just 6%. The trend seems to be accelerating too. The number of single-sex independent schools has roughly halved since the early 1990s, and some famous names have been in the papers recently. When I was at Eton, I don’t think anyone would have seen Winchester going Do you think single sex education will disappear?

POLLY HAYTER What I most value about being part of a co-educational community is that it prepares you for university and further professional life. Coming from an all-girls’ school to Teddies Sixth Form, I have learned to appreciate co-education as it has helped me to build confidence when working in a team and has taught me to voice my opinions comfortably. Working with the opposite gender increases understanding and respect for both sexes as both male and female views are heard. For example, for English A-level, we are studying Chaucer’s The Merchant’s Tale, in which we learn about how the

patriarchal society viewed women in the 14th century, but we have also read the story of Judith in the Apocrypha and discussed women using their sexuality as a weapon. This learning experience can only be fully appreciated, debated and respected in a co-educational environment.

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Clare Hamilton Sub-Warden How important is co-education to the fundamental purpose of education? School isn’t just about successfully

proportion of women serving in the armed forces is only 11%. It certainly wasn’t an easy career path; however, I have no doubt that my co-education has made me more robust and rounded. As I progressed, gender balance and representation became an increasingly important discussion in the Army Headquarters and there were exciting developments, such as the removal of gender as a pre-requisite for employment in roles like ground close combat. Operationally, there was an acknowledgement that team diversity could make a hugely positive difference. You have no doubt given co-education a great deal of thought. Have any particular studies or pieces of research been particularly helpful? Not a piece of research but when I was considering what advice I had for the Apsley pupils ( Clare was HM of Apsley prior to taking up the role of Sub-Warden this term ) on International Women’s Day, I shared two book recommendations with them that I felt really touched on the year’s theme of ‘breaking the bias’. The first was Caroline Criado Perez’s well-known book Invisible Women and the second was Mary Ann Sieghart’s Authority Gap . Both books challenge the perceived ‘default setting’ in the world and raise awareness of bias, a useful perspective for within School and beyond. What are the social and societal benefits of co-education? Having taught Global Politics at Teddies for the last three years, I have seen the class discussion of gender equality weave through every dimension of the course. From the self-evident links to human rights, development and sustainability to its positive correlation in bringing about peaceful societies. In 2022, it is clear that the world has come a long way in its attitudes towards women but ultimately any bias that exists starts young and is ingrained in our brains, attitudes and perceptions. It’s incredibly important therefore to ‘grow up’ in a gender-balanced or co-ed environment and to see pupils and staff of both sexes in leadership roles. The benefits of being educated in a diverse community cannot be overstated.

co-ed, but the first girls will start there this year. I don’t think single-sex education will disappear altogether – parents will always want to have choice, and some parents will make that choice for their children – but I do think the number of single-sex schools will continue to fall. There doesn’t seem to be any evidence that single-sex education brings benefits in children’s cognition or attainment, and there’s no doubt that it comes with costs that need to be managed. That’s just one reason why it’s very unlikely that anyone opening a new school today would open a single-sex school – and I think that says a lot about the future. Too many to list! I’ll go back to my first answer – if education is about preparing children to be adults, to take their places in society, schools should provide a natural environment in which they can grow up. There’s been a huge amount of research on the subject, but essentially I don’t think it’s more complicated than that. In fact, with the 25th anniversary of full co-education and the 40th anniversary of the first girls arriving in the Sixth Form both this month, I was looking at a Chronicle interview with David Christie, the 11th Warden, back in 1997. Asked about the reasons for his enthusiasm for making the School fully co educational, he told his audience, which was then mainly boys: ‘The best preparation we can give you is an educational experience with a wide range of people including girls’. I could not have put it better myself. People say that single-sex schools allow children to be themselves more, to be less self-conscious. But a co-ed school with an inclusive culture and caring teachers can do that too, and in an environment which is real rather than artificial. Children in a co-ed school can learn how to be authentic, how to be themselves. Yes, there will be some distractions, some points of peer pressure, some differences which teachers will need to manage – but the important point is that all those things can be managed. And that is worth doing, because pupils at Teddies and other co-ed schools will then not have to relearn those same lessons or to redefine themselves when they leave. They will be ready for the world, the mixed and diverse world. Exactly as David Christie said, that is in their best interests. It is in the interests of our society too. What are the social and societal benefits of co-education?

acquiring a body of knowledge and sitting exams. It’s about growing up, trying new things, learning from mistakes, broadening your experience and understanding of the world and forming lasting friendships. Boarding in a co-educational environment makes your experience so much the richer. What does co-education bring to the atmosphere and culture of the School? St Edward’s is a vibrant community, brimming with energy. Whether you are in the classroom, having lunch in Willows or watching the musical and dance performances, you will be struck by the way pupils interact with each other; it’s a friendly and inclusive place. What are the specific benefits of co educational boarding? The boarding House is your home from home and so naturally it is a more relaxed dynamic than in the classroom. In House, it’s tremendous for the junior pupils to have a more diverse group of Sixth Formers mentoring and leading them. It really breaks down barriers and gets the pupils ready for life beyond Teddies. What’s your own experience of co educational or single-sex education or workplace environments? How have these experiences shaped your current thinking about co-education? I attended an all-girls’ prep school and then a senior boarding school, before moving to a co-educational boarding school. Not unsurprisingly for the time, I felt there was a real poverty of aspiration in an all-girls’ setting, which lifted when I went into a co ed school. I’m very pleased to reflect that times have changed considerably since my prep school days when there was a coveted award for deportment on offer! Later, when I decided to commission as an Officer in the British Army, it was a workplace where women were vastly underrepresented. Even today, the

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Rachel Bellamy Deputy Head Pastoral How important is co-education to the fundamental purpose of education? American philosopher John Dewey suggested that ‘Education is not preparation for life; education is life itself.’ Co-education is clearly a very important part of life; the co-educational nature of Teddies enables both pupils and staff to be part of a community of learners who are learning about ‘life itself ’ every day. What are the specific benefits to young people of having lived and worked as part of a co-educational community like St Edward’s? Boys and girls grow up in an environment where it is normal to collaborate with each other in the classroom, to have lunch together in Willows, to perform in the Dance Show together and for the 1 st XI cricket teams to train side by side on Upper 1. This means young people will leave St Edward’s ready to contribute positively to 21st-century life – whether that is at university, in their future profession, in their home life or in wider society. What does co-education bring to the atmosphere and culture of the School? Co-education enhances the friendly atmosphere of the School. Co-education allows pupils to be themselves rather than having to conform to any gender stereotypes. This leads to an inclusive culture which can be seen for example when pupils speak in Assembly in a wonderfully supportive atmosphere. It is

The sports programme has undergone a number of changes in recent years. Tell us how it is shaped by our co educational ethos. The sports programme illustrates the breadth of opportunity to girls and boys and the lack of gender stereotypes. We do not have ‘girls’ sports’ and ‘boys’ sports’ in an old-fashioned way that limits opportunities. Instead, all pupils have a wide choice of sports at a participation or performance level; walk around the sports facilities on a games afternoon and you will see boys and girls playing hockey, tennis, badminton, football, cricket… and on a Saturday you will see girls and boys supporting each other, for example as members of the athletics team and on the river. The School Steeplechase is a fantastic afternoon of co-educational sport, with all pupils running the same distance on either the senior or junior course. In addition, the annual co-educational hockey/netball

Rachel Bellamy

also evident in co-curricular activities – such as the friendships developed amongst the cast of Sweeney Todd and the camaraderie in the Boat Club.

The mixed netball tournament

FREDDIE WALTON I enjoy being part of a co-educational community because it prepares us for the outside world – we have interactions that people in single sex schools would not. I also enjoy it because it makes the School more diverse and a more interesting place to be.

MAYLIA HUME-ASHMAN What I value most about the co

educational community at Teddies is the way in which it prepares us for life after school. It creates a diverse environment in which we can all establish mutual respect through living and learning together. Most importantly, it creates equality between all gender identities making our School a happy and inclusive community.

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tournament is great fun and very popular. In elite sport, it was great to see OSE hockey players Rupert Shipperley and Millie Holme representing Wales at the recent Commonwealth Games. Miles Hammond OSE has been playing for Birmingham Phoenix in The Hundred and with the rise of cricket at Teddies for girls (with Aimee Diab scoring the first century), hopefully it won’t be long until we have a female OSE joining Miles in The Hundred. Cricket as a co-educational sport was very much in evidence during Gaudy Week with the inaugural MCC women’s fixture the day before the MCC men’s fixture. Upper 1 is now a place for sporting excellence for both girls and boys – including a very successful season for the girls’ 1st XI football team in the Spring Term. What’s your own experience of co educational or single-sex education or workplace environments? How have these experiences shaped your current thinking about co-education? My main memories of my co-educational primary school involve playing cricket and football for the boys’ teams. I then went to a girls’ secondary school from age 11-16 followed by a co-educational sixth form college. At the time, attending a girls’ school ironically seemed to give me more opportunities both academically and in sport than my female friends who went to co-ed schools. There was no sense that certain subjects or sports were only for boys; I suspect this was thanks to great teachers who did not conform to gender stereotypes! Returning to a co-educational sixth form college was very good preparation for university and it also led to me playing cricket for the boys’ team again!

When I first started work at a co educational boarding school in the late 1990s, sadly I had to fight against a number of constraints particularly on the sports field. As a PE teacher, I was only supposed to teach the girls and I was not allowed to add football to the girls’ PE curriculum as this was a boys’ sport… My request to coach cricket was also met with a distinct lack of enthusiasm! Fortunately, the experiences I had as a pupil at school shaped my thinking that an inclusive education, whether it is in a single-sex or co-educational environment, is worth fighting for and I was soon teaching boys and girls, football was on the curriculum and I was coaching a cricket team. Nearly 25 years later, it is great to reflect on the progress that has been made so that it is now normal, certainly at Teddies, for men to coach netball, women to coach rugby and for female and male HMs to be running co-educational, girls’ and boys’ Houses.

MELISSA CHARLES I believe that without co-education, we would grow up unprepared for the world we will inhabit and limited in ways we could not predict. The best part of a co educational community is that is that it is a normal reflection of society – anything else would simply be strange.

Fem Soc celebrating International Women’s Day in March by adopting the ‘break the bias’ pose

JOSEPH OSEI What I value about being part of a co educational community is how it keeps you in touch with the real world. At school, you can sometimes lose touch with the real world and settle into some pretty strange norms but having all types of people in your community really helps to combat that. Going to a co-ed school really forces you to learn how to communicate and interact with people of the opposite sex more than you would have to at a single-sex school, and that’s such a vital part of growing into a well-rounded person.

ALEXANDRE BERTRAND Being part of a co-educational community has allowed me to develop a more open minded and progressive worldview, which will be of great personal benefit in my professional career and in all aspects of my life. Co-education is an approach which encourages important values such as kindness, respect and, foremost, equality. These attributes are essential to success in our ever-evolving society.

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Virginia Macgregor What do you do at Teddies and how long have you been here? I’m the new Director of Wellbeing. I’ve just started at Teddies – though my brother was a pupil here in the ‘90s, so I did occasionally come through the gates as his little sister. Tell us a little about your role and your aims for the next year or so. My job is to make sure that every part of school life is supporting the wellbeing of pupils and staff and to involve parents in our wellbeing conversations too. I’ll be launching a new Wellbeing Curriculum for each year group. I have big ambitions for wellbeing at Teddies. I’d like us to be at the forefront of adolescent wellbeing research and practice. We’ve already been working with Yale’s Center of Emotional Intelligence in the US and with Compassion Matters, a wellbeing non-profit linked to Oxford University, whose patron is the Dalai Lama. We’re about to launch The Wellbeing Hub, an online platform to support parents, staff and pupils in all areas of wellbeing. I also hope that in the coming year or two, we’ll hold a wellbeing festival at Teddies, where we’ll bring together the most important voices in the field of wellbeing. Tell us about your career so far. I started as an English teacher at Haileybury, which is where I fell in love with working in boarding schools. I was soon a resident tutor and Assistant Housemistress and then had the privilege of running a boarding house for a maternity cover. I went on to be a Housemistress both at Downe House and at Wellington College. On the English teaching side, I have a particular passion for teaching the IB and I’ve always taught creative writing too. Beyond the classroom, I’m a published author. I’ve written two books for young adults and five for adults. My novels tackle some of the most important questions of being alive and so overlap with my interest in wellbeing. Who or what inspired you to become a writer? Many hours spent reading with my mother in her double bed when I was little. Stories felt magical, like a refuge and also like a way to understand the world better. As soon as I found out that there was a thing called an author, responsible for crafting these Teddies is at the forefront of co-education, which is one of my passions. I believe that boys, girls and young people of any or no gender identification, benefit from living and learning together and that this togetherness builds mutual understanding, compassion and respect. I’m also a big fan of the IB. And I have a deep respect for any school that prioritises wellbeing. What are you looking forward to about being in Oxford? I look forward to seeing my home town through the eyes of my children. The culture. The history. The beautiful buildings. The palpable commitment to learning. The gorgeous surrounding countryside. stories, I knew that was something I wanted to do. What made you want to work at Teddies?

What do you do in your spare time? I love to write, to walk, to swim, to do yoga, to meditate, to read, to go to the theatre, to cook and to spend time with my

husband, my children, and our many cats. Best advice you’ve ever been given?

When I was 22 I did a counselling course and came across the work of the psychiatrist, Viktor Frankl. His advice on how to lead a good and ethical life, on how to choose how to respond to any given situation rather than being a reactor, accompanies me through each day: “Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.” Viktor E Frankl Which book would you take to a desert island? The collected works of the picture-book writer, Julia Donaldson, because it would remind me of my children, whom I’d miss terribly, and with whom I’ve spent hundreds of hours reading these stories.

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Prefects

Josie Denvir and Patrick Maxwell are Heads of School ( insets ) supported by Prefects Ndiana-Abasi Awak-Essien, Alex Niblett, Lucy Hanslip, Freddie Walton, Flossie Butler-Adams, Paddy Smith, Lucy Peperell, Joseph Osei, Elena Azais Tatistscheff, Lexi Garman, Olivia Olisagu, Kelly Lin and Olga Muravitskaya

Pupil Voice

Amour Jung, Adriane Yeung, Joseph Osei and Ohemaa Dompreh from the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Committee gave a thoughtful presentation about appropriate use of language in May

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The Dreaming Spires The city of Oxford as a source of academic, cultural and industrial inspiration. By David Flower, Sub-Warden Academic

is place of ambition. Our ambition is now very clear: we want to make the most of our location and, in particular, to make close connections with the work of the University and the wider intellectual life of the city. Over the next twelve months, all members of our community should notice a step-change in the role of Oxford in the lives of our pupils and staff. This month, we are hosting a major conference on the Oxford Movement and Education (see page 4). Led jointly by members of the School’s History Department, alongside academics from the University of Oxford, our pupils will have the chance to hear from world experts on the religious, intellectual and historical context of St Edward’s School and other schools and organisations founded by Tractarians in the nineteenth century. This event will mark the beginning of an ambitious series of Oxford Lectures. The School will host tutors from the University who will address our pupils, parents, OSE

Very few cities in the world have names that are synonymous with education and good learning. Even in the farthest-flung corner of the world, the word ‘Oxford’ is associated with centuries of academic debate, scientific discovery and the understanding of ancient and modern languages. More simply, the whole city is a font of learning. That St Edward’s finds itself in such a city is not an historical accident. Our founders established a school in Oxford because they placed a premium on sound teaching and learning. When our pupils and their parents choose St Edward’s as a place to study, the city has very probably played a central role in their thinking. Oxford is an hour from the outskirts of London, yet you can be in the countryside in minutes; it is a lovely place to be. Eleven different counties are within an hour’s drive, so it is convenient too. Over the years, the School’s relationship with the other academic institutions in the city has naturally ebbed and flowed; but the city does have one further association: it

Art Historians in the Schools Quadrangle of the Bodleian Library

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Fourth Form Classics pupils visit the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford

and staff on the subject of their work. Every subject that we teach will hold a Lecture triennially giving our pupils the chance to hear from global experts as a matter of academic routine. Not only will academics spend the evening offering lectures, but they will spend the day in classes with our pupils, discussing one another’s work and offering insights into contemporary academic trends and interests. We know that our pupils thrive when they are stretched and are encouraged to think outside of the sometimes narrow confines of the curriculum and this programme will give them the chance to do just that. This year will also see the appointment of the first St Edward’s Fellows. The aim of this programme is to recruit junior academics to join our teaching staff on a part-time basis, adding their expertise to the body of the Common Room. We will carefully recruit those whose interests dovetail with our curriculum, whilst also encouraging interest from academics whose studies will broaden and enliven the pupils’ interests beyond the taught syllabus. For instance, it is not hard to imagine an English class being taught about the poetry of a lesser-known contemporary poet by

T IME TO READ

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TIME TO READ

John Adedoyin, OSE and Governor Freakonomics by Steven D Levitt and Stephen J Dubner Why are CEOs paid so much? Why do most drug dealers live at home with their mothers? Why are estate agents not really bothered about how much they sell your house for? Is sumo wrestling fixed? And why your first name is one the most important predictors of future success. Freakonomics is subtitled: ‘the hidden side of everything’ and sets out to prove that even the most frivolous and whimsical of questions, when tackled seriously, can provoke serious thought about the world we live in. Steven D Levitt and Stephen J Dubner, journalist and economist respectively, have set out to do just that. You don’t need to be an economist to follow their approach as the book is written in an easy-to-read, non-technical style and is entertaining in much the same way that you don’t need to be a detective to enjoy a whodunnit. All that is needed is an understanding of motives and incentives which the authors reveal through logic and data. Why is the cartoon character Garfield deliberately not funny? Answer: because rather counterintuitively, being funny is not always the most profitable strategy for a cartoon. The most interesting chapters are about parenting. How important are parents? The answer is ‘very’, but in several non-obvious ways. For example, they prove that your given first name is more important than the school you attended. While it matters that a child has access to books at home, it is irrelevant whether he or she was regularly read to by their parents, or whether they were taken to museums and art galleries. Counterintuitive? But provable. Frivolous questions asked in a serious way can provide surprising answers. A fun book for curious minds.

The famous MINI Plant in Oxford’s Cowley

a junior academic who is simultaneously engaged in researching a doctoral dissertation on the same poet. Or a graduate with expertise in the US system teaching a Chemistry class and assisting our pupils in their US university applications. Other schools would find it hard to manage such a system, but we are fortunate. Junior Research Fellows here in Oxford can be at lectures or labs at 9am and be at St Edward’s to teach by the mid-morning break. Several of our teaching staff already teach in the University and the St Edward’s Fellows programme is an exciting way to expose more and more of our students to the work of university academics in the early part of their careers. Finally, all pupils will find that they are travelling into Oxford far more frequently to learn about their subject in the halls, laboratories and museums of the city. The School already has a burgeoning partnership with the Pitt-Rivers Museum, who help us to deliver the IB Theory of Knowledge course and who will be presenting to the IB Annual Conference in the Hague next month, alongside our own Anna Fielding and Paula Diaz-Rogado. Unlike many other university cities, Oxford

and its environs contain significant industrial zones and, more recently, have become a hub for physical and life sciences. We plan to visit all of these areas and facilities. From the middle of this term onwards, pupils will begin to travel out into the city as a regular part of their work. They will hear lectures, visit museums, see production lines in operation and be able to quiz experts on their subjects. Evidence proves that learning becomes much easier if the subject matter can be brought to life. In Oxford we are tremendously lucky to have such a rich and invigorating array of businesses, universities and research institutions on our doorstep and we intend to make full use of their proximity in the coming years. The Covid pandemic dramatically curtailed the ability of schools like ours to welcome visitors and to get out of the classroom to engage in further learning. As the world reopens, St Edward’s is fortunate to find itself situated in one of the greatest, perhaps the greatest university city on Earth. In the next months and years we will make the very most of this good fortune and ensure that we explore the city and that we welcome its academics as never before.