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It seems to be very fashionable at the moment to slam
private education, generally by people who were educated in the state sector. I
should probably say at this point that I was not educated in the state sector
during my secondary school years *DON’T SHOOT* but I would like to try and explain
a bit about my schooling from age 11-18.
Hiding in the rolling hills of West Sussex is a charitable, mostly
boarding, independent school called Christ’s Hospital (CH) with a rich history
behind it (I could bore you with it but you’re probably better off reading it
on their website
http://www.christs-hospital.org.uk/home/history-of-the-school/).
Aside from the school’s slightly cheesy rebrand with the tagline ‘A school like
no other’, it is actually pretty special. The word charitable means different
things to different people but at CH it means that they are committed to
providing an extraordinary way of life to bright kids who otherwise would have
no chance of being able to afford it (of course if you can afford it, they’re quite
happy for that too!). It does far more than simply provide an education and if
that is a person’s sole reason for being there then I might suggest that they
are in the wrong place.
Firstly, by its nature it brings people from every imaginable
social background together and forces them to live in close confinement for 7
years – saying it like that, it sounds more like an extended Big Brother but
that’s not what I meant! You very quickly learn to be tolerant of other people,
an attribute that has served me well having just started university. But you
learn that at any boarding school – what sets CH apart is the opportunity to
get to know and make potentially life-long friends with people who I would
otherwise have absolutely no reason to even meet.
In the last few years, the school was majorly affected
by the economic disaster and had to work out how it was going to survive. The
widely unpopular decision was taken to increase the number of full-fee (or
almost full-fee) paying pupils in an attempt to balance the books. At the time,
I was very vocal about my feelings which were not positive to say the least. Looking
back on it, I’m not sure it was so bad after all. It meant that we got to mix
with an even widen group of people but I think it had an even better effect on
the ‘rich’ kids. If they didn’t come to Christ’s Hospital they would probably
have ended up at one of the many other independent schools with other people
from exactly the same socio-economic background as themselves, totally
cushioned from the real world. CH brought these people into reality and
socially enriched them for the better.
During my time at Christ’s Hospital the management had a big
change of hands and as a result there was a large staff turnover. The school
that I joined aged 11 was not the same as the school I left aged 18 and I’m
still not sure if that’s good or bad. People often ask me ‘did you enjoy going
to boarding school?’ to which my response is always a resounding ‘YES!’ One
thing I do know is that there’s nowhere quite like it and I would never have
changed my decision to go.
For many people, home is where they live and spend most of their time. For others, home is where they grew up. I'm just about to move house for the 5th time from somewhere I've lived for the last 6 years (the longest amount of time I've spent in one house) but I don't feel particularly attached to the place. I also went to a boarding school for 7 years of my life, which I regarded as my 'second home' - incidentally, I wonder where MPs regard as home...
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