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Concordia Winter 2024

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children will carry away from their education, when they have forgotten all they once knew about quadratic equations and Boyle’s Law, will be the intangibles. Have they learnt how to lead? Have they learnt how to serve? Have they learnt how to foster friendship? Have they learnt to trust themselves? Have they learnt to trust others? Have they learnt how to learn? And above all, the overarching question: have they learnt how to be happy? If we can deliver that, then we will have achieved value for money in the pupils’ education. I still hope for a change in the attitude taken by Bridget Phillipson, the Secretary of State for Education, towards independent education. At present it seems to be encapsulated by the words of Sherlock Holmes describing Sebastian Moran, Moriarty’s right-hand man: ‘He was educated at Eton and at Oxford, so Watson, bring the gun’. How much better if we could ally the resources that the private and state sectors can bring to bear. What if we were to consider the possible future partnership between the NHS and private health as a possible model for the future of our children’s education?

soon go out of business and the widget market will be cornered by factory A. The education of children is more complex. It is not about producing an acceptable product as cheaply as possible. It is about the transmission of wisdom between the generations: the intellectual and moral development of children. Such a process needs time, personal attention, high expectations and care. That is only possible if the context is right. popularity. A recent survey of parental opinion made it clear that the school is considered ‘good value for money’ — a pleasing outcome, as we live or die by that assessment. A private education is certainly not cheap, and we never forget the sacrifice that parents make on behalf of their children in placing their faith in the school. When I ask parents what they want for their child they tell me that their overriding priority is that their son is happy. We know that we have to move heaven and earth to allow our pupils the best opportunity to find academic success. However, we also know that the things the At present Merchant Taylors’ is hugely oversubscribed and continues to grow in