Dear parents,
Whitgift School: past, present and future
What are schools for? General Sir Peter Wall, Old Whitgiftian, made me think about this when he spoke so powerfully in Big School recently. He touched on many things, but in passing he reflected on the way it was his membership of the school CCF and especially his love of sport at Whitgift that ultimately led him to become the British Army’s Chief of General Staff. This reminded me how often enthusiasms discovered at school shape the rest of our lives in ways we can never predict.
A big question for many parents is this: “How can schools prepare our children for jobs that don’t yet exist?” In fact, schools are evolving all the time, and at Whitgift we are ensuring our educational practices are suited to the world we are in today, and the future we face together.
Last week a pupil of mine from forty years ago came back to visit. He loved Whitgift today for everything he remembered about it from so long ago – but he was proud to see the changes, too. As we discussed his life since I had last seen him, he told me of the impact on business of AI and suggested it might well prove the single biggest change in our lifetimes. Mr Piggott, Director of Learning and Innovation, and his team are constantly refining our school’s response to what is both a challenge and an opportunity.
However, we also need to remember why we do some things the way we have always done them. The anxiety that somehow we are always out of date can take schools down cul-de-sacs, not out of educational principle, not because it makes schools more engaging or uplifting places for pupils, or, heaven forbid, fun! – but because we have been panicked into feeling we are on the wrong side of history and doing a disservice to our children.
But what if we’re not? I am thinking of Whitgift now. Let’s start with subjects. We teach a wide range of different subjects including Latin; in English we still teach Shakespeare; I recently gave assemblies on Henry V and the battle of Agincourt. How can these topics possibly benefit children whose jobs don’t yet exist and who will never need to translate Vincit Qui Patitur, quote Hamlet, or know anything about the 15th century? Why don’t we just teach more coding, or replace games, drama and music with more science and maths?
Good schools have always prepared for jobs that don’t yet exist, not by trying to read the future, but by finding a thousand doorways into the same brain. Some doors open, and some don’t. A boy who learns Latin or Japanese vocabulary is not just learning words he may never speak again; he is stimulating his mind, his capacity for memory, thought and pattern. He is facing a difficulty and overcoming it. He is also learning something about culture and the nuances of different worlds from his own. He is learning about humanity, and so he is learning about himself.
I don’t think boys “need” to learn Latin, or to read Shakespeare, but I do believe that a huge range of subjects, of every type, is ultimately more engaging for children, more enjoyable, more likely to sharpen and stimulate the mind, and more likely to give each boy’s mind the adaptability it needs to help its possessor make sense of life with all its unpredictability.
Shakespeare’s Henry V tells his soldiers before the Battle of Agincourt, “All things be ready if the mind be so.” What a line that is! A flexible mind, an open mind, an adaptable mind – stimulated by every type of lesson – that is what makes a Whitgift boy “ready.” Ready for exams, ready for life, ready for his own future.
Lessons that are invisible or unheard happen all the time, as they always have at Whitgift. Working out the day-to-day challenges of friendship, fall-outs and reconciliations; learning how to be a compassionate member of a big community; learning the self-discipline of homework; understanding that the more we put into something, the more we get out of it… Sport, music and drama; CCF, the Duke of Edinburgh Award and outdoor pursuits; friendship and assemblies; trips and school lunch; conversation and debate: these things “form” the boys in our care just as much as maths and history lessons. We are not just teaching children; we are helping to shape their lives.
Whitgift still aims to provide its boys with the best possible guidance for their pathways beyond school of course, and I have been extremely impressed with the work of Ms Goldberg and our Student Futures team. They are dedicated to widening the horizons of students of all ages by bringing in external speakers from a range of careers and ensuring each boy has regular conversations about subject options with their tutors. This term, for example, the Fourth Form enjoyed sessions on how technology and AI are shaping the future of work, with inspirational talks from two Whitgift parents. The Upper Sixth took part in a mock assessment day of the sort used by employers. Individual career coaching started in the Third and Fifth Forms, while Lower Sixth boys were offered 45-minute meetings with a professional careers advisor.
Update on the IB and school admissions
The IB
Thank you to colleagues, parents and pupils for understanding the decision not to offer the IB for the Fourth Form and below. This was a very difficult decision for the governors, Mr Seth and me to take and we had no pleasure in bearing these tidings.
However, we had to look ahead. Very few UK schools offer the IB; some of those that used to have now stopped doing so; we sense that IB numbers in the UK are tending downwards – and I think that had we not stopped the IB when we did, we would have had to do so soon afterwards. There is no sense yet that the UK economy is set to bounce back, and there is a general feeling that things will be quite tough for a few years to come: we are sure, therefore, that managing our costs is a key part of our responsibility as a school.
About sixteen parents wrote in after the decision, some in support, some seeking clarification that we really were fully committed to the IB until the last pupil completed it (we are!), and perhaps half a dozen who strongly regretted the decision for the school or their child. We also wrote to all parents of boys who had accepted places for next September within the “cooling off” period, but only two wrote to me for further clarification. Last week, we held a meeting at school, and the parents who attended asked very courteous but probing questions, and the Chairman and I did our best to reassure them openly and honestly.
Mr Seth and I are committed to making this an opportunity to look more closely at A level provision, and the entire Sixth Form experience. I am very grateful to Mrs Carter, Director of Sixth Form, and those who have joined her committee which is now tasked with reimagining the Whitgift Sixth Form. As part of this, we intend to replicate and build on the very best aspects of the IB in our future Sixth Form provision. These ideas won’t take effect immediately, but we will try to move quickly, some changes occurring incrementally.
A Record Uptake for Admissions
Like all schools that I know, we saw a fall in our application numbers for September 2025 entry following the introduction of VAT. We therefore made fewer offers and planned for a smaller roll next year. However, we were both surprised and delighted by the uptake. Compared with the last six or seven years, we have had a record take-up of places at 10+, 11+ and 13+. This means that the school roll in September currently looks to be significantly higher than our models predicted just a month ago.
The governors still believe that it would make sense for Whitgift to become a little smaller: it has grown very significantly in the last ten years or so. I think almost every one of my colleagues feels the same way – and so it remains part of our strategy to calculate and then achieve over time the optimal size of the school. However, in these difficult times it is great to know that the Whitgift name remains as strong as ever.
Use of AI for schoolwork, coursework etc
I referred to AI above, and so I wanted to remind all boys to take great care not to pass off as their own material that has really been produced for them by ChatGPT, Co-Pilot etc. Please read the school’s guidance on AI use; where we update this, we will be sure to let you know.
A summary of some of this term’s main events and achievements
As mentioned above, General Sir Peter Wall, OW, spoke with great authority about “Geopolitics in a fast-moving world” earlier this month, and helped raise funds for Whitgift For All, dedicated to supporting future bursaries.
I loved seeing The Odyssey in February. It was fun, but also often moving, thanks to the quality of the acting and some beautiful singing. I was so impressed to see it was directed by sixth former Joel G, with the support of Mrs Weddel. And then I had the enormous pleasure of being part of the audience for Love and Information this week; Mr Hodge and the outstanding AV team brilliantly pushed theatrical boundaries with an LED screen set, pre-recorded content, and special effects. However, most impressive of all was the extraordinary acting of the cast as they inhabited roles that reflected the hectic, overwhelming, insistent online world that can appear more real, or more enticing, than our own.
Second formers participated in the annual Shakespeare Event in February and every first former will take part in a form play during the course of this year. At the time of writing, two major musical events have yet to occur, but I know they will be magnificent: in the last weekend of term, the Chamber Choir performed Handel’s Messiah in Croydon Minster with Oxford Bach Soloists and just before term ends there will be the Spring Concert at the Fairfield Halls.
In January the Chamber Choir presented a concert of choral music with harp, including A Ceremony of Carols by Benjamin Britten. The choral scholars were joined by members of Ensemble Pro Victoria and the King’s Singers. There have been teatime recitals in the Concert Hall for guitar, vocal, woodwind, percussion, piano and brass.
We held two successful ski trips, visits to Rome and other locations during the term; meanwhile it has been a great pleasure to welcome students and teachers to Whitgift as part of the German and Japanese exchanges.
I can’t do justice to everything that has happened in sport this term, but if I take a single day, it might help to convey the strength, range and success of our sporting programme. On Wednesday 19th March, our U14s won a thrilling victory against St Peter’s York in the rugby National Final; our U15s played in the water polo National Final at the Olympic Park; the U16 basketball team played in the National Semi-Final. On the same day, our U11 hockey team played in the County Finals, the annual track cycling championships were taking place, and our 1st VII competed in the rugby Surrey 7s. And also on Whirlwind Wednesday, our fencing teams were performing with great success at the Public School Championships with five individual medallists, including double gold for Austin Y, and four medal positions in the British School Team Championships.
Looking beyond a single day, in rugby, our 1st XV were national quarter-finalists, our U16 were national semi-finalists, and of course the noble U14s are now national champions. In rugby sevens, our U12s and U13s are undefeated in their competitions, the U15s won both the John Fisher Founder's Day and Surrey tournaments and were finalists in the John Pieroni Trophy Our Seniors won both Ipswich and UR7's tournaments.
It was a proud moment for Whitgift rugby staff when they saw a former Whitgift boy on each side in the Six Nations England/Italy match: Elliot Daly and Matt Gallacher respectively.
Whitgift hockey is an extraordinary roll-call of success. The 1st XI defeated Repton to win the National Schools Outdoor title once again, following their indoor national title before Christmas. Whitgift’s 1st XI have won not only the indoor and outdoor national titles this year, but our 1sts have done exactly this for three consecutive years! The pressure on these boys must have been very great, but they coped with it brilliantly.
Both the U14s and U16s qualified for the National Semi-Finals. The U13s and 1st XI were crowned champions in the IHSC National Finals, while the U15s finished second in a very close match. I must here thank Dr Stagno and everyone involved in coaching boys at such demanding levels.
In football, the U13s are in the ESFA Elite National Final to be held next term, the U12 lost their ESFA Elite Semi-Final, in extra time, the U15B won the Elgin League and the 2nd XI play in the London Independent Schools 2nd XI Cup Final.
In basketball, the U12s and U13s have advanced to the knockout stages of the Basketball England Jr. NBA competition; the U15s are in the LISBA cup final, while the U16s were crowned LISBA Champions.
In the Bath Cup our swimmers came 2nd in the medley relay and 3rd in the Freestyle relay while in water polo our U15s came 2nd and our U18s came 4th across the UK.
In the fast-growing sport of Padel, our U15s are the inaugural U15 Schools Champions matching the Senior team, crowned national champions last term. Both our Junior and Senior teams won bronze in the Squash National Plate Finals.
Our U16s won Bronze in the Inter-Schools Cycling Track Championships and Jacob D (First Form) won Gold and Silver in the U14 Chase and Scratch Races respectively. Charlie M (Second Form) came 11th of 134 players from 24 countries in the Marco S US Kids golf tournament.
In total this academic year so far, students have been involved in over 1800 sports fixtures. Whitgift sport is a series of great opportunities for playing at the very highest level in the world, but also for starting just about anywhere and enjoying the opportunity to represent the school.
Other events of this term include Founder’s Day with a service at Croydon Minster and a Foundation lunch at Whitgift House. Mrs Mund recently took a group of Year 7 students with two sixth formers to Whitgift House to tell stories and play music to the residents. Inner Drive visited the school in February to deliver a series of Student Leadership Workshops to our Lower Sixth students as part of our Leadership Programme.
The Afro Caribbean Society welcomed Johnson Situ, former Senior Political Advisor to The Mayor of London to discuss his journey into politics, its importance in the Afro-Caribbean community and steps forward to break down barriers.
Individual successes
The One Day Film School visit was a great success for our First Form boys. The boys had a day off timetable in the Marlar Halls to learn how to make short films. The winning film was ‘Athlete Killer’ – produced by Jonty L, Corban B, Musa M, Isaac F, Henry M and Aditya S. Best Actor was given to Eden M for his contribution to his group’s film.
From our Fourth Form: Kingsley Z participated in the International Debating Championships in Boston over February half term; Oscar R and Blake E won the U15 National Padel Championships, and Ollie M is being signed to QPR football club.
In the Lower Sixth, Ollie B is training with England U21s for hockey.
In this year’s UK Linguistics Olympiad competition, we had 3 award winners out of our 23 contestants: Joe F – Silver; Nicolas MR – Bronze; Wing Hei C – Bronze.
Freddie H won his heat in the U20 400m in the England Athletic Championship held in Sheffield on Saturday 8 March and came 2nd in his semi-final. Kosta F won gold at the Independent Schools Judo Competition in the under 73kg weight group, advanced category, U17 age group.
In the Upper Sixth, during the Whitgift Maths Day Pi Recital, Luke S’s recital of Pi to 281 decimal places is quite incredible, but Eden M and Iredia O each recited 233.
As I said last term, if I have omitted some details about your own son or another event, boy or team that I should have included, please just tell me and I shall make amends next term!
Leaving notice: important notice
For parents of all boys below the Upper Sixth, please ensure you tell us no later than the first day of next term if you intend your son to leave at the end of the summer term.
Whatever year your son is in, including the Fifth Form, our budget is based on the assumption pupils will remain at the school unless you have given notice by the start of the Trinity term, i.e. Tuesday 22nd April.
If you do not provide notice and your son leaves Whitgift then you will be liable for fees in lieu of notice, so please do let us know: we don’t want to have to charge you if your son is not with us, but we do need to know what you are planning! Of course this does not apply to boys already in the Upper Sixth.
Public examination candidates
I would like to give my very best wishes to every boy facing public examinations in the summer term. The end is in sight, but a carefully structured revision programme over the holidays will make a massive difference to outcomes in the summer. Well, it will if you follow it. Good luck boys!
Conclusion
Thank you, boys, parents and colleagues, for continuing to make me feel welcome, even when some of the decisions I have had to present are not immediately popular with everyone, or for some are without doubt painful. I have been really struck by how determined the Whitgift family is to pull together, to look after each other, and to make the whole place work as well as it can.
I am sure this sense of community will be very evident to the ISI inspection team who called me this morning just as I was about to send this letter!
The Whitgift ship sails on, now well into the fifth century of its great voyage, with its infinitely precious cargo of boys all looking over the bow and beginning to imagine their own destination.
I am seeing the sun shining on the Andrew Quadrangle as I type, with polite boys gently fending off ill-bred peacocks who are trying to steal their sandwiches. Not for the first time, I realise how much I will miss this place next year!
I wish you and your families the very best of health and a restful and happy holiday ahead.
Yours sincerely
Andrew Halls
Headmaster
