Mr. Matthew Close

Mr. Matthew Close talks about the bursary provisions available at The Royal School, as well as their Future Ready programme and his vision for The Royal School’s future as its new Headmaster.

Can you tell us a little about the ethos and values at The Royal School?

Our ethos is very much one of inclusivity; we are a school where every child matters. Due to our size, we know every single child and that’s really important to us - we probably value personal interaction more than anything else. Every member of staff knows every child and vice versa, and all the different year groups know one another, so there really is a community feel to the school. I think that the tight-knit community we’ve created is the method of the school whereby everybody matters, everybody’s views and opinions are of equal value and how we go about communicating those is so important.

We talk about ‘guiding principles’ rather than values, and I think that’s quite important because values are very personal; somebody else within my school might not value what I value, while guiding principles help our community know what it’s trying to achieve. We have three guiding principles, the first being one of social justice - and by that I mean an understanding of globalism, respect for others, kindness and humility - social justice in its very widest sense, understanding that we are part of a community and the community is important to us. The second guiding principle is one of self respect, so that’s looking after yourself, being aware of your emotions, being confident, being ambitious for yourself, having self-discipline, knowing what you believe in and making sure that you are true to yourself first and foremost. The final guiding principle we have is that we want everybody to chase their dreams and reach for the stars. The school’s motto is ‘Per Aspera Ad Astra’ which can loosely be translated to ‘Through Challenge to the Stars.’ We see chasing dreams and trying to reach the stars as being complementary to one another. We want our pupils and staff to be ambitious for themselves, we want them to set themselves high standards, we want them to dream big, because if you don’t dream big, you’re not going to aim high and if you’re not aiming high, you’re never going to push yourself to something that you think is almost impossible. That’s what I ask of the staff: to set ourselves some big, hairy, audacious goals, things that we don’t quite think are possible. Goals to which one could almost say: “That’s unbelievable, but there’s a chance that we could get there!” - that’s really the ethos of the school. As I say, values are very, very personal things, so our community lives by these guiding principles rather than by us enforcing an idea of what they should value, and I think that’s quite important.

Looking back at the founder’s motto for the school, which sits front and centre in all that we do today in helping us look forward, it is acknowledging that there will be challenges ahead and that how we approach those challenges is so important. But let’s dream big and have some big, hairy, audacious goals for our community and, indeed, for ourselves.

What are the main requirements and points of entry for children and families considering applying to The Royal School?

The main requirement for The Royal School is that whoever wants to come to us has ambition for themselves, that they see themselves as an individual but also as part of a community. We want our students to throw themselves at school life and get as much out of it as they possibly can. So whilst we have entrance exams, I actually put more importance on the interviews I conduct with all of the students because their character and personality are so important. I will always look at the character of a child, and through the interview I will get a sense of whether we are the right school for them. The emphasis is therefore not on whether a student is ‘good enough’, but rather if The Royal School is a school which will suit the individual.

Can you tell us about the bursary scholarship provision that your school offers?

We would hope that if we are the right choice for a child, then we will do all that we can to enable them to come to our school. We offer bursaries, which are means-tested, and we also offer bursaries for service children, in particular. The