Speech Day

Editor of "The Peterite" and for the many ways, both on the games fields and elsewhere, in which he has been an encouragement and inspiration to

all.

Mr. and Mrs. Dodds have our very best wishes for their future, and it is of some comfort to us that they are still numbered among our parents and therefore will be doubly anxious to keep in touch with the School.

We had to say good-bye at the end of last term to Mr. G. D. Field and Mr. B. Pease, both of whom have left St. Peter's to take up Lectureships, and both have our very best wishes for success in this new experience.

Mr. Field, who came to us in September, 1958, from Glenalmond, spent the whole of his service here as a resident and always seized every opportunity of helping in out-of-school activities. He will be specially remembered for his incursion into local politics, for his successful running of the Debating Society and for his general contributions towards the School Classics teaching. We hope he will be happy and successful as a Lecturer in Classics at Fourah Bay College, in West Africa. * * *

Mr. Pease, who took over the Biology of the School in January, 1959, also identified himself with many School activities apart from his Biology, these particularly including swimming, rugger and the organisation of natural history expeditions and field work. We wish him success in his new work at Portsmouth Training College. * * *

It was announced during the holidays that Mr. A. T. Howat had been appointed Master-in-Charge of St. Olave's in succession to Mr. J. S. Cooper, and Mr. Howat has now taken up this appointment. While this, of course, involves relinquishing his Senior School teaching, we shall hope

to see just as much of him as we have in the past. * * *

We welcomed to the Staff this term Mr. C. P. M. Duncan, who has joined us to teach C.Iae.lics.

* * *

Mr. F. Waine has been elected an Honorary Member of the Royal School of Church Music for the services he has rendered to Church music.

* * *

N. G. Pace was appointed Head of the School, C. J. L. Clarke, ViceHead, and J. N. Spencer a School Monitor and Head of School House. M. H. Ibberson became Chapel Monitor, and N. Shah a School Monitor.

Fifty-four members of the Social Service Unit visited thirty-two elderly disabled people every week throughout the Summer Term. And half of these made several collections for Oxfam, and helped in the York shop. * *

Three members of the 1st XI were selected to play for their respective County Schoolboys' XI. T. J. Haggie and W. R. Pickersgill met with a fair measure of success in playing in the four matches with Durham, while J. J. Vooght played in one match for the Northumberland Schoolboys.

The Prize-giving was held in the Clifton 'Cinema, on Saturday, 25th July. The Chairman was Sir Bertram Wilson, the Chief Guest was D. G. Christopherson, O.B.E., F.R.S., Vice-Chancellor of Durham University, and the Lord Mayor and Sheriff of York and their ladies were also present. The preacher on Commemoration Sunday was the Rev. F. J. Mann, O.P. The Headmaster's Report and the Chief Guest's speech are given below.

HEAD MASTER'S REPORT

In assessing the year's academic progress of a School, numerous attempts have been made by producing various figures, and in fact last February a certain organisation produced figures which purported to show the Public Schools in relative order of success. Although we did not come at all badly out of this, even with not wholly accurate figures, it is evident that any such attempt must be incomplete, and indeed, the success of any School depends on what it does compared with what it sets out to do. One should obviously relate one's success to the potentialities and needs of one's pupils.

You have in your programmes what we call "The Principal Academic Successes of the Year", and I would like to take this opportunity of congratulating the four boys who have gained Open Awards at Oxford or Cambridge, and also the staff responsible for these successes. We have in the past few years included in our achievements the numbers of boys who have secured admission to various Universities. This we have deliberately refrained from doing this year because, although we are fully satisfied with our figures, we do not think this is, as an isolated figure, a real measure of success. I suppose a better result would be obtained by analysing the successes of boys actually at Universities, but this again is too complicated and would not mean very much in plain figures. It is still, and I suppose will always remain the wish of most parents that their sons should obtain entry to a University, although I cannot help but repeat what I have often said on this platform, namely, that there are many other more suitable methods of obtaining further training or of securing employment for boys who are not temperamentally fitted to University life and work. In my view, which is perhaps becoming somewhat old-fashioned in this respect, a University is not a place to go and browse for a year or two while you make up your mind, in some cases even what subjects you are seriously to study, nor, at the other extreme, is it merely a vocational training establishment. I feel that a boy should go to a University knowing pretty well why 3

he is going, and have the necessary ability to succeed in his examinations and still have time to take part in many of the other very worth-while activities available in any cultured community.

During the past year we started a scheme which I hope to extend in the future, namely, to get a panel of old boys resident at various Universities to come and talk to our University aspirants here about their life and particularly about the pitfalls of which the boys should be wary. I am sure many of our boys found this first experiment useful, for although we can tell our boys much about the change-over from School to University life, it comes very much more realistically to them from boys who have experienced it. They must realise, for example, that many Universities are secular establishments, and also that the care and supervision they will be given varies considerably from University to University and even from one faculty to another in the same University.

Many of our boys do not, of course, go to Universities, and I would again impress on parents that it is just as important, in fact in some ways even more important, for them to stay at School for the full course. We have a wide and varied VIth form curriculum which covers most reasonable requirements, and from which all boys can gain a great deal up to the normal school leaving age. There is also much to be gained outside the classroom, especially in experience of responsibility, for in every walk of life, however technical, one's main preoccupation is in dealing with people—with one's employers, customers and so forth.

There are just one or two points I wish briefly to mention about the School curriculum: this is the end of the second year of the experiment we started in additional VIth form courses, i.e. in the policy of giving each boy who was able to benefit an opportunity for a substantial study outside the confines of his own specialist work. The continuing of French, for example, for Scientists, and the study of a special Biology course for Arts students have both been very successful, as also has been the introduction and continuation of Russian; and we are adding to these courses next term. I am glad to see a much more sympathetic attitude among the boys towards these extra courses, and indeed, apart from anything else, participation in these courses does add something to the sum total of a boy's school record.

We are very much interested in the various new experimental methods of teaching languages, and we hope next term to make a beginning on the Language Laboratory idea, at first in French. Our Mathematicians are also very much alive to the changes which are beginning to shake the very foundations of our mathematical teaching, and we shall be doing something about this very shortly both in our Junior School, where the curriculum really begins, and in the lower forms of the Senior School.

The introduction of handicrafts for certain boys two years ago has produced thefirst batch of "0" level candidates, who have discovered, if they did not already know, that this examination subject is not a soft option. As I mentioned two years ago, we introduced this subject in the hope that most boys in the School, of whatever academic ability or future, may have an opportunity of taking a course in it some time during their School career.

Before passing on to reports on various School activities, I would like to say the inevitable word or two about building. The new Dronfield House will be open at the beginning of next term, as a going concern under the Housemastership of Mr. Coulthard, and I am sorry that the 4

arrangement whereby the Princess Royal was to open the House officially on 29th October has had to be revised since Her Royal Highness has had to cancel this engagement. We intend, however, to go through with the official opening and also, incidentally, with the subsequent holiday already announced, and I hope to be able to tell parents more about this shortly. I would like to emphasise that we are intending to use the amenities and facilities of this new House as a model on which to base all our other Houses, and as parents will know, a good deal of modernisation has already taken place with this in mind.

The Junior School block, which was finished last year, has proved enormously beneficial, and the boys, and indeed Mr. Pemberton too, have enjoyed their use of the new laboratory.

I am glad to be able to announce that work has already begun on the new swimming bath and that an indoor bath for all-the-year-round use should be available on the site of the present bath before next Easter. I know that many parents will recognise that this is an almost essential provision in these days. Although swimming will, I hope, never replace the traditional team games, the new indoor bath will provide very valuable all-the-year-round exercise, and will give greater opportunities for improving the efficiency of the boys in this vital skill.

During the past few months the front of the School has been renovated under the guidance of Mr. Pace, and I am sure that all our old boys, to whom the front of the School means so much, will be glad that this necessary work, some of it war damage, has at last been completed.

We have other objects in mind for the future, and parents and friends will hear more about these from time to time.

The Appeal in connection with the Development Fund is to be closed down and a final list of subscribers, together with a report on the disposal of the proceeds of the Appeal, will be sent to everyone concerned at the end of October. I have spent a good deal of my time during the past years talking about Appeals, and I hope that I can promise that no more will be said for some years to come. One could, however, appropriately remind anyone who might be interested that there is still some time between now and •the produotion of the final list in October.

In dealing with out-of-school activities I must again remind my hearers that it is quite impossible to cover everything we do, and the omission of any particular items does not by any means imply that I consider they are less important than some that are mentioned. I would like first of all to say a word about the new C.C.F. which is now, and has for some time been really and completely voluntary. A boy cannot join until his second year in the School, and then he goes straight into one of the specialised sections without passing through the basic section as in the past. This gives more interest from the very first, and the whole scheme, as run by Mr. Cummin and his officers, is highly successful and enjoyed by all who take part.

Alternatives to •the C.C.F., at any rate as regards times of parade and activity, are the Scouts and the Duke of Edinburgh Award. It is not necessary for a boy to be in any of these three organisations, which, as I have said, are all voluntary, but I would like to mention to parents in this connection that we interpret the word "voluntary" as meaning that a boy will only 'be allowed to join when we are satisfied that he knows all about it and wishes to join, but having once joined he cannot light-

5

heartedly come and go as he wishes. We think this is a good training for life in general and we try to teach that membership of any society should imply regular attendance. There are in the School societies of all kinds, some at House and some at School level, and all these are run by the boys but encouraged and supported by as enthusiastic and hardworking a staff as could ever have been collected in one School. We are constantly concerned by the questions "Do we do too much for our boys?" or 'Do we supervise them too much?", and try to strike the half-way medium. It is sometimes, incidentally, the easiest way out to do things ourselves which the boys should do, but we do try to avoid this as much as possible. We encourage boys to take part in as many activities as possible, reminding them frequently that one day, especially if they are proceeding to Universities or places of further training, they will be required to compile an autobiography of their school life for inclusion in the application form. I often commend to boys of all ages that they should do this as an exercise at the end of every term as a means of measuring their progress and interests.

Many of my audience this morning, in fact I think perhaps the majority, attended last March the second Careers Convention to be held at the School, and I think everyone will agree that this was most successful and helpful. We intend to continue these Conventions from time to time and to do everything possible to extend our careers service in the interests of the boys. One point I would wish to mention refers to what are called "Short Works Courses" arranged through the Public Schools Appointments Bureau, mainly during the Easter and Summer holidays. Quite a number of our boys have applied for and obtained places on these short courses, but we feel that if the existence of these courses and their scope were better known to parents, more boys would take advantage of them. The expression "Short Works Course" sounds very much like a scientific or an engineering course, but included in this general title are a good number of places available to non-scientists who are looking for a profession. Attendance at these courses is especially recommended for boys during their Transitus year, i.e. the year after "0" level. Among the many things Mr. Coulthard does as Careers Master is to arrange practice interviews which can be held at School before any form of interview takes place. These interviews are recorded and boys find it most helpful to hear their own reaction to unexpected questions.

One outside activity I especially want to mention is the Drama Society. Under the enthusiastic direction of Mr. Bolton, this is flourishing in many ways. The most obvious activity was, of course, the School Play, "The Strong are Lonely", which was presented last December. The play was certainly strong meat, but one most pleasing feature was the manner in which those involved obviously lived into the parts they had to play. During the year several Houses have produced plays of their own, all involving large casts and elaborate and changing sets. It is, I think, literally true to say that very few, if any boys in the Houses concerned had no part at all in the production of the play. Although in the busy school life of today there is no time for long preparation for such activities, the standard was very good and the experience invaluable for those who took any part either on, behind or in front of the stage.

We are pleased to hear that H. Biddle has been selected from the vast number of those who were given an audition to play in the National Youth Theatre's London Production this summer.

6

Next term the Society will combine with the Music Society in a production of "H.M.S. Pinafore," and the Junior School will also be involved in this too.

Both the Scouts and the Duke of Edinburgh Award boys have been very active during the year. The Scout Camps are becoming more popular and ambitious, and last year, for example, the Scouts went to the Isle of Man, and the Senior Scouts to the Wicklow Mountains in Eire. An arduous and successful week was also spent by twenty-one Senior Scouts in North Wales during the Easter holidays.

I am happy to report that there have been six Queen Scout awards in the group during the year.

Our rugger season was by no means one of distinction. Only nine players with any 1st or 2nd team experience were available, and the initial task was a formidable one. In the end we failed narrowly to defeat Ampleforth and Worksop (losing both matches in the closing minutes of the match), drew with Leeds and beat Trent. We also beat the Old Boys at the end of term, but are not sure whether that proves anything!

Athletics in the Easter Term, a pursuit in which all boys participate in the last three weeks, started well, but finally became submerged in snow and torrential rain.

It is in the realm of cricket that I think we can justifiably claim to have had a year of unqualified success. Of nine inter-school matches played, seven have been won outright, one drawn and one lost. Not even in unbeaten seasons have so many matches been won, not at any rate since 1946. The School Captain, P. F. Nettleton, has scored 554 runs for an average of over 46, and W. R. Pickersgill can claim 43 victims with his bowling. We are hoping that Nettleton will be selected to play at Lord's.

At cricket we have great hopes for the future and are confident that we shall be able to maintain the tradition that has grown up that we are one, if not the leading school in the North of England, for no less than nine of the present team will still be with us next year.

I have not said anything about the aims and future of our School, and I am sure no useful purpose would be served by indulging in economic, political or any other prognostications. We intend to continue quietly with our work and other activities in the belief that there will continue to be a place in our City and country for St. Peter's. We are not conscious of trying to ensure self-preservation, nor do we ask for or expect any privileges for our boys. They will have to continue to stand on their own feet, to be judged by their character and achievements, and we are content. St. Peter's School is what is known as an Independent School, but in the world of today there is no such thing as real independence for any person or institution. We derive such freedom as we have from our complete dependence on our parents, and I feel I cannot sit down without expressing again my own personal gratitude to the parents for the manner in which they have supported us in all we try to do for our boys. I should like to see the liaison between parents, Housemasters and individual members of the staff even closer than it is at the moment. The business of education can only begin to be successful if there is cooperation between the School and the parents, not only in encouraging obedience to necessary School Rules but in the much wider business of character training. It is the duty of those who control this School to 7

work continually to create the conditions in which both boys and staff can get on happily with their work—an atmosphere in which we can all line together as a family—and I am sure I can claim that such an atmosphere exists at St. Peter's.

MR. D. G. CHRISTOPHERSON'S SPEECH, 1964

My Lord Mayor, Lady Mayoress, Mr. Sheriff, Sheriff's Lady, Head Master, Ladies and Gentlemen.

It is one of the disadvantages of being introduced by one's old colleagues, that they are in a position •to say a lot of things about you, and convention demands that you are not allowed to say what you like about them. I do not think I had better therefore tell you any of the stories that I might tell you about Professor Davidson—perhaps you know some of them already. All I could do is to thank him for the very elegant way in which he introduced me and told you how many times I have been with the vision of having to change my job in a hurry.

May I start by saying how happy I am to have the opportunity of coming to this Commemoration and seeing something of the work and the progress of this School. Of course, I have known something about this School for a very long time because as Professor Davidson said to you, I was educated partly at the school which claims to be the second oldest school in England, and we were always told where the oldest school in England was, in York. We always had a certain fellow feeling for this School, because although being far away in Dorsetshire we did not have the many opportunities of meeting you either in competitions or in other ways, but we always felt that when an opportunity came up at Bisley or somewhere else, there was something in common between us, and so it is a very great pleasure •to me. This is the first time I think I have visited this School and it is a very great pleasure to me to be here.

Of course it is a great pleasure in other ways. There is a great deal in common between York and Durham, and now that the University has come here there will, no doubt, be even more in common in the future. I ought to admit that one of the things that you are commemorating today is the defeat of Durham School, which is where one of my boys goes to school, by—I think it was—five wickets, and this is not something, of course, I ought to join in commemorating, but these things come and go, and perhaps there will be an occasion to reply, if not next year, if you have most of the present team still going on, perhaps the year after.

It occurred to me that it might be of interest for a few minutes this morning to say a little bit if I could about this question of the importance of great antiquity. Some people think that the importance of an ancient tradition in an institution or in a school is self-evident, that it is like, let us say, poems or stamps or archaeological specimens: the older they are the more valuable they are, and there is no argument about it, and so to ask the question about whether it was really a good •thing to have an ancient tradition in a school simply would not occur to them. If a thing is old, it is good. This of course, is not the way on the whole, that the twentieth century thinks. On •the whole the present temper, particularly perhaps of young people, is to have no great respect for tradition, and to ask the question 'What is the value of antiquity?' with a quite open mind. There may even be some people who think that a new school, like a new motor car or aeroplane, is likely to be better than an old one, and so, it is 8

perhaps worth for a moment trying to put all these prejudices out of one's mind altogether, and asking oneself what is proved by the fact that an institution has survived century after century since almost before the beginning of History. Well, what is proved?

The first thing that is proved is that this institution, this school, has shown that it is capable of change, change generation after generation, century after century, all the time adapting itself, evolving, developing to meet the events of the time. As we know I have been this past hour presenting a number of books about Biology, about evolution, and as we know, an animal or an organism of any kind that ceases to be able to evolve, that ceases to be able to change, will die, will vanish, and the first thing, therefore, that is proved when you have an ancient institution, is that the institution has the power in every generation of changing, much more sometimes than we recognise. For some reason, people think often that because an institution is old, because it has a long tradition, it will be a conservative, unchanging influence; it will always be living in the past. The exact contrary is proved. What is proved is •that the institution has the power to change. If we think now only of a very short time, a hundred years or so, in the history of a School like this; three generations ago what was being done with a large number of the boys would have been looking forward to ordination, and a career either as a clergyman, or possibly in one of what we now regard as the secular occupations, like being a schoolmaster, or something of this kind; two generations ago many of them would have been thinking of an imperial career, going into the Civil Service, or the Forces, or one of the services which govern and guide the Colonial territories in the East and in Africa—all of that has changed; one generation ago in my time I think many of us thought that we were in a situation, not unlike the situation in the very early days of this School, that we would at any rate in the early part of our lives have to spend our time in the defeat of a new barbarism, and that, in fact, happened. Nobody at that time knew anything about what the world would be like when the job was done. We had very little idea of what would happen afterwards and now I suppose, indeed, the record that we have heard today shows that the boys, the majority of the boys, are thinking of careers in science and the new scientifically based industries of this country on which the survival and prosperity of the country depends.

There are a great variety of other professions which the modern complicated organisations of our life requires, and nobody knows what another generation will be required of a 'School like this. The Head Master said that he would not prognosticate, and I will try to avoid prognosticating too much, but I think one can say one thing with fair confidence, that in another generation there will be still a wider range of careers open to boys, that most of these a higher proportion of them still will call for very high educational standards. Not, of course—and I would like to endorse what the Head Master said—not of course, by any means all of them through the Universities, but most of them through higher education after the age of eighteen in one form or another. I think we can be sure of this, and I suspect also that the growing together of the Universities with other forms of higher education which is already noticeable will have gone much further. I do not think it is possible to imagine even what the next generation will in any detail require from a School like this one. All we can say is that it will be certain that it will call again for the ability which the School must certainly have to change not slowly, but quite rapidly, if we think about it, to meet the needs that are going to 9