Oct 1979

A TRIBUTE TO PETER GARDINER Like a man, no school is an island. It is influenced by, and is expected to influence, the political, social and economic circumstances of the society of which it is a part. In the political sphere the schools have seen a swing from right to left and now back to right again, and the independent schools have felt themselves under sufficient pressure to take some measures of self-defence, mainly ISIS. Social changes of all kinds have been considerable — increased tolerance of behaviour formerly frowned upon; the move towards more friendliness, or familiarity — call it what you will; increased escapism as reflected for example in increased consumption of alcohol; changes in acceptable costume and hair styles; the lowering of the age of majority from twenty one to eighteen; increased use of personal transport; the falling birth rate; the spread of belief in co-education; the decline in church-going. The list could be extended greatly, and these changes have all presented problems and opportunities to the schools, whether independent or not. The impact of economic events, too, has been enormous, while ideas in education itself have not been static, by any means.

This, then, is the background against which Peter Gardiner's influence and work at St. Peter's has to be viewed. He took over a school with a well founded basis of scholarship, a sound reputation in the world of school sport, and an unusually good internal atmosphere. It is not easy to follow a long established and respected regime, and, human memory being what it is, the old days tend to be the good old days, but nevertheless the net advantages were great: it was not reform but development and adaption to changing circumstances that were to be the new headmaster's task.

It may well be that, however long his tenure, no headmaster of St. Peter's has had so many external influences to consider, and of these probably the most worrying was the world-wide student unrest of the early 197os, which spread from the universities to the schools. St. Peter's was in fact not much affected, such incidents as there were being very minor and individual.

The reasons for this near-immunity are not simple to analyse, but Peter's firmness where it was called for and adaptability where that was appropriate to an improved atmosphere must surely have been amongst them. One of the manifestations of this unrest was the appearance amongst a small minority of hostility to chapel services, just at a time when some dissatisfaction with the forms of organised religion was springing from other and more worthy sources. This problem, more particularly in its longer term aspect, has been met by making services less dependant on ritual and more on relationship to daily experience, bringing them more into line with modern needs.

It would be idle to pretend that Peter's guidance in this has pleased everybody or has entirely surmounted the indifference arising from a largely secular society, but it has succeeded in keeping "Chapel" as a substantial influence in the school. And, frankly, that is probably as much as anyone could reasonably hope for. These are but two examples, albeit major ones, of the many decisions he has had to make in response to changing external circumstances. There are many others, ranging from abolition of the school cap to keeping a register of eighteenth birthdays, some easy, some difficult.

However, one of Peter's characteristics is to have thorough consultation with 9