Schools
The Campaign
OR Houseman discovers that old soldiers never die, they just manage In the final Common Room meeting of last term, the headmaster announced new appointments for the following academic year. This included a new position, or at least, a new title: Development Director. It became clear to all who had been at the school for five years or more that the Development Director would be doing the work previously done by the Campaign Manager. The Headmaster did not deny this, but explained the change of title. ‘The Development Director will be doing much more than the Campaign Manager, whose task was essentially to raise money to fund new capital projects.’ The Headmaster listed the other roles to be carried out by the Development Director. ‘Unlike the Campaign Manager, the Development Director will be much more involved in day to day school life, and so he will be a member of the Senior Management Team, working closely with me, the Deputy Headmaster and the Bursar.’ The Headmaster did not say whether the Development
20
Summer 2019
Director would be working closely with another member of the Senior Management Team, the Director of Admissions. It was quite clear that he had one vital role: to raise money to fund capital projects. For at least twenty years it had been generally accepted that the school theatre was outdated, too small and inferior to those of all of our rival schools. In fact, it was more than inferior, since other schools no longer had simple theatres: they now had Performing Arts Centres. For a similar length of time it has been widely acknowledged that the sports centre and indoor pool complex, though enviously ‘state of the art’ in the late 1970s are ‘tired and inadequate’. The longest serving Head of Department, the Head of Mathematics, has said, throughout his tenure in charge, that the maths classrooms are in a disgraceful state and practically unfit for purpose. Last year the Deputy Head (Pastoral) warned the Headmaster that the bathrooms and kitchens in several boarding houses pose Health and Safety risks which could potentially lead to the closure of the school at the next Ofsted inspection, and that major refurbishment of every boarding house is therefore an absolute priority. In recent years the school’s nearest local rivals have built two new water-based AstroTurf hockey pitches. Another competitor has a new cricket pavilion, and yet another has a spectacular new ‘STEM’ centre, which, apparently, was not only the envy of Bill Gates, but must have required a budget accessible only to Bill Gates. In the school facilities arms race we were clearly falling behind. We had to build something, and soon, or no self-respecting parents would possibly consider sending their children to us. This was why we needed a Development Director, to do some of the work previously done by the Campaign Manager, but also to play a much more active role in school life, of course. There had been two Campaign Managers since that role was created five years ago. The first Campaign Manager was introduced to the Common Room at the start of a new academic year
