Headmaster's Newsletter Friday 5th May 2023
Dear Parents,
I think it is true to say that, in whichever field we work, the best practitioners are those who remain self-reflective and curious, eager to review one’s practice and to keep learning about how it can get even better. That is what we expect of the boys as they ‘review and improve’, so I think it is only fair that we should expect it of ourselves as teachers. To that end, during our INSET sessions at the start of this term, we had our annual book reviews session, in which some of my colleagues read and reviewed some recent pedagogical literature, stimulating discussion about how the authors’ ideas might apply to NCS and how we might be inspired to review and improve our teaching and wellbeing provision even further. It was a hugely enjoyable session as we navigated texts on inclusion, the current debates about the humanities curriculum, what sports coaching can teach us about classroom teaching, and how learning skills might sit most effectively alongside curriculum content.
Counting myself in all of the above – I need to keep reading, thinking, and revising too – I recently reviewed a book by Ian Warwick and Ray Speakman: Learning with Leonardo: Unfinished Perfection (2019). For those of us who haven’t had enough of experts, and who are still restless to find the Rosetta Stone that will unlock education for all, there are different avenues we can take in our quest for our pedagogical ‘truth’. These avenues are not always mutually exclusive, and they are often quite complementary. One tempting route is to hop over some of the more data-obsessed, bean-counting, standardised-score-worshipping research of recent years. But, instead, to look to ‘great thinkers’ from throughout the history of civilisation; those whose minds looked rather higher than league tables and verbal reasoning. After all, we were teaching and learning, and many people did both to spectacularly high levels, long before some of the techniques now in vogue in educational research departments. Learning with Leonardo takes us back five centuries and to a figure who was, it seems rather trite to say, one of the greatest thinkers and polymath doers in the history of western civilisation: Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519). The premise of the book is a good one, an enticing one, as it dangles the idea that by learning and acting like Leonardo — and getting teachers and pupils to do so — then we can move our own pedagogy one step closer towards his genius, thereby creating an intellectual and civil society somewhat more desirable than the one we currently inhabit. Warwick and Speakman do not claim to have all the answers, even if it would have been rather pleasing to finish the book and to be able to walk into the classroom/staffroom announcing The Answer to the pedagogical riddle. Ironically, perhaps, the book leaves us with more questions and fewer secure answers than when we opened it. And that is, Warwick and Speakman might argue, the point. Because so much of Leonardo’s practice resided in the sphere of the blur, the unknown, the unfinished, the in-between — something exemplified by his hazy ‘sfumato’ technique in painting. Leonardo was not made for the world of deadlines and brutal economic efficiency; pretty lucky, then, that he was a genius.
Warwick and Speakman helpfully summarise the key takeaways from their study of Leonardo in a few digestible maxims. We should have a ‘beginner’s mind’ and challenge our preconceptions. We should be enthusiastically curious, being open to encounters that might surprise and challenge us. We should imagine and analyse while we are noticing and jotting down. We should embrace the cross-fertilisation of interdisciplinarity and learn from the junctions where disciplines meet and inexpert fresh eyes look sideways at someone else’s problems. We should embrace metaphors as a way of understanding and explaining concepts. We should welcome doubt, distraction, confusion and uncertainty as a chaotic yet positive way to bring fresh perspectives. And we should appreciate all of this, the creative process of learning and doing, as just that: a process that never really comes to an end but is forever being worked at and honed. Even Leonardo didn’t have all the answers, and didn’t want them either. There is a lot in these maxims that might readily make us nod with approval; some nods perhaps more vigorous than others. I hope it does not sound churlish to say that some of these maxims have indeed already been adopted in education, and were perhaps reached without Leonardo’s intervention. Any educational institution worth its salt sees the virtue of curiosity and encourages its enthusiastic pursuit. The joys of interdisciplinarity are manifold and have been championed for a long time; though I concede that the point needs to be reiterated frequently as the arts and humanities get nudged to one side in favour of the (on the face of it) more reliably employable STEM subjects or professional courses. The idea of doubting oneself, of exercising intellectual humility, is the bedrock of any educational institution that believes in self-review, self-analysis, and constant reviewing and improving — from the longest-serving teacher to the youngest pupil. The idea of ‘life-long learning’ rests on the fact, appreciated by most of us, that the educational process is indeed never complete in anyone, at least until we shuffle off our mortal pedagogical coil.
The idea of embracing confusion and uncertainty is core to Warwick and Speakman’s book, and is arguably its most recurrent theme. There is something to be said for such a philosophy, and in many ways it makes a virtue out of the sometimes anxiety-making shifting sands of social change, and the creative process within it. We may pay lip service to the idea of embracing confusion, but I suspect that pupils will want something a little more concrete in what they are learning and being examined upon. Parents will also probably want something a little more certain and quantifiable. Can I imagine a head publicly telling their parents that, like Leonardo, they embrace the hazy and liminal, and court chaos and uncertainty, as a way to unlock the brilliance of their children’s minds? There may be some underlying truth to the pedagogical philosophy, but it would probably scare off 99% of those hearing it. Which is not to say that those 99% would necessarily be right; it is to concede that the philosophies that we may take away from books like this often rub up uncomfortably against the realities of day-to-day school life. Most of us understand that education, and the creativity we want within education, is messy. It is circuitous. It is, indeed, at many times uncertain. But we have to marry this appreciation with the reality that we need to provide security and more concrete paths on the way to learning. Perhaps it is this creative tension that will produce the best educational institutions? The marrying together of pragmatism and ostensibly secure ‘outcomes’ (like being able to read or pass exams) with an appreciation of the rather wobbly foundations on which pedagogy builds. In this image teachers, senior leaders and heads become plate spinners. The plates — the educational superstructure — ideally spin serenely atop poles — the base — that bend in the wind and have to be kept at the right angle second-by-second by constantly adapting educational professionals. Which is, quite possibly, a metaphor for what we do anyway. We do (or should) embrace uncertainty, humility, and constant questioning, but in order for there to be something rather more demonstrably tangible at the end.
Have a great weekend,
Matt Jenkinson
I’ll regret tempting fate by saying this, but there are times when the weather seems to be picking up a bit. Please could boys bring in sun hats and water bottles for break times? It would also be a good idea to apply sunscreen to exposed skin before the boys arrive in school, especially on those days when the sun is forecast to shine. Many thanks.
Parents of boys in Years 5-8 may be interested to hear about Winchester’s new online CATALYST Foundations Programme: “The CATALYST Foundations programme focuses on building skills in communication, critical thinking, negotiation, and narrative defence. This 1-week course explores how innovation serves as a catalyst for societal change, challenging students to delve into topics spanning tech, science, philosophy, and ethics. This programme encourages student-led learning, providing a space for creativity and problem-solving, akin to what students might expect as they prepare for GCSE’s and Sixth Form.” More details are available at https://catalyst.winchestercollege.org/courses/foundations-programme
Well done to Curtis, Emil, Felix and Misha in Year 4 who took part in the Maths Challenge at Headington earlier this week. The boys did really well and had lots of fun doing a variety of Maths puzzles in pairs. There were over thirty teams competing and the boys performed admirably. My thanks to Stephen Young for organizing the event, and to Pip Usher and Peter Cui for accompanying the boys.
Congratulations and good luck to two of our Visiting Music Teachers, Chrissie Garratt and Jean Paterson, who are playing as part of the Coronation at 9.00 tomorrow. They are members of English Baroque Soloists, the orchestra for the Monteverdi Choir, conducted by Sir John Eliot Gardiner. Their contribution to the day is a short concert, the first event taking place in Westminster Abbey. They had their rehearsal yesterday, which was particularly special as Charles and some of his entourage attended and listened, speaking to the group afterwards about the power and joy of live music. After this, they had a dress rehearsal in the abbey, and saw the various guards and dignitaries taking part in their finery. There was even a pretend crown being carried about on a cushion.
Upcoming Events
Saturday, 6 May 2023
No Music Academy (Coronation Day)
Monday, 8 May 2023
School and bank holiday
Tuesday 9th May 2023
Singing Workshop and Concert with partner schools (PM)
14.00 U8 & U9 Cricket vs CCCS, Home
Wednesday, 10 May 2023
8.10 Charity Meeting, Geography Room
9.00 Chapel. Speaker: Professor Afifi Al-Akiti, Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies
14.30 U11 A&B Cricket vs MCS (U10), Away
14.30 U13 A Cricket vs Bruern Abbey, Home
14.30 U13 B Cricket vs Bruern Abbey, Away
19.00 NCSPA meeting
Saturday, 13 May 2023
10.00 Mock ABRSM Grade 5 Theory exam (IT room)
Monday, 15 May 2023
National Walk to School Week
14.30 U13 Tennis vs MCS, Away
17.30 Junior Recital (Years 3-5), Sports Hall
Tuesday, 16 May 2023
Year 7 field study trip
14.30 U9 A&B Cricket vs MCS, Home
Wednesday, 17 May 2023
8.15 School Council Meeting, library
9.00 Chapel. Speaker: Mr Daniel Gibbons, Headmaster, Our Lady's Abingdon
14.30 U11 A&B Cricket vs Summer Fields, Home
14.30 U13 A&B Cricket vs Summer Fields, Away
Saturday, 20 May 2023
10.00 ABRSM Grade 5 Music Theory exam (IT room)