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Prep Schools Chairman addresses IAPS annual conference

26 September 2006

Delivering his Chairman's Address at the Annual Conference of the Incorporated Association of Preparatory Schools (IAPS) in Lisbon, Rowland Constantine, Headmaster of The New Beacon in Sevenoaks, Kent gave his assessment of the benefits of an independent prep school education as well as the challenges facing the sector.

Rowland told his fellow heads that what most parents want is, "A traditional approach to teaching and learning", but are "bewildered that such a simple process should be made to sound so complicated". He noted that particular strengths of independent prep schools are "the fact that the gap between girls and boys' performance is much narrower than in the maintained sector" at Key Stage 2; the value placed upon modern languages - "a core subject in every prep school, yet in sad decline in the maintained sector"; and that prep schools offer the sciences as individual subjects.

Turning to the extra-curricular benefits of a prep school education, Rowland described music teaching as "the jewel in the crown of IAPS schools". He went on: "Is it not a national tragedy that according to an associated board survey, children in independent schools are six times more likely to be taught music in school than the maintained sector?" Noting that the Government would like every child to be offered the opportunity to learn a musical instrument, he proposed that prep schools assist by providing music bursaries to IAPS schools. In a similar vein, praising the provision for sport at prep schools, he encouraged prep schools, where possible, to "allow other young children to benefit from our expertise and good fortune".

Examining the challenges for his fellow heads and for governors, he cited firstly demographic decline - the reduction in the number of school-age children - which threatens both the independent and maintained sectors: "We, for our part, must be even more resourceful with our income and careful of expenditure."

The second challenge Rowland identified as "the inexorable rise in school fees over the years...We know that these increases are necessary, but we must not lose sight of those who have to pay them and where our future customers will come from."

Thirdly, the IAPS Chairman noted that, "In every suburban street there are many parents who are desperate to avoid a poorly performing local school and would do anything to send their children to an IAPS school," but the cost is often prohibitive. He suggested to colleagues: "Perhaps now is the time for IAPS as a whole to learn from, and build on, the good practice in so many of your schools, which already run successful scholarship and bursary schemes... We can then confidently approach benefactors and social entrepreneurs asking them to contribute - not towards the new sports hall - but towards scholarships and bursaries to help us widen access."

Concluding, Rowland told delegates that they should look forward with confidence: "The Children's Society declared recently that too many British children are experiencing poor childhoods." He contrasted the "toxic society" in which children are reared with the situation in prep schools: "Children are able to work and play in a community with good discipline, boundaries and a clear set of values: they are challenged, encouraged and rewarded for success in every manner of pursuits."

Rowland Constantine and The New Beacon
Rowland has been Headmaster of The New Beacon in Sevenoaks since 1976. The New Beacon opened in 1900 having previously been The Beacon in the centre of Sevenoaks from 1882. Currently the school has 400 pupils, all boys, between the ages of 4 and 13. Academic results are a strength at the school, as are sport and music. The school is situated in 21 acres of playing fields, gardens and woodland.

Rowland was educated at Firth Park Grammar School, Sheffield before reading Modern Languages at Magdalene College, Cambridge. After teaching French and Spanish at The Leys, Cambridge, he moved to St Olave's Grammar School, Orpington, then to The New Beacon, Sevenoaks.

Married to Sally who is a relationship counsellor and psychotherapist, Rowland has three children. Two work in the City and one about to go university.

http://www.newbeacon.kent.sch.uk

The Incorporated Association of Preparatory Schools
IAPS, The Incorporated Association of Preparatory Schools, the prep school heads' association, serves the top 500+ independent prep schools in the UK and worldwide. IAPS schools educate 130,000 pupils in over 500 schools of all types and sizes.