Trendy Hendy leaving Eton

[TonTonMacoute]

Thank goodness for that. DS left in 2018 so no longer have skin in the game, but I think he has not been good for the school.

Interested to know what current parents think.

@Beachcomber74 If one’s son didn’t get in, a little sour grapes.

I seem to remember that Win Coll has had a few 'messes' in the fairly recent past.

Can't remember the details now but when we were thinking about the next school for DS (nearly 20 years ago eek!) WC was top of our list and we were warned well off by our head at the time, due to a 'mess'. I'm sure all is well now.

These schools are centuries old, a mess is just a pimple on the arse.

Your headmaster did well @TonTonMacoute ,Winchester seems to go from one mess to another. Our head was far too weak to actually give honest advice to parents.

Someone is always unhappy when there is a change in headmasters !

I think in this case the reverse is true. Do try and keep up.

It’s difficult to keep up with so many who think they know it all

We are over the moon our son got in to Winchester college and our headmaster couldn’t reccomened a better school, he thinks it is ridiculous all the parents want Eton, my son chose Winchester above Eton ,Harrow ect he was the only boy who had his own mind .
He chose Winchester college when he first visited all 4 schools . Winchester is a very personable environment where i think Eton you are purely a number , this is just my opinion.

Do let me in on your fairly recent pass messes , I am very sure you can remember if they were fairly recent ?

@Tobstar106 My son was definitely not treated as just a number at Eton, it’s an outstanding school. The house system there is second to none. Our eldest DS’s experience at Winchester was disappointing, the housemaster was unable/ unwilling to keep on top of bullying. Even though DS wasn’t targeted it was a horrible atmosphere to live in.

@ShangriLa85 I'm interested in your perspective here - did you think Eton did stay on top of bullying? I've come to the conclusion that it will always happen, but haven't see any school take an effective stance. Never heard of a bully being expelled, for example! But I'm hopeful that the stronger house system at Eton will help particularly helping the kids bounce back when they are bullied.

@WhatWouldGinDo Yes , I did no boy felt above the law at the school. It was a refreshing change, our housemaster picked up on things very quickly and the senior boys were brilliant. Our DS felt totally safe and knew he could talk to someone if he needed and be listened to.

That's fantastic to hear, thank you. I think the "no boy is above the law" is crucial, particularly when you have some VVIPs in attendance. (Wouldn't it be awful if your DS was bullied by the future king. I'm sure PG is a lovely boy but I suspect he'll be surrounded by a few more entitled chaps. I speak from experience of the previous generation of royals where the one I met was delightful, but his friends were entitled, gobby, arrogant, little so and sos at age 15!)

Looking forward to seeing what Mr C has to offer. Any current parents care to share their insights of how it's gone down with the staff? Or do we think the school is so big that it won't really affect the day-to-day life of the teaching staff and boys?

As I posted quite clearly in my post it was nearly 20 years ago so no I cannot remember, and have zero interest in, the details. The head at the time was widely considered to be very poor, but as I also commented, in schools this old it is not necessarily significant unless you are planning to go there at that time.

I seem to recall that were a whole slew of posts quite recently from very unhappy WinColl parents but again, I'm not sufficiently interested to go back and find them.

You say you are delighted your son is going to WC, but am baffled at your need to post a constant barrage of sneery anti-Eton comments - a school the actual workings of which you know fuck all about. I have noticed this tendency before in WC parents, some of them are quite obsessed by doing down Eton at every possible opportunity. Makes you wonder...

DS did suffer some bullying from one boy during his time there. It wasn't that serious and the matter was swiftly and effectively dealt with by the two HMs involved, we were kept fully updated during the process.

DS and the other boy avoided each other, following advice they were given, but he did say that they had a pleasant chat during a cricket match in the final term, and they both wondered what it had all been about.

I've come to the conclusion that it will always happen, but haven't see any school take an effective stance.

In Korea a policy has been introduced which if a student has a record of being a bully at school, they are rejected from universities. Hopefully this will go some way to addressing the problem and if so, maybe it could be adopted by other countries.

I keep thinking Rory Stewart would make a good Head.

This Rory Stewart?

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/oct/25/irish-musicians-hare-squead-anger-minor-gangsters-rory-stewart

If you were related to a non-Caucasian boy at the school, would you want a headmaster who assumes the boy must naturally aspire to gangster-hood? (I don’t listen to podcasts so don’t know if his thinking has matured in succeeding years.)

So many deletions on this thread!

I think you mean Provost or a Fellow, maybe? RS wouldn't have the first clue how to be a head of a secondary school, that's a professional educational management role.

Sorry sir , I believe you have the wrong person!
maybe you ought to scroll back and beyond , reread all the threads you are involved in and you shall see I made one comment about the change of heads at Eton , and I simply replied “what a mess “
Eton is a good school if you have been very well prepared with all the extra tutoring , if you haven’t been over tutored it certainly is not the place for you .
where as we prefer to go to a school where the boys are naturally curious and have not been forced to pass exams , it’s a shame because these kids will never stop with the pressure once tutored always tutored .
just wondering why you became very rude and aggressive? Profanities are a way of expressing ones self when you a incapable of getting your point across .

My goodness !