:00:03. > :00:08.That is the news. Now it is time for On The Road with that master of
:00:08. > :00:13.Eton College. Matthew Stadlen sent the day with Tony Little. -- has
:00:13. > :00:18.spent the day. What is it like to be headmaster of
:00:18. > :00:23.Eton College? Founded in 1440 by King Henry VI, it is an independent
:00:23. > :00:27.boarding school for boys. The full fees are around �30,000 a year.
:00:27. > :00:32.There is an interesting polarity between the Eton I live and work in
:00:32. > :00:39.and understand, which seems very different sometimes to the word as
:00:39. > :00:44.it is used in parts of our public life. Robert Walpole, Percy Bysshe
:00:44. > :00:47.Shelley and Robert Boyle were all educated at Eton. More recently, so
:00:47. > :00:51.were Prime Minister David Cameron and London mayor Boris Johnson as
:00:51. > :01:01.well as Princes William and Harry. I spent the day with headmaster
:01:01. > :01:03.
:01:03. > :01:09.Good morning, Head Master. Matthew, welcome. What does that they have
:01:09. > :01:12.in store? The usual mixture of things. Fairly busy. We will be on
:01:12. > :01:18.the move. I have meetings with colleagues and boys. I will be
:01:18. > :01:22.going out later in the day for some activities. It will be a flavour, a
:01:22. > :01:28.soupcon of life in a busy boarding school. How long have you been
:01:28. > :01:34.headmaster here for? Nine years. What is the first thing today?
:01:34. > :01:39.begin my day every day between 8pm and 8:30am by literally having an
:01:39. > :01:45.open door so that any boy can have -- can come without an appointment,
:01:45. > :01:51.no secretaries around. Three,, four, five boys normally come. Some days,
:01:51. > :01:55.it can be nobody. For boys, what time does the days start? It can be
:01:55. > :02:00.variable. For most of them, it starts as late as it is possible!
:02:00. > :02:05.They usually have to be in chapel all Assembly by 8:35am, and they
:02:05. > :02:09.should have been in breakfast by around 8pm. The day starts not too
:02:09. > :02:18.early but it runs through pretty late. I have one or two things to
:02:18. > :02:26.give you. You are the medallist. am. And there is a medal. I
:02:26. > :02:31.discovered this but yesterday. Here it is. These must be lurking in
:02:31. > :02:37.some dark place, but it is rather a splendid thing. Do I get to keep
:02:37. > :02:44.it? You do. It is an image of the Duke of Newcastle. It has a nice
:02:44. > :02:50.little Latin tag to unravel. For as you know, this prize was founded in
:02:50. > :02:55.1829. It is the oldest of the Eton prizes. It looks like a recent
:02:55. > :03:00.casting, but one assumes it is a copy of a medal. That is your place
:03:00. > :03:06.in a long line. Do you see part of your role as a pastoral one? It is
:03:06. > :03:10.a very strong element of what we do. Almost entirely the role is that,
:03:10. > :03:15.my role. I think it is very important. There is the small
:03:16. > :03:19.matter of managing a large and complex place, one that also is
:03:19. > :03:23.required to and should have a strong educational vision, in the
:03:23. > :03:27.broadest sense, but I think the pastoral element is so important.
:03:27. > :03:32.Without it, the whole business of education loses its heart and
:03:32. > :03:37.becomes an arid thing. I come across certain institutions which
:03:37. > :03:42.seemed to be entirely management driven, management speak dominated,
:03:42. > :03:47.and my heart sinks. What is the best bit about being headmaster of
:03:47. > :03:54.Eton? The contact that one has with Riddick interesting, intelligent
:03:54. > :03:58.pupils, by far the and away every teacher would say that. We are
:03:58. > :04:02.fortunate because we have a very good students. They are pretty
:04:02. > :04:07.engaging most of the time. Infuriating, frustrating, all the
:04:08. > :04:12.rest of it, they are teenagers, but it is exhilarating. Where are we
:04:12. > :04:17.now? This is School Yard, the original heart of the school, and
:04:17. > :04:22.it still is. It comprises the chapel on this side, which has been
:04:23. > :04:30.in use since it was completed around 1480. The original school is
:04:30. > :04:35.that side. Still known as College. The whole of this yard predates
:04:35. > :04:39.1500, so it is a late medieval academic institution and has been
:04:39. > :04:45.kept as such. It is quite possible, if you are a tourist, to assume
:04:45. > :04:53.this is all the school, some kind of historic theme park. The vast
:04:53. > :04:58.bulk of school life happens the other side of the main road.
:04:58. > :05:02.comes to chapel? Every boy will go to some kind of service. At any one
:05:02. > :05:07.time we will have three Chapel services or assemblies, because we
:05:07. > :05:11.are a big school. College Chapel typically would be used by older
:05:11. > :05:17.boys, who will be here three or four times a week. During the week,
:05:17. > :05:22.we have short services, 12-13 minutes, that kind of length. But
:05:22. > :05:27.it is important and I do insist that the boys come. They can still
:05:27. > :05:30.a believer in compulsory chapel. Not in any way do I assume that any
:05:30. > :05:37.boy should be led on the path to religious salvation, that is a
:05:38. > :05:42.personal matter, but this space resonates over 570 years. It is the
:05:42. > :05:46.place where every attorney has spent some time, and there is a
:05:46. > :05:51.powerful sense of being part of a community when you're here. It is
:05:51. > :05:55.extraordinary, the number of men I meet in the 20s, 30s and 40s to,
:05:55. > :06:03.when they return after an absence of time, to feel this is a special
:06:03. > :06:07.place. Do you feel a sense of pride, being Head Master of Eton? I do
:06:07. > :06:13.take pride in a great deal of what our boys do and achieve and the
:06:13. > :06:17.people they are. The pride comes in. It is fun, being part of a historic
:06:17. > :06:23.institution, but this is a living place. The pride comes up of seeing
:06:23. > :06:26.what is being achieved every day. - - comes out of seeing.
:06:26. > :06:31.headmaster has a meeting with Gerard Evans, director of
:06:31. > :06:37.curriculum. I wanted to pick up the on line Academy. I spoke to Percy
:06:37. > :06:44.yesterday. Heat updated me on it all. I think the issue is the
:06:44. > :06:48.extent to which we wish to advertise this or, indeed, prompt
:06:48. > :06:53.engagement in the pubs. Is it on the agenda for Wednesday? It is not.
:06:53. > :06:57.Should it be? We could deal with it under any other business.
:06:57. > :07:03.Alternatively, we could make it a major item for the second meeting,
:07:04. > :07:08.as you wish. Perhaps she would have a word with Percy about that, but I
:07:08. > :07:12.am pleasantly surprised. He has had a dozen expressed interest in
:07:12. > :07:18.writing courses already. If we are going to get involved, we must do
:07:18. > :07:21.it quickly. This is part of the school? It is the original
:07:21. > :07:27.schoolroom. It is known now as low a school. It is the place where,
:07:27. > :07:34.since the early 4040s, all the boys were taught. All of them would have
:07:34. > :07:39.been taught in the one place. -- 1440s. The headmaster would have
:07:39. > :07:45.lived and worked immediately next door. This, in effect, was the
:07:45. > :07:51.whole school in the early to mid- 15th century. It is very much
:07:51. > :07:55.retained the atmosphere of its time, although a lot of its would work is
:07:55. > :08:00.a lot later, 17th century, I would imagine. It is an important place
:08:00. > :08:04.for us because it connects us over the best part of six centuries to
:08:04. > :08:10.continuous teaching and learning. How do you balance academic
:08:10. > :08:13.learning with other elements of pupils' education? We are an
:08:13. > :08:18.academic institution and we expect boys to engage and to do well, but
:08:18. > :08:22.we also believe in a wholeness of the curriculum. We don't think of
:08:22. > :08:26.the academic life of the school as somehow segregated or cut apart
:08:26. > :08:30.from everything else. It doesn't matter how clever or academically
:08:30. > :08:34.minded a boy is, you would also expect him to be engaged in other
:08:34. > :08:40.activities which he enjoys but will also develop him, or whether it is
:08:40. > :08:44.music or art or dance or support of various kinds. There is a huge
:08:44. > :08:47.range of opportunity in a boarding school like this. Pretty much every
:08:47. > :08:52.boy will find something that aconites him. That is the key thing
:08:52. > :08:56.in education. Often, you just need to find the one thing which will
:08:56. > :09:02.inspire a young person, and from that flows success in other areas
:09:03. > :09:08.of their life. In essence, we are trying to be a great smorgasbord of
:09:08. > :09:11.opportunity from which boys of different talents, opportunities
:09:11. > :09:18.and talents will find something to nurture and inspire them. What have
:09:18. > :09:23.we got here? This is decade's worth of graffiti. Boys chiselling their
:09:23. > :09:28.name into would work, which you will see throughout the building. I
:09:28. > :09:32.would like to believe that modern boys can find better ways to
:09:32. > :09:39.express their identity, their individuality than to carve their
:09:39. > :09:43.names, but we still have a tradition that boys, if there is
:09:43. > :09:53.space when they leave the school, may apply to have their names are
:09:53. > :10:07.
:10:08. > :10:11.It is time for the headmaster to Chambers is the daily meeting where
:10:11. > :10:16.all the masters gathered together with the headmaster so we can
:10:16. > :10:22.exchange information. It is a traditional meeting and there may
:10:22. > :10:26.be those who say, in the age of e- mail, it used not as relevant. It
:10:27. > :10:29.is hugely important. We gather together face-to-face and do a lot
:10:29. > :10:32.of business. If you have a particular concern about a
:10:33. > :10:36.particular boy, you can pull together three or four people who
:10:36. > :10:42.teach him and get a better appreciation of the situation. It
:10:42. > :10:45.works. What sort of boy which you like to leave Eton? I would like
:10:46. > :10:52.and to be someone who has the confidence and ability to stand up
:10:52. > :10:57.for himself, but also to stand up for the purpose higher than himself,
:10:58. > :11:03.someone who is active and gets things done. I think, when it works,
:11:03. > :11:08.we do have a large number of young men who fit that bill and that
:11:08. > :11:11.description. It is a combination of a variety of things, but there is a
:11:11. > :11:16.belief in excellence. It is interesting, talking to boys when
:11:16. > :11:19.they leave, that word comes up time and again, the expectation of
:11:19. > :11:24.excellence from each other, not just academically but in a range of
:11:24. > :11:28.things, but also a celebration of the virtue of the Independent
:11:28. > :11:33.minded, standing up for yourself, arguing your own case. When those
:11:33. > :11:38.things come together, that sense of the possible, which I think living
:11:38. > :11:43.and working in the community which has been around for 600 years,
:11:43. > :11:47.producing quite interesting -- interesting people, implicitly it
:11:47. > :11:51.is acts -- it is as if people are being asked the question, if these
:11:51. > :11:57.people have done remarkable things, why not you? That is powerful.
:11:57. > :12:03.you feel there are stereotypes of Etonians? One certainly reads about
:12:03. > :12:07.stereotypes of Etonians. Eton is a short and in parts of the press,
:12:07. > :12:12.particularly the tabloid press. One gets used to that. There was a good
:12:12. > :12:16.article recently by a journalist to distinguished between what he saw
:12:16. > :12:20.as Eton College, which he described as a surprisingly meritocratic
:12:20. > :12:27.school at which you would like to have your child educated and, on
:12:27. > :12:31.the other hand, "Eton", a byword for a whole set of issues and
:12:32. > :12:35.social concerns which people like to express. There is an interesting
:12:35. > :12:40.polarity between the Eton I live and work in and understand, which
:12:40. > :12:50.seems very different sometimes to the word as it is used in parts of
:12:50. > :12:51.
:12:51. > :13:01.Before lunch, discipline is one of the things on the agenda. What have
:13:01. > :13:04.you been doing? I have been taking what is known as the bill. This is
:13:04. > :13:07.the time of day, usually before lunch, when I call to see any boy
:13:07. > :13:12.whose house master has brought his name to my attention, because he
:13:12. > :13:16.has done something wrong. Broken a school rule in some shape or form.
:13:16. > :13:22.The business is administered by Bob Hutton here. He's the school office
:13:22. > :13:27.manager. He is pretty much the one person that hold it is together.
:13:27. > :13:31.that right, Bob? Well, it is nice to hear. My role spans lots of
:13:31. > :13:37.different areas. From the discipline to the general day-to-
:13:37. > :13:41.day running of the school. My day usually starts at about 7.45am when
:13:41. > :13:47.we see the first lot of boys who have committed less minor crimes.
:13:47. > :13:50.Perhaps been late to a class. And they have a thing called the tardy
:13:50. > :13:55.book that they have to sign for three days continuously. It gets
:13:55. > :14:00.them up out of bed early. Hopefully getting them in the right frame of
:14:00. > :14:05.mind for the day. And properly dressed, so that they look the part.
:14:05. > :14:09.This is Henry VI, our founder. I can't imagine it looks anything
:14:09. > :14:18.like him. But the tradition is that we pass on the right side. The
:14:18. > :14:21.reason is not entirely clear to me, but there we are.
:14:21. > :14:25.Well, hot footing it from talking about the discipline, I come to one
:14:25. > :14:31.of the more pleasurable parts of the day. That is having lunch with
:14:31. > :14:35.some boys. Jenny and I have all the boys in the top year, about 268 18-
:14:35. > :14:39.year-olds, to lunch at some point in the year. It is always a good
:14:39. > :14:44.time to catch up. Welcome, one and all. If you
:14:44. > :14:48.haven't been here before, this is the Audit Room. It is a splendid
:14:48. > :14:53.mid-Victorian room. The great thing about the images on the wall. All
:14:53. > :14:59.of them were drawn in 1861. These guys are exactly your age. That is
:14:59. > :15:06.what you would have looked like in 1861. Would you say that the school
:15:06. > :15:10.is a formal school? If you see someone dressed the way that I am
:15:10. > :15:13.at this moment, it is very hard to give an answer other than that we
:15:13. > :15:17.are formal. It is a mixture of formality and informality. Everyone
:15:17. > :15:23.in the community gets used to that. It is not just a place of work, it
:15:23. > :15:27.is where we live. Does the uniform matter to you? In itself, no. I
:15:27. > :15:30.have not been terribly fussed what people wear. However, within a
:15:30. > :15:33.community like this, with its traditions and its formalities. The
:15:33. > :15:37.fact that boys wear a particular school dress and that the teachers
:15:37. > :15:44.wear something similar is important. To me, it is the ultimate mark of
:15:45. > :15:48.respect. It is very important to me that the teaching staff, the
:15:48. > :15:52.masters, do dress in a particular way out of respect for the students.
:15:52. > :15:55.So it does matter? It matters, but it is not the clothing in itself
:15:55. > :16:01.which is the issue. It represents what it is saying about
:16:01. > :16:04.relationships. Here are Leo and Max. I've asked to
:16:04. > :16:08.see them, because these boys were responsible for putting on a major
:16:08. > :16:13.charity event a week or so ago. I had three different things I had to
:16:13. > :16:19.be on the same day and couldn't get there. So I want to hear how it
:16:19. > :16:25.went. What money you raised. And what you have learned? It went well,
:16:25. > :16:28.I hear. It did go well, both in terms of money raised, due to the
:16:28. > :16:35.generosity of parents. We probably raised between �20,000-�21,000.
:16:35. > :16:42.That is quite something? It was always an aim that Max and I had as
:16:42. > :16:47.a figure that we wanted to achieve. But we were unsure for the weeks
:16:47. > :16:51.and the months leading up to the event if we were to hit that figure.
:16:51. > :16:55.We think, because of the success of some of the auction lots. There is
:16:55. > :17:01.an auction before the main event, itself. We think that we have
:17:01. > :17:05.reached that figure. And a good turn out? A very good turnout. With
:17:05. > :17:12.the exams, it is hard to make the boys come. With the parents, we had
:17:12. > :17:17.80 guests to come to supper. We were allowed to have a auction that
:17:17. > :17:24.went very well. We filled the school hall, which was I think
:17:24. > :17:29.about 550 boys. What for you is the key to a good
:17:29. > :17:35.school education? Above and beyond anything else? Two things, love and
:17:35. > :17:38.joy. It doesn't matter what systems, structures, ways of doing things.
:17:38. > :17:43.If you don't have the love of the people within your community, in
:17:43. > :17:49.the broadest sense. The desire to see them develop and grow as
:17:49. > :17:52.interesting, dependant, healthy people. If you don't have that
:17:52. > :17:56.sheer fun of learning, the fun of achievement, the fun of learning,
:17:56. > :18:02.then the whole thing, to me, seems soulless. Would you rather that
:18:02. > :18:05.there were girls as well as boys at Eton? No. I think you could make a
:18:05. > :18:09.very good co-educational school out of Eton. I have previously been the
:18:09. > :18:13.head of a co-educational school, which was a very good school. But
:18:13. > :18:17.Eton works as it is. I think there is a place for boys' schools. I
:18:17. > :18:20.surprised myself coming from a co- ed school to a single-sex school.
:18:20. > :18:27.That there is perhaps more merit in a boys' education than perhaps
:18:27. > :18:30.previously I would have imagined. What, in your experience, are the
:18:30. > :18:37.big changes between the Eton of when you were a boy at Eton and
:18:37. > :18:43.now? I think that there have been two distinct differences. One is
:18:43. > :18:47.that all of the boys now have high academic ambitions and expectations.
:18:47. > :18:51.When I was a boy here, not so very long ago, considerably less than
:18:51. > :18:56.half of the year went to any kind of tertiary education. So the
:18:56. > :19:01.majority of boys went to do other things. A lot to the army.
:19:01. > :19:04.Businesses of one kind or another and so on. But now every boy
:19:04. > :19:10.expects to go to a highly- competitive university. So the
:19:10. > :19:13.academic impetus is strong. The second thing, that is a great
:19:13. > :19:17.generalisation and reflects how society has changed. I would say,
:19:17. > :19:23.on the whole, the boys are rather nicer to each other than they were.
:19:23. > :19:27.What is the full cost of sending a boy to Eton? In financial terms, it
:19:27. > :19:30.costs around 30,000 a year to have a boy educated here, to live
:19:30. > :19:34.residentially. Do you think that private education is fair on those
:19:34. > :19:39.whose parents can't afford to send their children to private schools?
:19:39. > :19:44.It is an important question. I have to say that the word fair is
:19:44. > :19:47.difficult in this context. It is pretty loaded. If the question is,
:19:47. > :19:51.would it be better if everyone had the opportunity to access an
:19:51. > :19:58.education like Eton's? Well, the answer is yes. That would be a
:19:58. > :20:01.thoroughly good thing. But would the world be a better or fairer
:20:01. > :20:04.place if the quality and style of education that a place like Eton
:20:04. > :20:08.had to offer wasn't available to anyone, I would not agree. The
:20:08. > :20:18.nation would be poorer as a consequence. We have to take a
:20:18. > :20:18.
:20:18. > :20:21.balance. What we can seek to do in our school is to try to make,
:20:21. > :20:25.through the monies we raise, an education available to the parents
:20:25. > :20:29.of any boy of character and ability, irrespective of his means. That is
:20:29. > :20:34.a grand ambition. But in our own small way, we can make an effort to
:20:34. > :20:38.bridge what is a divide. The vast majority of boys at Eton. Their
:20:38. > :20:43.parents will be paying the full fees. Is that right? That's correct,
:20:43. > :20:46.yes. According to the headmaster, some 15% of the boys receive
:20:46. > :20:56.significant means-tested financial help that enables them to attend
:20:56. > :20:58.
:20:58. > :21:05.Etonians are training on Dorney Lake. It is owned by the school and
:21:05. > :21:10.will be used by the 2012 Olympics. How can Eton afford to have such a
:21:11. > :21:16.big lake? Eton College owned the land around here. Quite a large
:21:16. > :21:23.chunk of land, it was farmland, for many years. It took some 40 years
:21:23. > :21:26.for the school to make a decision that it was worth building a lake.
:21:26. > :21:28.There was concern that traditional rowing on the River Thames would
:21:28. > :21:32.prove impossible in the future, because of the growth in river
:21:32. > :21:37.traffic. This was a safe environment for boys to be able to
:21:37. > :21:41.row. But the idea grew and the decision was taken about 10 or 15
:21:41. > :21:46.years ago. It took ten years to develop this site. How big a part
:21:46. > :21:51.does sport play at Eton? 1,300 teenage boys? Are you kidding? It
:21:51. > :21:55.is pretty major. It is a central part of school life for many boys.
:21:55. > :21:58.But the important thing is that there is a great range of sport to
:21:58. > :22:02.choose from. It is not the environment where, if you are the
:22:02. > :22:08.great fly-half, you are the king of the school. There are many who are
:22:08. > :22:12.not interested in rugby at all. But it is important to me that we have
:22:12. > :22:17.a school that it is still OK. It is cool not to be a sporty type, but
:22:18. > :22:21.to be exceptional in some other area. We are standing on the
:22:22. > :22:27.finishing line of the 2,000 metres that marks the end of the course.
:22:27. > :22:33.So this is where, in 2012, Olympics medals will be won and lost.
:22:33. > :22:40.Five, six, seven, eight! Not bad! The headmaster is sitting in on a
:22:40. > :22:49.rehearsal in one of the school's studio theatres. Yes, beautiful!
:22:49. > :22:53.Feet down. Fantastic! How would you sum up Eton? It is
:22:53. > :22:59.distinctive, idiosyncratic. A fascinating place in which to live
:22:59. > :23:06.and work. But at heart, it is just a very good school. What is your
:23:06. > :23:12.vision for Eton? I hope Eton will be and continue to be a place that
:23:12. > :23:14.is unabashed in its belief in the pursuit of excellence. That values
:23:14. > :23:17.young people growing into self- confident people who are
:23:17. > :23:21.independent-minded and are going to do something with their lives. Have
:23:21. > :23:29.a real sense of purpose about it. Not to be buffeted by any current
:23:29. > :23:33.fad or fashion. Are traditions important to Eton? They are. Eton
:23:33. > :23:36.is an historic place, therefore its nature is likely to have traditions.
:23:36. > :23:40.But they are only valuable if they mean something, if they are helpful.
:23:40. > :23:44.Many traditions are. You dig away, you understand why things are the
:23:44. > :23:50.way that they are. Traditions that don't have a particular value tend
:23:50. > :23:53.to die. There is a lot of evidence of that in this place. Do you think
:23:53. > :24:00.some might think some of the traditions at Eton are strange?
:24:00. > :24:03.sure they do. I will give you one example of something quirky. When
:24:03. > :24:09.the masters meet in the morning at chambers, there is an old-fashioned
:24:09. > :24:12.call waiting system. You are wearing your gown. If you wish to
:24:12. > :24:16.speak to somebody who is in conversation with somebody else,
:24:16. > :24:20.the tradition is you don't interrupt. You go up to the person
:24:20. > :24:24.and take the hem of the sleeve of his gown. It looks odd, it looks
:24:24. > :24:30.quaint. There you have grown people, standing in a row holding each
:24:30. > :24:33.other's sleeve. But it is highly effective. You feel a tug. So you
:24:33. > :24:40.finish your conversation and move on to the next one. It is odd, it
:24:40. > :24:45.works. That is why it survives. What have you learned from being a
:24:45. > :24:48.headmaster, not just at Eton, but at other schools? I think, most of
:24:48. > :24:54.all, that over two decades I have seen a huge amount of complexity in
:24:54. > :24:57.education. Different ideas, schemes, ways of doing things. Yet the more
:24:57. > :25:00.I have become involved in schools, the more I appreciate that
:25:00. > :25:04.education is basically a simple thing. It is down to human
:25:05. > :25:09.relationships. It is the way that people treat each other. The way
:25:09. > :25:13.people respond. How they view their lives in years to come. It is a