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Town and gown: learning the importance of serviceMartin Reader, Headmaster of Wellington School, Somerset
Few will disagree that one purpose of education is to help young people take their place as responsible citizens in society. The idea of service may not be at the heart of a materialistic society but it is very much near the centre of what independent schools are about. Schools have to provide lessons in citizenship and of course it is right for pupils to know about the public and political institutions of Britain. However, the best way to learn the value of being a responsible citizen is to be actively engaged in public service.
One of the many good things about being a school in the middle of a small town is that it becomes very much part of the community. Wellington School is typical of many schools in rural locations that have grown and changed along with the towns in which they are situated. ‘Town and gown’ becomes a statement of partnership rather than opposition. Boarders are not isolated from the everyday living of people outside the school environs and they, too, learn what it is to be part of a wider community and to respect it. They become aware of their privilege and learn that there is no room for airs and graces. Wellington School was the last school in the country to lose its Direct Grant status, and for many years it acted as the grammar school for Taunton. This only served to reinforce connections between town and gown, making the school a fascinating hybrid of national boarding school and local school. Much of its history, therefore, has seen boarders and day boys and girls work alongside each other. At times this was not easy, but in a modern school partnerships are good and boarders join their day pupil friends at local sporting and drama clubs and events, enabling them to mix with a broader range of young people and keep in touch with the wider community. Proximity to a town naturally provides opportunities to work in local charity shops, or to provide musical and dramatic entertainments at old people’s homes, or to display art on the walls of the cottage hospital or become involved in conservation projects. The school’s participation in the annual remembrance parade is just one powerful example of how young people learn pride in service and earn the praise of the people of the town, which encourages it further. Importantly for Wellington students, it is a tradition of citizenship in action that goes back nearly a hundred years. The annual Old Wellingtonians’ reunion always coincides with remembrance weekend since the school chapel is a memorial chapel, and the march to the park evokes strong memories.
According to the school history, ‘On November 11, 1918, lessons were dropped and the boys trooped down to the town. They quickly decided something was lacking so they came back to the School and the OTC Band (founded in 1913) prepared to march. Led by the band they swarmed rather than paraded through all the principal streets … and were late for lunch …’. While the remembrance parade now happens after lunch, the tradition has continued, and every year the school’s Corps of Drums leads the CCF, the British Legion, and many other groups and individuals, from Brownies and Scouts to the town’s Army Cadet Force and local dignitaries. They march through the town to a service of remembrance in the park, where the names of the fallen of both school and town are remembered. Attendance is not compulsory, yet often more than a hundred members of the school’s CCF will turn up in support of this event. Anthony James, who is chief bugler in the Corps, sums up his reasons for being involved: ‘I do it because it is fun but more importantly for me it is the public face of the school. We provide an important service for the community, one where we hope people will remember and appreciate the things that the Services do for us.’ Further afield, the band was invited last June by the Somerset County Royal British Legion to help launch and end Somerset’s Armed Forces Day celebrations. Other engagements have included opening the Poppy Appeal for the Royal British Legion, leading the Battle of Britain parade through the streets of Exeter and regularly leading the St George’s Day parade through Taunton, as well as performing for the Regular Forces where Army bands have dwindled. Of course, not all Wellington students learn public service through osmosis and exposure, and it would be folly to present them all as model citizens – sometimes they need to be reprimanded for occasional carelessness in town! However, it is important that, through regular encounters with the wider community, both structured and informal, they will be challenged to think carefully about their roles within it; that they will begin to understand what it is to be a citizen and, we hope, learn the value of service. That really will be a public benefit.  Martin Reader read English at University College, Oxford, completing an MPhil in Medieval Studies before moving to St Edward’s, Oxford, in 1991, where he was Section Commander of the RAF Section. He moved to Oundle School in 1997 and became Deputy Head of Laxton (the day side of Oundle) in 2000. In 2002, he moved to become Deputy Head at Reigate Grammar School. He was appointed Headmaster of Wellington School in 2006. |
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