Schools Guide

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In common with many other UK independent schools, three distinct groups make up the bulk of our boarding pupils: children whose parents have frantic professional lives, the children of Services families, and overseas students. What pupils from faraway countries want in a school is overwhelmingly academic excellence with a strong pastoral system. Armed Forces parents want those things too, but they are also always concerned about life away from the classroom: sport, outdoor pursuits, drama, etc. Because of their military working environment, leadership and teamwork are words that come up a lot when these mothers and fathers sit in my room and grill me about life at Queen’s.

When I first took over the headship of Queen’s College in 2001 I was aware and possibly slightly concerned that there was no CCF unit. After all, out of the 250 or so schools in the Head Masters’ and Head Mistresses’ Conference, over 200 of them have military cadet forces. In other words, it’s close to being a norm for mainstream independent schools in the UK. During my time as a geography teacher and boarding housemaster at Stamford School I became very familiar with the CCF system. Around 70% of my boys were from RAF families and I served for ten years in the Royal Air Force section of the CCF. We had a great time visiting RAF bases and flying around in Chipmunk training aircraft.

The Cadet Force had a huge overall presence at Stamford and I was curious as to how that space would be filled in a school without a CCF. I needn’t have worried, as it took me only one preliminary visit to Queen’s to see that the large and hugely popular Duke of Edinburgh (DoE) Award programme more than filled the space vacated by rifles and ‘camo’ jackets. Queen’s is numerically the biggest centre for DoE in the south-west of the UK. Almost all of Year 10 (around 90 pupils) choose to begin their Bronze award and over the years well over 300 sixth formers have been to the Palace to receive the coveted Gold award, way more than any other centre in the region.

Another event particular to the southwest that has much in common with the expedition aspects of DoE is the annual Ten Tors competition, organised by the Army, where over 400 teams of young people hike up to 40 kilometres across Dartmoor against the clock. Queen’s has often entered its own teams for the event, but two factors make it tricky to compete on an annual basis.

First, Ten Tors is so popular that there is a ballot for schools and youth organisations to enter teams and one is by no means certain of gaining a regular place, making it hard to staff and organise on a long-term basis. Second, with a cocurricular programme as wide and varied as the one we have at Queen’s the intense training demands of Ten Tors can be very hard to fit in to the school’s schedule. However, every year we have youngsters able to compete as members of other organisations such as scouts or guides.

While I remain personally convinced that our focus on DoE rather than CCF is the right way forward for a school that prides itself on being no slave to convention, I thought it might be wise to check the opinions of one or two parents currently serving in the Armed Forces. Mike Carter is an Army officer, who has had three sons at Queen’s, two now at university and the youngest still in Year 11.

‘When we were choosing a school for our boys I have to say that the existence or otherwise of a cadet force was totally unimportant to us,’ commented Mr Carter, whose current job is in the front line of officer training selection. ‘If Queen’s didn’t do DoE so well it would probably have been a different story. I don’t think there needs to be any element of military training to gain the benefits of outdoor activity, leadership skills and teamwork. Obviously we get quite a few candidates in for officer selection, who have been through CCF, probably as much as 60%, and I can honestly say it is not remotely a factor in our decisions about who to choose for Sandhurst.’

Another parent, Paul Casson, has a son and a daughter lower down the school and is a Royal Navy engineer. ‘I joined the Navy from an old-style grammar school that had a cadet force, but I don’t think that’s really influenced my thinking on the subject of choosing a school either way,’ he reflected. ‘I think DoE is at least as good as, and in many ways better than, the CCF. The cadets can seem overly military to many of us, although perhaps that looks different if you’re at the sharp end, say in an infantry regiment. Developing leadership, self-awareness and selfconfidence is something that the cadet scheme will do for you, but so will DoE in just as many and perhaps more interesting ways.’

Forgive me if I seem to be proselytising a little for the merits of the DoE scheme, but since becoming the Schools Advisor to the South West Regional Board I’m even happier to have it as the cornerstone of the Queen’s co-curricular programme. What makes the key difference to me is the service element of DoE and I think that gives it a distinct edge over CCF as an activity. Whether it’s clearing gardens, working in charity shops or visiting older people in their homes, I think pupils gain a huge amount from volunteering and giving, and quite honestly that’s not something you get from square-bashing.

On the relatively rare occasions when visiting families do ask me about Queen’s not having a CCF they almost invariably say ‘I suppose that’s because of it being a Methodist school?’ Actually there’s no link at all, and back in the mid 20th century Queen’s did have a CCF unit. It’s possible they’re confusing the somewhat muscular Christianity of old-school Methodism with the pacifism of the Quakers. Who can say?