REVIEW OF THE YEAR
The following text is an extract from the most recently approved Annual Report and Financial Statements, currently September 2008 - August 2009.
Achievements and performance
Eton has continued to deliver a very high standard of education with an extraordinary array of subjects and activities tailored to boys’ interests, allied with a very high level of pastoral care and sports opportunities.
Academic
In public examinations, 97% of all GCSEs taken were awarded A*/A, including 71% A*. Last year’s figures were a record; the results from this year are better still. An increasing number of subjects have switched to the IGCSE, a more stimulating but possibly more demanding exam. In the light of this, the continued upward trend in performance at GCSE is all the more impressive.
96% of all A levels taken were awarded A or B, with 80% at grade A. This represents a similar performance to last year. Nearly all boys holding grade-dependent offers from universities were able to take up their places.
Almost all boys from Eton continue to go on to university. Their focus remains on the most competitive courses at the most competitive universities. Of the 259 boys leaving Eton, 64 received offers of places from Oxford and Cambridge. This was a lower figure than the previous year but in line with success rates over a twenty-year period. The number of boys going on to university in America remains fairly constant: 14 boys were offered places, a slight increase over the figure of the previous year.
At a time when national public examination syllabuses are more restrictive and limited in scope, the thriving tradition of taking part in academic prize competitions becomes increasingly important. Boys enter voluntarily for a variety of challenging prizes in classics, languages, the sciences and nearly all other subjects, as well as music, art, drama and declamation, judged by external assessors. As so often, traditional elements in Eton’s approach find contemporary life and meaning.
Boys are also encouraged to enter prizes on a national stage. Between them, a number of Etonians won, or were runners up, or were commended, in the Senior and Intermediate Mathematical Challenges, the British Mathematical Olympiads, the British Physics Olympiad, the national schools chess competition, the Model United Nations Conference,the Bank of England and The Times Interest Rate Challenge, the Royal Economic Society essay competition and the Schools Aerospace Challenge. An essay by an Etonian was published by the English Association.
A number of curriculum changes have been made. From 2008, boys follow a revised A-level route in which one welcome feature is a reduction in the number of examination modules taken on the way. Boys taking modern languages and music take the Pre-U, and some other subjects may follow: the Pre-U is a new programme which stands as an alternative to A-level.
Religion
Religious education and worship plays a significant part in the school’s life. Each year about fifty boys are confirmed. The team of four full-time Anglican chaplains and one Roman Catholic is supplemented by Jewish, Muslim and Hindu tutors to serve the relatively small number of boys from those faiths and to help the school community to have a greater understanding of religions that shape our society and the world.
Sport
The school provides a wide choice of games. The main sports are rugby and soccer in the Michaelmas half, the Field Game along with hockey and athletics in the Lent Half, and cricket, athletics, rowing and tennis in the Summer half.
Eton’s oarsmen enjoyed one of the most successful years in the Boat Club’s history. The year began with a win in the Youth VIIIs at the Head of the Charles in Boston. By the summer, crews at all levels had distinguished themselves. Notably, The VIII won the National Schools Head of the River Race at Putney in record time; the National Schools’ Championship by an extraordinary margin of 17 seconds; and finally the Princess Elizabeth Cup at Henley, breaking course records on the first day and winning by five lengths in the final. Experienced hands on the tow path described this crew as the best schoolboy crew of its generation. The 2nd VIII and Colts VIIIs were also highly successful. Over 100 boys in the junior year group completed their initial rowing training, which promises to provide continuing strength in depth. The Coach of The VIII (an Eton master) also coached the Great Britain team to three gold medals in the Youth Olympics in Australia.
In cricket, rain saved Harrow against The XI at Lord’s. Many other teams performed well, whether representing the school or their houses in a programme intended to provide sport for boys at all levels of ability. The 3rd XI was unbeaten. The season saw 19 centuries and one double century, a testimony to the strength of batting.
In football, teams in all age groups had a vigorous season. A young team reached the final of the national Independent Schools Football Association under-15 Cup. Rugby flourished with the best season in recent memory for the XV and plenty of strength and promise in the younger teams. A joint Eton College and Windsor Boys’ School XV combined for the first time to play (and beat) a team from independent and state schools in Harrow.
Athletics had an active and successful season, with several new school records being set. The hockey season began with a tour to Lisbon, followed by the best season yet for the 1st XI, which lost only two of its fixtures. The Field Game (played only by Eton) flourished in the Lent half, notwithstanding frost and snow, with up to eight school sides playing Old Etonian ‘scratch’ teams each weekend in addition to the internal competitions. Tennis across the age groups reached new heights in competitions against clubs, schools, academies and adult teams, benefiting from the distinguished Director of Tennis funded, together with improvements of the courts, by Old Etonians and parents. Besides the major games, boys have opportunities to compete in a range of over thirty other sports ranging from badminton to water polo. An Etonian won a major horse race over the Grand National course at Aintree.
The scale and ‘reach’ of Eton’s sports organisation can also be gauged by the remarkable statistic that on a typical Saturday afternoon in winter there are frequently some 45 teams competing against three or four other schools at home and away.
Exchange Visits and Tours
Boys’ horizons are widened by many opportunities to travel overseas for purposes ranging from observation of Barack Obama’s presidential campaign to sports training and many other activities in between. This year parties of boys have visited Australia, Canada, Germany, Greece, India, Italy, Japan, Nepal, Portugal, Russia, South Africa, Spain and the USA.
Music, Drama and other activities
Drama continues to flourish, with some 20 productions during the year including School Plays Henry IV (an adaptation of both parts) and Michael Frayn’s Donkeys’ Years, house plays, drama competitons and several plays produced as well as acted by boys.
Music, equally, is pursued by boys to very high standards in a large number of performances and services by bands, groups, orchestras and choirs. The climaxes each half have been the School Concerts featuring such fine and full-blooded pieces as Strauss’s Horn Concerto No 1 (conducted by Peter Bassano, and the soloist was his son), Beethoven’s Symphony No 7, Telemann’s Viola Concerto in G, Shostakovich’s 5th Symphony, and Saint-Saëns’s Cello Concerto No 1. The Chamber Orchestra took part in the international Festival of Young Orchestras at La Mortella, Ischia. College Chapel Choir gave its now traditional charity concert at St Luke’s Church in Chelsea in aid of an appeal by the Cystic Fibrosis Trust, raising almost £60,000. The choir also toured South Africa, taking its music to schools as well as to a township, where it was received with emotion.
Another well established part of school life is the expectation that boys should organise and administer societies covering a variety of interests, and that they should be responsible for inviting guest speakers. In the short Lent Half alone, more than seven meetings a week were held by societies including, among others, the Classical, Cosmopolitan, Design, Geographical, History, Keynes, Law, Oriental, Orwell, Political, Scientific, Slavonic and Wellington societies – the latter a forum for discussion of military affairs with academics and serving soldiers. Society speakers included Ralph Fiennes, Simon Heffer, Bear Grylls, Alexander Waugh, Frederick Forsyth, Dr Vince Cable and Dr Ian Paisley, inspiring not only Etonians, but also members of local schools, to extend their interests beyond the set curriculum. Boys themselves delivered addresses on subjects such as the philosophical aspects of language, Christian faith and popular culture.
In normal years, the school remains alive with young people in the summer holidays. It was a sharp disappointment that most summer schools had to be cancelled this year because of swine ‘flu. The usual programme will be resumed next year, including the Universities Summer School, which over 26 years has taken more than 3,000 boys and girls from state schools for a programme of academic challenge and engagement in the range of activities enjoyed by Etonians. This summer school for sixth formers has a distinguished record in helping young people raise their aspirations for the future. In their different ways so, too, do the Brent-Eton Summer School, a residential programme for 15 year olds chosen by the London Borough of Brent, now in its second decade; the Kensington/Chelsea-Eton Drama Summer School; and the specialist schools in the traditional Eton strengths of rowing and Anglican choral music.
Just as it is always a pleasure to welcome the wider world to Eton, so it is good to see Etonians connecting with people beyond their immediate experience, be it through the social services programme, which places some 180 volunteers visiting people and helping community projects, or actively raising funds for charities, whether organised by Eton Action or by individual effort. One particular beneficiary has been Mvumi Secondary School in Tanzania, which in the 12 years of its existence has regularly received financial and practical help from Etonians from physical labour to teaching. The Head for the past three years was a former house master, who has now returned to Eton from a remarkable leave of absence.
Another form of service is through the ranks of the Combined Cadet Force, popular with volunteers from age 16.
Aided by a body of exceptional masters, boys create a culture which values excellence and independence and which sees virtue in taking action for their own benefit and for those around them. The flourishing of activity this year has amply demonstrated this approach to life – and long may it continue.