There seems to be an increasing trend for both Government sources and some journalists to find ways for schools in the maintained sector (and within that I naturally include ‘Free Schools’) to emulate the ‘ethos’ of so called ‘Private’ Schools.

Firstly, the term ‘Private’ is misleading – what people are talking about is ‘Independent’ Schools and it is no coincidence that they are trying not to use the word ‘Independent’.

It really is not possible to emulate an ‘Independent School’ as there is no such things as a standard ‘Independent School’. You see, the clue is in the name.

There are those that would like to portray the Independent sector as Schools attended by ‘Toffs’, wearing antiquated clothes bearing brilliant badges and encoded ties with Masters shepherding their flocks into a vast Chapel for the Morning Service. Well, whilst there may well be some Independent Schools that could display some of those characteristics many do not. Those that do so are rightly proud of Tradition and Some Parents and some children like it. The Independent School world is a diverse and exciting one. There are many different types of school and in fact there needs to be. And this is where the Government and political commentators have got things badly wrong.

We do not need Schools to all be the same, whether it’s in the image of the Independent Sector or not. We don’t need this because not all children are the same. Children need and deserve a plurality of opportunity – of that we all seem to agree. But they and their parents also need and deserve a plurality of how those opportunities are presented. Some children thrive in large schools; some in small. Some children thrive in highly regimented communities; others do not. Some parents and children feel comfortable in formal and highly structured environments; other feel quite the opposite.

Rather than take on overly-simplistic ‘ghost image’ of an Independent School and try to overlay this on all Maintained Schools the Government should be looking at how to replicate the plurality of the Independent Sector. They need to get out into independent Schools other than those which they attended as children to seek the richness of the sector and to learn just why it is that so many parents choose Independent Schools and why it is that their children do so well having chosen the type of School that suits them best.

I am proud that at St Chris we celebrate and cherish our independence. We are a School that actively encourages and celebrates diversity and the whole quest for sameness and conformity jars against everything that I and we stand for.

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