83: Meet Henry: A highly pastoral, value-driven, private school head master...

So Henry is my children's head master... Which means they are lucky - and privileged enough - to attend a private school. It's a choice my ex and I made for our children almost from the start of their education, and something we have worked hard to achieve for them.

Equally, I fully acknowledge how divisive this will be for people, now perhaps more than ever, and of course, given the VAT change and the subsequent price increase in tuition fees, for how long we will be able to continue with this for our children (as per many families right now) remains TBC.

There is no doubt that Henry received a very 'privileged' education and he attended some of the best private schools in the UK. However, he soaked up every part of it. He embraced as much of it as he could, and he made as many connections as he could. He recognised mentors that were in front of him and he extracted as much as he could from them.

My point being, that Henry didn't take any of his education for granted, and when we considered secondary schools for our children, and when we met different potential heads, Henry's beliefs and his approach to privilege and education sold us on Oakham. Henry describes Oakham as a gift for children, which he clarifies to mean that he doesn't want any student to feel guilty about receiving it, BUT, he does expect them to feel gratitude for it and to embrace it fully; get the most out of it, just like he did.

... Because if not, what's the (real) point of an education and an environment like that?

This chat wasn't a 'privilege Vs poor' chat; neither was it a chat about VAT on fees. It was a chat about a proud, and dare I say, humble Head's career journey.

Enjoy.

Chops x

Henry's school, Oakham school's social handles are: @oakhamschool and the school website, if you're interested, is: https://www.oakham.rutland.sch.uk

Click here to listen to the Henry's podcast:

Click below to read all about how to get started in the world of Education, and in fact this is the 3rd career chat in and around teaching that we've done; all 3 with very different career journeys. Via this link, read how you (yes YOU!) could get started in a career like this: