Letters | 25 February 2016

In defence of the heads

Sir: It is fair for Ysenda Maxtone Graham to criticise heads who garner publicity but neglect the core business of good teaching, if such people exist (‘Big heads’, 20 February). However, targeting Anthony Seldon and Richard Cairns was a mistake.

Although both may be what my wife calls ‘media tarts’, Seldon saved two schools which were in great financial difficulties by hugely increasing the number of applicants and Brighton College under Cairns has maintained its trajectory to the upper reaches of the league tables, becoming one of the largest independent schools in the country in the process. Both heads have been outstandingly successful, creating secure and dynamic schools. Both, incidentally, are great classroom teachers.
Barnaby Lenon

Oxford

Brighton College shines

Sir: I am one of those ‘loyal teachers in their fifties’ whom Ysenda Maxtone Graham refers to in her article and, personally, I am far from being ‘demoralised’, as she suggests. I have taught at Brighton College for over 20 years under the leadership of three headmasters and seen the school blossom into becoming one of the leading co-educational schools in the country.

The changes that I have experienced at the school have made for a much more stimulating, enjoyable and rewarding environment. I can focus on the business of teaching and not give a moment’s thought to classroom discipline, because all of the pupils have a genuine thirst for learning. The whole culture is much better, and the pupils are much kinder to each other than used to be the case. I have no desire to turn the clock back to some mythical golden age of teaching, and much prefer to work in a dynamic school than in an organisation that lacks clear direction.
David Crichton

Deputy Head of Middle School, Brighton College

Silence about women

Sir: Charles Moore seems to have been perplexed by Pope John Paul II’s amitiés amoureuses (if such they were) with two women.