Oh dear. With the private school sector a crowded market, each school must find ways to distinguish itself from the competition. Happily, many publish magazines – which provide a chance to highlight the many achievements of their alumni.
However, Mr S suspects brains at Radley College – the £12,300-per-team boarding school in Oxfordshire – had mixed feelings about including a former pupil’s most recent achievement in the latest edition of The Old Radleian. In a section on new books by Old Radleians, Nick Duffell’s ‘Trauma, Abandonment and Privilege’ is listed. The book is a study in the ‘hidden emotional trauma of boarding school’:
The magazine lists the book’s content in a preview by Sue Gerhardt, author of the Selfish Society:
‘The book alerts psychotherapists to the hidden emotional trauma of boarding school. Case histories show how deceptive appearances can be.
Many boarding children grow up with chronic anxiety, despite leading busy, conscientious, adult lives; they struggle with close relationships having learnt to disassociate and to project disowned feelings onto others.
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