The first time I came to Winchester College was about 30 years ago: I was in my first proper job, working as the Undergraduate Admissions Officer at Trinity Hall, Cambridge, and had been invited by one of the Housemasters to come for lunch with pupils (or “lunch up to House” as I now know to call it) followed by a tour of the College.
I had been educated entirely in the state system, where I had excelled and ended at the top of my class academically, but I had never before been inside a boarding school or any kind of public school. It was a world of which I had no personal experience, and planning for the visit felt rather like preparing to go to a distant foreign land, where no-one that I knew had ever set foot.
Above and beyond the stunning historic buildings, wonderful facilities and enormous range of co-curricular opportunities on offer, what struck me most were the pupils’ manners, self-assurance, and genuine interest in getting to know me and the other guests. It was clear to me for the first time that a public-school education was about much more than excellent teaching and small class sizes.
As I stood with my pupil hosts at the back of School watching the sports matches taking place on Meads, I realised that it was what happened beyond the confines of the GCSE or A-level curriculum that would have a radical impact on the pupils’ confidence, social skills and understanding of the world around them. It was a million miles away from my own experience and that of the people I had grown up with, and I simply could not imagine what it would be like to spend one’s teenage years in such an environment.
To find myself, some three decades later, working in that very same place, in a role that is largely about raising funds to ensure that people just like me can now access an education of that quality, depth and breadth, and that those wonderful buildings will be preserved and enhanced for generations to come, is almost the stuff of Hollywood movie scripts.
By the time this publication is in your hands, I will have been in post for a year. And what a year it has been.
When I arrived, our first cohort of 17 pioneering sixth form girls had been here for six months, and everyone was wondering why it had taken us so long to take that historic step. It has been wonderful to observe them fit right into College life and grab every opportunity that comes their way.
We were also into the final months of Dr Tim Hands’ successful headship and preparing for the arrival of Ms Elizabeth Stone.
Elizabeth’s love for the College and all that it stands for is clear to everyone who meets her and beams out from the words of her report on page 6. Since her arrival, she has had the opportunity to meet many of our generous donors and thank them in person for their support. She is looking forward to meeting many more in the months and years to come.
This year has also seen work begin on conserving our beautiful and historic War Cloister, as we approach its centenary later this year. The value that we place on commemorating those many hundreds of fallen Wykehamists and preserving their memory for future generations is hard to overstate. It is perhaps my favourite part of College and the quality of the conservation team’s workmanship is absolutely outstanding.
The sheer scale and quality of the new Sports Centre on Kingsgate Park also takes one’s breath away. We have all been frustrated by the project’s many delays, but now, as we enter the final few months before completion, it is clear that the school is about to acquire an extraordinary new facility. We look forward to sharing it with you all later in 2024.
Thank you to everyone whose generosity is helping bring these two important capital projects to completion.
As you will read elsewhere, the academic year 2022/23 was also a record-breaking year for fundraising here. An amazing 790 individuals, couples and organisations have made gifts in the past year to Winchester College, and to the American Friends of Winchester College and the Hong Kong Friends of Winchester College.
You have supported projects ranging from bursaries to the Kingsgate Park project, from the War Cloister Centenary conservation project to the pupils’ entrepreneurship programme Makyth Ventures, and from the general endowment to brilliant initiatives like the Warden Sinclair Fund and the Doc Bill Fund which both seek to ensure that pupils, receiving means-tested fee assistance (or bursaries) are able to participate fully in the opportunities on offer here.
In total you have supported over 30 different projects or causes. We cannot thank you enough. You are providing life-changing opportunities to hundreds of young people at Winchester College now and in the future, at our partnership schools, and in the local Winchester community. You are helping to preserve the choral tradition which was a core part of William of Wykeham’s founding vision for the institution. And you are preserving some of the country’s most beautiful buildings for generations to come.
Winchester College is a wonderful place and it is an honour and a privilege to be working here some 30 years on since it first opened my eyes to the possibilities of a truly great education.
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Winchester College only exists as we know it today thanks to the generous support of those named over the next few pages, and the many generations of donors who have come before us, going right back to our Founder, William of Wykeham, in 1382. Our pupils past, present and future cannot thank you enough.