EDITORIAL

What Strikes Me Is The Energy With Which Privilege Is Embraced

As a newcomer to the Lower Sixth, it was a surprise to be asked to write the editorial of this year’s. A privilege, of course, and an opportunity I could not pass up; but with less than a year under my belt, how could I offer a fresh perspective on a school that has been here for over 150? So I find myself sitting in the Library, turning the pages of previous editions of The Reptonian, surrounded by thousands of books, previous Headmasters gazing down unsympathetically upon me, and searching for inspiration. I look out of the window at the sprinklers spraying water across the freshly-mown cricket pitches and the players walking from the Pavilion. Perhaps in this moment of daydream I find my answer. Privilege.

It is true. We are privileged. The critics win; we concede the point. As students we are afforded the highest level of care, the best coaching, teaching that stretches, challenges and inspires, Steinway pianos, first-class sports facilities, a professional-standard theatre, house meals cooked to our preference. The list goes on. When I arrived in September, I was struck by the aspiration towards excellence that seems to permeate every aspect of the School. But we get it. We are very lucky to enjoy opportunities which are, sadly, unattainable for most.

However, what strikes me is the energy with which this privilege is embraced. The sportsmen and women of Repton strive for professional contracts, as the musicians stay late practising for the next big concert. Those with the brains enter the essaywriting competitions, their success inspiring others to give it a go too. Repton is a bubble of privilege and opportunities but also a school that feeds from the aspirations and commitment of the very students it supports.

Life here is non-stop and at times I find myself clawing my way towards an exeat weekend, hoping for a Friday off and praying for the essay I have not completed to magically appear on the teacher’s desk – or disappear from Teams. But the environment rewards positivity and hard work; in fact, you get swept up in the tide.

However we are living in an age of social evolution, in which mobility, inclusivity and egalitarianism are the goals and the certainties of ‘the Establishment’ are being positively rejected. Within this independent schools find themselves under attack politically and publicly, and the cause has not been helped by some prominent individuals who are seen as embodying everything that offends about privilege.

The school motto - ‘Porta Vacat Culpa’ meaning ‘The gate is free from blame’ – is an unusual choice. There is certainly a joke about the School abdicating responsibility for the pupils it turns out: ‘It’s not The Arch's.’ But perhaps it also captures the more subtle idea that, while the School invests everything in its power to shape each individual into a happy and fulfilled adult, the rest is the individual’s responsibility. In other words, the School does provide a privileged start but it’s down to the student to take from this experience and to make use of the opportunity.

Commonwealth, and her son has sworn to do the same. When the Queen visited Repton for the School’s Quartercentary, the Editor of the 1957 Reptonian described how inspiring this had been for the boys and wrote: ‘the future depends on us … every boy must be prepared to make his contribution… every boy [must] find something to do and then do it with his whole heart.’ He ends, ‘Such is the responsibility of privilege.’

No-one in the country embodies privilege and Establishment more than the monarch. Her late Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, afforded the greatest opportunities throughout her lifetime, turned privilege and opportunity into service and commitment to country and

We live in a new millennium, a very different world, and, of course, with a new monarch, but the underlying power of that message still remains.

Charlie B (L6O)