I well remember sitting upstairs, in what is now the Rooks classroom, with Professor Tooley and Dr Craven on our first day (September 2018). We had four children. We discovered later that to be a legal school you needed five students, so I still don’t really know what it was we had just opened. The professor and the doctor, being far more intelligent than I, were a bit worried. One of them – I won’t say which – was shaking his head and moaning and generally resembling the new manager of Sunderland on the first day of the season: wondering what on earth he’d done, finding himself surrounded by lunatics and staring ahead at a bleak, bleak future.
Well, of course, things began to look up (here the Sunderland analogy loses its pertinence) and we quickly moved to 12, then 20, then 30 etc. Happily in that order.
We now have 109 students registered to start with us in September at Esh Winning. Our legal maximum is 115 so, clearly, we only have six places left. (I checked that with the professor and the doctor, they being more intelligent than I, and they have provided independent confirmation of its accuracy).
Over the years I have spoken to a lot of parents. Some of you reading this will recall visiting the school and listening to me droning on interminably. I hope that most of what I said was true and that we have actually done most of what I said we’d do.
But my point here is that I have spoken to a lot of parents. IGS parents are a diverse lot – 14 different first languages among our current population of 90-odd children. We are not a posh private school – no doubt, some of our parents would like to be posh (I know who you are!) and others probably are quite posh already; but most are not really posh at all. The typical IGS parent is solid, pleasant, aspirational, wanting the best for their children. We would never claim that we are “the best” – but we do claim to be providing some choice and hopefully that is working well for many. Ofsted tell me that 100% of our parents who responded to their questionnaire (a turn-out of over 40% - very high indeed) said they would recommend us to others. The professor and the doctor, being more intelligent than I, one an economist and the other a mathematician, tell me I should not settle for 100% but should aim even higher.
Anyway, as I say, I have spoken to a lot of parents - and I am finding a very significant trend emerging: many are clearly uneasy with what we all suspect is the growing “over-reach” of the state into almost every area of our lives and some appear slightly wary of saying so. This is a slight exaggeration, but typically I might make some comment on the subject, parents exchange a quick glance, puff out their cheeks and whisper “thank goodness you said that”, or similar.
We all need a competent, fair-minded government and, as such, the state has an important role to play; but our view here at IGS is that the responsibility for educating children lies with their parents, not with the government, no matter how competent and fair-minded. Defending the realm and protecting the life, liberty and property of its subjects are legitimate concerns of the state; educating children the main concern of parents. Choice in education is therefore very important and, for as long as this country remains a free country (and we should not take that for granted), we will continue to promote it.