Talk:Frensham Heights School

Removed from the article

I removed the following from the article, as it is not very encyclopaedic and more suited to this talk page: -- zzuuzz ^(talk) 03:10, 19 November 2006 (UTC)

Like any organic entity, Frensham changed and changes every term, as staff and pupils come and go like ideas. with some staying and having an impact, some seemingly having been there forever without ever being noticed, and some passing through like storms, turning everything over and leaving a trail and a wake for a generation to take as landmarks to their passage there. As such it is impossible, if you were or even are a pupil there to write objectively, or in anyway from a perspective that could be completely sympathised with by more than 3 or 4 peers.

I have no idea if i am alone, but there was certainly a time there when i could name any one of 350 people i might stand behind in the lunch queue. I had a whale of a time at Frensham, and apart from a tendency to undercapitalise the first person, i think i have benefited from it- to this day lessons i learned or failed to learn inform decisions i make - maybe all schools are like that, but as the whole point of childhood is that you haven't got other childhoods to compare it with, i'm glad that i was there.

Re: Removed from the article

It may not be very encylopaedic but it is very sweet. I just wonder who wrote it.

rxb replies

guilty as charged Neo - i appear to have been edited to a vanishing point twice now, which is flattering in a way - i have little more than affection for Frensham, but perhaps i haven't expressed it well

Neo222

Sam Roddick

Her page states that she used to be a pupil there. Is that true? She isn't listed in the former pupils section of this article. Werdnawerdna (talk) 19:38, 26 September 2008 (UTC)

- yes, Sam was definitely there. I added a little material tody, admittedly personal, and was surprised to see it removed, and removed very quickly. I'm not terribly concerned, i can't claim ownership of the school, but it wasn't malicious, it was intended to be a contribution. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 80.3.208.74 (talk) 23:06, 3 December 2009 (UTC)

the words what i wrote

Suppose you bought a car, and the engine failed, and you replaced it, then the seats got damaged, and you replaced them, then the front bumper and so on, until you have replaced the whole car, every single bit of it – is it still the same car? Frensham has that quality, maybe all schools do, something, as the staff and pupils change and grow and leave, stays the same throughout, as it it’s handed down, unspoken with each generation.

By the late 60’s and early ‘70’s Frensham had become heavily influenced by some of the prevailing attitudes in the counterculture, and the headmaster at the time took an even more relaxed attitude towards the level of formality and structure of education. Lessons effectively became optional, and if you take 200 or so teenagers and let them loose in beautiful woodland and tell them to do what comes naturally they will sit in trees, take drugs and fuck. That’s pretty much what happened, though in the schools defense St Chris’s had similar problems, as did Dartington Hall.

Things eventually became unmanageable, and the governors had the choice between appointing a new regime, or closing the place.

Along comes Alan Pattinson, the headmaster by the time I was there. He was very concerned about the definition of the school as a “liberal” school, and he was a thinker. He appointed some excellent staff, and has to be credited with saving the place – some of it’s peers didn’t manage it and ended up closing down in ignominy.

Of course he wasn’t popular at first, and he remained somewhat aloof. I never liked him, and I regret the run ins I had with him, because as often as not, he was right, but he had to be stricter and err on the side of caution, because the anarchy and mayhem that would have resulted otherwise would not have done anyone any good.

In the 80’s there were around 250 children at the school, aged from 13 to 18, of which maybe two thirds were boarders. The buildings were not what they are now, and some of the facilities were a little tired, but that’s the harshest criticism I can really raise, because some of the staff were just astonishing. The idea of teachers being pastoral seemed the most important thing, perhaps because so many of us were going through puberty far away from home, or affection.

Something of the contrary streak that’s characterized the place was always there, and I rather hope still is – we had “unsports day” rather than sports day, there was certainly no school song, and I only found out that there were “houses” about 10 years after I left.

People joke about the idea of doing away with competition as being damaging, but you know what, Frensham managed it, we all had the chance to grow and develop, and even learn a bit without constantly fretting about not being top of the class, or in the first 11.

I’m probably making it sound idyllic, and I’ll admit there is an element of rose coloured spectacles, but that sense of belonging seems to be in nearly all the people who ever went to Frensham – a friend of mine’s father went to Frensham, as did the friend, and although he is one of the cleverest, most respectable people I know, and has done good important work for his whole life, I feel I have something in common with him, a certain puckishness running through him that works like a mutual understanding of this thing shared.

As I understand it Frensham has moved on, it’s larger, some of the much loved but crumbling edifices have been replaced, educational standards have been raised, and some of the pupils can now even tell a round ball from a pointy one, but I would be willing to bet that there is still a quality, whether it comes from the schools origins, or maybe even the grounds themselves, that is maintained and visible in everyone who goes there. If I could, I’d send my son there, that’s surely got to be a vote of confidence.

I had a lot of fun there, as well as somehow managing to smuggle some decent A levels out of the place when I left.