N E W S L E T T E R - Radley College

Radley 

THE 

N E W S L E T T E R 

VOLUME 13 

| Sweeney Todd | IT | Shell Wednesday Activities | 

| Politics at Radley | Pastoral Care | Radleians |

Sweeney To 

the demon barber of flee 

At the end of Radley’s musical, Sweeney 

Todd, packed houses rose spontaneously 

to give Jonathan Tarcy, eponymous hero 

of this dark Victorian melodrama, a 

standing ovation. It was richly deserved; 

his range of acting, the power and 

precision of his singing, the sheer 

believability of his Sweeney, made for 

an absolutely compelling performance. 

A professional career surely awaits 

him. Yet that ovation could as well 

have been accorded to Kelly Hampson’s 

wonderfully feisty Mrs Lovett, and to 

Musical Director Stephen Clarke and his 

band who, together, gave such an assured 

performance of operatic music which is 

more taxing to conduct and to play than 

Madame Butterfly. 

In truth, it is invidious to bestow the 

bouquets on any one or two of these 

performers; what lives in the memory 

is a great team triumph, nine months 

in planning, casting, learning, singing 

and choreographing. That measured 

campaign meant that there was never 

the sense of impending panic which 

usually precedes school productions; 

from a long time beforehand the Director, 

Robert Lowe, ensured that there would 

be memorable, assured, performances. 

Teamwork was most evident in the 

singing; really tricky harmonies 

(especially in the Double Quintet) 

were handled with assurance. Every 

singer sang with ringing articulation 

and complete clarity, a reflection of the 

popularity at Radley of singing, with 

over 100 in the Chapel Choir and many 

boys having singing lessons. Several 

sang show-stopping numbers like Henry 

Macpherson whose Tobias performed Mr 

Pirelli’s Miracle Elixir, or Head of School 

Tommy Siman as Pirelli singing about 

the shaving contest. The girls played a 

key part, too, auditioned and cast from 

all over Oxfordshire. Johanna (Eleanor 

Coote) and Mrs Lovett sang their solos 

beautifully. Disciplined precision, too, in 

the movement; the blocking for set pieces, 

like the opening Sweeney Todd number, 

was artfully done, and later the bedlam 

children, flowing sinuously from their 

prison in white, blood stained gowns 

across the stage in waves, were both 

beautiful and seriously disturbing. 

At every turn the watchwords were 

energy, commitment, accuracy and 

professionalism, and that they should 

reach the dramatic heights they did 

seemed only appropriate given the 

environment in which the cast worked; 

the set was superb – thanks to Matt 

Barker, Technical Manager – flexible, 

dark and sinister, conveying the 

2 THE RADLEY NEWSLETTER

dd 

t street 

disreputable London of back street 

barbers and seriously unhealthy pie 

shops. And the costumes (thanks to 

Lianne Oakley-Rowland) – black, red 

(bloodily symbolic) and dirty white, 

themed around a Victorian freak circus 

– worked convincingly to underscore the 

strange and shocking world of a man set 

on revenge through tonsorial expertise, 

with mortal consequences. 

Robert Lowe, the Director, envisioned 

and executed the project. He has taken 

dramatic standards at Radley to giddy 

heights, and packed houses of boys, 

parents, prep school children and guests 

were in no doubt that they had witnessed 

something truly memorable in the New 

Theatre in early December. 

THE RADLEY NEWSLETTER 3 

THE RADLEY NEWSLETTER 3

This Cloud 

a Silver Li 

We now live in a world that is 

profoundly shaped by the Digital 

Revolution. Nation states, media 

empires and high street chains 

have all fallen victim to this 

Age of Silicon; fibre-optics and 

smarter chips conspiring together 

to offer ever-faster access to a 

virtual world of information and 

commercial ease. 

It’s a revolution that is built on 

the genius of Alan Turing and 

driven by the inexorable progress 

of Moore’s Law - the law of 

diminishing RETURNs, offering 

technology that doubles in speed 

and halves in price every couple 

of years. This is the Law that gives 

us new phones every Christmas 

and new software by Easter. The 

Law that ensures that the latest 

hand-held device is a media 

centre as much as it is a means of 

communication. 

This is, of course, a second 

American Revolution. Despite the 

foundation stones of Bletchley 

Park, the Sinclair Spectrum and 

the BBC Micro, we British have 

again been humbled by our upstart 

cousins in the New World - only 

this time we had Steve Jobs and 

Bill Gates playing the parts of 

Benjamin Franklin and George 

Washington. 

Revolutionary fervour has been in 

the air for a while now. As desktop 

computers offered us spreadsheets 

and word processing, so the 

Internet offered us e-mail and the 

world-wide-wait. Novel? Certainly. 

Interesting? Perhaps. Profound? 

No. 

But change has come far more 

rapidly over the past five years. 

Web 2.0 has reinvented the Net as 

a genuinely interactive and social 

environment. Facebook, LinkedIn 

and Twitter are suddenly our 

networks of need and BBC iPlayer 

our channel of choice. Wikipedia 

offers us all the information we 

can handle and Wolfram Alpha 

offers a computational knowledge 

engine that can offer up Poetry 

and Chemistry with matchless 

ease. 

Tablet computing, be it in the 

shape of an iPad or an Android 

competitor, is now transforming 

these technologies into engines 

of research that are genuinely at 

our beck and call. Never more 

than a swipe away, we finally have 

the Library of Alexandria at our 

finger-tips - and all indexed by 

Google. 

The implications for education are 

equally profound. The ubiquity of 

knowledge - and, indeed, the ease 

with which it can be retrieved - 

calls into question the frameworks 

of our test-driven culture. But the 

opportunities to do something 

genuinely interesting are now 

tantalisingly close. 

4 THE RADLEY NEWSLETTER 

THE RADLEY NEWSLETTER 

TER

has 

ninG 

Radley is already 

adopting tablet 

computing for the 

Common Room and 

it can only be a matter 

of time before all boys 

have their own device of 

choice. The College now 

has a wireless network 

that extends through 

every corridor, classroom 

and cubicle - as well as 

beyond to the cricket 

pitches. We also have webbased 

mail, on-line resources, 

and a school-wide wiki. 

Every classroom has a digital 

projector and every department 

has access to specialist software 

and supporting hardware. Cloud 

computing is readily accessible 

- with documents and video 

available on any device, anywhere 

and (almost) anytime. 

The next piece of this jigsaw will 

be the transition to a devicebased 

culture for teaching and 

learning. Electronic notes, 

shared and reviewed by all in the 

class. Electronics books, with 

annotations and commentary for 

later review. Virtual environments 

for design and simulation. 

Digital maps for context. Data 

sets for analysis. Drawing tools. 

Dictionaries. Image banks. Video 

capture and conferencing. iTunes 

on demand. 

Tablet computing offers alwayson 

support to education in a way 

that laptops always promised but 

never quite delivered. Battery life 

is a huge boon - these devices will 

2030 REM U,V hold the speed of the ball 

2040 LET U = 1 

2050 LET V = 1 

2060 REM P and Q are the vertical positions of the paddles 

2070 REM R and S are the speeds of the paddles 

2080 LET P = 11 

2090 LET R = 0 

2100 LET Q = 11 

2110 LET S = 0 

2120 REM W is a random component to the y-direction speed 

2130 LET W = 1 

2140 REM Draw the paddles at their initial positions 

2150 FOR I = 11 TO 14 

2160 PLOT 0, I, “white” 

2170 PLOT 24, I, “white” 

2180 NEXT I 

3000 REM The keyboard input loop 

3010 PAUSE 25 + 50 * (5 - LEVEL) 

3020 REM Before moving ahead, handle all of the keyboard 

buffer 

3030 LET C = GET CHAR() 

3040 IF C = “” THEN GOTO 4000 

3050 IF C = “Q” OR C = “q” THEN LET R = 1 

3060 IF C = “A” OR C = “a” THEN LET R = 0 

3070 IF C = “Z” OR C = “z” THEN LET R = -1 

3080 IF C = “P” OR C = “p” THEN LET S = 1 

3090 IF C = “L” OR C = “l” THEN LET S = 0 

3100 IF C = “

ACTIV 

SHELL WE 

Each Wednesday afternoon boys are given a chance to try 

something a bit different from their usual academic and 

sporting activities. In the Removes, Wednesday activities 

come under the banner of CCF and in the Fifths boys help the 

local community in various ways. In the Shells however, the 

emphasis is on trying something new. This year the options 

include: 



DNESDAY 

ITIES 

Art, Backstage, Cooking, Creative Writing , Cricket, Design 

Centre, Drama, Gambling for Chocolate, Films. Fitness Training, 

Geocashing, Golf, Hockey, Lego Design, Model Planes, Pilates, 

Rackets, Scalextric Racing, Sculling, Squash, Tennis, Video 

Filming. 



Politics a 

Many of our boys study Politics in the sixth form – with numbers having increased 

from just twenty-six boys in 2004 to eighty-six in 2011 – and they seem to enjoy 

it. After all, there are few subjects about which everyone has a view and about 

which we can engage in a new debate every day. There are few subjects that are 

characterised by such fierce arguments – often from positions held with the vigour 

and immutability of religious belief. Politics is the language of global conflicts and 

resolutions (although economics may determine the grammatical structure). 

well attended by the boys and which 

has attracted some very impressive 

speakers. Many of the speakers 

come from the University of Oxford, 

but we have found many speakers as 

a result of the generosity of parents 

in suggesting contacts for us. 

Our subject is not the examination 

of current affairs – although current 

affairs represent the evidence upon 

which our theories are based. Nor is 

our subject a classroom equivalent 

of a pub argument without the 

catalyst of beer. Politics is the 

academic exploration of structures 

of power – whether it is the 

structure of governing institutions 

(Parliaments, Presidencies, 

Supreme Courts) or the structures 

within society that shape these 

institutions (religious institutions, 

pressure groups, political parties, 

corporations as well as social 

cleavages based upon ethnicity, 

gender, race and so on). 

At the end of two years our boys 

have the foundations upon which 

they can build their understanding 

of the state, and of society, and the 

ways in which the two interact. If 

they take the subject further then 

they can examine power structures 

on a global scale – which is the 

study of International Relations. 

They can, for example, study the 

overarching ideas that shape our 

political beliefs and motivations – 

which are the umbrella groupings 

we call ideologies. 

Politics is complex but the subject 

matter is inherently fascinating. 

The boys do not leave our course 

with their minds changed – it is 

not our goal to indoctrinate or to 

convert. But they do leave with a 

sense of how to think about issues 

more deeply. Many of our leavers 

are inspired to study the subject at 

university level. 

As much as we try to cover our 

core syllabus or course, we also 

strive to explore the questions that 

are off-piste and yet fascinating to 

discuss in class. We cannot, with 

ever-changing subject matter, ignore 

the questions that sit just alongside 

those topics we are duty-bound to 

examine. But we must also ensure 

that the boys develop the analytical 

rigour needed to examine any 

question. They must also learn how 

to structure their arguments so that 

their writing – and their thinking – 

is logical, energetic and compelling. 

We try to push all of our boys to 

achieve their potential – and do 

not believe that our young men 

can reach only a C grade – we 

push everyone to aim for the top 

grades. In 2011 the boys achieved 

92% A*/A/B at A level. 32 of our 

48 boys gained A and A* grades. 

These outstanding results are the 

result of hard work by the boys and 

dedicated teaching by the dons. 

But we focus on much more than 

just the results: we aim to instil and 

maintain a passion for our subject 

and we do so in many ways: we 

invite regular speakers to talk to 

us about topics that go beyond our 

daily studies and in ways that we 

have not encountered. 

It is almost impossible to find a 

newspaper item each day, or a 

story on Newsnight each evening 

that does not warrant further 

exploration. We are very fortunate 

to have regular opportunities to 

explore ideas and issues outside 

of our class teaching. We have a 

flourishing Politics Society that is 

Just before the October Leave 

Away Clive Stafford-Smith (OR), 

a human-rights lawyer who has 

made representation before the US 

Supreme Court on many occasions 

(regarding U.K. citizens held in 

Guantanamo Bay) addressed the 

entire Politics cohort – which 

is always one of the best mental 

workouts the boys are given. Last 

term we invited the Director of the 

Rothermere American Institute (Dr 

Nigel Bowles, Oxford) - to discuss 

the powers of the US President. 

He began by noting that the most 

powerful man in the world faces the 

prospect of presiding over a nation 

with 89,000 separate governments 

(from school councils to the US 

Congress) none of which he controls 

(and this includes the Federal 

Government). As President Truman 

mused as he prepared to vacate 

the Oval Office to allow General 

Eisenhower to begin his Presidency: 

“poor old Ike, he’ll sit here all day 

saying ‘do this and do that’ and 

nothing will happen. It won’t be a bit 

like the army!” Trevor McCrisken, 

Professor of International Relations 

at the University of Warwick told 

us that there were probably as many 

as forty nations which had at least 

rudimentary nuclear weapons 

capacity or the means of acquiring 

it within ten years and, as a startingpoint 

for discussion, he told the 

boys to be afraid. They certainly 

paid attention (and were left with 

a less sobering message than the 

opening gambit would suggest). 

Then there is the 6:2 lecture series 

– which is not strictly the property 

of the Politics Department – but 


t Radley 

with a cast list that includes 

former Home Secretaries, Select 

Committee Chairs, a PM in waiting 

(Mr Cameron spoke in 2005) and 

leading human rights lawyers. We 

were also given the rare privilege 

of hosting Radio 4’s Any Questions 

in the majestic setting of the New 

Theatre. 

Yet we continue to foster ambition: 

we run extra sessions each Thursday 

for the ablest boys (and any who are 

keen to attend) in which we take 

a theme and explore some more 

challenging texts which we discuss 

in an informal manner. The new 

Michaelmas Term – with the tenth 

anniversary of September 11th at 

the end of our first teaching cycle – 

led to the exploration of American 

culture and paranoia. Using the 

classic text by American historian 

Richard Hofstadter we have begun 

to examine whether the US has a 

paranoid streak present from its 

birth (fear of minorities, fear of 

communism, fear of government 

itself). 

As a department we are keen 

to build bridges with other 

departments within the school. We 

work closely with the Economics 

Department who claim that 

questions about taxing and 

spending are their questions and 

not ours (ridiculous of course!). We 

also work closely with the History 

Department – such subject matter 

as the Vietnam Conflict, and more 

recent conflicts in which the US 

is engaged are best studied with a 

solid foundation both in history and 

in politics. And, as we toured the 

White House during Leave Away 

(with the help of a Presidential 

insider) we knew that our 6:2 

boys would better understand 

the myriad ways in which their 

academic studies reflect the very 

real problems, challenges and 

opportunities faced by those we 

elect to govern on our behalf. 

As we move to a new, purpose-built 

department in 2013 we will have 

the added benefit of a building that 

will better allow us to work across 

departments: imagine the use of 

multimedia images – projectors, 

sound, artwork – focused around 

a theme such as the Vietnam 

Conflict – the boys studying US 

foreign policy in Politics and the 

development and passage of the 

Conflict in their History lessons. All 

this and the prospect of knowing 

that when you watch the news and 

read the papers you are working at 

your politics studies. 

Dr Rob McMahon 

Head of Politics 

THE 

RADLEY NEWSLETTER ET 

TER 9 


Pastora 

At the heart of any good boarding school’s Pastoral Care has to be the 

notion that everyone plays a role in it, from the in-Social cleaners to the 

Tutor, and Radley has achieved this in abundance over the years. 

The head of the Pastoral Team 

in each Social is, of course, the 

Tutor and it is his job to make 

sure that all his boys feel safe, 

happy and involved as well as 

to engage all the adults in his 

and Radley’s pastoral vision. 

He achieves this by ensuring 

that boys respect and support 

one another in all that they do. 

The adults play their part by 

doing exactly the same and the 

common goal is to produce a 

home from home atmosphere. 

A modern Tutor is on duty 

24 hours a day and, bar his 

evenings off, every day of the 

week. Policies and guidelines 

do little to describe accurately 

what the Tutor does, since he 

must go way beyond those. 

Fundamentally, he involves 

himself in every facet of a 

boy’s life at Radley and has the 

holistic view of how his boys 

are doing and how best to help 

them. 

The Tutors are ably assisted 

by their live-in PHM (Pastoral 

House Mistress) whose role 

is far more than that of the 

Matron in former times. Her 

role is a very pro-active one and 

she is the lynch-pin in the day 

to day running of the Social: 

she watches, advises, cajoles, 

listens to and empathises with 

the boys, just like any mother 

would do. In addition, she 

maintains standards of good 

behaviour, good manners and 

personal hygene…as well as 

keeping the laundry, cleaning 

and cleanliness up to scratch. 

Typically, she also runs the 

in-Social committee, which 

has a representative from each 

year group and they gather to 

discuss any issues that have 

arisen; they may be practical 

ones or more esoteric. The 

minutes get published to Social 

and passed on to the Senior 

Master and both Warden 

and Sub-Warden. These 

Committees are not window 

dressing and help, as the other 

pan-College questionnaires 

do, to shape the thinking 

about many pastoral matters, 

including the provision of 

facilities in Socials and the 

College. 

In every Social, there is also a 

team of Sub-Tutors. The livein 

Sub-Tutor deputises for the 

Tutor if away and acts as an 

immediate sounding board for 

both the Tutor and the boys. 

The other live-out Sub-Tutors 

may well be Form Masters 

to the Lower School and the 

move to have all Lower School 

Form Masters as in-Social 

has done much to elevate 

the role; the Form Master is 

tasked to oversee the academic 

performance of his charges, but 

equally takes a broader interest 

which extends into the pastoral 

more strongly than in the past. 

All Dons at Radley are expected 

to exchange information about 

any boys they see in whatever 

context and this helps the Tutor 

to get his holistic view. It is 

a sad (but rather reassuring) 

truth that we spend an awfully 

large amount of our time 

talking about the boys and how 

to help them, support them and 

motivate them. 

A watchful eye is kept on all 

Socials by the Pastoral Unit, 

which is made up of three 

Child Protection Officers, 

the Chaplain and the Head of 

Shells, whose principal role is 

to assist the Tutors with tricky 

problems that might involve 

several boys or boys from 

different Socials; they also check 

that punishments are fair and 

equitable and train the Mentors 

and Prefects centrally. 

We must not, however, forget 

that all boys play a part in 

developing a happy atmosphere 

and much reliance is placed 

upon the Senior boys who either 

act as Mentors (to Shell and 

Remove boys) or Prefects to all. 

Their ability to pass on things 

to the other adults is invaluable 

and they have done much to 

prevent situations that could 

have become more problematic. 

Their influence as role models is 

self-evident. 

Obviously the Medical Centre, 

alongside its primary function 

as a place to discuss health 

issues, does a lot of excellent 

pastoral work and several boys 

have found it an easy place to 

chat and gain confidence. 

Inspections over the years have 

totally supported what we do 

here, but it is what cannot be 

assessed or “marked” that has 

been Radley’s real success. The 

atmosphere that is created in 

every Social is one where boys 

feel they can relax and are at 

ease – they know that when 

things occasionally go wrong, 

the response is quick and 

effective. 

Seeing the boys together at 

Cocoa or at inter-Social events, 

one is quick to spot just how 



l Care 

well the year groups all get on 

and how well they mix and 

respect the abilities of others. 

Good families are keen to be 

supportive and enjoy the success 

of other members as well as 

participate in the obvious fun 

that takes place when all are 

gathered together and the 

Socials try to reflect those aims. 

Pastoral Care can be something 

of a dry subject on paper and no 

amount of description can do 

justice to the fun and enjoyment 

that boys have in their Socials 

and around the College – the 

Pastoral teams have worked 

hard to facilitate this. 

Mike Hopkins 

Senior Master 



Henry McPherson (6.1) 

THE DOWNS, D SOCIAL 

radleians 

My first memory of Radley is rather embarrassing. Sitting at the piano 

during the Music Scholarships, whilst being drilled with questions 

by the staff, I remember, in my confused and generally terrified state, 

dropping a pencil inside the nice shiny Steinway Grand – not a great 

start, but despite this incident I’m still here to tell the tale. I have to 

admit that the first term at Radley was a bit of a culture shock; coming 

from a mixed day school, having never boarded in my life and being 

only 4’11 inches tall, Radley seemed to me a large and confusing place. 

Thankfully, after about three weeks of total immersion in the system 

you completely forget about your worries and the startling height of 

the other boys, start acting like you own the place, and throw yourself 

into everything at full-throttle, something I hope I have successfully 

achieved in all aspects of my life here. 

The school has given me opportunities to do things I otherwise would 

never have been able to attempt. Starring in stage productions of a 

near-professional standard, performing in fantastic ensembles in 

concerts, playing sports which are not available anywhere else (for 

example real tennis) and learning how to wear a gown properly are 

just some of the many experiences I’ve had here. Now in 6.1, or “the 

twilight years” as I recently heard it called by a younger boy, I feel even 

more so that everything the school has to offer is priceless. 

Don’t get me wrong. At points, especially during the A-Level timetable, 

it can be very tough. Work, extra-curricular activities, sport and 

social commitments dominate the day, but this is something that I feel 

Radley tailors its pupils to master with great dexterity. In my fourth 

year of education here, I feel competent to manage my academic time 

efficiently and still enjoy every aspect of life. More importantly, thanks 

to this school, the friendships that I’ve made I know I’ll keep for life. 

Now, sitting in my room and looking across at the Shell Hall, I can’t 

help feeling that the Shells, oblivious to all that is to come, don’t quite 

know just how lucky they are. 

Charles Saunders (Remove) 

WOODLEIGH, H SOCIAL 

When I arrived at Radley over a year ago, I thought I was a busy student, with 

academic and music exhibitions to my name, as well as being very enthusiastic 

about sport, and I soon realised that I would have to work extremely hard in 

order to fit in all my commitments. Yet little did I anticipate the vast extent of 

Radley life, in which I would soon be submerged, and I think that my first few 

weeks certainly took me by surprise, insomuch as after a couple of days, all I 

could answer to “How are you feeling?” was “Tired. Very tired”. 

To a lesser extent nowadays than when I began at Radley, due entirely to the fact 

that I have had five terms in which to settle in, I still feel overwhelmed by the 

superb range of activities on offer, and I have been lucky enough to get involved 

in a few of these myself. I am a regular attendee at the Creative Writing Group 

sessions, which I enjoy greatly, as well as watching inter-social debates as often 

as I can. I have been involved in both the Shell and Remove Plays, discovering 

the highly professional drama department at Radley, as well as being given 

the opportunity to take both Maths and French IGCSE early. I have enjoyed 

attending the thought-provoking philosophy talks, especially this year, and I 

also help produce the student newspaper, “the Chronicle”, which I am loving. 

I am currently a cadet in the RAF, and in the Christmas holidays I went to 

Wales on the CCF climbing trip, which I enjoyed hugely, and would love to do 

again. I find CCF a very interesting activity each week, and one which I hope 

to continue next year. In the Easter holidays I am going to Italy on the Classics 

trip, and this will be my third holiday abroad with the school in fewer than 

two years. All of these activities show the versatility of the Radley dons and the 

proficiency of the Radley community as a whole. 

One aspect of Radley life that occupies a huge amount of my time is music, and 

I spend almost every Central Hour, most mornings, and a lot of evenings in the 

music department, as well as taking Music as one of my GCSE choices. I can 

think of few things better than spending time among such fabulous musicians 

that are present at Radley, both dons and senior boys. I have advanced hugely in 

my time at Radley, taking four ABRSM music exams in five terms, and this is a 

credit to the incredible work ethic of the music staff and instrumental dons who 

give up their time to offer any possible help. 

To this very day, I feel unnaturally busy, but this emphasises some of Radley’s 

best assets, in which it offers such a range of activities, allows boys to have vast 

amounts of freedom and choice, and caters for everyone to an equally high 

level, keeping every student involved and happy. 


Website: www.radley.org.uk 

Admissions enquiries: 01235 543174 

admissions@radley.org.uk

N E W S L E T T E R - Radley College

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?