Over the summer I found myself thinking about the long school holiday and whether, in the modern world, it still makes sense. After all, the structure of the school year is not a fixed timeless educational truth. It emerged in a very different era and for reasons that reflected the needs and lifestyles of the nineteenth century.
Today, there are those who argue that the school year should be organised very differently. Educational researchers talk about “summer learning loss”, the tendency for some pupils to forget knowledge and skills during a lengthy break from formal learning. There is also the practical challenge faced by many families as they struggle to balance work commitments with childcare.
And yet, despite all of that, I remain rather fond of the long summer holiday…and no, not just because I am teacher!
Perhaps that is because there is something valuable about having time that is not completely structured. Time to rest. Time to recover. Time to think. Time to read. Time to spend with family and friends. Time to pursue interests that do not fit neatly into a timetable.
Most importantly, the summer holiday offers something increasingly rare in modern life: the chance to step outside routine. For most of the year our lives are highly organised. We move from lesson to lesson, activity to activity, commitment to commitment. Summer provides a brief opportunity to break that pattern, to see new places, to meet new people, to try something unfamiliar and to experience a world that is larger than our daily routines. The real value of a summer holiday is not simply that it gives us a break from school. It gives us the opportunity to do something different and grow in different ways.
As always for many of the boys those opportunities came through our school trips. Over the summer, Warwick pupils could be found across the United Kingdom and around the world. Our cricketers toured Sri Lanka. The RAF section travelled to Wales. The CCF spent time at Sennybridge. Pupils undertaking their Gold Duke of Edinburgh Award expedition headed to the Lake District, while our senior rugby players travelled to South Africa. Each experience offered the chance to leave familiar surroundings behind, embrace challenge and learn something new about both the world and themselves.
Travel has a remarkable capacity to broaden our horizons. It introduces us to different landscapes, different cultures, different ways of life and sometimes different ways of thinking. It reminds us that the assumptions we make, and the routines by which we live, are not universal. That, perhaps, is one of the greatest gifts of the summer holiday. Whether you travelled to another continent, another country, another city or simply spent time in a different environment, stepping outside our normal routines often allows us to see things with fresh eyes.
Sometimes we return not only with memories but with new ideas. For Mr Hesketh, the South Africa tour had precisely that impact. During the tour, Mr Hesketh encountered a concept that made a profound impression on him. It is an idea that he introduced to our rugby teams this term and one that, coincidently, I had recently encountered through my own reading and research into philosophies with origins outside the Western European tradition. The more I have reflected on it, the more I have come to realise how closely it aligns with the culture and values we seek to foster at Warwick.
That idea is called Ubuntu. Ubuntu comes from the Zulu proverb “Umuntu, ngumuntu, ngabantu” meaning a person is “a person through other people”. It is often summarised by the simple phrase: “I am because we are.” It is built on the belief that who we become is shaped by the people around us, and that our success is never entirely our own.
That is not always how we tend to think in schools. Schools can sometimes feel very individual. We receive our own grades. We win our own places in teams. We gain our own awards and distinctions. We talk about personal ambition, personal targets and personal success.
Those things matter, but Ubuntu reminds us that there is another side to the story. None of us achieves anything entirely alone. Every one of us depends upon others more than we often acknowledge. We learn because teachers invest time and expertise in us. We are supported by parents and families. We are encouraged by friends. We benefit from teammates, classmates, mentors and role models. Ubuntu suggests that our lives are deeply interconnected and that we have a responsibility to one another.
One of the most powerful descriptions of Ubuntu comes from Archbishop Desmond Tutu,
“A person is a person through other persons. None of us comes into the world fully formed. We would not know how to think, or walk, or speak, or behave unless we learned it from other human beings. We need other human beings in order to be human.”
His point; none of us arrives fully formed. We become who we are through our relationships with others.
Ubuntu also featured prominently in the thinking of Nelson Mandela.
“In Africa there is a concept known as ‘Ubuntu’ – the profound sense that we are human only through the humanity of others; that if we are to accomplish anything in this world, it will in equal measure be due to the work and achievement of others.”
I think there is particular wisdom in that idea at the beginning of a new school year. A successful year will not result from the efforts of a few outstanding individuals. It will be shaped by thousands of daily interactions. By whether we welcome new pupils. By whether we support a friend who is struggling. By whether we include rather than exclude. By whether we celebrate the successes of others rather than envy them. By whether we strive to make those around us better or knock them down. Because the quality of a community is determined not by the achievements of its strongest members but by the way its members treat one another.
That is where Ubuntu connects most closely with the values of Warwick School. We speak often about courage, creativity, curiosity, humility, perseverance, and responsibility. Yet none of those values exists in isolation. They find their fullest expression in community. Courage is often shown on behalf of others. Responsibility involves recognising our obligations to others, while humility requires us to acknowledge the contributions of those around us. Character, in other words, is not simply something possessed by individuals, it is lived out in our relationships with other people.
Mr Hesketh hopes that Ubuntu will help shape the culture of our rugby teams this season. But its value extends far beyond the touchline. What, would Warwick School be like if all of us adopted that way of thinking? If we measured success not only by what we achieved personally, but by what we contributed to those around us. If we asked not simply, “How can I succeed?” but also, “How can I help others succeed?”
Because perhaps that is the deepest insight contained within Ubuntu. Our greatest achievements are not really individual achievements at all. They emerge when people share a common purpose, care about one another, and commit themselves to something larger than themselves.
As we begin a new school year, that feels like a very good place to start.
