A very warm congratulations to OS Marcus Davey (S 1981–85), who has been appointed to the House of Lords.
It is a wonderful achievement and a fitting recognition of a career that has been devoted to the arts, culture and, most importantly, creating opportunities for young people.
Marcus has spent much of his professional life championing the power of creativity to change lives. For 27 years, he was Chief Executive and Artistic Director of London’s iconic Roundhouse, where he played a central role in establishing the venue as one of the UK’s leading homes for live performance and youth creativity.
Under Marcus’s leadership, the Roundhouse underwent an extraordinary transformation. He helped raise £30 million towards the restoration of the Grade II-listed building, oversaw the redevelopment of its performance spaces and established Roundhouse Works, an award-winning programme supporting young people and emerging creatives. His work has helped give thousands of young people the space, support and confidence to explore their creativity and take their first steps into the creative industries.
His contribution has been recognised with an OBE in 2012 and a CBE in 2019, and his appointment as a life peer marks another significant milestone in an impressive career.
For Marcus, however, the focus has always been less about accolades and more about people. His passion for giving young people a voice and creating pathways into the arts has been a constant throughout his career. It is this combination of vision, energy and commitment that has made his work so influential.
Now, as he takes his seat in the House of Lords, Marcus will have an opportunity to bring that experience and passion to an even wider platform.
We are immensely proud to see an OS recognised in this way and look forward to following Marcus’s next chapter.
We look forward to following Marcus’s next chapter and wish him all the very best for what lies ahead.A Christmas Evening to Remember in York
Parents, staff and alumni of Sedbergh School and Terrington Hall Prep School are warmly invited to join us for a special Sedbergh Association Christmas Dinner at the Merchant Adventurers’ Hall (The Hall, Fossgate, York, YO1 9XD) on Thursday 3rd December 2026 to celebrate the exciting new partnership between both schools.
The event will begin at 6.30pm with drinks in the Undercroft, followed by a three-course dinner in the Great Hall. The evening will be a wonderful opportunity to catch up with old friends, meet new faces and celebrate the festive season, all in a truly memorable setting.
We would love to see as many members of our wider Sedbergh community as possible and enjoy an evening of good food, great company and Christmas spirit together.
Thursday 3rd December 2026 | 6.30pm–11.00pm
Merchant Adventurers’ Hall, York
Dress code: Smart evening wear
Price per ticket: £40
Reserve your place HERE.
For further information, please contact María at maria.gallego-calderon@sedberghschool.org.
We hope you can join us!Brianna Ray made history as the first female player to take the field in the 122-year history of the Eastern Counties cricket series, in August 2026. The Eastern Counties Cricket Association series is one of Bermuda’s oldest and most celebrated sporting traditions.
This was noted by Eastern County Cricket Association, who said, “Last Saturday, during the second match of the 2026 Eastern Counties cricket series, Brianna Ray became the first-ever female player to take the field in the competition’s 122-year history!
Read full article HERE.
Harriet signed her professional contract with Durham in November 2025 after graduating from the Durham Cricket Academy.
We are pleased to announce that Harriet made her professional debut on the 12th September for Durham Women vs Warwickshire Women in the ECB Women’s One-Day Cup.
You can read more about Harriet’s career so far here: Harriet Robson – Durham CricketWhen Sara Hirst first drove down Black Horse Hill into Sedbergh in 1994 for her husband Christopher’s long-list interview for the position of Headmaster, she could not have known that the town and School would come to define fifteen “magical” years of her family’s life – or that she would play an important role in reshaping its history.
Those first impressions were vivid: the sweep of the Howgill Fells, the town nestled among them, and then the School itself – the majesty of Powell Hall, the Chapel and the Library.
“The beauty of the area so impressed me,” she recalls. “Most importantly, it was the friendliness of everyone we met. The boys were so welcoming, so chatty, so well-mannered, and just charming. And I remember whispering to Christopher, ‘Why aren’t girls at this school?’”
Those words would become prophetic.
A New Chapter
Before Sedbergh, Sara and Christopher Hirst were firmly rooted in the South West. Christopher had been appointed Headmaster of Kelly College at the strikingly young age of 38, while Sara was on the staff as an English teacher and housemistress.
Christopher was ambitious and a proud Yorkshireman. From time to time, Sara would ask him which headship he might one day like to move on to. The list changed over the years, but one name remained constant: Sedbergh.
“It was what he always wanted in his heart. To be Headmaster of Sedbergh.”
That ambition was realised, and Christopher was appointed Headmaster in 1995. The move north was met with a degree of trepidation by Sara, who was Cornish-born and Devon-bred, but those reservations soon disappeared.
“Within days, I had fallen in love with Sedbergh,” she says. “I realised it was the right school for Christopher. We had fifteen magical years here as a family with our three daughters.”
Sara bucked the fairly rigid traditions of the time by continuing to teach alongside her role as Headmaster’s wife.
“That meant a great deal,” she says. “It meant I could get to know the boys – and later the girls – far better in the classroom – to teach them and care for them more closely than I could ever have done just by being in the Headmaster’s house.”
A Boys’ School on the Brink of Change
Back in the mid-90s, the School had been educating boys for almost 470 years, but the idea of co-education was definitely simmering “in the background”.
Christopher’s initial brief was focused on building on the strengths of the boys’ School. Both he and Sara recognised that, if Sedbergh were ever to become co-educational, it would need a strong foundation – academically, musically and on the games field – so that girls would be joining an established and thriving community.
Meanwhile, co-education was becoming increasingly common across leading independent schools. Market forces and parental expectations were changing, with many parents who were sending their sons to Sedbergh asking the straightforward question: “Why can’t our daughters come here?”
Many Old Sedberghians wanted to send both their sons and daughters to the School. With three daughters of their own, it was a poignant issue for the Hirsts.
When the idea of co-education was first discussed, the governors initially favoured taking girls into the Sixth Form only. Sara strongly opposed this idea.
“I had seen Sixth Form co-education at several schools, including at Kelly College, and I didn’t like what I saw. I felt that if we were going to go co-educational, we must go throughout all the year groups from the very beginning. Christopher had taken Kelly College fully co-educational soon after his arrival there.”
The decision was therefore taken to introduce co-education across the School, with the first girls to join Years 7, 8, 9, 10 and 12 in 2001. Years 11 and 13 were excluded only because pupils at those stages were already in the middle of their examination courses.
Planning the Transition
Sara was asked by Headmaster Christopher Hirst and Chair of Governors Robert Napier to mastermind the transition. Drawing on her experience at Kelly College, she began working through the practicalities: curriculum, girls’ sport, boarding, staffing and facilities. The governors were wholeheartedly behind the move, but there was a huge amount to consider if the first girls were to feel that Sedbergh was truly their school from the outset.
One crucial practical question was where the first girls would live. Lupton House had ceased to be a boys’ boarding house in 1995, and there had been discussion about selling it. Christopher had argued against this, choosing instead to retain the building and turn it into an outdoor pursuits centre.
When the time came to choose a boarding house for the first girls, Robert Napier gave Sara an open choice.
“Sara, you can have any building in the School as the first girls’ boarding house. Which one would you like?”
Her answer was immediate.
“It’s an easy decision, Robert. Lupton House, because it is there. It is ready to be a girls’ house.”
Unlike some schools introducing co-education, Sedbergh had a building ready and waiting, with no need to convert a current boys’ house. Lupton also carried particular significance for its former residents.
“So many of the Old Luptonians were thrilled that their boarding house was now alive again, and had not disappeared off the face of the earth.”
For Sara, the decision to introduce girls across the year groups and the availability of Lupton House were two of the most important factors in making co-education work.
“But then we had to announce it and win the hearts and minds of the world.”
“We had an answer to all our critics”.
The OS community was, Sara recalls, “almost uniformly supportive”.
There was some scepticism among recently departed boys, which she jokes may have been because they were about to miss out on having girls at their School. Some parents, too, felt they had signed up for a boys’ school and that the School had effectively “moved the goalposts”.
Then came the media attention, and with it some backlash from elsewhere in the sector. Critics questioned whether a school that had educated boys for so long could successfully become co-educational. Sedbergh was too isolated, they argued. The climate was too harsh. It was all too male!
Sara, however, had an answer to every objection. “We’re not isolated here. We’re only five miles from the M6.”
The School already had a large number of excellent female teachers, house matrons and tutors, and Sara believed that the community surrounding the boys had always been more balanced than outsiders might assume. Equally importantly, she was confident that co-education could be introduced without losing what made Sedbergh distinctive – the Sedbergh philosophy of all-round education.
“I had every confidence that the girls who would choose Sedbergh would enter into that world and embrace it fully.”
The First 40 Girls
Chair of Governors Robert Napier initially set Sara the challenge of finding 15 girls to join the School.
“I thought, ‘That’s no good, Robert. That’s hardly enough for a couple of sports teams.’”
Sport was going to be central to the success of co-education.
“We needed a good number in the School,” Sara explains. “We were looking for girls who wanted to work hard in the classroom, but also wanted to go up Winder and embrace everything that came with living here.”
That vision appealed to many parents. Some were attracted by the prospect of their daughters growing up away from urban environments, with the opportunity to experience the natural world and embrace the structure of “busy days” filled with work, games, music, drama, debating and DofE.
Then came the first open day for prospective parents, in February 2001.
The weather was atrocious: sleet, rain and high winds. Sara feared nobody would turn up.
But they did.
“At the end of what was a wonderful day, I thought, ‘Yes, we have it underway.’ It was one of the worst days of the winter, and everyone came. It was a very special Sedbergh moment.”
The response exceeded expectations. Instead of the 15 girls Robert Napier had initially asked for, 40 girls enrolled.
There was still plenty to do to make success possible. Parents were given time, information and gentle but firm reassurance. They met key staff, particularly the first Housemistress, Sue Wallace-Woodroffe, and the first Head of Girls’ Games, Hayley Christy.
Behind the scenes, the practical preparations were well underway. Lupton House was refurbished as the first girls’ boarding house. Investment went into netball and tennis courts, while the all-weather hockey pitch was improved. Timetables had to be carefully worked through to ensure the girls had equal access to sports facilities.
From the outset, Sara was determined that the girls would be part of the School’s sporting life, not on the margins. On the first Saturday of term, they took to the field for a hockey fixture against Giggleswick.
“We lost,” she says, “but it was important that they were on the field that first Saturday.”
A First Night to Remember
The first night the girls were in School, Sara was woken in the small hours by the sound of helicopters overhead. By early morning, the phone rang at the Headmaster’s house. Robbers had barricaded themselves in a building opposite Evans House, while armed police had taken up position inside Evans.
“We had spent the past year reassuring parents that Sedbergh was the safest place in the world to send your daughter,” Sara says wryly. “And what should happen on the first night but circling helicopters and armed police in Evans!”
Thankfully the one-off incident ended peacefully and quickly.
That same day, Sara watched the new girls walk up from Lupton House to Powell Hall for assembly, “resplendent in their new uniforms”, escorted and warmly welcomed by the upper-sixth boys.
“It was a very special day,” she says. “The town loved seeing the girls walking around. Somehow, it brought an invigoration not only to the School but to Sedbergh itself.”
Changing the Culture – and Growing the School
The arrival of girls began to change the character of Sedbergh in ways both subtle and unmistakable.
“It became much noisier,” Sara laughs. “On Sunday evenings, when the girls went back to their houses after chapel, you could hear their voices resounding around the town. They have a strong sense of humour and laugh a lot. That made a difference – all good, for most of the time.”
Brother–sister friendships flourished. For some boys at the time, Sedbergh could be a “rough, tough place”; having girls in the School broadened perspectives and brought different kinds of friendship and support.
The numbers grew quickly. The first 40 girls soon became 79, putting pressure on the School’s existing accommodation. An unexpected change provided the answer. Nearby Bentham School was taken on by Sedbergh, becoming Sedbergh Prep School. This freed up the existing Prep, Cressbrook House, to become a second girls’ boarding house. Cressbrook became Robertson House in 2003, providing a new home for the growing number of girls.
“We were so lucky,” Sara says, paying tribute to the estates and maintenance teams who made the rapid changeover possible. “Without that building, I don’t know how we would have managed the increase in girls’ numbers.”
Pioneers – and 25 Years of Co-Education
Looking back 25 years, Sara still describes that first cohort of girls as pioneers.
“We called them that because they took the plunge. So much was against any of them coming – the media, the outside world saying that it’s not the place for girls. Rubbish. They came. Their parents came and supported them. They believed that we could get it right for the girls.”
Sedbergh shaped those pioneers by giving them what it has always given its pupils: a culture of “busyness”, a refusal to “do nothing”, and a determination to uncover every ounce of talent – whether in the classroom, on the fells, on the stage, in the orchestra or on the games field. But the influence ran both ways. The girls brought new voices, humour, perspectives and traditions to the School, becoming part of its long-standing culture of resilience, community and participation while helping to shape what Sedbergh would become.
Sara is often asked whether there was a moment when she thought, “We’ve done it. We’ve arrived.” Her answer is always the same: no.
“I never believed at any time that we had done it,” she says. “I was always looking for ways of improving. Any good organisation that says ‘We’re brilliant’ is asking for trouble. My philosophy was always: we’ve got it good, but we can get it better.”
That sense of continual improvement remains central to how she views co-education. For Sara, it was never about simply bringing girls into an existing boys’ school, but about creating a school where boys and girls could thrive together.
“True co-education means boys and girls coexisting positively, on an equal level, each getting the attention they deserve.”
Now, 25 years on, Sara looks back on a remarkable chapter in Sedbergh’s story.
“It means such a lot to me,” she says, “to have played a small part in the history of co-education here, alongside so many wonderful members of staff. Co-education at Sedbergh now feels entirely natural. But in 2001, it was a huge leap of faith.”
Today, co-education is simply part of everyday life at Sedbergh.
“I feel a great sense of pride and privilege,” she says. “Not in what I did alone – because none of this was done alone – but in what the whole Sedbergh community achieved, and in the huge influence the Pioneer Girls of 2001 had on the School’s history.”
Article by Sedbergh AssociationThe staging of the 154th open championship at Royal Birkdale during my year as captain stands out as a once in a lifetime experience for myself and my family.
To see our historic club once again take its place on the world stage – welcoming the finest golfers, more than 300,000 spectators, and global media – was both a privilege and a deeply personal honour.
To present the Claret Jug on the 18th green to Ryan Fox was a pinch me moment. I was delighted we got such a great champion and to win it with a wonderful birdie on the last hole was amazing.
The open championship at Royal Birkdale was more than a sporting event. It was a celebration of our club spirit and heritage. I am immensely proud to have served as captain during such an historic event and grateful to everyone who contributed to its success.
Paul HalsallOn the first day of her final year at Sedbergh, overwhelmed by unfinished work, Hannah Francis (C 19-24) searched for ways to improve her concentration. The answer? Go for a run.
Starting in the School’s lowest running group, Hannah quickly discovered a passion for the sport. Her confidence grew with every mile, taking her from beginner to competitive runner and winning the Wilson Run in 2024.
Fast forward a few years, and Hannah has completed a challenge of an entirely different scale. Alongside her mother, Katie Francis, an Old Castertonian, Hannah has successfully run from John O’Groats to Land’s End, covering the length of Britain in just 26 days.
The remarkable mother-daughter team took on the challenge to raise funds for three charities close to their hearts:
Farmstrong Scotland, which supports farmers’ mental health and wellbeing;
the Scotland College of Chiropractic;
and Tariro, a charity supporting orphaned children in Zimbabwe.
The journey demanded determination, resilience and countless miles on the road. After just the first two days, Hannah and Katie had already covered an impressive 109km (68 miles), setting the tone for what would become an extraordinary achievement.
For Hannah, completing the challenge is a celebration of how far she has come since that first tentative run at Sedbergh. What started as an attempt to improve concentration evolved into a love of running, a growing confidence in her abilities and, ultimately, the determination to take on one of the UK’s most iconic endurance challenges.
Those wishing to support Hannah and Katie’s fundraising efforts can still donate via their JustGiving pages:
We are incredibly proud of Hannah and Katie for this outstanding achievement and congratulate them on completing their inspiring journey from John O’Groats to Land’s End!
Service and charity are an important part of Sedbergh School’s philosophy and so we are planning to enter as many staff, pupils, parents and OS as possible in the Great North Run to raise money for Save the Children. What We Do | UK & Around the World | Save the Children UK
The Great North Run half marathon is run annually and takes place on Sunday 12th September 2027 in Newcastle. The School is delighted to partner with Save the Children to support their efforts.
We are seeking expressions of interest from OS who would like to run. Each participant would be expected to raise £450.
If you would like to take part, please contact Richard Wells on rsw@sedberghschool.org by Wednesday 30th September2026 so that Save the Children can secure our spaces.
The OS Rifle Club met for their annual reunion at Bisley on the afternoon of Ashburton day. Since the withdrawal of the cadet target rifle, cadet full bore shooting has ended and this year the National Rifle Association set up a Youth Imperial Meeting to replace the Schools’ Cadet Meeting. However, many of you familiar with Bisley would have recognised the format which remained much the same for the week. The major changes were that School sports kit was worn along with civilian shooting jackets and using the School civilian target rifles but sadly without Army support there were far fewer teams.
The OS teams were somewhat depleted when compared to previous years, with some of the best shots being unable to take leave to come and shoot, although some did arrive in time to shoot the main Imperial Meeting. A notable absence was Peter Bromley who has been a regular attendee over many years but was unable to leave the family farm in Kent because the crops were ready for harvesting as a result of the extreme hot weather.
As ever team selection proves to be challenging because some of our shooters are unduly modest about their skills! The “A” Team of 5 comprised the following with scores from 2 sighting shots and 10 scoring shots at 500 yards:
John Warburton: 49.6
George Wood: 48.5
Oliver Christy: 48.6
Sarah Rorison: 46.4
Mark Wrigley: 46:3
The team total was 237.24 and the team was placed 11th out of 40 teams. John Warburton had the highest team score of the day winning the McMullen Trophy which was presented back in the 1970s by Alexander McMullen who was President of the OS Rifle Club for many years. It is worth noting that the team members crossed age boundaries with the oldest having started at Sedbergh in the 1970s and the youngest leaving in the early 2020s.
The B team were unfortunate in only being able to provide 4 firers this year and were represented by:
Robin Morton: 44.3
Charlie Anyon: 43.2
Lauren Robinson (nee Crowson): 45.2
Toby Lehmann: 48.3
The team were placed 19th out of 23 with a firer down. It is also worth noting that for 3 members of the team, this was the first time that they had shot this year and in one case in many years.
The OS party joined the School for a post-match barbeque at the RAF Club very kindly sponsored by the OS Club and put together by David Smith and Tom Ralph. A good evening was had by all with much of the usual reminiscing and learning about what life is like at Sedbergh today.
However there was a strong field of OS during the NRA Imperial Meeting with a number shooting for universities and county teams, so overall the Club remains strong. Going forwards, I will be working with Sarah Rorison on organising some shooting at Sedbergh in the new year when hopefully we can arrange a match with the School.
Notable OS results were:
HM King’s Prize:
John Warburton 15th
George Wood 74th
In the Grand Aggregate which is based on the total score from the individual shoots over the week of the meeting:
John Warburton: 26thReport by Toby LehmannWhen Sedbergh’s new Headmaster, Robin Pyper, first came to visit the School, it felt both new and familiar.
“I was fortunate,” he reflects. “I had friends and former colleagues who were Old Sedberghians, so I knew quite a bit about the school before I arrived, and then a very thorough transition period. My overriding first impression was a sense of community and togetherness – not just on the School site, but extending out to former teachers and, very importantly, the OS community, who have made me feel incredibly welcome.”
Asked to describe the culture and character of the School, he chooses a single word: spirit. “The spirit of Sedbergh is really important to me and my colleagues, and to the pupils as well. The spirit of adventure, the spirit of community, and the spirit of service to others.”
For Robin, those values sit above individual measures of achievement. Academic results, sporting success and performances on stage all matter, but “the character of the individuals is most important. Our pupils are not just in it for themselves. Their ambition – and quite rightly so – is to go and make a positive difference.”
A distinctive place
One of the many things that has struck Robin since arriving at Sedbergh is its extraordinary surroundings.
“It’s not just the big view of Winder behind me,” he says. “There are so many pockets and different angles as you walk around campus and through the town, where you pick up on small, different views. I walk around with a smile on my face – particularly when the sun is shining, but also when the weather is bad, that adds a different atmosphere to the place.”
Having recently read Michael Raw’s ’Tis the Hills that Stood Around Us, Robin was reminded just how deeply Sedbergh’s identity is connected to the great outdoors.
“The School has always been clear about getting pupils out into the natural environment. We’re very fortunate – there’s no organisation of our size with quite the same natural resources.”
He also sees something distinctive in Sedbergh’s location: remote enough to feel removed from the pressures of city life, but close enough to the M6 to remain connected to the wider world.
“We’ve benefited a lot from having friends and family calling through and visiting. And it’s lovely to see people coming back to their old school and reconnecting with us.”
That sense of connection extends to through the School community. Robin describes Sedbergh as a “very straightforward place”, where people value one another for who they are.
“People just get on with each other. They appreciate each other’s strengths and their weaknesses as well, and they support each other. And that really binds us together.”
A depth and breadth of educational experience
Robin’s path into teaching was perhaps inevitable. His father was a headmaster, and his school friends spent a lot of time teasing him about the likelihood of him following the same route.
“They used to tell me that the only thing I was ever going to do was be a teacher,” he laughs. “So I said, ‘No, I’m going to buck the trend.’ I tried working in another industry, and I think it lasted about eight months until I realised that the place I am happiest is in schools.”
He deliberately chose a very different environment for university, moving from the small, close-knit community of his school to the “almost total opposite”: city life at Leeds University, where he studied sports science and physiology.
He then began a career that has given him insight into a range of schools, roles and communities, spanning Bloxham School in Oxfordshire, Merchiston Castle School in Edinburgh, Lord Wandsworth College in Hampshire and Dollar Academy in Scotland. Along the way, he completed his teacher training through Warwick University and a Master’s in Educational Leadership at the University of Exeter.
“I’ve picked up experiences from all those different schools, which has been really valuable in informing how I want to do things here,” he says. “Ultimately, the reason I went into teaching is because I love spending time with young people. They constantly inspire me. They constantly surprise me.”
Influences and inspiration
When asked who has influenced him most as an educator, Robin begins with a name some Sedberghians will recognise: Kurt Hahn, founder of Gordonstoun School. Hahn’s emphasis on adventure, leadership and service resonates strongly with Robin.
“Yes, we are here to support pupils to get outstanding exam results. But school is so much more than that. It’s the broader education that underpins everything, which is of the utmost importance.”
His own schooldays also shaped his thinking. He remembers a Housemaster whose encouragement has stayed with him.
“Mr Devey believed in me. He told me I had potential, that I would get it right. I’ve carried that with me. We all make mistakes; it’s not the mistake that defines us, but how we respond. That belief in young people and the power they have to change the world is something I try to impart to every pupil I work with.”
His father, also a Headmaster, provided an early lesson in leadership.
“I learnt a lot from observing how he went about things, that it’s not about status or title. It is all about rolling your sleeves up, getting stuck in, and doing the best for other people that you possibly can do.”
That same sense of perspective is reinforced by his own family, who keep him grounded.
“My wife, my two girls, and also probably less so at the moment, Baby Digby, who is about three months old, so he’s probably influencing me less, apart from with a lack of sleep! But my family are also very, very influential.”
Leadership without heroics
So what does a typical day as Headmaster look like? His smile implies that “typical” might be the wrong word.
“My role is not to be a heroic leader who tries to do everything myself. It’s to support other people to lead in the best possible way, to build capacity, to ask challenging questions to see if we’re doing the right thing.”
For all the demands of a senior role, Robin is determined to stay connected to the young people at Sedbergh’s heart.
“I will always make time for the young people in our care. That might be saying good morning to them as they leave assembly, but equally it might be because a pupil has come to ask for a meeting because they’ve got a new initiative that they want to introduce within School. I’m always supportive of those ideas and try to push them through.”
It is these everyday interactions that remain one of the most rewarding parts of the job.
“Young people are a constant source of inspiration. I take great pleasure in supporting young people through challenges, because it is when they are challenged that they learn most about themselves. They become a better version of themselves, and then we know, as they go on through life, they’re going to take those experiences with them.”
What makes a great school – and a great teacher?
For Robin, a great school begins with something simple and non-negotiable: children need to be safe, happy and cared for. Without that essential foundation, young people cannot fully access their education.
“So community and relationships are at the bedrock of everything that we do, and they mean so much to us. We work very hard on them.”
When it comes to great teachers, Robin believes there is no single model. Their greatest strength, particularly in an age of AI, is the human connection they create.
“Teachers come in all different shapes and sizes, and I think this is one of our strengths when we’re talking about the rise of AI. I don’t think teachers can be replaced by digitisation or automation because we need that difference of interaction to connect with different people.”
That connection begins with genuinely enjoying working with young people. “We don’t do it for the money. We don’t do it for the holidays! We do it because we love supporting young people and seeing them move forward. And if you ask any teacher at Sedbergh why they do it, it is for that reason. That is why people go above and beyond day in day out to support the young people here.”
It is the young people themselves who make teaching so rewarding: their energy, diversity and unpredictability mean that no two days – or even two lessons – are ever quite the same.
“The vibrancy, the energy, the difference of opinion, the diversity that comes with it – those things are so exciting. Even if you’re teaching the same lesson for the fourth time that week, it is totally different because of the pupils that you are working with. All those variables within that classroom are amazing, and that makes teaching such a special experience.”
Beyond the classroom
For Robin, a full and rounded education is inseparable from academic success. “Good results are a byproduct of inspiring teaching and learning in the broadest sense. It’s not just what happens in the classroom. It’s every interaction – walking to and from assembly, life in the boarding house, on the sports field, in the recital hall.”
What matters most is what pupils carry with them when they leave: the School’s core values of humility, ambition, resilience and kindness, an understanding of community, and a sense of responsibility towards others.
“Some schools talk about values but you don’t feel them lived out. Here, it’s different. You feel them, day in day out, in pupils and staff. Leaving with those values, an understanding of community – ‘once a Sedberghian, always a Sedberghian’ – and a strong sense of service to others: that’s what matters.”
You can watch the full interview with Robin here:
Article by Sedbergh Association
