Private schools and community

Private schools (and indeed parental choice in general) may seem like a good idea in principle, but the unintended consequences in the long term are the polarisation of society and an increase in inequality.

So what is needed is a way to reintegrate private with state, and therefore the pressure on private schools to work more closely with their local community is a move in the right direction.

[A more interesting question would be what would need to happen before schools, that are currently funded exclusively by parents, became funded by the state]

Frances Stenner RIP

Raised in a traditional middle class family in the 40s and 50s and with private schooling behind her, the enduring influence on Fran’s life was Corsham, where she studied sculpture, and where her passions for Art and the Natural World were ignited and burned with her all her life. .

Fran's priorities were her friends and family (in particular her daughter Katie and husband Roger to whom she was devoted), her art, her faith and ecology. She addressed all these with sensitivity and dedication.

She inherited her father’s creativity and drive and her mother's generosity of spirit but her main quality was her perseverance. As friends have described, “she put everything into everything” she set her mind to, but also with “the gentleness of a butterfly” and “She had a lovely vivacity about her”.