It is surprising to find out that Eton College was founded by King Henry VI as a Charity school to provide free education to 70 poor boys who would then go on to King’s College Cambridge. I guess Eton is one of the World’s oldest Independent schools still operating. Kings College Cambridge was also founded, in 1441, by Henry. Henry on founding Eton, provided it with a large number of endowments. Stability was always tenuous in those early times. However, King Edward 1V deposed Henry V1 as King and annulling a good number of the endowments for Eton. Nevertheless, the school survived.

The story has some familiarity with today when funding uncertainty raises its head at a change of government. The excellent presentations at our forum by NT Executive Director Cheryl Salter and new ISA CEO Graham Catt highlighted this uncertainty and the need to really understand the true intentions of NT and Federal Ministers and their very influential public servants.

Eton is a high fee school and has educated such noted people as the Duke of Wellington, the current Prince William, former PM David Cameron, actors Hugh Laurie (“House”) and Eddie Redmayne. Of course, the UK doesn’t provide funding for their Independent Schools as Australia does so fees are high. Following the tradition of its Founder, Henry VI scholarships are awarded each year, usually lasting for five years. These students are known as King’s Scholars. There are normally 70 King’s scholars in the school at any one time.

The school also provides bursaries for students who are in financial need. In 2021/22 267 boys received fee reductions, with 100 of these paying no fees at all. The average award was 71% of the fee. 

The school has changed its approach and rather than being a school solely for wealthy people from the British aristocracy who could afford it, it is also setting out to attract more young people from around the world who are talented and motivated and able to best use the high level of education the school offers.

Many of our Independent Schools in Australia, including the Territory, provide bursaries and scholarships which assist those in financial need. These would include schools right across the range from low to high fee. This is not saying one school is better than another, it is about giving young people an opportunity in an educational environment which would suit them. Independent schools in the Territory are general entry and aim to provide for the variety of needs which their school population faces. The schools consider this access is the right thing to do and believe their school has something more to offer which will provide an opportunity for young people. In the endless funding debate this important information is lost.

Times have changed in dealing with governments. I recall a pleasant discussion held with a number of Principals at an ICPA conference in Tennant Creek. The minister was at the same table as we were and was happy to discuss freeholding school properties, most of which had been provided to the schools on a special purpose lease. This of course limited their security and capacity to borrow money. The minister understood the problem. Sometime later the schools received notice that this leased land would become freehold. That was an outstanding decision of the minister making commercial life for the schools so much easier. I think that style of change would be much harder today. 

We all are probably aware that health and education, if done well, are in fact some of the most costly parts of a Government Budget.

However, when trying to attract people to the Territory, the question that is invariable asked by them, particularly by family people, is about the quality of the health and education services available. Safety has also crept into this mix. What is a challenge for governments is that funding can be best allocated on a per capita basis. This works, to some extent, in the areas of larger population where there is an economy of scale. It is not effective in rural, remote and very remote areas where there is not such an economy of scale. This is illustrated by the small pool of block grant authority money available to the Territory from the Federal Government. The support for major projects is not possible and there are insufficient funds for necessary maintenance. In the late 1980s into the 2000s the NT government supported a capital and interest subsidy scheme which assisted schools to undertake necessary projects. The policy attitude was that the NT wanted the same proportion of Independent and Catholic Schools as the national average and there was a significant recognition that to attract people to the NT, choice was often the key. The danger comes when the Commonwealth Government wants to cut costs and money allocated to the Territory, is kept in check.

This is where the minister plays an important part. Both Graham Catt and Cheryl Salter are clear about the need to really understand the minister. Principals should at least know who the Commonwealth and NT ministers are and be aware of their approaches. It is always helpful to know who the Commonwealth and NT department heads are and their attitude to independent schooling. An email to AISNT would do this. Being small means that personalities do matter. I recall back in the early 1990s Shane Stone, then minister of education, would just “rock” up unannounced for a chat - what an opportunity but not if you didn’t know who he was. I recall Shane Stone, then Chief Minister, who opened our Hall and told the large audience that he was happy to back our $ for $ request on I million dollars because he didn’t believe we would raise it .Well we did! It didn’t hurt to understand Shane Stone to some extent so discussions could be meaningful.

I was on the NIQUITSL interim committee - National Institute for Quality Teaching and School Leadership. It was a National Committee set up by the federal minister Hon Dr Brendan Nelson. The minister used to call me “mate” so I realised I had to work harder to be known by him.

As we know, ministers and public servants change and sometimes more often than is effective. I found that it was easy to spot gaps in their knowledge and this would be compounded if the Department Head was relatively new. I remember going to see the minister with a small delegation about an important problem for our schools. We were greeted by the minister and perhaps two or three advisers. He was very pleasant, as he always was, but clearly hadn’t been briefed sufficiently by his advisers. Mind you I would hate to be a minister, though being a Principal is sometimes a little like it.

At our Forum I enjoyed the presentation by Caroline Miller, ISA Director of Policy and Research. She has been in the position for many years.

These 2023 Stats are worth knowing for when you find yourself in a discussion on Independent Schools:

• 1 in 6 students in Australia attend Independent Schools
• 1 in 3 students in Australia attend Non - government Schools (Includes Catholic Schools)
• 1,209 Independent Schools
• 688,638 Students
• 141 Boarding Schools - largest provider of boarding.
• 16,571 students with special needs enrolled.
• 17,753 Aboriginal Students in 983 schools

Minister of Education (federal) Minister Clare

Departmental Secretary (federal) Tony Cook

NT Minister OF Education Hon Eva Lawler

CEO NT Dept of Education Karen Weston

Quotes Which You Might Find Useful.

“Hope is being able to see that there is light despite all of the darkness.”

- Archbishop Desmond Tutu was a South African Anglican Bishop known for his work as an anti-apartheid and human rights activist.

“A man paints with his brains and not with his hands” “Every block of stone has a statue inside it and it is the task of the sculptor to discover it”

- Michelangelo, famous artist 

 “I have learned silence from the talkative, toleration from the intolerant, and kindness from the unkind; yet, strange I am ungrateful to those teachers.”

- Khalil Gibran. A Lebanese American writer, poet, visual artist and I consider a philosopher.

“Those of you who have spent time with Australians know that we are not given to overstatements. By nature, we are laconic speakers and by conviction we are realistic thinkers.”

- Julia Gillard. Former Australian Prime Minister.

“You can’t motivate a student you don’t know.”

- Ted Sizer. A leader of educational reform in the United States

“Hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul and sings the tune without the words but never stops at all.”

- Emily Dickinson. An American Poet regarded as one of the most important figures in American poetry.

“Be Faithful in small things, because it is in them that your strength lies.”

- Mother Teresa. An Albanian Indian Catholic nun. Founder of the Missionaries of Charity. Spent most of life working with the poor and dying in Kolkata.

“But I know, somehow, that only when it is dark enough can you see the stars.”

- Martin Luther King Jr. He was an American Baptist minister, activist and political philosopher who was one of the most prominent leaders in the civil rights movement.

“Biology sometimes reveals its fundamental principles through what may seem at first to be arcane and bizarre.”

- Elizabeth Blackburn PhD. An Australian scientist who won the Nobel Prize in Physiology in 2009. She was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize in Australia.

Chris Tudor

Principal Liaison & AISNT Historian