In my fifty years in education, I have watched the pendulum of school reform swing back and forth with dizzying speed. We have seen the rise of the “knowledge-rich” curriculum and a laser-like focus on the “core” subjects of English, Maths, and Science. On paper, the UK is a success story; our performance in international league tables has markedly improved.
But as I look out across the landscape of 2025, I am deeply troubled. We have traded the soul of our schools for a set of metrics. While we have been busy passing tests, we have left a vacuum in the lives of our young people—and that vacuum is being filled by something far more sinister than a poor grade.

The Missing “Outlets”
The rise in youth misogyny and the “Manosphere” is not in doubt. But its causes are far more widespread than a failure of schools to “instruct” boys on how to behave.
Education is about building pride—the kind of pride that comes from knowing you can lead a choir, command a stage in a drama production, hold your own on a muddy rugby pitch or stay at the helm when the wind blows so strongly. When we narrow the curriculum to meet testing targets, we strip away these “outlets.”
For boys, this creates an identity vacuum. If a young man doesn’t find status and belonging within the school gates—through the arts, public speaking, or sport—he will look for it elsewhere. He finds it in the aggressive, individualistic “alpha” rhetoric of the online world. He isn’t looking for hate; he’s looking for a way to feel significant.

The Internalized Crisis for Girls
The damage to our girls is equally profound, though it often wears a different mask. In our “attainment-focused” culture, girls are increasingly internalizing the pressure to be perfect. Without the “safe failure” provided by a creative performance or the communal resilience built in team sports, we are seeing a crisis of confidence. National data shows that girls’ enjoyment of physical activity drops by a staggering 30% as they transition to secondary school. Why? Because the school has become an “attainment factory” where there is no space for the messy, joyful growth that happens in a choir or on a sports field.

Understand there is Crossover

However, we must be careful not to paint with too broad a brush. In the Venn diagram of character building, the needs of our students often overlap in vital ways. Just as we see boys who internalize their anxieties and retreat into isolation, we see many girls who desperately need the overt, public validation of success that only the arts or sports can provide. For these girls, a “gold star” on a maths paper isn’t enough to build an identity; they need the tangible thrill of a standing ovation the visceral pride of a last-minute goal or stroking the quad to victory to feel truly seen. When we cut these programs, we don’t just lose “extracurriculars”—we lose the primary mirrors in which these young women see their own strength and capability reflected. As the header to this post highlights, the ‘high’ that can be achieved when 33 rowers, boys and girls, row in unison to a collective override to ‘exhaustion’ really is worth the effort!

​A Different Path: The Claires Court Model

People often ask why schools like Claires Court maintain such a formidable reputation, not just for academic success, but for the character of their alumni. The answer isn’t a secret formula; it’s a commitment to the whole child.

​We have always believed that a “broad and balanced” education isn’t a luxury—it is a necessity.

• ​We protect the Arts because they build empathy and emotional literacy.
• ​We champion Sport because it teaches the “social contract” of loyalty and respect.
• We prioritize Oracy because a child who can speak with confidence is a child who can navigate a complex world without falling prey to extremist ideologies.
• Above all, we stand by the strongest set of values, that include and set a bar strong enough to hold when times get rough: Responsibility for ourselves, Respect for others, Loyalty to our school (and family) and Integrity above all.

​The Role of the Alumni

When I look at our alumni, I don’t just see people with good A-Levels or vocational BTecs. I see individuals who make a meaningful contribution to wider society. They do this because their education was a rehearsal for life, not just an exercise in memorization. They learned to build pride in what they can do, not just what they can test for.After five decades in this profession, my conviction has only grown stronger: It won’t come from just the academic.

​We must restore the “holistic heart” of our schools. We need to give our children back their voices, their creative outlets, and their communal spaces. If we don’t, we shouldn’t be surprised when they find their sense of purpose in the darker corners of the internet.