When I was at Marlborough College, a reasonable private boarding school in England with 650 pupils, there were clearly three outstanding teachers – Denis Silk, Ian Beer and Donald Wright; they went on to be headmasters of Radley school, where Denis Silk was headmaster for 23 years and was called “the best headmaster of his generation in England, transforming Radley from what was a pretty ordinary place to one of England’s best public schools”; Harrow school, where Ian Beer was headmaster for 10 years and Shrewsbury school where Donald Wright was headmaster for 12 years and The Times newspaper called him a “great reforming headmaster”.

I was not taught by any of the three, nor were any of them my housemaster, but for some reason Donald Wright befriended me and became a sort of mentor to me, on one occasion speaking to my father for an hour and a half on the telephone when my father was being very difficult with me and Donald Wright was acting in my defense. Although I was not necessarily aware of it at the time, Donald was a great inspiration to me, but, looking back on it, he motivated me in a way that was very effective. One day I met him in the quad and I said that another boy and I wanted to walk that night to Stonehenge, 21 miles away, to be there at daybreak as it was midsummer day. He said that it was a very good idea and he would pick us up there just after daybreak. Sunrise was at 4am and he must have got up at 3:30am to pick us up, but he was there. That one act of kindness was so unexpected and generous that it transformed our attitude towards school life and learning. We thought it remarkable that someone in his position should take the time and show such interest in us when we were not even taught by him. It was an inspiring example we’ll never forget.

There were no other masters of anywhere near the quality of these three; in fact, the remainder were very ordinary.

We have picked our residential tutors from such people as these teachers at Marlborough who were so effective at motivating people. Living full-time with a tutor like this in your home would have a life-long effect on your child. GN