View from the Top: William Trelawny-Vernon on why you should never work with children and animals

‘Never work with children and animals’

I arrived to take on the headship of Saint Ronan’s twenty years ago, straight from housemastering at Stowe and with four children between the ages of three and eight. Numbers were lacklustre and declining, and the building had slipped from shabby chic to positively threadbare.

I didn’t see this. I saw the majesty of the building and grounds and felt the near electrical charge of the Saint Ronan’s ‘magic’. Twenty years later, with a fair wind and a fabulous team, Saint Ronan’s has become larger than most, with enviable facilities, a superb academic and pastoral reputation, several utterly bonkers traditions and a palpable joie de vivre.

The children here have been a joy to work with. I have loved seeing them head-to-toe in mud as they have navigated Elias’s slippery ‘death slide’ in the woods. I have applauded with gusto – and shed tears of mirth – at the County Show, watching them show wildly uncontrollable but beautifully groomed piglets. I love to see their cheeks in a post chill flush after an unexpected session on the school toboggans; such a stark contrast to the hot summer dashes to the swimming pool wrapped in a jaunty, but faded, bath sheet. I have been speechless at performances on stage, where shy children have erupted onto the stage like seasoned thespians. I have joined the children in their dislike of healthy versions of tomato ketchup and have navigated Student Council ideas, oft times biting my lip to stop myself grinning at suggestions; an elephant for the school farm or a zip wire from the Clock Tower to the 100-acre wood. I have been touched at the children’s desire to do charitable works and to contribute to the rewilding of the grounds. I have glowed in vicarious pride at their keen sense of right and wrong and their awareness of their role in protecting the planet. I have been enthralled by their engineering talents and their technological prowess - programming their own drones and working out endlessly complex coding. I have an enormous sense of pride when Ronians move on to their senior schools with a sense of having succeeded, a ‘can do’ attitude and an enduring love of the memories forged in these important years.

So I can’t agree. Working with children has been a joy.

Now to the animals. We opened our school farm about ten years ago. We had aimed to have a few rescue chickens. Something modest and easy to maintain. Our first batch of chickens were not only bald and squawky, but also reluctant to part with their eggs! Nothing would persuade the children to pick them up. Today, we have one of the largest and well-stocked farms of any school. We have lustrous and robust chickens who deliver the yellowest of yellow yokes and love being cuddled by the children. We have escapologist pygmy goats who enjoy being paraded on leashes, we have two donkeys who love watching the school matches and bray approvingly when the home team scores a point, knowing that a carrot may soon arrive from an over-excited child. We have rabbits and guinea pigs and have just adopted three underweight hedgehogs. We have peacocks who imperiously roam the grounds and we have a brass effigy of the democratically elected ‘president’ of the animals, Basil the Duck, who shot to fame in lockdown. Sadly, Basil was eaten by Mr Fox, not the Director of Sport, but the wily sly one who expectantly saunters past the chickens with a twinkly glint. The one with four legs, if you needed any more prompting! We have a herd of Ryeland sheep who navigate their public shearing in front of excited children with no sense of embarrassment in their nakedness. We have large, well-fed, and friendly pigs who are pampered within an inch of their life by adoring children.

So, I can’t agree, working with the animals has been a huge pleasure.

All in all, I am glad I didn’t listen to the advice given to me early on. Working with children and animals has given me, and the team here at Saint Ronan’s, an endless source of happiness and purpose.

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View from the Top: William Trelawny-Vernon on why you should never work with children and animals

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