The Alleynian 708 2020

THE ALLEYNIAN 708 | OUT OF THE ORDINARY

OPINION, INTERVIEWS & FEATURES

READING FROM THE TOP

I LIKE THE FACT THAT IT IS MADE BY THE BOYS, FOR THE BOYS, BUT WITH TEACHER SUPPORT

people are reflecting on their activities beyond the campus. Then I’ll look probably at those more serious topics that may need more attention – the debates on everything from climate change to what problems we are going to face in the next generation, and how we are going to answer them. I know that we are all inclined to read what we are most interested in. Do you have any ideas on how we can encourage ourselves to read more broadly within the publication? I might be kidding myself, but I think that’s why the 400 edition was such a success. I could imagine people coming upon things they didn’t know were going to interest them and suddenly stopping and realising that they did want to look at that, or read about that. It has a balance, and it doesn’t feel cliquey. What I love is that all of the College is covered, from Ducks to the Upper School, so that everyone can look through and find themselves, or a friend. It didn’t feel as if it was the work of one clique of Alleynians, who were only writing for themselves and their friends. You might come across a page that you hadn’t expected to find interesting, but because of the photographs, or something in the text, you actually paused, and took the time to read that page. I think that, even on non-commemorative years, we might try to do that again. We’ve had a view from someone who says that we should allow more space for the boys by reducing the number of teachers in the Valete section, or the size of the articles. Do you agree? That’s difficult. I mean the Valete section is very important. It’s a way of saying thank you to departing teachers. Every boy has their Yearbook and can say their goodbyes there, and I think, within the Alleynian , the Valete section doesn’t

Some readers turn straight to the sports pages. Others linger over the art spread, enjoy the student opinion-pieces on politics, or plunge into the creative writing section. In trying to cater for the diverse interests and needs of its readership, how far does the Alleynian currently strike the right balance, and how might it change in the future? As part of a wider investigation into what the members of the Alleynian ’s readership think about the publication, Francis McCabe (Year 9) and Abel Banfield (Year 10) decided to ask the Master for his views

We have been interviewing people of the College about what they read in our school magazine, as well as what they don’t. We’d like to ask you what you read, as Master of the College. Well I read everything. I think it’s very important that I read everything. That goes for every Alleynian , but never more so than for ‘Celebrating 400’, the edition of the Alleynian which we brought out in 2019, reflecting on the whole calendar year. I think Jack Probert (student editor of the ‘Celebrating 400’ Alleynian ) and his team did a fantastic job. The Alleynian has always been a difficult balance between being a chronicle of the College and what must be reported, and being the boys’ magazine. I think there can be a tension between those two elements, but it can be a wonderful, creative tension. There are things that every Old Alleynian and non-Old Alleynian alike will want to look back at and see reflected on, for posterity, in a positive but relatively objective way, and then there are the moments of debate and dialogue and the boys’ own views about anything from the grave issues of the time in relation to climate change, to little Dulwich issues.

back; thinking forwards’, which contained pieces on the problems of our planet, and the books we’re reading, along with the article by Fedya, who found details of his great- grandfather’s role in defending the Soviet Union from Nazi aggression. It all reflected that sense of what we tend to do at Dulwich, which is to look in and look out. We can be proud of what we’re doing here, but never in a way that makes us simply over-engaged with navel-gazing! We like looking out from Dulwich at what the future might hold. So, in those ways, I thought the Alleynian captured our year very well.

seem too dominant. I have seen it dominate school magazines too much. In the Alleynian , it comes at the end; it doesn’t disturb the rest; it’s for you to look at the teachers you remember, you’d like to read about. You’ll probably find out something about them that you didn’t know, and I think that it is important to mark any teacher’s career in this way. It goes to Old Alleynians too, who will suddenly realise that such a teacher has left, another has retired or a third has gone on to that job that you’re so pleased to hear about. So, I think I’d agree with the reader who said let’s have more space for boys, and make the boys’ voices even stronger, but I’d say probably not at the expense of the Valete section.

Many of our other interviewees have told us what they are inclined to read first. Is there any section that you are fond of, or particularly attracted to?

Do you think that much more could be added, or is there anything that you think needs removing?

I would probably see if there are poems and stories. What I love is when the poems and stories are accompanied by artwork. So creative writing and creativity are the things that I’d often look at first. And I think this stands up very well. There are no doubt embryonic writers of the future, and artists of the future, whose first published work appears here. In years to come, we’ll be able to look back, as we do with people like PG Wodehouse, Graham Swift or Michael Ondaatje, and see their original works here. Then I’d look at the sport, music, drama, and art sections next. The Trips and Expeditions section offers a lovely way to catch up on how

Well, I’ll probably be embarrassed when I suddenly think about what’s not here, but as I say, what I love is our coverage of Dulwich. It seems to me, fair. We’re a school that wants to say that all elements of an education are equally valid, and I feel it captures that quite well. I wonder, on reflection, given how strong the House system is at the moment, about something more celebratory about the Houses – a little more space on House competitions, again as a way of involving and crediting boys who might not be big characters in the

So you see the magazine in some sort of way as a signature?

That’s a lovely way of putting it. I think that’s exactly what it is. It captures the balance and breadth of Dulwich education. I loved ideas in the quatercentenary edition such as ‘Looking

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