Last year nine independent schools celebrated centenaries. In addition Radley College in Oxfordshire and Taunton School in Somerset celebrated 150 years, Churchers College in Hampshire 275, Aldenham 400, Harrow 425, Norwich School 450 and The Prebendal School 500. Eight others had anniversaries of more than 500 years. Two York schools, The Minster and St Peters, achieved 1370 years of age and The King’s School, Canterbury, can trace its origins to 30 years before theirs. It was 1400 years old.

So what, you ask. There are many old institutions in our country, possibly too many to accord with a philosophy of Cool Britannia, and on first appearance there is nothing very remarkable about a few old schools. But the 262 independent schools which celebrated a major anniversary in 1997, and another 200 in 1998, including St Albans School which will be 1050 years old, represent more than 50,000 years of accumulated wisdom in teaching. This must count for something. Arguably the old independent schools made this country what it was, and the fact that her influence affected so much of the world for so long must have been due in no small way to the learning process.

With the coming of state education the influence of the independents should have at least waned, or even ceased to exist altogether. But that has not been the case. Cynics may argue that the reason a strong independent sector not only continues but thrives says more about standards in state schools than anything else. There is some truth in this, in that independents consistently score better in exam league tables.

But the independents would not have survived if only that was the case. In fact they owe their survival entirely to their own strengths and merits, despite discouragement in some degree or other from successive governments.

First among the reasons for survival is that very venerability: age teaches a thing or two about survival. Over the years schools have learned how to benefit from good times and how to weather the bad. They have long discovered that one of the pillars on which survival depends is sound management. Most have also discovered that survival depends on not having an ethos bogged down by baggage from the past: an ability to anticipate, cope with modern demands, retain only those traditions worth keeping and jettison the rest. They have learned to adapt and, as the pace of change in life quickens, they have also been able to adapt correspondingly faster.

They have successfully appealed to successive generations by offering genuine parental choice – single-sex education or co-education, boarding or day or convenience boarding – in a way which no state school can, however much the government crows about it. Parents can find a school that really suits their child.

Most important, across the board they have consistently produced the academic results. Parents who send their children, regardless of their academic prowess, to an independent school expect optimum results to be achieved. In return for passing over considerable sums of money they demand good teaching facilities, small class sizes and highly qualified teachers who both know their subjects and can motivate their pupils to learn. Independent schools do not (yet) have to stick to the National Curriculum. Most regard it as no more than a starting point and in most cases the scope of the curriculum offered is both wider and more intense.

Other strengths are those of pastoral care and extra-curricular activities, ranging across a broad spectrum from the arts to sports. The reason that such emphasis is still placed on them is because they encourage aspects such as self-dependence, leadership, of learning to have to live with other people and of making long-lasting friendships, of helping others, of understanding that at times you must depend on others in the same way they will want to depend on you.

It also involves the matter of self-confidence, which is so important; a boy or girl who is only average in the classroom can often find another field in which to excel. There may also be pointers for directions to take in later life, a factor not lost on parents because if there is one thing which worries them more than anything else, and which encourages them to look at private education, it is the job situation. Although, arguably, it should not be part of their role, independent schools now place far more emphasis than they used to on preparing pupils for the next stages. The approach takes two forms.

One is that of actually identifying what the next stage should be and taking the necessary steps to achieve it. There may be the practical aspects of lectures, work experience, job application and interview techniques, creating CVs, of communication and appearance. The second is less easy to identify but goes to the heart of proper education. It is simply that of maximising the potential of each boy or girl, of emphasising strengths and identifying and eliminating weaknesses, of generating awareness, of encouraging the qualities of loyalty, integrity, teamwork, versatility, flexibility and hard work which employers look for.

It is also a matter of turning out potentially decent citizens, of producing good eggs even at a time when bad eggs seem to get a disproportionate share of the limelight. But then the old school is used to doing that; it has done it for generations. In it abides part of the soul of the nation.

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