Queen's College Official Closure Letter
Summer Term 1965
Summer Term 1965
Dear Mr. and Mrs. --------,
After long and careful thought I have decided to close Queen’s College at the end of the present summer term. There are several reasons for this decision, the predominant one being the uncertain state of my own health during the winter months of the past three or four years, precluding my giving that constant daily attention which a headmaster naturally wishes to give to his school. It has also proved a vain hope that the College might be spared those staffing problems which have afflicted other schools, for it has been most difficult for some time past to find suitable men for upper school teaching in mathematics, physics, technical drawing and physical activities. Moreover, it is well-known that financial stringency has already closed many independent schools and that in the present political climate those which survive are facing an uncertain future.
As I am now approaching the age at which men normally expect to retire, I hope I may be able to do so with the kind understanding of both parents and pupils, even of those who will be faced with unexpected inconvenience.
Arising from rumours current in the district, I have received some enquiries from parents regarding the future of the school and if I have had to appear evasive in my replies I hope they will be charitable towards me and understand that in order to preserve the school as a working entity no hint of impending closure could be divulged in advance of the general announcement.
I hope that parents will leave their children at the college until the actual closure, so that the present classes may be continued undisturbed. This would allow the summer holiday for arranging a child’s attendance elsewhere, and I trust that parents will concur in my view that an autumn transfer best secures the interest of all concerned.
Pupils of the Senior II class have been entered for the College of Preceptors’ Examinations. After which most of them will be eligible for transfer to a College of Further Education. Exceptionally, too, this year, most of the Senior I pupils have also been entered for certain subjects of the same examining body, in order to assist them on transfer to other schools. I shall, of course, be happy to advise parents or to render them such assistance as may be in my power in this situation.
Generally, one does not view the prospect of retirement from active professional life without some regrets, and this applies with particular force to a life passed in teaching and involving so many personal relationships. In a total of forty-three years’ teaching I have been privileged to establish many cordial friendships with former parents, pupils and teachers, and I shall be doubly happy in retirement if I can be assured of the continued goodwill of those now connected with the school and from time to time renew our association.
Those with long experience in the college will agree that I have never tried to make Queen’s a fashionable school, but often I have been gladdened to hear it described as a happy one. Due regard has been paid to the virtues of hard work, fair play, and a firm but kindly discipline, and I trust that the school motto, “The end crowns the work” will be seen to be true in the calibre of the men and women emerging from its training. Though there is no physical permanence in either school or schoolmaster, “for here we have no continuing city”, surely the school lives on in the quality of service rendered by its pupils. My parting wish is that among the hundreds of pupils I have been privileged to influence there may be many exemplars.
Yours ever sincerely
Johnson Ball
After long and careful thought I have decided to close Queen’s College at the end of the present summer term. There are several reasons for this decision, the predominant one being the uncertain state of my own health during the winter months of the past three or four years, precluding my giving that constant daily attention which a headmaster naturally wishes to give to his school. It has also proved a vain hope that the College might be spared those staffing problems which have afflicted other schools, for it has been most difficult for some time past to find suitable men for upper school teaching in mathematics, physics, technical drawing and physical activities. Moreover, it is well-known that financial stringency has already closed many independent schools and that in the present political climate those which survive are facing an uncertain future.
As I am now approaching the age at which men normally expect to retire, I hope I may be able to do so with the kind understanding of both parents and pupils, even of those who will be faced with unexpected inconvenience.
Arising from rumours current in the district, I have received some enquiries from parents regarding the future of the school and if I have had to appear evasive in my replies I hope they will be charitable towards me and understand that in order to preserve the school as a working entity no hint of impending closure could be divulged in advance of the general announcement.
I hope that parents will leave their children at the college until the actual closure, so that the present classes may be continued undisturbed. This would allow the summer holiday for arranging a child’s attendance elsewhere, and I trust that parents will concur in my view that an autumn transfer best secures the interest of all concerned.
Pupils of the Senior II class have been entered for the College of Preceptors’ Examinations. After which most of them will be eligible for transfer to a College of Further Education. Exceptionally, too, this year, most of the Senior I pupils have also been entered for certain subjects of the same examining body, in order to assist them on transfer to other schools. I shall, of course, be happy to advise parents or to render them such assistance as may be in my power in this situation.
Generally, one does not view the prospect of retirement from active professional life without some regrets, and this applies with particular force to a life passed in teaching and involving so many personal relationships. In a total of forty-three years’ teaching I have been privileged to establish many cordial friendships with former parents, pupils and teachers, and I shall be doubly happy in retirement if I can be assured of the continued goodwill of those now connected with the school and from time to time renew our association.
Those with long experience in the college will agree that I have never tried to make Queen’s a fashionable school, but often I have been gladdened to hear it described as a happy one. Due regard has been paid to the virtues of hard work, fair play, and a firm but kindly discipline, and I trust that the school motto, “The end crowns the work” will be seen to be true in the calibre of the men and women emerging from its training. Though there is no physical permanence in either school or schoolmaster, “for here we have no continuing city”, surely the school lives on in the quality of service rendered by its pupils. My parting wish is that among the hundreds of pupils I have been privileged to influence there may be many exemplars.
Yours ever sincerely
Johnson Ball