It will be difficult for anyone who attended last week’s College musical, Les Misérables, to forget the experience: the utterly flawless singing; the ingenious sets and direction; lighting which in itself told the story; individual and ensemble performances which rivalled, if not bettered anything you will see in the West End; and the sheer, relentless emotional depths into which we were plunged. I cannot be the only one who found it difficult to sleep having watched this utterly breathtaking show. Bravissimo to everyone involved. It was ineffably brilliant.
There are so many themes woven into Victor Hugo’s narrative but none more powerful than his fundamental belief in the power of the human spirit to overcome adversity, to show deep kindness to one’s fellow men, and that, no matter what challenges are thrown in our way, no matter how much darkness we find within the world around us, there will always be light if we let love, forgiveness and compassion into our hearts. Aimer, c’est agir – “To love is to act” – were the final words Victor Hugo ever wrote, just three days before his death in 1885 and Les Misérables is littered with examples of conscientious actions motivated by the desire to improve the lives of others through love, forgiveness and compassion.
As well as the College musical, the final week before half term also saw a visit from Professor Tom Harrison and Dr Shane McLoughlin of the Jubilee Centre for Character and Virtues at Birmingham University. Our Deputy Head, Dr Katy Granville-Chapman who leads on Character Education at Wellington, asked them to audit every aspect of our educational provision and ways of operating as a school to see where our strengths lie, on which we can build, and also where the opportunities also sit to do things differently or even better.
A Wellington Education has always been about more than mere accumulation of knowledge and skills to ace public examinations, achieve top grades and move on to the world’s best universities. Development of good character was at the heart of Prince Albert’s aims for the College when its foundations were being put in place in the 1850s, and our current purpose statement – pioneering education to serve and help shape a better world – explicitly and deliberately places the concepts of service and making a positive difference in the lives of others at the heart of what we are trying to achieve both as an institution and in the hearts and minds of our pupils and alumni. We hope Prince Albert – and Victor Hugo – would approve.
The other lesson I took from Les Misérables is one which I have written about repeatedly over the years: the central importance of the creative arts in our lives as a way of exploring and making sense of the messiness which is the human condition. Jean Valjean is no flawless hero: at times, he is a thief, he can be prone to violence and he can respond to others dismissively and even with hatred. But, as Professor Barnett of Harvard University writes, “Valjean sees people. He sees the humanity in them. He sees it in the prostitute Fantine. He even sees it in Inspector Javert, who pursues him so ruthlessly. Valjean cares about people but he is no saint…Valjean is human; he has negative emotions. He overcomes his hatred [of Marius] because he loves his daughter Cosette, and she loves Marius. And so he chooses to save Marius’s life. It’s this capacity to love and forgive that we can learn the most from.”
In a world where love, forgiveness and compassion can often seem in short supply, I make no apologies that a focus on positive values and good character will forever be a central part of a Wellington Education under my Mastership.