Boarding school headmaster, Dr Stephen Winkley, has received a Lifetime Achievement Award for his services to education, in the prestigious Independent School Awards 2011.
A former chairman of the Boarding Schools’ Association and one of the most colourful characters in the Independent sector, Stephen Winkley is a career educationalist with over 40 years experience gained at some of the country’s leading public schools. Now headmaster of Rossall School, a co-educational boarding and day school on Lancashire’s Fylde Coast, he is equally well-known for his tenure as headmaster of Uppingham School, from which he retired in 2006, following 15 successful years, and also for his time as second master of Winchester College.
Award judges described Stephen Winkley’s 40-year contribution to the sector as: “impressive, inspiring and extremely worthy.” And, despite the category being particularly closely contested, the judges were unanimous in their choice.
Lured out of retirement, Dr Winkley took the helm at Rossall School in 2008. In three years he has overseen a major investment programme on the 160-acre campus and been responsible for attracting record numbers pupils to the School from the UK and over 30 countries worldwide. He also steered the school to its first ever pole position in the Lancashire league tables in 2010. In the 1990’s he had a leading role in the Boarding Education Alliance, the organization created to help arrest the decline in UK boarding school numbers, which was also widely recognized as pivotal in helping to change public perceptions of independent education.
Throughout his career Dr Winkley has been an outspoken critic of what he describes as: “a ‘one size fits all” national education policy and has been vocal in his support for the return of Grammar Schools, together with calling for the abolition of the target driven culture that has transformed how some schools view the delivery of education to children across the age spectrum.
Receiving the award from sponsor, Zurich, Dr Winkley commented: “One always worries that a lifetime achievement award is presented at the end of one’s career, or simply in astonishment that one has survived so long! However, I’m delighted that some people think I’ve made a contribution to education over the years. It’s not why I or others got into education, but to receive such recognition is rewarding, especially as I believe there are so many people in education in Britain who are equally long-serving and deserving of praise.”