Headteacher’s Open Evening Speech – Matthew Albrighton

Headteacher’s Open Evening Speech – Matthew Albrighton

Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, and a very warm welcome to Burford School. My name is Matthew Albrighton and I have the privilege of being the Headteacher here at the best school in the land Burford.

Let me begin with thanks – to Mr Frankcom and our wonderful musicians. There really is no better place to experience music than here at Burford. Music – and the arts more broadly – run through the veins of our school. If you have not already done so, please drop by the Music Department tonight. Discover the instruments you could pick up, and experience for yourself the joy that is Burford Music. If you can make it do also look out for tickets for the Christmas Gala. It is an absolute treat.

Thank you also – to you, our prospective families – for joining us this evening. As you can see, we are very popular, and there may be queues as you go around the site. Please take your time, and most importantly, talk to our students and staff. They are rightly proud of this school. We never underestimate the importance of this evening and welcome you with open arms. If you would like to see us on a working day, with a tour led by our team, call reception and we will fit you in. If you are particularly unfortunate you may get the Headteacher.

At Burford, we talk about Respect, Participate, and Reach. These are our core values and you’ll hear more detail on them from our Heads of School in a few moments. What I want to emphasise now is how these values are not isolated ideas, but threaded in to everything we do. They hold together the journey that begins in Year 7 and continues right through to our Sixth Form.

Our curriculum is deliberately designed with this continuity in mind. It builds systematically from when each young person joins as at the end of Primary so that by Year 11 they are not simply finishing, but are ready to move on to Year 12 here and the final chapter at Burford. That sense of progression matters. We want our students to consider Burford Sixth Form as their natural next step – a place where they can continue to be stretched, supported, and prepared for life beyond school.

Robert Browning once wrote: “A man’s reach should exceed his grasp, or what’s a heaven for?” At Burford this culture of reaching beyond your grasp is very real, it is also a call to arms if you will a challenge for students to be the best version of themselves. It is a deliberate part of what makes Burford, Burford.

A unique strength is our boarding provision. If you have not yet explored this on our website, I encourage you to do so – the House is set in a beautiful 16th-century building right in the heart of Burford. Boarding offers something that very few state schools can match: a truly diverse community. Our boarders bring cultures, perspectives, and ambitions that lift all of us beyond the Oxfordshire or Cotswold bubble. In living and learning together, our students become citizens of a wider world, learning to think collectively, to adapt, and to embrace experiences far beyond what they might otherwise encounter.

And the wider life of Burford extends well beyond the classroom and the Boarding House. Our students are privileged to have opportunities that few schools can compete with. Trips to Germany, Spain, Switzerland, London, Dorset, Gibraltar, the Brecon Beacons, the Lakes, and even

the Cotswold Wildlife Park give them perspective, independence, and a sense of what it means to be a global citizen. In the arts, we run productions such as Les Misérables and Kinky Boots, alongside open-mic nights, house singing, and exhibitions in Warwick Hall. On the sports field, our teams compete at county and national level, with achievements in athletics, cross-country, football, rounders, kayaking, sailing, cricket, and more. Importantly, these experiences are not reserved for the elite: all students are encouraged to participate, to discover their strengths, and to shine.

And let me be clear: choosing Burford is not simply choosing a school. It is a commitment to the Burford way. Families who join us sign up to the same partnership we offer in return – high standards, respect for boundaries, and a relentless drive for students to be their best. That means the severest restrictions on mobile phones particularly in Key Stage 3 when you people are not equipped emotionally to manage the negative side of the technology available to them. We value face-to-face relationships as this is how you truly learn to thrive in the modern world. We are also particularly keen on being able to agreeably disagree – the silos of the online world are incredibly damaging to the notion of healthy debate, promoting division and unhappiness.

We do not accept behaviour that damages the community. It means old-fashioned courtesies – saying thank you at the end of a lesson, writing thank-you notes at the end of term, showing appreciation when you collect your lunch or step off a bus. These things matter. They matter because education is not just about what you know, it is about who you are becoming.

Over the last four years, our results have risen year on year. We now sit in the top 25% of schools nationally for value added – a product of deliberate focus on learning and a staff body training together on strategies and routines that are known to work. But more important than numbers is character. We want students who leave Burford confident, adaptable, and socially intelligent. In old-fashioned terms, we want Burford students to be decent. Archaic it may be, but vital in a world where integrity is challenged daily. We want our young people ready not only to achieve, but to thrive in the competitive, challenging world they will inherit.

So tonight, as you look around, ask yourself: is this a community you wish to be part of? Because the Burford way is demanding. It requires commitment – from staff, from students, and from families. But it is also joyful. There are countless opportunities to shine, countless opportunities to grow, and experiences that expand horizons far beyond what most schools can offer. For those who are ready to embrace that challenge, there is no better place.