Exchange with Harrow
Simon Curtis

During the last term I was lucky enough to go to school as an exchange student at Harrow School in England.

Before I went to Harrow, my family and I went on holiday. We stayed in London and did the tourist thing. I felt that this was entirely worthwhile because it allowed me on my arrival to speak to the guys about England because the certain age groups of boys that I was in were very proud of their country.

When I arrived at Harrow I was greeted warmly by the Housemaster, Mr David Elleray. Mr Elleray was a premiership referee and was said to be the best football referee during his time. When I arrived I was also greeted by two boys who later became very good friends of mine. They helped me to my room and stayed and talked to me for a considerable amount of time. They were very welcoming and they made me feel right at home.

Harrow school is over 500 years old. The school is fully boarding like Hilton and is also an all boy’s school. It is situated in London and is easily accessible by all forms of public transport. There are around 800 boys at the school, there are 10 houses which accommodate between 65 – 90 boys, my house Druries is the smallest house and accommodates 65 pupils.

Many famous people have gone to Harrow, Prime Ministers of England, Princes and other world renown people. The most famous of them all is Winston Churchill

In the House, all the other boys, except half of the removes get single studies. For the first year you share a study with one other person and these rooms are called “doubles”. The first year pupils are classed as “shells” in the House and classrooms but they are classed as “yearlings” on the sports fields. The “shells” have duties like our poops do, they have to collect bread and milk for the top two years in the House.

The years in the House go as follows:

“shells” which are “poops”
“removes” which are Form 2’s
“V2’s” which are Form 3’s
“L6” which are Form 4’s
“U6” which are Matrics.

The 6th form which is the lower and upper 6th put together play sport together, just like we do in our open age group and they get all the same privileges which is different from us where Matrics only have privileges. This year I was in Lower 6th. The lower 6th boys are responsible for all the House duties except for call-over which is roll call. Call over is twice a day, once in the morning and again in the evening before prep. The prefects and Head of House take the call over. I was lucky enough on my last day to take call-over. This may not seem much but apparently it is considered a great privilege because only school and House prefects are allowed to take call over.

In the House there are often evenings that get organized. While I was there , there was a House songs evening and a House entertainment evening. The House songs was very formal and the dress was black tie for teachers and Sunday dress which is pin stripes, black shoes, white shirt, black waist coat and tails.

At the beginning of the evening the Head of House stands up and introduces all the teachers that are house guests at the evening. The teachers are embarrassed by the Head of House and he does this by revealing the teacher to some of the stories that go around the school about him or her.

During the evening songs are sung and various forms of entertainment are put forward for the teachers and the rest of the House. There are new boys solo’s which I had to sing, and all sorts of sketches which are short plays. The boys take it upon themselves to embarrass Mr Elleray, the Housemaster, as much as possible. There were four sketches and everyone was ripping off Mr Elleray.

The songs that are sung are hundreds of years old and they are all traditional songs that have to do with the exclusive game of Harrow football which I will tell you about just now.

The sports that are played at Harrow are similar to Hilton but there is one game which is only played at Harrow and nowhere else in the world. The game is Harrow football. The Harrow football is the same shape as a poof cushion. It is basically a stunted cylinder with a rounded top and bottom. The rules are very confusing and I would need a lot of time to tell you them but basically Harrow football in a nutshell is a cross between rugby and football, where you are only allowed to shoulder barge and there are the same off sides rules for kicking as there are in rugby.

Some of the other sports that I played while I was there was Rugby Sevens, Harrow football, Badminton, Canoeing, Water- Polo and Football.

Another extra mural that the school offers is the Harrow Rifle Corpse. This is the school army. All boys in the remove year and V2’s year must join and then it is optional for the 6th for members to carry on with the corpse. The corpse consists of boys and the teachers run the corpse. When you join you get issued with your clothing which is full army field kit which is a combat jacket and pants, green shirts and green jerseys. All the boys are ranked. That is the closest that Harrow comes to Hilton in terms of listening and respect to the older boys. Harrow is very casual in terms of respect for older boys.

The House events at Harrow are taken very seriously and boys really do try their hardest and best to perform well for the House. During my stay I saw Druries win 8 House events. One of the House events that is taken very seriously is the Assault course. The assault course is a very hard strenuous exercise and is very tiring. It is an obstacle course of a serious note and the same sort of thing is done by the Royal Marines in these first stages of marine life.

Sport at Harrow is a big thing and the teachers insist that everyday you play some sort of sport. In the House one of the duties is eccer book which is an everyday record of your sporting activities. The Housemaster inspects this every day at lunch.

The school work at Harrow is also taken seriously. The teachers have a different approach to teaching and are very similar to university lecturers. They do not allow as much interaction between pupils and every boy sits at his own desk, not allowing him to interact. No group activities take place and I think that that is a great flaw in their system. The guys do not know how to work and co-operate with other people.

On the weekends
For leaves boys have two set “exeats” which are leaves each term. The exeats are Friday and Saturday night and most of the guys had houses or flats in London so you just catch a tube and walk to the house, which is very convenient. On the weekends you do what we would do and go out places and see people. Some of the boy’s parents are very well connected and I was lucky enough to go to some of the most exclusive clubs and restaurants in London. On half term I was lucky enough to go to Fuller’s brewery which is the biggest brewery in London. I also saw the famous fox hunts and witnessed many pheasant hunts. All the traditional English activities.

In conclusion I would just like to say a few things about exchange.

Exchange is an opportunity that unfortunately only knocks once and one that is very important in terms of growing as a person and getting a more rounded, considerate and thankful approach on life. Exchange offers you opportunities that could not be grasped otherwise. You learn how other people live in a completely different and unique land. You get to experience awesome events and traditions which cannot be found anywhere else. It allows you to see how it feels when you are the new comer and it teaches you how you should treat people who are unfamiliar with the surroundings and aspects of everyday life, which are common to us. You become more outgoing, more independent and more aware of others and the only way to learn these important respects of life is to experience them.

So I urge all the guys who are coming up in the school to not waste the chance to experience what exchange offers and not to let such an immense opportunity pass you by.

We all get the chance to experience these sorts of things, may it be at Hilton or away in some foreign land but we must remember that when such opportunities come, we must not let them be something that once happened to us, let it be something that helped and enriched you as a person.”

Simon Curtis