Toby Seth, Headmaster of Whitgift, on why learning languages makes you more human
““The child in front of you is the most precious thing in the world to someone else. If you think like that, you will be more mindful of your decisions.”
Toby Seth is Whitgift School's 30th headmaster, back in his South London roots having been educated himself at Dulwich College. A fervent linguist (and Arsenal fan) with a languages degree from Trinity Cambridge, Toby has held leadership roles at Wellington College, Godolphin and Latymer, King's Macclesfield and most recently as head of Pocklington School in Yorkshire. Now midway through his first year at Whitgift, he brings fresh eyes to one of the country's leading boys' schools. Chatting to Henry Faber, Toby makes a passionate case for languages as a vital tool to being better communicators and more human in an AI age. He reflects on what single-sex boys' education gets right, explains how to counter perceptions of machismo and shares the strategy work underway to define Whitgift's vision and values for the years ahead.
🎙️ Episode highlights
The problem with how we teach languages in the UK is too much focus on accuracy and not enough on just "having a go".
Working at Godolphin and Latymer gave Toby insights he's now bringing to an all-boys environment.
The crossover between rural Yorkshire and South London Croydon has been surprisingly valuable.
Co-curricular programmes and academic performance have a symbiotic relationship where skills learned in one feed the other.
Whitgift is expanding internationally, starting with a school in India and conversations about other parts of the world.
His controversial opinion is that social media isn't all bad if you curate it well.