PROFILE: ARTHUR GODSIL - HEADMASTER, ST ANDREW'S COLLEGE:Beloved of rock stars and diplomats, St Andrew's has a long waiting list – despite its €6,000-plus fees. It's a very different school with a very different headmaster, writes LOUISE HOLDEN
HE’S THE most famous Arthur G in Ireland after Mr Guinness himself, or so a Google search would have it. On his home turf they simply call him “The God”.
The word “headmaster” is a tight fit for Arthur Godsil, principal of St Andrew’s College in Booterstown. In designer suits, with slicked-back hair and a black Porsche Boxter, he projects the image of a man better suited to celebrity than to the pedestrian matter of schooling.
But then Andrew’s is no ordinary school. It is the only one in Ireland under Presbyterian patronage, making it a minority within a minority. Its liberal ethos, international outlook and “progressive’’ approach to religion and discipline, has made it an attractive educational enclave for the children of rock stars, media types and diplomats.
Godsil accentuates Andrew’s outlier status with forays into unexplored territory such as drug-testing and fingerprinting students. He never shies away from the media and defends his experiments confidently. Testing the limits of the system is his stock-in-trade. His actions give the impression of a man who does not, in spirit, operate at the level of the Irish education system.
“Arthur has travelled widely and he thinks in terms of the international education scene,” says a colleague. “He is not terribly taken with the Irish Leaving Cert, which is why he introduced the International Baccalaureate at Andrew’s. He sees the school as a school of tomorrow, while others are schools of yesterday. He regards his pupils as citizens of the world.”
Is there a God complex to match the moniker, then?
“To those who don’t know him, he can come across as a bit flash – the expensive car, the sharp suits, but he’s more complex than that,” says a colleague. “He likes cars because his father worked in the trade. He likes to dress well because he believes that grooming is important and sets a good example to students.”
Godsil makes a great impression, say parents who deal with him, and every parent deals with him – he makes sure of it. He has a businessman’s knack of building confidence in the buyer. “He believes in Andrew’s as a product, and he’s constantly trying to improve the product,” says a member of staff. “He would have excelled in business or in marketing.”
But he didn’t take that route, despite coming from a business family and spending 10 years from the age of 14 working with his father in his German car import and distribution business.
After graduating from High School in Rathgar, Godsil studied English at Trinity College and played rugby there. He started teaching at Andrew’s in 1977. As an English teacher in his mid-30s, he distinguished himself at the school by introducing the country’s first Model United Nations. His ambition caught the board’s attention and he was offered the top job at a young age.
“He was a good teacher but he was no Mr Chips,” says a colleague.
“Arthur was never going to correct homework for the rest of his life. He’s too ambitious. He didn’t come from a teaching background, he was privately educated himself. He’s a bit different, he’s got a bit of polish.” His efforts to bring the world to Booterstown were recognised beyond the board, and in 2002 he was given an award by the European Council of International Schools (ECIS) for his contribution to international education. .
“Stubborn”, “inscrutable”, but “always fair”, Godsil keeps a judicious distance between himself and his students, and is regarded as an authoritative figure best avoided in the corridors, according to a recent graduate. “That all changes in sixth year, though. Once you start final year he sits down with each student and gets to know them.
He turns up at matches and gets very involved. It’s at this stage you start to see how hands-on he is.”
With “God” at the helm, the waiting list at Andrew’s has steadily climbed, even as other Protestant schools feel the pressure of falling funds and rising financial pressures on constituent families.
Some Protestant schools around the country are in peril, with numbers declining, according to a Church of Ireland source. Not Andrew’s – enrolment at the school is up 4 per cent since 2004 and the school works long waiting lists.
For a religious school, religion is not very evident. The only deity on campus is “The God” himself. “I never came across any trace of religion the whole time I was there,” says a former student.
But being Protestant has cost Andrew’s dearly this year. The recent Government decision to cut ancillary education grants to the Protestant school sector has hit the school where it hurts. As well as charging fees of more than €6,000 a year, Andrew’s has thrived on State support, receiving €5m for teachers’ salaries and building works in 2008/2009.
The removal of ancillary funding, which covers salaries for roles such as school secretary and caretaker, will cost the school €700,000 this year, according to Godsil.
“Arthur will take this on. He cuts a swath through problems – he’s always more interested in solutions. ‘How will I beat the system?’ That question energises him,” says a friend.
Beyond the school, leading figures in education are not so sure.
Andrew’s has taken a couple of hits lately. “They got smacked about a bit by the Data Commissioner for their efforts to bring in fingerprint identification of students,” says one (a proposed biometric recognition system at the school had to be modified to conform with a stricter protocol). “Now they have taken a big funding hit. They may have to curtail the curriculum to meet the shortfall.”
Another senior figure in post-primary education thinks he’ll weather the storm. “He’s courageous. Hes never afraid to respond candidly in the media – many school figures are terrified of how their views will be used if they speak out. Godsil has no fear on that front. Overall, he’s very good-humoured. He has a serious job but he doesn’t take himself too seriously. . .”
St Andrew's College
DENOMINATION
St Andrew’s College, Booterstown, Co Dublin, is the only Presbyterian school in the State. While it rows in with other Protestant schools on many matters, the school, under its principal of 20 years, Arthur Godsil, has taken a maverick stance on issues such as exams, drug-testing, and fingerprinting of students.
DEMAND
It has a waiting list up to 2022. Demand has increased by 4 per cent in the past five years
RANKING
In 2009 the college came 5th in The Irish Timesfeeder-school List. It has topped the list in the past and has never been out of the top 10.
FEES
St Andrew’s increased its fees this year from €6,020 to €6,110; a rise of 1.4 per cent. The school says cutbacks in Government funding to Protestant schools will cost €700,000 in this academic year
STATE SUPPORT
The school received over €5 million in State supports, including more than €4.5 million for teacher salaries and €460,000 for building works in 2008/2009.
UNIQUE FEATURES
Many students take the International Baccalaureate instead of the Leaving Cert. The school has students from more than 60 nationalities, including children of diplomats. The Model United Nations Society is the longest-established in the country.
