Bursar ’ s Message
Steven Little
BURSAR & SECRETARY TO THE GOVERNING BODY
It is a commonplace that Win Coll is remarkable . It is indeed a unique school . It is , however , much , much more than that . It is a community , a community where 700 pupils and more than 100 dons , supported by 400 non-teaching staff , live and work in common purpose ; well , most of the time , though indiscipline is not unknown even at Win Coll ! “ How hard can it be to run a school ?” you might reasonably ask . Win Coll is a surprisingly complex undertaking and the sum of the parts is greater than the whole . The school rightly lies at the centre of things , but from the Bursar ’ s perspective Win Coll sometimes takes on the aspect of being a property company , and at other times , thanks to the endowment , an investment company . We pay more than 500 people each month . Not all , by any means , are permanent , full-time staff ; many are part-time or casual and all the more valuable for that , primarily servicing the domestic and catering needs of the ten boarding houses and College . We also have the ancillary staff that support the school and help make its environment what it is ; not many schools can claim to have a river keeper , and a deputy . It has been said that no young person will grow up in a more beautiful place than Winchester . The built and natural environments are , of course , entirely man-made and need constant care . Extensive parts of the campus are either public access areas or Sites of Special Scientific Interest ( e . g . the Nature Reserve ) or Special Areas of Conservation ( e . g . the main River Itchen and its carriers ), all managed at the College ’ s expense . The College also maintains the canal , and there is extensive public access to parts of the College grounds . There are more than 170 school buildings , including teaching spaces , staff accommodation and the boarding houses . One of the College ’ s main charitable objects is the preservation of the ancient buildings with their contents for the public benefit . The school also maintains entirely
10 The Wykeham Journal 2016