Head sorry for ‘buy your dad a Jaguar’ advert

A PRIVATE school headmaster has apologised after an advert suggested children who went there would become wealthy enough to “buy your dad a Jaguar”.

Joff Powis, the head at Vinehall School in East Sussex, described the Open Day notice as “wholly misguided” and said that it “should never have seen the light of day”.

The advert, which was placed in the Wealden Advertiser, referred to a fictitious prospective student spotting a “beautiful dark blue Jaguar parked by a sign saying ‘Headmaster’s Parking’” as they pulled into one of the school’s Open Days in the family’s “Volvo estate”.

It then described how the imaginary pupil “wished [their] father had one” but that the “dad looked wistful; the Volvo had to do a few years yet”.

The advert ends with the pupil doing well at the co-educational boarding school, before becoming “very successful in business” and buying their father a Jaguar when he retires. It ends saying: “You think every child should go along to the Open Days.

“Maybe they will buy their dad a Jaguar one day, too.”

The advert was shared on Twitter, where users expressed anger at its sentiments, describing it as “vile”, “appalling” and “wonderfully tone deaf ”. When contacted by The

Daily Telegraph, Mr Powis said: “I very deeply regret the widespread offence caused by the recent Open Day advertisement.

“It was wholly misguided, and should never have seen the light of day.

“I must stress it is in no way a reflection of the ethos of our school and the worthwhile work we do here.

“We are taking a long hard look at how it came to be created in the first place, but as head, I must take full responsibility for its appearance, and can only apologise for such an unfortunate error of judgment.”

Mr Powis declined to confirm whether he drove a dark blue Jaguar.

‘It was wholly misguided and should never have seen the light of day’