Winston Churchill made a number of pithy observations about success and failure.

The man blamed for the Gallipoli tragedy of the First World War once noted that "success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts". Some 25 years later, he proved himself right by stewarding Britain successfully though the Second World War and in 2002 was named Greatest Ever Briton in a poll.

It is the Churchill spirit that Fettes School apparently wants to tap into with its novel "failure week". There is no doubting the pressure school children are under to succeed academically and socially, perhaps particularly at private schools. When perfectionism in a child meets defeat, the consequences can be devastating. So the aim of this excellent initiative is to get children to try risky ventures in order to learn from their mistakes and become more resilient.

The serious failures arising from the invasion of Iraq do not seem to have crushed ex-Fettes boy Tony Blair, now a tanned and relaxed multimillionaire. Controversial former prime ministers aside, though, the lessons of failure are valuable for everyone.