The head of a leading private school will tell a conference she is tired of hearing young people being called “snowflakes”.

Sally-Anne Huang, who has just taken over as the first female High Master of St Paul’s School in London, will also say in a speech that rather than being perceived as an “ivory tower”, independent schools should be a “life raft” for liberal education and the development of sport and the arts.

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Ms Huang, new chairwoman of the Headmasters’ and Headmistresses’ Conference (HMC), which represents 296 leading private schools, said that what young people have gone through this year is “turning them into a remarkable and powerful generation”.

In a speech at the HMC autumn conference on Monday, Ms Huang will say she fears that the biggest scar left by 2020 may be the divide between generations.

“I for one am tired of hearing the young described as snowflakes. In this country, I cannot think of a group of young people out of war time, of whom more has been asked or from whom more has been taken than those in our nation’s schools in 2020.

“Anyone who, like me, was with 18-year-olds in March when they suddenly learnt that not just their chance to prove themselves in exams, but also all those joyous rites of passage at the end of their school days had been taken from them - anyone who saw them pick themselves up, move on, adapt, they would not call them snowflakes.

“Then they had the traumatic mess that was A-level results - and now they are being charged £9,000 a year for a university experience which will be remote at best, with the threat of being locked down in halls of residence when they have not had time to make friends or adjust to being away from home. It’s too much,” she will say.

Ms Huang will tell those tuning into the virtual conference: “We need to heal these wounds for them - continue improving access to our schools, deliver a curriculum that suits their needs, and continue to question what’s going on in our exam system and in our universities.

“I know that HMC schools are already pulling in this direction - I know that I am pushing at an open door.

“But I feel the need now is urgent and that, rather than being the ivory tower we can sometimes be perceived to be - we are instead an essential life raft for liberal education, civilized debate about the future, respect for expertise and for the development of sport and of the arts.”

Ms Huang will say there is a new and troubling tendency across society as a whole to look for difference and division rather than common ground.

“To look for someone to blame, rather than a solution to a shared problem.

“At HMC, we are often the people who are blamed, and, although I would be the first to acknowledge the difference between our budgets and those offered to our colleagues in state schools, the reality is, we are willing and able to help with the problem,” she will say.

She will tell the conference: “The country needs to recover from multiple wounds. Not only do we need to restore ourselves medically, but in terms of inclusion, education and economics.

“The UK needs its most successful institutions, institutions like ours, more than ever before, to help it heal.”