EXCELLENCE, WELLBEING, SUCCESS

If there are three words you will hear a lot this academic year, it will be these.

St Hugh’s has long prided itself on being an outstanding school. Our last inspection in 2022 only reinforced those credentials, while the success of the Year 8 children in the summer was the proof in the pudding.

Having had the opportunity to spend two years getting to know the school, one as Head-Elect and last year as my first in post, this summer was the perfect time to revisit our aims and values. I have said to many prospective parents over the last year that most schools will use the same phrases on their websites and in their marketing material. When stripping away the colours and crests, we are left with high frequency words. Parents choose Prep Schools very often because of how they ‘feel’ when they visit – not always based on what they say that they do for the children.

Ultimately, this is the best way of making decisions but it can belie the importance of Prep School education. Our job as Prep School educators is not only to create a warm and fuzzy feeling for children and parents; it is to prepare children for Senior School and life beyond. These are critical decisions as children will usually spend twice as long in their Prep School as they do in their Senior School. These formative years set the tone for what is to come. By the time the children leave Prep School, they have built the foundations of their personality and academic attitude, their moral code, and view of the world (a world that they are often engaging in via technology). In my view, Prep School education is the more important stage of school to get right, and to invest in. We all know the allegorical tale of the three little pigs; the foundations are critical.

During the summer, the Senior Leadership Team debated our aims and values, and numerous Governors have also joined this conversation. We have wanted to bring clarity to our aims so that you know our intention for your children, and so that all members of staff appreciate what we are aiming for, and children know what we are prioritising.

The values can be found on the website and I would encourage all parents to read through them. Our three central words are Excellence, Wellbeing, and Success.

We want to deliver Excellence in all areas for your children. Regardless of the discipline, area of learning, or experience, my drive is for us to be excellent and not to settle for anything less. If we are expecting the children to be excellent in attitude and application, we need to be too. There is no perfect school, but the strive for excellence is the constant evolution to get as near to that as we can, to be open to new ideas and to evaluate where we can improve. I will be pushing all staff to support each other in that pursuit. I have also used the word with all children this week in assembly. If children are to be the best they can be, they need to consider if they are being ‘excellent’ in their endeavours and their relationships. Not perfect, but excellent.

Wellbeing is a much-used word, but one that too often lacks definition. By wellbeing we are referring to your child’s academic and pastoral health which are of equal importance to us. The truth is that children who are happy, settled, fulfilled and who have direction are usually successful in what they are trying to achieve, and they are able to celebrate their successes without feeling that they could or should have done more. Academic Wellbeing means to be well prepared for future learning, to be willing to embrace new ideas and challenges, to continue growing and learning throughout life, and to have the personal resources at hand to cope with academic and vocational challenges. I am encouraging all staff to focus on these themes so that we are challenging the children but making sure that they are challenges that help them to swim faster and harder, without spluttering and sinking. Academic Wellbeing means pushing them to be their best, without having a detrimental impact on their Pastoral Wellbeing.

Pastoral Wellbeing is possibly easier to define. We want the children to be happy, both in the company that they keep (and able to adapt where personalities clash) and within themselves. Our children need to be self-assured without being arrogant; to be expectant of success without being entitled; to be confident in their convictions while being open to the thoughts and ideas of others; to be willing to take risks while having the ability to recognise danger. Pastoral Wellbeing is having good mental and physical health and knowing how to look after both.

It is the combination of the Academic and Pastoral Wellbeing that will lead to success at St Hugh’s, at Senior School destinations and, ultimately, in their lives ahead. That is success whether it is in examinations and assessments, a chosen career, financial aspirations, or friendships and familial relationships. It brings the opportunity for our children to be happy and content, which is all we as parents ever really want for our children.

St Hugh’s has long offered all of these things to children past and present so there is nothing new here. However, by bringing clarity to our aims and values and by focusing on these three words, we are providing focus on what our mission is – what St Hugh’s really stands for. If I was to offer a fourth word to this list it would be PARTNERSHIP. None of these goals are possible unless we are working together with the same values in mind. As such, we truly hope that these resonate and help to explain why you probably had that warm and fuzzy feeling when you first visited.