Posted: Friday 30 April 2010
There are six values that underpin our academic curriculum: Honesty, Resilience, Independence, Curiosity, Creativity and Compassion.
These were arrived at through a period of consultation with subject departments several years ago, and represent the sort of qualities or characteristics that we hope a pupil leaving Hutchesons' will have gained during their time here with us, through their academic studies.
There are clear dangers in trying to summarise a complex educational process in six words, just as there are dangers for any organisation in producing a 'mission statement' phrase or slogan. The full richness of what a child experiences during their time with us can end up being rather trivialised, and at worst the words themselves can immediately be reduced to a kind of cliché. But it is important to know what a school 'stands for' and although I feel sure we would all have an instinctive feeling of what makes Hutchesons' unique, it is not always easy to articulate that, and I think these words help us.
It is important to realise that although this list of values arose out of the academic curriculum, they apply to the curriculum in its widest sense as well. They are the values behind every aspect of the education we provide, and of the community which the school represents. It is surely a good aspiration that we might all represent a community which aims to be honest in its dealings with people, resilient in the face of difficulties, independent of spirit, curious and keen to explore new ideas, creative in how it makes things happen and always compassionate to others.
As time goes on I hope we will unpick the layers of meaning in each of the words, and explore more fully how what we do relates to them. To take just one example - Honesty carries power and historical resonance because of the link with the school motto Veritas, and has strong overtones of intellectual honesty and integrity in scholarship, as well as its more literal meaning. How sure are we that our curriculum promotes, recognises and praises Honesty at an individual and collective level? Which parts do this effectively, and can we find other new ways of reinforcing this?
All our core values should be visible in the day to day life of the school. Only then can we be sure that the curriculum is doing what we intend it to do. And our values are a touchstone, to which all future decisions on the curriculum can be referenced. If a change is proposed, can we say clearly how it will improve and strengthen the delivery of one or more of the values? If we cannot, then perhaps it is not a valuable change, and perhaps even an unnecessary one.