from the H ead
When I meet leaders in fields from academia to
business to the arts, probably the biggest message
is that current and future school leavers will need
really strong learning skills, the ability to continue to
learn across a range of areas and to connect them
imaginatively; they will need versatility and global
understanding; they will need strong powers of reason,
analysis and ethical judgment. I hope our pupils can
recognise ways in which all of those things are being
strengthened by what we do in school, including the
innovations introduced by our own educational think-
tank, the Institute for Teaching and Learning.
We have much to celebrate this year: being named
The Sunday Times Independent Secondary School
of the Year for the second time in ten years; the
50th anniversary of the IB and the 40th year since
Sevenoaks adopted it; having our first cohort of
pupils embarking on the Middle School Diploma;
the maturing of our new gardens, designed by Jo
Thompson, who gained her fourth Gold at the Chelsea
Flower Show in May; and the near completion of
the first phase of our development, Horizon 2020,
consolidating our vision of the transformation of the
Flat from car park to quadrangle. I write more about
this on pages 8-9.
A Sevenoaks education has four strands: academic
study, with an interdisciplinary, multilingual and
balanced approach; a co-curriculum, with its wide
range of activities in sport, music, drama, art, debating,
outdoor education and many other disciplines; service
education, which will be developed even further by
the Institute of Service and Social Impact; and pastoral
education, which is not just about us looking after
the pupils but which also teaches them to look after
themselves and others, to develop a sensible appetite
for risk and to be undeterred by failure.
My job, with the Governors and Trustees, is to
provide an environment in which all of those things
can flourish; a physical environment and a human
environment. We are already planning the next
chapter: Horizon 2032, when the school will celebrate
its 600th anniversary. I presented our initial ideas to
students at the start of the Summer term, as
I opened the process up for their input and ideas.
I hope that you, like me, will share in the excitement
of a future built on the achievements celebrated in
this year’s Sennockian.
The Head and senior prefects
SEVENOAKS SCHOOL 2017-2018
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