As a school we recently created a new purpose statement and, if I am completely honest, it probably could have been written by one individual within a few hours.
Instead, we took 18 months to create it.
Is it so unique and so different from any other school’s purpose or vision? Not really. I think it sits very well with our school culture, heritage and ambition - but then again, so do most school vision statements.
However, rather than just being about the destination, it was the journey and who embarked on it that was all important.
Creating our school vision statement
So, once we decided to revisit our school vision, we set out to ensure that we gained feedback from as wide a school audience as possible: parents, staff, governors and students.
In order to capture these views, I felt it best that feedback was received by one person and in this instance, it was me, the headmaster. There was a method to this decision.
We wanted feedback to be consistent in terms of what was meant, and we felt that it being requested by the head of the school would show that this was a whole-school project and that all views were important.
To begin the process we set up a series of parent consultation workshops.
Some were around child drop-off at the start of the school day, some were at the end of the day just before children were collected, and some were in the evening to allow access for working parents. It was important to give everyone the opportunity to attend.
There was a workshop at the school annual general meeting, where governors, members of the senior leadership team and parents could discuss the topic. There was also an opportunity to send feedback online.
For staff we created specific workshops bringing all 320 of them together. Such occasions can be difficult once the academic year begins due to the co-curricular activities and all the other events that take place, but we ensured that time was created.
What’s more, we made sure that staff did not sit with their usual colleagues but moved them around so they spoke with someone new, and more diverse views could be shared.
I led this workshop with various ways of eliciting ideas, including drawing around a hand and writing in the fingers of the drawing the five things the group felt were the strongest features of the school.
Student insights
For students it was important to capture as many views as possible.
For older students we looked at what they said were the strengths of the school and what they felt the school could focus on moving forward that would support their needs. This gave great insights: future employment, the impact of technology and preparation for future opportunities were all strong themes that came through - consistent from 10-year-olds to those about to sit A level.
For three-year-olds other approaches were needed, so class teachers used questions such as asking what they like about school. Answers such as “school makes me happy” and “teachers are kind” were heartening to hear and illuminating, showing the perceptions of such young children.
Once this was all captured from parents, staff and students, the SLT and governors went about looking at common themes.
These included the desire for the statement to move from a vision to a purpose, for it to be shorter rather than longer, for language that was accessible to children and adults and, finally, for it to be student-focused without excluding staff and parents.
This was great feedback and combining it with the mass of data that we had, we began the task of creating a series of iterations, slowly homing in on the key themes. And so after several rounds of discussions with SLT and board members, we landed on:
“A community committed to inspiring our students to create an impactful legacy”
It is a much shorter statement compared with our previous one and it captured the key themes of community, inspiring, students and legacy.
However, just as importantly, everyone who attended any of the workshops as staff, parents or pupils will recognise the input they have given as a collective - helping to make the journey of its creation as meaningful as the destination, the unveiling.
Which, as The Station by Robert J Hastings states, is what it’s all about: “Sooner or later we must realise there is no one station, no one place to arrive at once and for all. The true joy of life is the trip.”
Mark Leppard MBE is the headmaster of The British School Al Khubairat in Abu Dhabi and chair of British Schools in the Middle East
