EDUCATION CORNER PODCAST
EDUCATION CORNER PODCAST INTERVIEW WITH HEAD
Mr. Nick Hewlett FROM ST DUNSTAN’S COLLEGE, LEWISHAM
Mr. Nick Hewlett speaks about the ethos at St Dunstan’s, St Dunstan’s Diapason and the broad renaissance education that they offer children from many different socio-economic backgrounds. He also shares his thoughts about EDI and how to ensure that independent schools are able to continue to thrive going forwards… Please explain to us the importance and relevance of the College motto ‘Albam Exorna’?
I feel really privileged to have this as our motto, it translates as ‘Adorn the White’. It’s very unusual and speaks to an ambitious and forward-thinking foundation in the late 19th Century. ‘Adorn the White’ is to do with the fact that we have a blank shield, which has one corner filled in with St Dunstan standing proudly in the corner. The reason for that was that the founders here at St Dunstan’s felt very strongly that education ought to be about allowing young people to find their own way through school; to be true to who they are, to be individuals, to protect the individuality that is personified within them. We think that that is a really wonderful and radical thing of that time, and that it is just as relevant today as it was then. The whole principle around the school is that when you join the school we give you this blank canvas, we give you a huge array of different opportunities, and through that breadth of opportunity you are able to chart your own course, be true to who you are and to discover your true identity. We want to encourage an open-minded and liberal culture and have a diverse school community that reflects that founding motto that underpins everything we do. 22 | EDUCATION CHOICES MAGAZINE | AU T U M N 2 02 2
Can you tell us a little about the ethos and values at St Dunstan’s College?
The ethos is demonstrated, I think, by that motto, which is central to the ethos that we have going on here. We are a very, very diverse school. We are in a very diverse part of South East London, we have a very multicultural, multiracial, diverse socioeconomic intake of students, and with that comes a real vibrancy of difference and a celebration of difference and individuality that runs to the core of our identity as an institution. We are a
