6 minute read
Hurstpierpoint College
Hurst College is now one of the leading schools in the south east and that is down in no small part to the Principal, Tim Manly. Interview by Maarten Hoffmann
EVOLVING LEADERSHIP
Tim is vibrant, full of passion and experience, and demonstrates genuine care for every single pupil. This shines through in the exam results, the general wellbeing of the children and the steadily increasing reputation of the college. In short, he is the educational leader every progressive school would want.
But change is inevitable as there is the desire to move with the times and, perhaps, get ahead of the curve. For the past few years, Tim and the governors have been planning changes within the leadership of the school and the basic structure of the college.
Tim has now moved on to become the Principal of Hurst, with the former Head of the Senior School, Dominic Mott stepping in as Head of College and assuming many of Tim’s previous roles. This has allowed Tim to assume responsibility for the strategic direction, culture, operations, staff and the finances of the college – no small feat.
This change in roles also allows Tim to focus on the Hurst Multi-Academy Trust. Tim is only too aware that schools such as Hurst can tend to drift into becoming inward looking and rather detached from the wider world. Therefore, the Hurst Education Trust is growing rapidly with the aim of raising standards across all schools, and follows the government’s white paper which mandates that from 2030; all state schools should be part of such a Trust.
Never known for letting the grass grow under his feet, Tim grasped the baton, and the Trust already includes a number of local primary schools. This brings considerable benefits to all concerned and raises standards across the board whilst keeping Hurst in touch with the issues and problems faced outside the hallowed walls of the college. Tim has now become the CEO of the Trust, leading this initiative with a small team from the college.
The college also introduced a system of flexi-boarding some time ago, whereby parents can elect to have their children board several days a week, thus allowing busy parents to work unhindered whilst their children enjoy all the benefits of boarding but without the pain of leaving home. With the catchment area of the school generally being within an hour’s drive, it feels more like the fun of staying away for a few days rather than full boarding, and then the family is all together on a Friday evening to enjoy their time away from school and work.
Full weekly boarding is available, of course, but the deliberate decision not to have any international students leads to there being no full boarders in the school. The lack of any international students might seem foolhardy as the income that this generates is often irresistible for such schools.
However, that ignores the tremendous benefits that arise from having a local school for local children, thus generating a true sense of community, engagement and, certainly from what I have witnessed, a true spirit within the school that l have rarely seen elsewhere. There is an excellent range of foreign trips to ensure that pupils do not miss out on this international influence.
Further changes are reflected in the reshaping of the college structure. Instead of the Pre-Prep, Prep and Senior School structure, the college has introduced a Junior Prep (Reception-Year 6), and a separate Senior Prep (Years 7 and 8) in recognition that 11-year-olds are too young to enter secondary school and much can be gained by having those years at the top of their prep school. This leaves them totally prepared for the senior school setting.
Hurst currently has almost 1,350 pupils with roughly an even split of boys and girls, aged 4-18 years. As with all good schools, the mental health of their students is taken very seriously, especially in light of the current mental health crisis the country is witnessing. Hurst goes one step further with the use of their Mind Clinic. Not for the use of the students, who are amply cared for, but for the staff.
As Tim said, “We often overlook the faculty when discussing this subject with such a strong focus on the children but as all adults know, we can also suffer from such issues. The Hurst Mind Clinic came about after a conversation between Tim and one of the parents, who ran the clinic for corporate organisations.
Tim immediately saw the benefits, and the clinic was introduced at Hurst. It allows any member of staff to attend and chat, totally anonymously, about any issues they face, be it at school
or in their private lives. As Tim says, “a healthy staff ensures a healthy student body”.
Having spent a couple of hours in Tim’s company, l was inspired by the care, attention to detail and genuine passion he has for the college and these recent changes can only be hugely beneficial for the school as long as Tim is in charge. It left me with one overriding thought – why on earth didn’t l send my children to Hurst?
Hurstpierpoint College, College Lane, Hurstpierpoint
www.hppc.co.uk
HumaniTea Case Study
HumaniTea is a social enterprise founded by Tina Chen, that focuses on creating the UK’s first chilled, ready-to-drink, plant-based tea lattes, which are currently available in two flavours, Matcha and Earl Grey. The company has a mission statement of being sustainable and promoting wellbeing. This can be seen through using recyclable aluminum cans, using ecofriendly oat milk, as well as ethically sourcing ingredients from Rwanda. The products are low-calorie and avoid the use of artificial flavours and emulsifiers. The brand promotes the message of taking mental health breaks, which is best represented in their slogan, ‘Spreading me time, tea time, any time.’ As a Taiwanese American with a background in economics and business, Tina moved to the UK for her masters degree; she decided to leave her job as a consultant and pursue her passion of food, infusing this with her Taiwanese background. From her beginnings in the farmers market, Tina has successfully grown the business to now being offered in over 60 independent stores, supermarkets and offices, as well as being listed on Ocado. In the early stages of the business, Tina was working in the kitchen throughout the night, as the premises were cheaper at this time, followed by her selling the products in the morning. This was not only taxing on her wellbeing, leaving her in a state of tiredness but, also lead to an incident where she burnt herself in the kitchen whilst working overnight; this served as a pivotal moment in her journey, where she realised that she had to put her wellbeing first, which resonates with her company’s philosophy of looking after your wellbeing Tina had heard about the NatWest Accelerator programme through word of mouth when networking with other entrepreneurs. The NatWest Accelerator is a fully funded programme, supporting businesses to grow and scale through coaching, community, network and thought leadership. In the short time Tina has been on the programme, Tina has found the sessions to be a fantastic learning and networking opportunity, with a notable interaction being when she networked with a founder of a supermarket, who after sampling HumaniTea, placed an order. Over the next six months, she hopes to expand her business overseas, using the various sessions, enterprise managers, partners and mentors to expand her knowledge in order to achieve her goals. Coinciding with Tina’s focus on networking and brand awareness, she asks that readers connect on LinkedIn and Instagram, alongside trying her product, where the easiest purchase point would be Ocado.
LinkedIn: Tina Chen - Founder and Chief Tea Officer - HumaniTea - Vegan Tea Lattes | LinkedIn Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/humaniteadrinks/ Ocado: HumaniTea | Ocado
