Head’s statement

WELCOME

Head’s Statement

I have worked in education for long enough to know that it is a fallacy to consider any school year ‘normal’, but as we go into another summer holiday at St Dunstan’s I do reflect with no small degree of comfort that we have largely seen the return of our routines and customs, and most importantly have been able to keep children with their friends, at school and in the classroom.

It has not been easy. Children returned at the beginning of this year after a period of national trauma. It is increasingly evidenced that this trauma has been particularly potent in its effects on the young and we, like all other schools across the country, have had our work cut out, settling the children back into routines, reminding them of expected behaviour, and ensuing our well-respected, inclusive, kind culture puts its roots firmly back into the St Dunstan’s sod. In many ways we are of course particularly well positioned to achieve this. The culture of St Dunstan’s has become a powerful force over the years and our strategic agility allowed us to take some very deliberate steps in prioritising student behaviour, routines, and pastoral care in our development plan for the year gone. I have been incredibly impressed by the way the pastoral teams and teachers have set about their task and do want to take this opportunity to thank them on your behalf. What we have asked of the staff has been extraordinary, but they have met this task with characteristic resilience, compassion and good humour. I really am most grateful to them. We ended the year in a very good place. The return of exams, both internal and public, was understandably unnerving for many, but I was most impressed by the focus and purpose of students, approaching the challenge with diligence and motivation, all the while supported by an exams team working flat out. It has been particularly enjoyable to end the year with the joy of our Festival. Indeed, as the long summer days fall upon us, there has been something rather moving about watching the children once again relish performances in the Big Top, in our new Theatre and Great Hall. To see the Festival evolve into a platform for community collaboration is also a great step forward and I am very pleased that the performing arts team at St Dunstan’s are now working so closely with Bonus Pastor School – it is a really exciting partnership that will surely only go from strength to strength. The return of Adventure Week and other residential trips is also enormously refreshing. Outdoor education is such an important part of our educational offer as we know its importance in forging character and values in our young people.

There have been a great many highlights from the year. From the Festival, I don’t think anybody will be able to forget the Year 6 production of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, the beautifully crafted Midsummer Night’s Dream and the explosive energy of High School Musical. The Jazz soirée was of a professional standard, the likes of which I cannot think you would easily find in any other school. This all comes at the end of a year characterised by a whole succession of wonderful achievements. It has been a year of new buildings, certainly, with the incredible STEM, Sixth Form and Junior Schools opening in September and then the new Performing Arts Centre that swiftly followed including, of course, our spectacular new Theatre and Recital Rooms. Indeed, perhaps this is an appropriate time to thank Clair Wilkins, in particular, for the extraordinary impact she has had on this school since arriving as Bursar; she leaves a terrific legacy and not just in bricks and mortar. There have been many other highlights too – concerts in prestigious London venues, including the Cadogan Hall and St Martin-in-the-Fields, a wonderful performance of Machinal in our new Theatre and a West-End-worthy production of School of Rock, to name but a few. However, perhaps the biggest achievement of this year is further defining and championing our very unique identity as an independent school. A school that likes to do things differently not for the sake of it but because we recognise that independent education needs to change in this country. That it needs to address issues of culture, of equality, of privilege and responsibility. That it needs to use the gift of independence to carve out imaginative and meaningful frameworks for self-improvement, to showcase that there is a place for independent schools to be part of the broader societal agenda, and to work with local communities for the betterment of our society at large. Of course, I am absolutely delighted that all this was recognised in being awarded Independent Senior School of the Year at the TES awards, the gold standard of recognition in the Sector and firmly putting St Dunstan’s on the map of the very best and leading independent schools in the United Kingdom. I do want to thank the whole community for the support and encouragement to get us to this point. It hasn’t always been an easy journey, but I hope you feel that we have now very much arrived and I feel strongly that we are entering a golden age for St Dunstan’s College.

Albam Exorna!

Mr N P Hewlett

Head