Into the Future with Tanglin’s Head Team

Heading to the Future

In our previous issue, we spoke to Tanglin’s Head Team about their ambitious plans for the year. With the team’s tenure now coming to a close, The Voice caught up with them to find out what progress they’ve made – and what the experience has taught them

Head Boy Alex

“This year, I’ve personally been focusing on projects surrounding Male Mental Health Week and Movember. Having designated weeks in the school calendar for men and women alike is an initiative the team set up and one we hope future Head Teams will carry on. It’s my belief that Male Mental Health Week has encouraged the conversation around this topic to be less stigmatised and, of course, mental health as a broader subject is relevant to every member of the Tanglin community.

I’ve enjoyed every moment as a member of the Head Team. The ability to represent the student body, and carry out initiatives that benefit them and their interests, has been a humbling experience – though not without its difficulties. Working within the local restrictions has been challenging, particularly around meetings. However, if one person at Tanglin has been able to better understand their mental health or help someone else to understand theirs because of our initiatives, then I will consider my time as Head Boy a success.”

Head Girl Munique

“Of all the great initiatives we’ve worked to push forward, the Christmas card project has significance for me [Milly explains more about this initiative opposite]. The project brought the whole school together in a joint pursuit, and reinforced the importance of appreciating those who do so much for us. To be stood with my teammates in a room flooded with Christmas cards and small gifts collated by every single tutor group in Tanglin for our staff, blew me away. It felt like, despite our separation from each other, we were all one team.

I feel really lucky to have been a member of the Head Team. An obvious challenge has been thinking beyond the norm in terms of adapting our approach to school-wide projects. This year, we chose to focus on community inclusivity. That might not seem the most logical commitment, given it has been so difficult to all be together, but perhaps that’s what made it so impactful. The experience has added insight and lots of laughs to some of my most formative years at Tanglin.”

Navyansh

“My main focus this year was on redefining what social spaces mean at Tanglin. Considering this is how and where students spend the majority of their time outside lessons, this is sure to benefit each and every student for many years to come. My initiatives have included the new Sixth Form Common Room and the new GCSE Common Room, as well as smaller but no less impactful projects: revamping the kitchen and installing urinal walls in the boys’ bathrooms. Given the slight delay of the building work due to COVID-19, the plans for the new common rooms have not yet come to fruition, but I feel confident the next Head Team will see this through successfully.

Being a member of this year’s team helped me to build upon the skills I developed during my time as Year 11 Lead Boy. Having to adapt to the changing restrictions and being flexible in my approach, while also working under strict deadlines, was a meaningful learning experience.”

“One of our last projects as Head Team was to plan activities for Women’s Week, that was organised around International Women’s Day (IWD) on March 8. The theme of IWD this year was #ChooseToChallenge; the organisers wanted people to celebrate the day by challenging gender stereotypes and gender bias. As a team, we organised presentations that would inform the students of what these two terms mean, how to identify them and how to challenge them, and we spotlighted women who have done just that throughout history. As as part of the #ChooseToChallenge initiative, we asked students either to set their own personal goals, or to join in with school-based challenges we created. Our ‘Challenge Wall’ outside the Well Bean Café, showcased individual successes from the week. We’re very proud of the scope and breadth of what we achieved.

Being part of the Head Team this year has been an interesting experience. While it’s not always been easy – particularly given the limitations imposed on us by the pandemic – it has been immensely rewarding.”

Taha

“This year, the male members of the team initiated Movember across the school; this is a moustache growing event that takes place each November and aims to raise awareness and funds for men’s mental health. As a sub-group, we had our own “mo” growing competition. In a small way, it helped bring us all together – it was a fun, positive thing to do. Alex organised a second series of safeTALK sessions for both Year 12 and Year 13 students, with a focus on male mental health. This was an afternoon run by trained safeTALK trainers in which students learned why male mental health is an important issue for discussion, and how we can better support each other. Alex and I also created videos that dealt with the idea of toxic masculinity. All students in Years 10-13 were given five sets of resources and activities that we delivered to them virtually, and that were well received by students and staff alike. Despite the obvious challenges of the year, I feel we have put some sound initiatives in place that can be further developed by the next Head Team.”

Kaysha

“When I first became a member of the Head Team, an initiative I was very passionate about was celebrating cultural diversity at Tanglin. As part of this, members of the Head Team, alongside other Year 13 students, recently participated in a discussion around unconscious bias and anti-racism action. The conversation was insightful and invaluable; it aided my understanding of students’ viewpoints and experiences surrounding race and diversity at Tanglin. In recent weeks, myself and Sean have set the groundwork for an anonymous reporting platform for issues around race and unconscious bias. We hope this will enable greater transparency regarding these issues and thus provide us, and future Head Teams, with an opportunity to tackle them.

“The project brought the whole school together in a joint pursuit... It felt like, despite our separation from each other, we were all one team” – Head Girl Munique

Current restrictions have meant we have been unable to organise events that support and celebrate diversity, such as International Day. Nevertheless, we have formulated detailed plans for this event that will hopefully be executed by the next Head Team. In spite of the limitations of the past year, I believe the team has been active in addressing fundamental issues from within the school, namely gender appreciation, mental health, and racism; and the process has been impactful and enriching for all.” “Our tenure as Head Team coincided with the growing global movements against racism and it was clear that, despite Tanglin’s success as a highly diverse and tolerant international school, progress can always be made. It was agreed that some changes would be beneficial and, in fact, were already in progress. For example, the Year 9 ‘Protest’ unit has been slightly altered to include direct references to the BLM movement, and the wider Key Stage 3 curriculum was changed slightly to facilitate discussions relating to systemic racism. The school’s receptiveness to change was great to see.

Being part of the Head Team has been challenging, particularly during this final year. Time management has been essential and Teams calls have been very helpful, logistically speaking. It has, however, been very rewarding and we trust that we have represented all of Tanglin to the best of our ability!”

Milly

“One of our aims this year was to continue to boost morale in light of the restrictions, and work on strengthening the community. We spearheaded a Christmas card initiative that assigned a member of the Operations Team and other support staff to each tutor group across Tanglin, and invited those students to create a card for that individual. We made sure they would be someone known to the students and who they might interact with on a regular basis. It was fantastic to see how much effort the children put in and the reactions of the recipients were just wonderful.

The biggest challenge for me personally was not being able to visit the Infant and Junior schools, or host events. However, the widespread use of technology across the school has meant that younger children have been able to take ownership of the initiatives they are running and report back to us via calls and emails. Recently, we asked tutor groups to submit a presentation about what each of them have been doing; we want to show that student leadership at Tanglin isn’t only something that takes place within the Head Team.”

Financial planning for generations

The Tanglin Trust-owned Winchester Nursery; date unknown. Winchester is the name given to one of eight houses in Tanglin’s new House system.