EMMA PATTISON

sure we uphold the values inherent in that, particularly in a College like ours which was founded on those principles.”

Emma is proud of the central role that service plays at Epsom College. In one academic year, Epsom pupils gave over 9,830 hours of their time to charitable community projects, delivering an estimated £141,846.90 of social value. Over 60% of Sixth Form students elect community service as their activity of choice in their weekly Wednesday afternoon enrichment programme. Their contributions include working in primary schools, offering website support for local charities, creating community play spaces, supporting food banks, visiting care home residents and getting involved in fund-raising initiatives at the Royal Marsden Hospital.

Values

As school communities evaluate the pandemic and its aftermath, I asked Emma whether aspirations have been re-imagined? What do parents want to buy in a postlockdown education marketplace?

Emma is open and direct as she acknowledges a new era: “There’s been an absolute sea change in what parents talk about. They used to talk about results and Oxbridge. That has turned about-face completely since COVID. It’s now about well-being, pastoral care, kindness, service and charity.” All parents want the best for their children, so what does ‘the best’ look like in schools? Emma believes that it is the life-affirming, confidence-boosting selfesteem that pupils gain from ‘giving back’ through service to others.

She illustrates her view through this story.

“There’s a young lad here who’s made a couple of errors of judgement this term. Yet he’s gone out into a local primary school as part of our service programme where, because he knows what it feels like when you’re not getting things right, and because he has a lovely warm personality, he’s been able to engage with another lad who’s struggling in the local school and really make a difference to that lad’s experience. Our College pupil was able to use his own life experiences to really transform life for someone else. We think that’s a very powerful thing.”

When she told this story at a marketing event, Emma could see that it really resonated.

“Afterwards, parents told me, ‘That’s what I want for my child, too’.”

Emma’s views are fresh and forward-thinking, a far cry from traditional perceptions of aloof elitism in the independent sector.

“We all want to give our kids the best experiences possible. And that looks like teaching excellence, state-of-the-art classrooms, outstanding sports facilities and overflowing extra-curricular programmes. But an independent school education offers more than that. We want pupils to find things that are going to matter to them for the rest of their lives, and nothing could matter more to them than the person they are going to become. So it’s really important that we create learning experiences that help them to define their values, their own moral code and their own sense of integrity.“

An affordable education

In the current economic downturn, admissions departments need to be wary. Not all independent school parents are wealthy. With her down-to-earth understanding of the grassroots, Emma is fully aware that “We have parents who are working really, really hard to afford our fees and on whom the decisions we make have a significant impact, not just on their lifestyle choices but on the financial bottom line of the household. Some of F