Pastoral focus

Mark Turnbull, Headmaster of Kent College, on the

Thrive

The most valuable learning experiences in schools take place outside the classroom. Yet, far too often, children spend the majority of their day in a confined and controlled environment studying the academic curriculum. Now, more than ever, schools need to be bold in reducing time spent studying traditional curriculum subjects in the classroom.

There are significant shifts taking place in our society at the moment. We are seeing a movement away from traditional rigid structures, a questioning of established hierarchies and a focus on creating more inclusive environments. At Kent College we have recently reasserted those values that we feel are important in a school to allow every individual to thrive.

These Values Include

Respect: learning to appreciate the value in others, our environment and ourselves

Acting justly: working for the good of everyone through service to others

Ambition: seeing all the opportunities to learn in your day

Openness: embracing quality, diversity and inclusion for the benefit of us all

Kindness: being considerate and compassionate towards others, whether this is in person or in digital presence

Resilience: building the courage to take risks in learning, and also to forgive others

Humility: developing the confidence to walk humbly

Curiosity: actively enquiring about our world.

Balancing the pressure of academic studies for students in a post-covid world is incredibly important. Avoiding all pressure carries its own consequences, therefore it is important to not completely avoid challenges but be sympathetic in our support to face them. There are some practical steps that we can all take, such as prioritising self-care, taking regular breaks and sticking to good habits like eating well and exercising.

Our pastoral care system, extensive co-curricular programme and nutritiously balanced school meals ensure that each child has the opportunity to thrive. The world of work requires skills such as problem solving, critical thinking, communication, collaboration, digital literacy, and creativity. We build these into our curriculum through enquiry-based learning. Often, we structure learning around projects that allow collaborative work and an active encouragement of public speaking. On a practical level, our new Pathways programme in the Sixth Form provides students with career guidance, internships, and other opportunities to gain hands-on experience. Most importantly, we want to ensure students know that there are multiple pathways into the world of work and – just like progression through KC – we want to ensure that each student is on the route that most suits them.

Independent schools are no longer the islands of perceived elitism. KC, like many, plays an active role in the local community by engaging in service-oriented activities, building partnerships with local schools, and providing resources and support to the wider community.

This is incredibly important to us, and we encourage participation in events such as our Farm Open Morning. We also invite local schools to our Great Hall for a variety of events. Through our partnership with the Canterbury Festival, we also strive to be a source of cultural enrichment, and to create an inclusive environment for all young people.

You want your daughter to achieve academically but you want her to be intelligent in other ways too – to be confident socially, to have a strong moral compass, to shape the world around her, to believe in herself.

At St Catherine’s we support your daughter in building the intellect and character that will help her develop as a bright, confident, compassionate and vibrant individual. At the heart of this is developing her sense of self-belief, that she can achieve whatever she is driven to do in life.

Thursday 16th March 2023

Wednesday 10th May 2023

Friday 23rd June 2023

01483 899609 admissions@stcatherines.info