My Educational Philosophy
Every child has the right to an education (UN Convention on the Rights of the Child) and working in a premium school is not only a privilege, it is an opportunity to educate the leaders of tomorrow so that they are able to build on the work of the leaders of today. Education is, indeed, the ‘silver bullet’ and funding should put students before profit. The strength of a school lies in its people and their ability to work together as a team to support everyone in their learning journey. Relationship building and developing respect through consistency, clarity and genuinely caring are the key elements involved in managing both students and teachers and a key component for gaining the trust of parents. The ethos should be one of respect, tolerance and high expectation. Children should feel challenged yet supported to enable them to exhibit grit and resilience. This can only be achieved through high-quality relationships which are based on trust. These relationships must be built and grown throughout the entire school community. Without trust, children will not achieve their potential to learn and parents and colleagues will not support.
A leader should have their students’ interests at the centre of everything they do and every decision they make. Every child should have the best opportunities available to them throughout their day at school and be supported and challenged to gain even more outside of their formal learning environment. They should have every opportunity to thrive; children need to feel safe and secure in order to be able to learn. Excellence is not an end point but a continuous striving to be better. Even the best schools have areas for improvement and so it is crucial to have a high quality self-evaluation process followed by a clear plan for achieving the goals identified.
All educators should be committed lifelong learners and, as such, engage in discussions with colleagues and parents. Leaders should accept nothing but the best from students and teachers and they, in turn, should expect the best from their leaders. Positive relationships are built through showing compassion, resilience and taking risks. Every child should have instilled in them a love of learning and none must be afraid to occasionally fall on the road to success. Every child deserves to reach their potential and this is only realised through regular, rigorous monitoring and data use. This includes everything from external benchmarking, formative and summative assessment, ongoing AfL and most crucially questioning; everyone is encouraged to question each other in order to explore their own thinking. Good quality AfL means that children are regularly experiencing ‘flow’. Most crucially, the balance between challenge and skills and a feeling of control over the task. This can also be transferred to working with adults; enabling others to grow in their roles whatever they may be, being the ‘critical friend’ throughout the year as well as a judgemental observer during formal observation periods.
The classroom should be the ‘third teacher’ and every opportunity to develop the environment should be taken to enhance the child’s learning journey. This should encourage a growth mindset, the development of expertise and an enquiry-based approach to learning. Paired with working alongside students and parents, repeated practise, training and regular feedback, children can and will excel. An outstanding school is a combination of children, staff, philosophy and resources. The principal’s purpose is to recognise and celebrate each member of the school community and their contribution to making the school the place that it is. Above all else my philosophy of education encompasses the child as a whole recognising that we are all special and that everyone has many unique contributions that they can make on their journey through school life.
“Education is education. We should learn everything and then choose which path to follow."