From the Middle School and High School Principal

 Welcome (back)

During one period of my life, I had the good fortune to be in New Zealand with a group of parents who were largely global nomads looking for a better life for their children in nature.  One of these was a leading member of Apple's industrial design team for twenty years and a close partner of Jony Ive and Steve Jobs on designing all the products from the first iMac to airpods and iPads.  He is in the picture below, but always asked for privacy, so I won't mention his name.  As I have always been a fan of the California based design teams that spawned Apple, IDEO and the Stamford D.school, this felt like a miraculous opportunity to have daily chats with someone at the heart of a pinnacle of human achievement (in my view).  We talked most days for a year.

I asked him about the design process.  What I was expecting was a description of an iterative cycle like the 'double diamond' or an IDEO style sprint.  Instead he said 'Stuart, you are loved, you belong here and are enough'.

That really wasn't what I was expecting.

But the point he unfolded over time was that feeling was the fundamental thing that mattered if you wanted to do great work, and learn together.  Humans are not a means to an end.  By focusing on love and belonging and meaning it, yes we create great things and achieve great things, but actually we should be doing that because it is the right thing to do.

The important message we started off this year with to students was: you belong here, you are loved, and you are enough exactly as you are now.  We do not value you for what you might become; but for who you are right now.

Everything we do with our inclusive programmes and learning spaces, our work on relationships and restorative practice, our advisory programme is all to give learning that strong grounding in our humanity.  Although this is not a means to an end, it does mean that actually we achieve all those things that schools set out to achieve: our students got offers from every single Scottish university; we had two OxBridge offers from a relatively small cohort; we have students into Edinburgh and St. Andrews; we have students accessing the High School Diploma getting Scottish university offers.  But that is not the point; that is a beneficial side effect.

So our message to you as parents is also: you belong here, you are enough, and we hope you experience a feeling of love and gratitude as part of our community.  For new parents, thank you for trusting us with your children, and confidentially I can let you know... you've made a great choice.