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HEADMASTER

STRATEGIC

SCHOOL FOCUS

Hale School is a community that inspires

the broad development of every boy.

I recently met with a prospective parent who was touring Hale School for her yet-to-be-born son. I could tell that one of the things
she was thinking about related to whether I would still be the Headmaster in 2032 and if the school she can see today will be the
same school that he attends 10 years from now. It’s an interesting question because while all schools need to remain conscious of
their changing environment, you do want to know that the special cultural qualities that make Hale unique will remain.

Strategic planning, overseen by the Board of Governors, is one before, and all of them are focused on how we can best prepare
important way that we can ensure special cultural continuity. boys for their future.
Helpful in this process – and specific to schools – is that there A good strategic planning process, though, should create some
is little disagreement about what the staff are here to do. The tension that then yields the challenges that need to be solved. In
alignment around purpose is high because, irrespective of contrast, poor strategic planning creates documents that don’t
our role at Hale, we are all wanting to provide direct or indirect differentiate your school’s uniqueness and don’t motivate or
support towards provision of the best education possible to the inspire anyone to do anything better in the future.
boys in our care.
For Hale, there are five very specific challenges that we need to
I suppose you could stop there, but as you dig deeper into the focus on over and above the broader framework. Some of the
purpose of a Hale education, you find the need to specify a lot challenges are not new, but all need our attention and thought
more detail. For example, in providing the best education, what within the context of these rapidly-changing and unpredictable
do we mean by ‘the best’? Is that academic success, broader post-COVID societal conditions. The key challenges are:
co-curricular opportunities, high levels of wellbeing, character
development, manners… or something else? Once agreed on 1. Education of the whole boy through future-focused
the purpose, how then do we plan to educate – in what sort of curriculum that finds alternative pathways and ways to
facilities and by what calibre and diversity of staff? How also further education beyond Year 12.
do we manage the School’s finances to enable all of these 2. Implementation of our student wellbeing framework
elements to create an outstanding education for young men in (‘The Hale Journey’) that aims to develop respectful,
our care? resilient and responsible young men.
With all of this in mind, the idea of why a strategic framework 3. Building on the success of a contemporary boys-only
is needed becomes more clear. It explains to the parents, Old school environment.
Boys, staff and the boys how we plan to move ahead. The
strategic planning process has unfolded again over the past 4. Supporting staff to be outstanding professionals and in
year at Hale. It’s been a process of renewal of our strategic doing so, developing a staff vision for wellbeing.
focus rather than a rewrite. So, within this edition of the Haleian 5. Operating and sustaining the success of the School within
you will find that our strategic framework has six pillars, just as a new funding and unpredictable financial environment.

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