Over the course of the last year, the School has been working on an exciting project to determine the direction it will take as we enter our next 100 years. With our Centenary only three years away, we have been looking closely at what we want to achieve as we reach the anniversary of the School’s creation.
Stowe was founded to be a disruptive presence in education. At its foundation in 1923 Stowe, the School became a positive force in an education system that was rigid, unquestioning and often unkind. Stowe was founded to question that tradition, to question the received wisdom and to raise generations who would question rather than accept. Generations who would be able to go into the world and make a positive difference.
Almost 100 years later, Stowe’s founding ethos is as powerful as it was then. However, the world the pupils are entering after Stowe is very different to the one that those first boys entered back in the 1920s. Yet, our founding principles hold true. We want to make sure that we prepare pupils to go into the world and to question. To make a positive impact on the world that they live in. To do this, we are ensuring that we fully equip Stoics with the skills that will not only help them flourish but will also help them make a genuine difference. Whilst our academic provision continues to strengthen and improve, we recognise that the skills that future generations will need in the volatile, uncertain, changing and ambiguous world they will enter are far wider than the skills needed to get through exams. These skills will include: analytical thinking and innovation; active learning and learning strategies; complex problem solving; creativity; originality and initiative; technology, design and programming; creative thinking and analysis; leadership and social influence; and, emotional intelligence.
At Stowe, we do not produce stereotypes. Our pupils are encouraged to grow in their own way and celebrate the differences between them and we nurture their emotional, physical and mental well-being. Our culture is characterised by teamwork, collaboration and mutual respect. Our pupils will continue to be Change Makers – they will be able to change as the world changes and will make positive change within that world, as generations of Stoics before them have done!
You will be hearing more about Stowe’s Change Makers vision in the coming months.
Tori Roddy, Director of Marketing and Admissions