Head's Blog: The key to a strong community ...
Head's Blog
In 1997, psychologist Arthur Aron published findings from an intriguing experiment in a paper entitled The Experimental Generation of Interpersonal Closeness. In this fascinating paper he describes various techniques that were tested, with carefully selected and paired subjects, to see how far it is possible to generate feelings of closeness and mutual understanding between strangers. These ranged from asking 36 specific questions (look at the appendix in the research paper) to, finally, staring into one’s partner’s eyes for four minutes. The research indicated that whether the subjects are similar or different, these sharing activities accelerated and enhanced feelings of closeness between the experimental partners.
In 2016 Amnesty International recreated the 4 minutes experiment in a memorable video called Look Beyond Borders. I shared this video with the school in our first assembly on Friday and those who wanted to, had a go at the experiment for themselves. I am not sure what we did was experimentally valid, or very quiet but I hope that it was a memorable way to introduce our theme of Welcome and Inclusion for the term. It has been really heartening to see the girls welcoming new members to the community, both staff and students alike and seeing new friendships being formed in our (mobile phone-free) corridors.
“ The key to a strong community could be staring you in the face”
On Monday’s assembly we explored the implications of Amnesty’s experiment a little further when considering the shocking eruptions of racist violence on the streets of this country in July. We contrasted how the far-right mobs denied the humanity of asylum seekers and minorities in their violent, destructive and intimidating behaviour with the actions of those police and citizens who came out to protect them, clear up the mess and raise money to refurbish community building like Liverpool’s Spellow Library Hub.
Communities where everyone is included and differences respected flourish as a whole and give confidence and self-worth to the individuals that make them up. We are looking forward to making our diverse and vibrant community even stronger through introducing cultural literacy lessons into our PSHE lessons and our International Gala later in the term, but mainly in acting on our day-to-day core value of kindness.
It was also wonderful to meet so many of you at the Head’s Drinks Reception and Pastoral Evenings this week. It was great to hear all the news from over the summer period, to see faces old and new and to pick up on the general excitement about your daughters’ return to school. Several of you spoke of a desire to revive our social events for the parent body, particularly the Curry and Quiz night. If you would like to be involved in this re-birth, then please do email royalhigh@gdst.net we can’t wait to hear from you!