Weekly Reflections: One Love building a stronger community

This week I had the pleasure of addressing the whole of the senior school in assembly. I applauded the students for their contributions to school life over the last six weeks – it has been very busy with Chinese New Year celebrations and much sport, music and drama taking place – and thanked them, and colleagues, for all their support in helping me to feel so settled. I can’t believe I have only been here for six weeks; in the best way it feels longer.

Last Friday, we all enjoyed the first (of many) House events: House Dance and Drama. The energy around school before and during this event was electric. It was a brilliant afternoon and so wonderful to see how everyone was involved in championing each other, cheering on the performances and appreciating how hard everyone had worked to reach the end result.   Moments like this are the invisible glue that help cement our school community and the fact that everyone happens to have great fun at the same time is a welcome by-product.     Not to be outdone, this vibe was equally palpable at the Prep’s School Celebration Assembly.    The sense of belonging for all of us – regardless of surface differences in culture, behaviour or background – and the chance to come together, playing in, and watching, a shared activity made me feel lucky to be part of it.

It just so happened that this week’s assembly theme was ‘One Love’. One love makes me think about all the different people, places and cultures in the world – and just how different they may be – yet the attitudes, behaviours and values of many – reminded me of just how similar we humans are. Should it be such a surprise that in a world as rich and diverse as ours, the connection between humans is smaller in many ways than we might expect?

Despite difference in geographical location, age, sex, sexuality, gender, colour, nationality, religion, beliefs, ability and politics - all human beings react in broadly similar ways to the events that occur in one’s lives. Furthermore, we share characteristics and emotions that transcend national borders. The ability to be empathetic, to understand how other people see things and to see the similarities between people is a valuable skill in itself, especially as we see other workaday tasks being taken over by AI.   This is an increasingly recognised key to successful adult and professional life. I therefore suggested that we should put away our phones more often and notice the facial expression and gestures of the people we spend time with to help develop our own empathy skills. 

I have noticed over the last six weeks just how kind and inclusive our school community is; we celebrate our diversity and differences, show understanding and empathy and this is something I feel is very special. However, we have a responsibility to know this is not the case in wider society and an awareness of what happens beyond our school gates is crucial. 

At Royal High we aim for all our students to be aware and to be active bystanders, to grow the confidence to speak up and lead. At a time when we are witnessing strife and resistance across the globe to accept differences between people, we must remember how alike we all are, take notice and act because we all have it within us to drive change and influence how this plays out.  

Finally, it has been a pleasure to meet so many of you over the last six weeks whether at quiz night, academic evenings, assemblies, parent breakfasts or even over a curry! I look forward to further opportunities for us to talk over the coming months.

Wishing everyone a restful break.

Heidi-Jayne