Our Strategy 2020-2030

Haberdashers’ Aske’s School for Girls

Our Strategy 2020-2030

Who We Are and What We Stand For We are Habs, a strong, happy and supportive community, committed to the pursuit of excellence in education. We trace our roots back to the 17th Century. Our founder, Robert Aske, established the principles that guide us to this day. We give talented and ambitious young people the opportunities they need to succeed in life.

Our horizons are wide. We are a diverse community and we nurture a global perspective and a deep sense of responsibility for the world in which our pupils will lead and succeed. Our broad curriculum and co-curricular provision prepares pupils for success wherever their passion may take them.

Our academic performance speaks for itself, but we know that great exam results are just the beginning. A Habs education prepares young people for fulfilment in a world that demands flexibility, creativity, resilience and critical thought. Habs Girls and Boys step into that world with confidence, ready to shape the future and open to a lifetime of new experiences.

We work together, offering the best of single-sex education in a co-educational environment. Habs will always be the best place to learn and the best place to teach and work. When you join the Habs family, you will be part of our community long after your schooldays are over.

Introduction Habs Boys and Girls share many things: our founder, Robert Aske; a one-hundredacre site on the outskirts of North London; a reputation for excellence, both inside and beyond the classroom; and now a shared vision, mission and strategy for the future.

After an extensive and far-reaching review, the Governing body of our two Schools has developed an exciting and ambitious strategy for the next 10 years.

This strategy is designed to ensure that our students leave us equipped to succeed and flourish in an increasingly global and technologicallydriven workplace.

n W e will honour the legacy and intentions of our founder, Robert Aske, by serving our community and supporting talented children, regardless of their parents’ ability to pay fees n We will be a beacon of educational excellence, developing in our pupils a life-long love of learning through inspirational teaching n We will provide an outstanding single-sex education in a co-educational environment, together with a rich co-curricular programme and some joint Sixth Form lessons n We will support and celebrate every child, equipping them with the confidence, resilience and sense of responsibility to thrive as inquisitive, creative, caring and collaborative individuals n We will nurture cultural sensitivity and global perspectives that prepare our pupils for success in the modern world n We will combine tradition with optimism for the future.

1. Excellence in Education

2. Workplace and Life Skills

We will deliver more than outstanding academic results, helping every individual achieve the best they can in a range of areas and in ways that help them succeed in life.

We will do this by:

We will help our pupils to develop the workplace and life skills they will need to flourish, including a deeper understanding of technology, data sciences and the digital economy as well as flexibility, creativity, critical thought, independent research and teamwork.

n increasing our focus on preparation for entry to leading global universities in the US or other overseas institutions and other forms of further education or career pathways n valuing all individuals’ achievements equally, regardless of their nature or impact n offering an enhanced range of academic and co-curricular activities n adopting more digital teaching methods across our curriculum and co-curricular programme.

In September 2020, we will introduce an Aske’s Level in the Sixth Form as a supplement to A Levels, which will draw from the best elements of the IB.

3. P upil Wellbeing and Pastoral Care We will build upon current pastoral care provison, to ensure the Schools enjoy a well-deserved reputation for pupil wellbeing.

We will develop and implement a more proactive pastoral care and wellbeing programme based on best practice and will deliver this consistently across our two Schools.

4. Global Perspective To ensure our pupils have an international outlook, strong environmental awareness, well-developed cultural sensitivity and benefit from the diversity of the pupil and parental body, we plan to: n offer a more diverse range of foreign language education, including Asian and other non-Latin script languages n create more learning opportunities for pupils and staff through meaningful exchanges with international partner schools n develop an enhanced global speaker programme.

5. Maximise the Benefits of Co-Location To offer the best of single-sex education in a unique co-educational environment, we will align the Schools’ ethos, values and behaviours to form one shared vision for the Haberdashers’ Aske’s Elstree Schools.

We will increase collaboration between the Schools by ensuring that every Sixth Former

is taught at least one subject in a mixed-gender class from September 2021.

We will also maintain or expand the range of subjects on offer through combined classes at Sixth Form, where appropriate.

Teaching of the Aske’s Level and the management of international exchanges will also take place in co-educational groups.

6. E nhanced Co-Curricular Programme and Collaboration To provide an unmatched, comprehensive programme of co-curricular activities, conducted in co-educational groups, we will: n review and develop our co-curricular programme with a focus on developing life skills and broadening learning environments n ensure the co-curricular programme embraces digital and other technologyrelated aspects n review and amend the campus development plans to facilitate co-educational learning.

7. B est Place to Learn, Teach and Work The best education relies on the best educators and our ambition is to employ, retain and motivate the very best staff for the benefit of the young people in our Schools.

We will build on current activities to: n ensure Habs is an outstanding place to work n develop a strategy for recruitment, reward, personal development and retention of staff n increase our focus on international best practice, Continuing Professional Development provision and exchanges.

8. E mbrace Robert Aske’s Legacy We will seek to reflect our founder Robert Aske’s principles of inclusivity, benevolence and charity in all that we do. We will: n conduct a fees and bursary policy review with the objective of increasing bursary provision and aligning fees at different age groups between and across the Schools

n engage with local schools through meaningful, planned outreach to create a true partnership for education in North London and South Hertfordshire n enhance access to the Schools’ facilities for the local community n actively engage with other Haberdashers’ Schools across the country n encourage philanthropy and give 21st Century meaning to ‘Serve and Obey’.

9. Improve Stakeholder Communications and Look Beyond Our Campus We will seek to create a Habs Community that embraces the local community, parents, pupils, alumni and other stakeholders. We will: n make meaningful improvements in alumni engagement and create a lasting relationship between individuals, the Schools and the Haberdashers’ Company n actively engage with the ‘educational community’ on a national and international level.

10. Display Financial Discipline and Estate Stewardship In discharging our responsibilities to the Aske’s Charity and to future generations, we will act as good stewards for the Elstree Estate whilst providing financial capacity to innovate and invest where required, recognising the financial commitment parents make in sending their children to the Schools.

We will: n seek cross-School and scale efficiencies, share best practice and manage expenditure effectively, particularly capital expenditures n moderate fee increases and seek to align fees across the Schools and stages of education n develop a single-campus masterplan which respects the environment and heritage of the Elstree site, allied to an appropriate campus-wide investment decision-making process.

Looking to the Future

A series of cross-School working parties are now underway to determine how our aims can best be implemented. The Schools’ leadership teams and Governors are excited by this vision for the future education of students in our care. We believe that our shared strategy will best serve all members of the Habs community and, most importantly, help us to prepare our students for future success.