King Edward VI School introduces new school objectives​

King Edward VI School is pleased to introduce new school objectives that will provide a greater focus on the emotional wellbeing and development of its students.

King Edward VI School has been educating students in Southampton for 467 years. Upon the signing of the Royal Charter by King Edward VI, the school was originally founded as a grammar school for boys. Throughout the years, King Edward’s has undergone significant changes, from gaining independence in 1978 to becoming co-educational in 1983 – resulting in King Edward VI School establishing itself as a leading co-educational independent school in Hampshire.

A consistent emphasis for the school has been its focus on supporting students to exceed their expectations in all pursuits, through its impressive list of over 100 clubs and societies for students to get involved in, from Astronomy Society and Beekeeping to Paddleboarding and Dance.

While the school’s core ethos of academic excellence has remained unchanged throughout its history, the new Head, Neal Parker, has brought with him a determination to expand the school's focus on excellence to that of its students' health, wellbeing & development.

As a result, the school has adopted the revised ethos statement:

‘We nurture and support our pupils, so that they flourish and exceed their expectations in their learning, interests, relationships and emotional development. Our goal is that they become intellectually curious, resilient, confident and ready for their next step’.

King Edward VI School has always placed a focus on every child succeeding not only in their examinations, but also on growing up as moral, confident, grounded young adults. The school felt that those fundamental beliefs were not being fully captured by the previous aims and objectives. And so, along with the new ethos statement, the school has defined a new set of school aims and objectives. The main focus of these updates is the word ‘flourish’.

The Head, Neal Parker, explains the move to introduce Flourish as the central theme in the below statement.

‘Flourishing means growing. It means focusing on the progress of the individual child, rather than on their ‘place in the race’ when compared to others. Flourishing is celebrating the process of learning, and understanding that ultimate goals and desired outcomes are improved by this focus. It does not mean dumbing down, nor removing the pressures that we each need to learn to face. It does not mean ‘being happy’ in a twee Walt Disney sense of the word (although we do everything we can to make sure that the pupils are happy at King Edward’s!). It means growing your curiosity, your resilience and your emotional and intellectual maturity. It means having a sense of purpose and place.’

With the global pandemic, this emphasis on mental wellbeing and personal development couldn’t have come at a better time. Throughout lockdown, King Edward’s teachers balanced continuous teaching of the curriculum with a wealth of online opportunities for students to develop and connect. Teachers delivered digital assemblies on key subjects, such as Black Lives Matter and frequent activities including, Lockdown Yoga, spiritual thoughts, online music concerts and more.

Reassuringly, through assessments made upon the return of students, it was found that all were on track in their education through the continuous teaching on Zoom and no changes to the curriculum was needed.

As the school moves forwards, King Edward’s hopes this renewed focus on flourishing will help their students to flourish in all respects, so that the wider community and ultimately the society can also flourish under their stewardship.

To see the full aims and objectives please visit: https://www.kes.hants.sch.uk/about-king-edwards/ke...