At a meeting to review the strategic plan last Saturday (17^th September), the Board adopted “2020 Vision” as the school’s strategic plan. There was considerable excitement about the future of Woodstock that was painted in the presentation of the plan. Dr Jonathan Long, principal designate, described it as “the most exciting and expansive school plan I have ever seen”.  This is what he and Dr Eleanor Nicholson, current principal, said in their joint introduction:

“It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.” - Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, author of The Little Prince.

2020 vision is the ability to see with sharpness and clarity – to determine what is important from what is less important and to bring focus to what is blurred or uncertain.  Hardly surprising then that 2020 Vision is the title of our bold blueprint for change. In meeting these seven strategic objectives, we will ensure Woodstock’s founding vision emerges into the 21^st century as a clear commitment to values of excellence, personal responsibility, leadership and service.

Bringing together vision and innovation, this significant plan will enhance the renowned Woodstock experience by combining the very best features of high academic challenge with a unique approach to the enrichment and personal development of young people.  We have every confidence that this will help us to continue enabling Woodstock students to become effective leaders, who not only see what needs to be done but have the courage and the skills to act decisively in the cause of change.

We prepare young people for exams and we equip them to earn a living - we do all these things with rigour, nurturing the academic potential and high achievement of each individual. Yet, the education Woodstock offers is designed to go far beyond these goals, to develop the whole person and not just a part, to help each individual to become, in the words of our mission statement, ”visionary, articulate and ethical - equipped to achieve their full potential in leadership and in life”.

We are currently constructing a special section of the website which will have highlights of the plan, and from which you can view and download the plan, the Board presentation, videos and music. Watch this space.

Last weekend the SPCC  met for two days to review the material we have developed and to write the plan. For your encouragement, we went in detail through two of the ”Countdown” question responses, where we were looking at objectives from scratch, as well as the committee having had copies of all the other responses to inform their preparation. We have now written up our report, and it is just circulating round the rest of the committee before it goes to all the Board members in a day or so. We feel that we have a clear direction for the school for the next nine years. We hope the Board agree. I’m just now creating a summary with numbers of all the people who contributed to the process, and thanks are due to all the several hundred who participated in various ways.

1.       How can the school benefit from its 4000 alumni all around the world? What can they do to help the next generations of students?

2.       How important are our Christian roots, and how should they affect our school life?

How do we build a sense of community at Woodstock? What kind of things undermine the community, and how should we deal with them?

1.        What are the three or four extra-curricular or cross-curricular activities we should be promoting at Woodstock?

2.       In particular, how can we enhance students’ experience of the Himalayan environment?

1.        What level and range of academic learning should students have when they graduate from Woodstock?

2.       Should we continue to focus on the AP programme, or should we consider alternatives?

3.       How can the Junior School programme better prepare students for Senior School?

What can Woodstock School do to improve in the following two areas:

1.       Vision: recognizing, affirming and communicating what is special about Woodstock and its goals

2.       Leadership: ensuring that the Board and Administration move the school in the right direction.

Please comment.

TUESDAY 16^th August 2011

On Friday – Sunday 26^th – 28^th August 2011 the Strategic Planning Coordination Committee meets to finalise the school’s strategic plan for 2012-2020. Within a very short timescale (April – August) we have tried to make this a participatory process, using surveys, workshops,focus groups outside the school,  this planning blog and meetings of the school Planning Forum. In these last two weeks, we want to make sure that as many other constituents as possible are aware of our progress and our thinking, and have an opportunity to make final comments and contributions.

So, watch out for a daily entry inviting your feedback on a specific theme, and please take five minutes to tell us what you think by using the comment facility below.

Pete Wildman, Amy Seefeldt, Kirsten Bradby, Eleanor Nicholson, Jonathan Long, Dave Schoonmaker (Board member), Rev. TZ Kundan (Board member).

TODAY’S QUESTION

Our objectives and plans are developed on the basis of our belief about what is most important – educationally, socially, emotionally, spiritually, for the individual, the community and the world.

Over the next year we will be spending time debating and writing a set of “guiding principles” for Woodstock. These will be central to our decision-making at the school. But we need to test whether right from the beginning of this process we have a sense of what our community believes is important, our shared values and beliefs about Woodstock.

Please comment on this post and write below three (or more) values which should guide our planning. Thank you.

Mission Statement, Desired Student Objectives.. and then the most critical things we need to do over the next eight years to achieve those outcomes. Here are the seven Strategic Objectives we are working on.(Please note that the wording and content is still under discussion.)  Later on I’ll post some more detail about each of these areas, and the ideas for improvement we are garnering through staff workshops and other consultations (including this blog). These will then come together in Action Plans, which we will be writing towards the end of August ready for the Board AGM in September.

1.       Vision and Leadership:  Build the confidence of all Woodstock people – staff, parents, students, alumni, funders and partners – in a clear and compelling vision, and to continue to develop a strong sense of identity among all of us; to ensure excellent governance and leadership from the Board and Administration.

2.       Recruit, develop, motivate and retain high-calibre staff:  Woodstock will ensure that each year the School is fully and appropriately staffed, in accordance with our desired mix of qualifications, experience and national background.

3.   Expand student diversity:  Woodstock School will have a diverse student population in accordance with the Board’s objectives, and taking into account a variety of measures of diversity (e.g., national, geographical, cultural, religious, economic).

4.     Enhance student learning:  Strengthen the academic outcomes of students, and align them with the Desired Student Outcomes.

5.      Enrich student experience:  students graduating from Woodstock School will exhibit in greater measure the qualities historically associated with the school by demonstrating (a) commitment to service and leadership (b) engagement with the Himalayan and Indian environment. Here we will also be looking at a range of activities including music, arts, drama, scientific/social projects.

6.      Build community:  Woodstock will develop as a true learning community, exhibiting strong and supportive interpersonal relationships and evidencing mutual respect across cultures, faiths and economic circumstances. We’ll also seek to build across nations, forging links with schools and institutions worldwide who share our vision.

7.      Cultivate our roots:  Woodstock will strengthen its roots by fully engaging with the vibrant and diverse traditions which have made it so distinctive as a school:

• We will improve our communication and interaction with alumni worldwide, encouraging them to sustain the school through their counsel, through working or volunteering at the school, by maintaining their strong class links, and by offering financial support.
• We will honour our historic location in the Indian Himalaya by ensuring that Woodstock continues and develops its links with our host nation, and our commitment to celebrating, enjoying and sustaining our local environment.
• We will seek to understand our Christian tradition and, in an increasingly fragmented world, use its insights to build bridges and promote human values of respect and individual freedom.

Let us know what you think.

The next part of the plan we are working on involves reviewing the Desired Student Outcomes. We have had a fairly short list for the last few years, and it seemed clear that they were neither comprehensive enough to base our curriculum planning on, nor specific enough to Woodstock to differentiate them from many other schools.

We met as a school planning forum two weeks ago, and began to answer the question: what should a Woodstock graduate take away with them? What tools do they need in their “toolbox for living”? Amy Seefeldt, Assistant Head of Senior School (Academics) then carried out the big job of collating the ideas into a comprehensible and logical statement, reproduced below. We’d be interested in your comments.

Desired Student Outcomes

Increasingly seeing learning as a way of living, Woodstock students demonstrate the following skills, attitudes, and values:

In equipping themselves to survive and thrive in the 21^st century, Woodstock students:

1. Know how to learn and are comfortable with exploratory learning.
2. Think critically, actively applying their knowledge and analyzing patterns.
3. Practice and master methods of scientific inquiry and research
4. Effectively communicate orally, in writing, using multimedia and through creative forms of expression; constructing and supporting sophisticated arguments.
5. Utilize technological resources responsibly and with ease.
6. Succeed on standardized exams.

In developing a profound sense of self, Woodstock students:

1. Act with integrity
   1. Persevere, with conviction and courage as sources of motivation
   2. Seek to acquire wisdom and discernment in making ethical decisions
2. Possess focus and passion
3. Remain open, teachable, humble, with an ability to follow when appropriate.
4. Pursue well-being through these practices:
   1. Celebrate achievement and remain resilient through failure
   2. Reflect continuously on their own lives
   3. Stay physically fit
   4. Think strategically and practice self-discipline
5. Explore and identify with their own culture, language, religion and history

In developing healthy interpersonal relationships, Woodstock students:

1. Learn collaboratively, working with diverse people in an effective team
2. Demonstrate empathy for the hopes, dreams, and struggles of people around them, celebrating the achievements and mourning the failures of others.
3. Respect the dignity of others by understanding, appreciating, and articulating their perspectives.
4. Remain flexible and adaptable, able to absorb others’ ideas and able to live with ambiguity.
5. Lead in the following ways:
   • Bring out the best in others
   • Model desired attitudes and actions
   • Take and give effective feedback

 In developing as citizens, Woodstock students:

1. Maintain a sense of personal responsibility for communal welfare, thinking strategically and practically to find sustainable lifestyles.
2. Cultivate curiosity and appreciation through their exploration of diverse cultures, languages, religions, and histories, including building an understanding of Christian beliefs, practices, and rituals.
3. Remain comfortable in multiple environments because of their cross-cultural competency.
4. Possess a strong sense of social justice and concern for those less privileged than themselves.
5. Understand and seek to preserve their natural environment as good stewards of the earth for future generations.