The importance of vision and values

Amission statement explains an organisation’s vision for what lies ahead. Full of intention and purpose, it guides and inspires all those embarking on the journey. So it is no wonder that most independent schools in Scotland have adopted one.

A school writes its mission statement based on its goals for academic achievement and how it plans to help its young people to excel and reach their potential. However, they do differ.

Often it’s a school’s mission statement that will help parents decide on where to send their son or daughter for their school education.

Core values

As well as its mission statement, or vision, a school’s values and ethos are also incredibly important, not only for parents when selecting a future school but to the pupils who attend and every member of staff who works there.

All independent, or private, schools are founded upon a strong sense of values and those in turn help to build and maintain the school’s culture, in the same way a school’s motto does. For some educational establishments, values (like mottos) have been established for many years, sometimes by the school’s founder, and are older than the buildings the classrooms are housed in. For others, the values have evolved and often pupils themselves have revisited and re-written them to reflect a more modern education in the 21st Century.

Core values are hugely important to each school as they are at the heart of everything it does, setting out the school’s standards and outcomes, as well as promoting a positive learning environment. They also help

communicate the school’s story to the wider community. Once the values are established, they are embedded in everything the school does and are instilled in each pupil’s education as they are taught to adhere to each of them and abide by them during their time there. Those schools with a nursery department start teaching younger pupils about values and having self-respect (and showing respect to others) as young as three years old.

Values are often referred to in the classroom, in policy documents and in the school’s prospectus, and often drive the decision-making process in the school. They also help parents in the decision-making process when considering options about their children’s future.

Excellence, leadership and achievement are three of the most popular values, but whatever the chosen words, whatever the independent school, they are designed to maximise the potential of every single pupil.