HEAD OF SCHOOL'S LETTER

All along year 2022, the values which show the road for the activities within St. Andrew's Scots School, were once again the pillars which allowed the anchoring of the school accomplishments in a particularly unsettled and complex context. All our teams faced this complexity and uncertainty with responsibility, respect and integrity, guaranteeing our institutional commitment to educational excellence and the complete instruction of all our students.

There are three words that resonate as central attributes of the institutional experiences in the year 2022. These are: transition, commitment and consolidation.

The 2022 school year was a two-fold period of transition. In the first place, we went through the end of the pandemic, recognizing the new challenges which it generated in the lives of our students, our families and our staff, that is, in the entire educational community. To understand what we could call the “post pandemic stage” and its complexities implied recognising what turned out to be fundamental to reconstruct and resignify. Our teams worked with commitment and responsibility on the design of experiences which favoured a careful, caring and significant reunion for all. 

Also, 2022 was a year of leadership and team building transitions. The school year began with the formation of a new leadership team in Secondary level and towards the middle of the year, with the incorporation of a new Head of School. With commitment, responsibility and integrity, the full educational community created the necessary spaces and mechanisms to allow these new leaderships to integrate and articulate their work with all areas and sectors of the organisation.

From the perspective of commitment, the school continued to advance in the development of strategic objectives proposed for the entire organisation during the 2022 cycle. In this regard, two actions in particular stand out. In the first place, the Works Committee advanced in the design and crafting of plans for the future Secondary building and common spaces essential for school life such as the Sports Center, the swimming pool and the dining room. We also worked on a comprehensive view of the Campus - both from the perspective of landscaping and daily life in a shared area - as the axis of the construction of a true and significant scenario to emplace learning and organisational growth. Together with the various architecture studios and professionals who accompanied this work, members of the Board, Heads, teachers, staff and students were also part of this process, generating a real opportunity to recover the voices of the entire community throughout the design

Secondly, throughout the 2022 cycle we recovered the commitment of all sectors in particular, with the institutional decision to move ahead on an educational model oriented towards the development of competences and skills in all students. In each sector, we worked in depth to understand the meaning of these competences and their articulation with the various pedagogical projects. From this perspective, the effort dedicated to describing, understanding and working together on the scope of the competences, the ways of developing them in the didactic practices of each level and the way to evaluate them in the learning processes of the students, are especially highlighted. Many of the experiences presented throughout this report reflect the progress achieved in this regard

Finally, we can recognise in the 2022 academic year the consolidation of many of the initiatives and strategic lines of work proposed for the cycle. From this perspective, two initiatives in particular stand out among many.

Secondly, from the perspective of care for the well-being and growth of the human development of our Staff, the Human Resources area made sustained progress in consolidating an institutional work agenda that recognises the contemporary challenges of forming, developing and sustaining a pedagogical work team with a high level of performance and commitment. This agenda also represents the institutional view oriented to people and their belonging and identification with the vision and mission of our School.

Undoubtedly, 2022 has been a year of challenges, achievements and new experiences. A year of transition, commitment and consolidation as reflected in the practices, projects and work of each of the sectors presented below.