“I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” — Maya Angelou

At SBL we have created a school culture where students are at the centre of our approach and where students and facilitators are excited, engaged and empowered by their work. 

Educational research by Sir Ken Robinson and Drew Perkins proves that positive school culture creates an atmosphere and environment of trust and dynamically increased learning for students and facilitators alike. However, the opposite of this is also true – when there is limited engagement from facilitators and students, as is often seen in the traditional school system, then poor school culture is a disability…hindering student progress and development. 

This is the very reason why our organisational culture and our relationships with our students is at the very core of what we do at SBL. As a firm believer in our school culture and approach as a transformative, paradigm shift in education, I believe that implementing this takes consistent guidance, work and leadership. With this in mind it’s essential for all of us in the SBL community to engage with our students and facilitators in the same way that we expect our students to engage with each other in a zoom room. This means that we consistently democratise our environment by encouraging questioning and inquiry around all that we do at SBL. 

In order to continue to develop our students and for them to make meaningful progress, it is important to live our SBL culture. Our culture must be a ‘living’, ‘breathing’ organism that is consistently part of our DNA as a school. We cannot just have an SBL approach and we cannot just practise an SBL approach with our students. To be truly impactful we must have an SBL culture that permeates all aspects of our organisation across all stakeholders.

I have, all too often, led and worked in schools where a student centred school culture is seen as an ‘add on’ – something to be considered and reinforced through words, phrases and advertisement taglines; long after the business of administration, documentation and paperwork has been completed.  The result of which has been disenfranchised and disengaged students and facilitators constantly questioning the reality of their organisational culture. Consequently, this leads to a lack of real progress and development for the students and a sense of disillusionment for facilitators. 

This is not so at SBL. Our culture is inherent in all that we do – our students lead and direct their own learning and we, as facilitators, learn and progress with our students. The students and facilitators are supported by our culture, we understand that student development and progress can and will take time. Our culture ensures that real change and true development can, and does, take place at SBL. Our school culture realizes true growth potential for our students and our facilitators. We all feel equipped with the tools that encourage reflection, collective critique and continued improvement. As a community, let’s continue to model, live and breathe our student driven school culture – ensuring that all feel supported to achieve our unique essence.