Integrity has played an integral part within our pastoral curriculum this academic year through our Connections programme and assemblies. This year so far our Senior Students have tackled three themes: Term 1 was about relationships, reflecting and goal setting, the theme for Term 2 was ‘Work Hard-Be Kind’, and for Term 3 our students are currently exploring the Kurt Hahn philosophy ‘There is more in you than you think’. The fundamental principles of integrity are honesty and moral principles and these terms are at the heart of the themes that our students have been tackling this year.

An important aspect of integrity is being honest, not simply towards others but also being honest with yourself. In Term 1 our students took time to reflect on their first weeks of the new school year, asking themselves: What went well? What can I do better? How do I feel? Students also focused on going through the process of looking within, being honest with themselves, and setting goals for the Student-Led Learning Conferences and beyond. In Term 2, when tackling our theme of ‘Work Hard-Be Kind’ students had to again be honest with themselves and ask: Am I an upstander? Do I look out for others? Am I kind to everyone? Am I kind to myself? Term 3 is about continuing to look within and coming to the realisation that there is more in us than we know. All this comes from being honest with yourself. Someone once said ‘the most courageous thing you can ever do is to be completely honest with yourself.’ By being honest with yourself you are in a better position to thrive and become a better version of who you are. 

One way our school community learnt about the second important aspect of integrity – moral principles – is through the value of being kind to others. Being kind was a big part of the work Hard-Be Kind’ theme and several Connections lessons and assemblies were dedicated to this. Homerooms created their own ‘Be Kind Homeroom Charters’ and we looked at reasons why bullies bully, why being an upstander is important, and why kind words matter. 

Hopefully, through investigating these different themes we are a step closer to understanding the importance of integrity. Not only do we as individuals thrive when we are honest and show integrity but our Prem community blossoms when its members are kind to one another, and our community flourishes when our members have integrity.

Samuel Carroll