To me it was always important to have a theme for the term or perhaps the semester - the year is too long.



I am sure I would be kidding myself if I felt the staff hung onto all the words of my dissertation at the start of a term so it was important to have a strong picture to illustrate the theme, a picture which could be referred to many times during the term . The picture can then become a cultural compass which can be referred to by everyone. The Principal as the educational leader can really make a difference doing this.

Your school may have a motto. The motto is always a good reference point and whilst your theme may not be one of the words of the motto, it is valuable for it to be tied in in some way. Motto’s can be really influential but they can easily be ignored because they already seem to be around the school. However there is much to be gained in regularly emphasising the motto, making it relevant and making it live. If this is not possible then maybe the motto is worth changing. I had the opportunity to change the motto at St Philips, ready for the day school to open in 1989. The motto adopted had real meaning for me and I found it easy for it to provide the basis for talks to both staff and students. I think I would have found my own school motto more challenging as a reference point.

Strangely, the new motto had its origins in my year 7 poetry class when I was 12. The teacher had given the lesson great significance and understanding which remained with me as something of cultural importance for ever. So 25 years later I adapted it to create the College’s new motto and the Council were happy to accept it.

In 2004, I received an award. After it was announced a postbag arrived in the mail from my old poetry teacher and in that was my 1963 poetry exercise book complete with my “daggy” illustrations and accompanying it was a letter, written in his wonderful steady copperplate hand, of congratulations and encouragement. The first page of the book, after the mandatory title page, was the meaningful lesson from which the motto originated. One word in the motto is “care”.

From then on, I would often talk about “care” to both students and staff and when I did I would wave my exercise book in the air and tell the story of this teacher who really cared. As teachers we really do and it is worth reminding ourselves that our care can be felt and appreciated by students throughout their lives though we as teachers may never know that. I was fortunate because at the age of 53, I could let this teacher know what he as a person and his lessons had meant to me and how they had been perpetuated in the St Philip’s motto. At 66, after I retired and after he had died, I had the opportunity to meet his wife and to tell the story to her - how special. We belong to a wonderful profession.

Chris Tudor

AISNT Historian & Principal Liaison