Page 8 - Harare International School

OURIDENTITY
During the Board's annual "retreat" on Campus in August, it became clear that the School needed to review its Mission and think carefully about its identity and strategic direction for the next 5 - 10 years.
HIS's
New
Mission Statement
Most schools in this position put their Board members in the room for a day or two and they come out with the school's new mission statement. But not HIS! The Board and Director designed a comprehensive, community - wide process that collected over 2,000 pieces of data from students, parents, faculty and staff, alumi, Board members , and leadership through survey, focus groups, idea boards, and a special warthog " burrow" exercise.
After three months of data collection, the Board brought together 33 volunteers, including 18 incredible students, for a two-day retreat that used design thinking activities to twin those 2,000 pieces of data into 49 clusters,then 22 themes, and finally the 13 words of our new mission statement.
Harare International School ?
A Boldly Diverse Learning Community that Inspires Curiosity,
Embraces Challenge, Nurtures Personal Growth
Educators and students make about 3,000 learning decisions a day. Having these statements about HIS in our minds, immediately helped us refine our decisions and actions. Now we can ask ourselves:
- Ifwearea?boldlydiverselearningcommunity,?howmightthataffectthewayteachersform working groups in the classroom or what kind of learning differences we accommodate at HIS? How might we make decisions at the point of Admissions?
- Ifwe?inspirecuriosity,?howmightweuseimmersionexperiencestointroduceaunit?
- Ifwe?embracechallenge,?howmightthisinfluencethewaywereacttoadisappointinggrade,a
new piece of music, or a misunderstanding with a friend?
- Ifwe?nurturepersonalgrowth,?howmightweensurethatwemeetlearningneedswherestudents
are right now?
Mission statements can feel remote or esoteric but when they are developed by the community and they are lived or breathed every day, they can truly transform a school.
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