OUR COMMON PURPOSE2013-2019

Mission Statement: The mission of Besant Hill School is the development of each individual’s intellectual and artistic abilities. Through awakening the spirit of inquiry, we encourage each student to pursue integrity and excellence. Our non-competitive community builds honesty, respect, compassion, and responsibility. Our goal is to develop a lifelong habit of learning as embodied in our school’s motto, Aun Aprendo—I am still learning.

BESANT HILL SCHOOLPORTRAIT OF A GRADUATE

Our Graduates Will

Think Critically and Synthesize Knowledge

Honor Their Individual Strengths and Be Resilient

Engage in Their Creative and Artistic Passions

Model Global Citizenship

Embody the Ideals of Environmental Activism

“Our purpose is to teach our students to wish to go on educating themselves. And for our

graduates our valedictory wishes can be summed up in a single phrase: May you go on learning!”

(Aun Aprendo - I am Still Learning) - Aldous Huxley, HVS Commencement Address 1951.

To Our Students, Faculty, Staff, Trustees, Alumni, and Friends:

“Let your life speak” is an old Quaker saying used to describe a precept that one’s actions, not one’s professed beliefs, are of utmost importance. One could also interpret it to mean that if we choose to live our lives with purpose, then the result will be actions that are examples of that purpose. Eventually, those actions will have an impact on others and hopefully change the world. For me, this resonates with our school on many levels. Seven years ago, our entire community of students, faculty, trustees, parents, alumni, and friends came together to build the first strategic plan for our school. Over the course of a year, many ambitious goals were laid out to help map our “purpose” for the next six years. In July of 2007, we published that document, and it became a guiding force in our everyday decisions. It was the common voice of the community at that time, asking us to bring the school to a new level of excellence.

with purpose

Since July of 2007, we have reflected many times on that strategic plan and made numerous advances toward the objectives that were presented. More than 75 percent of the goals have been accomplished as we have made a tremendous amount of progress in the past six years. We have lived by the mission, our purpose. This has resulted in many actions that have helped produce wonderful graduates who will have a positive impact on our global community. As the first strategic plan was nearing the end of its term, we, in collaboration with the Happy Valley Foundation Board of Trustees, began to take the necessary steps to again begin the process of creating a plan to map out the next six years of our school’s future. We began by listening. We gathered information from our entire school and extended community about the dreams, aspirations, and worries for our school’s future. Our Strategic Planning Committee then formed those results into goals and strategies. After many hours of review and input on various drafts by both members of the committee and the Happy Valley Foundation Board, the result is a document for the future of our school.

we began by listening

As I prepared to distribute this document to our community, I grew increasingly uncomfortable with the term “strategic plan.” Personally, “strategy” feels like a military term — not a feeling that I would like to convey about our work at Besant Hill. Thinking back to the Quaker phrase, my conclusion is that what we are really doing is purpose planning. Our challenge, through this document and our mission, is to show, operationally, why we exist — to be an example for the world. As you read this document and see our goals for the next six years, please know that it includes all of the voices of our community. It is our shared vision — not strategic planning, but mission planning and vision planning. It is our purpose. On behalf of our entire community, I am happy to present to you our work for the next six years entitled “Our Common Purpose: 2013–2019.” May we be examples for the entire world, letting our school speak . . . one graduate at a time.

Aun aprendo,

Randy R. BertinHead of School

THE SCHOOL’S PRIORITIESEach of These Will Be Tackled with Equal Effort and Attention

TEACHING, LEARNING, AND LIVING

FACULTY DEVELOPMENT AND PEDAGOGY

COMMUNITY BY DESIGN

AN ENVIRONMENT FOR LEARNING

FINANCIAL STRENGTH AND STABILITY

GUIDANCE AND OVERSIGHT

PRIORITY ITeaching, Learning, & LivingGoal: To educate our students by continuing the design and implementation of a curriculum that develops intellectual and artistic abilities and builds initiative in students, as they become competent and confident global citizens who serve and lead in a changing world, as defined by the Besant Hill School Portrait of a Graduate.

Continue to examine the entire school program and determine how the basic programs of fine and performing arts and environmental sustainability can be better integrated as a central part of each student’s experience.

Explore the possibility of integrating a sustainable agricultural program committed to green practices.

Utilize the opportunities offered by the Happy Valley Cultural Center to broaden the arts and music activities through student participation as interns and performers.

Monitor, in collaboration with the student government, how the school assembly addresses present issues while maintaining important traditions.

STRATEGIES

PRIORITY ITeaching, Learning, & Living

Investigate, in collaboration with the student government, a community service program to increase awareness of social and global responsibility.

Determine which school traditions are fundamental and preserve them by incorporating them into the curriculum.

Determine how each of our cocurricular programs (Outdoor Education, Debate and Public Speaking, Experiential Learning, Advisor System, Sustainable Agriculture, Capstone, Athletics, and Human Development) supports the mission, philosophy, and the Besant Hill School Portrait of a Graduate, and allocate resources accordingly.

Examine the best uses of technology and technology skills in the classroom while developing and integrating information literacy skills across the curriculum.

STRATEGIES

PRIORITY IIFaculty Development & Pedagogy

Goal: Nurture a highly skilled faculty by inspiring as well as appropriately compensating teachers, including the creation of a professional development process.

Explore programs for faculty that will sustain teacher excellence in academic programming and allow for even greater pedagogical enrichment.

Examine sabbaticals and grants that will allow faculty to take courses or extended time off to become better educators in their fields.

Establish school tuition levels that will enable the school to recruit sufficient faculty to uphold the school mission and continue the emphasis on each student as an individual.

STRATEGIES

PRIORITY IIFaculty Development & Pedagogy

Conduct and conclude searches to fill the newly created positions of Digital Arts Instructor and Design and Marketing Coordinator.

Develop a new hiring process that allows internal candidates the opportunity to grow professionally within the school in order to promote our culture of continued learning.

Commit to the possible expansion of Internet and technology staff as a curriculum resource for faculty training and student instruction. Examine the possibility of developing an internship program to fill this role.

STRATEGIES

PRIORITY IIICommunity by Design

Goal: To recruit diverse and promising students and then cultivate and support the educational development of each individual as defined by our school mission, the Besant Hill School Portrait of a Graduate, and the principle of lifelong learning embodied by our school motto Aun Aprendo, I am still learning.

Enhance student recruitment by continuing to better utilize the admissions application process to ensure that students demonstrate a readiness for a college preparatory curriculum, which includes the fine and performing arts.

Carefully and purposefully increase the financial aid budget to better accommodate students who are a good fit for the school but are disadvantaged financially.

Continue to devote necessary resources to ensure that students excel in the areas necessary for acceptance by the college or institution that is the best individual choice for them, particularly in the areas of the fine and performing arts.

STRATEGIES

“...To broaden the arts and music...”

PRIORITY IIICommunity by Design

Cultivate an understanding and self-reflection opportunities for the Besant Hill School Portrait of a Graduate by incorporating the document into the planning of cocurricular programming.

Utilize the Individualized Learning Plan as a key component of the advisor system to support students as they progress toward graduation.

Continue to investigate new markets for the school, particularly internationally, to increase diversity and fulfill the original intention of the school to be a place of understanding between cultures around the world.

Continue to improve retention by offering the appropriate support to all students. This will ensure that each program is understood by every student and is communicated clearly and consistently.

STRATEGIES

PRIORITY IVTeaching, Learning, & Living

Investigate, in collaboration with the student government, a community service program to increase awareness of social and global responsibility.

Determine which school traditions are fundamental and preserve them by incorporating them into the curriculum.

Determine how each of our v v programs (Outdoor Education, Debate and Public Speaking, Experiential Learning, Advisor System, Sustainable Agriculture, Capstone, Athletics, and Human Development) supports the mission, philosophy, and the Besant Hill School Portrait of a Graduate and allocate focus and resources accordingly.

Examine the best uses of technology and technology skills in the classroom while developing and integrating information literacy skills across the curriculum.

Strategies

PRIORITY IVAn Environment for Learning

Goal: To continuously maintain and improve the physical plant, infrastructure, and aesthetically cohesive environment while ensuring green practices for the success and support of the Besant Hill School mission.

Continue to improve Internet infrastructure in order to increase reliability and support for the technological goals of the school.

Explore the possibility of enclosing the EOS outside decks in order to create a common space to allow for an indoor communal gathering space in the boys’ dormitory.

Explore committing financial resources to proceed with a campus-wide security upgrade.

Lay the groundwork to raise funds, after the faculty housing and pool projects, for the building of a new dining commons and wellness center.

STRATEGIES

PRIORITY IVAn Environment for Learning

Complete the faculty housing and swimming pool capital campaign project.

Integrate facilities audit findings and recommendations into Plant Maintenance Schedule and Campus Master (Physical) Plan.

Utilize the adopted Environmental Sustainability Strategic Plan as a rubric for guiding and implementing green practices as they relate to the physical plant, green space, and green energy sources.

Incorporate capital needs that fall into the school’s deferred maintenance category into the long-term strategic and financial plans, in addition to any construction or projects dictated by the capital campaign or facilities audit.

Assess and determine facility maintenance needs and hire staff accordingly to support these findings.

STRATEGIES

PRIORITY VFinancial Strength & Stability

Goal: To adhere to the school’s master financial plan in order to support the school’s mission and programmatic goals of Our Common Purpose in an efficient and environmentally sustainable manner.

Create a one-page financial plan (from our current plan) as an attachment to this document, showing major quantitative/monetary implications of Our Common Purpose. This will include planned increases in all expenditure lines, unless noted otherwise, to ensure that all goals in Our Common Purpose are financially planned for.

Build cash reserves to the recommended 10 percent of the operating budget ($500,000) by the final year of Our Common Purpose in order to better establish the school’s long-term financial sustainability.

Implement a budgeting model that does not rely on soft income during the academic year but instead has expenditures fully funded by planned hard income so that yearly budgetary goals are based on “more predictable” revenue.

STRATEGIES

PRIORITY VFinancial Strength & Stability

Operate at full capacity of 84 boarders and 14 day students, and with the construction of the additional student and faculty housing, investigate adjusting that capacity to 88 boarders and 12 day students so that we may utilize the anticipated new buildings.

Explore and expand opportunities to bolster revenues from auxiliary programs and facilities rentals so that more soft income may be added to the school’s revenue.

Work to establish and develop an ETS testing center for academic year students and summer program students to take the SAT and TOEFL tests on campus. The development of this center would also be an ancillary revenue source for the school.

Investigate the financial feasibility of moving toward being a more paperless school by incorporating electronic textbooks and tablets for classroom use, in order to better accomplish our goal of becoming a more environmentally sustainable campus.

Implement one cohesive relational database that incorporates the needs of all areas of the school so that administrative work and communication become more efficient.

STRATEGIES

PRIORITY VIGuidance & Oversight

Assess the current school facilities and feasibility study and determine the demands of the next 10 years by updating the school’s master facilities plan.

Communicate with school administration regarding the creation of a long-term strategic land use plan that purposely integrates and defines common intentions, relationships, and responsibilities.

Explore the establishment of a deferred maintenance fund dedicated to the repair and update of current and future facilities and infrastructure, encompassing all activities of the Happy Valley Foundation.

STRATEGIES

Goal: The Happy Valley Foundation will continue its commitment to support and protect Besant Hill School, its mission, and the foundation land committed to the school.

Strategic Planning Committee:

Randy R. Bertin, Head of School* – ChairDan Call, Performing and Visual Arts ChairTod Cossairt P’96, ‘99, ‘07, Director of Environmental SustainabilityTerra Furguiel P’13, Associate Director of Admissions and Financial AidKevin Henschel ’93, Director of AthleticsTina Leslie, Director of English as a Second LanguagePortia Pelow-Dickerson ‘00, Dean of AcademicsCurtis Singmaster, Visual Arts ChairJames Sloss* ‘48, Chairman, Happy Valley FoundationRadha Sloss* ‘49, Trustee, Happy Valley FoundationAlex Smith, Business OfficerJohn Starrels* ‘61, Trustee, Happy Valley FoundationJennifer Stroud ‘97, History Department ChairMegan Walton, Assistant Head of School

*Denotes – Member of the Happy Valley Foundation Board of Trustees

THANK YOU…We thank you for your interest in our future. Should you have any questions, input or ideas about our priorities for the next six years, please feel free to email us at: ourcommonpurpose@besanthill.org