Strategic Plan: Designing Our Future

Over the past year, a strategic design team–made up of members of the Board of Trustees, alumni of the School, teachers, administrators, and parents–began a process designed to help understand what the greater School community values, how well the School is fulfilling its mission, and identify key areas of growth. While this process happens every 5-7 years, few people on campus know what it is and how it will affect the community. 

“We envision a future where education unlocks the promise and purpose of every student to better the world,” says an official statement made on the strategic planning page. 

The plan is centered around a set of guiding values to better the School as a whole. As said by the committee, the values are: Students First, Academic Excellence, Diversity, Belonging, and Civic Engagement. 

“These values anchor the school in terms of what we collectively hold dear, and they are at the core of the decisions the school makes,” says Ann Perrin, Vice Chair of the Board of Trustees.  

Ideally, this planning will translate into a more refined curriculum, larger support systems for students, and infused civic responsibility through experiential learning. 

The design process for the plan was launched in September 2023. The School made sure to arrange a team full of diverse voices, skill sets, and backgrounds that reflect the community. Subsequently, a survey was administered to the community and the results were used to research areas of  potential growth at the school.

Perrin highlighted the importance of this survey: “One of the most important elements of the process side of it, was to work with a broad team to guide the process, but more importantly make it as inclusive as possible and that included the surveys that we did with [about 630] students.” 

Furthermore, the Strategic Design Team hosted focus groups with School families, alumni, in addition to several working sessions with faculty. “We wanted as many voices as possible…that came loud and clear when we combined all of that data; we had some really clear areas to focus on with the school and make sure it was aligned for the mission.” 

This fall, the School plans to implement this new strategic plan, “What’s happening now is the real work to think about how our academic program aligns with wellness and belonging and [the School’s] mission and vision” says Perrin. 

The plan also incorporates a vision for the use of the  incoming South Campus. They want to “develop and continually evaluate a campus master plan for our new 22-acre campus that reflects the school’s core values and supports its commitment to environmental sustainability”(as stated in the article on the Strategic Planning Process).

How will this affect daily life at Head Royce? While the changes may be less visible on a micro level, this vision and these ideas will be a north star in the coming changes to the School as a whole and how it operates. Perrin says “I hope that students feel in their day-to-day experience at the school that we are really living our mission.” It’s clear that our School wants to live up to its potential, enhance our experiences (both in and out of the classroom), and develop students of character, intellect, and creativity.