Dear Alumni and Friends of RC,
I hope that you have had a restful and restorative summer, full of time to catch up with family and loved ones.
Everyone at school is excited at the prospect of a return to face-to-face education. Our community spirit has been remarkably strong over the last 18 months of digital learning, and as that period ends we are understandably keen to come together in person once more. No doubt the 12 months ahead will have further challenges, but we will continue to face them with both the new skills acquired during the distance learning period and with the same strength of character that RC has shown when facing the many adversities of our long history. Of course, our number-one priority will remain the physical and mental health of our community; I have no doubt we will continue to balance that with the same commitment to all-around excellence that always characterises Robert College.
Indeed, the 2021-22 academic year is set to be an exciting one. To cite just a few examples, we have new Residential Life programs for all boarders in Lises 9, 10, 11 and 12. We have our brand new Akbank Augmented Reality Lab to bring contemporary technology into our learning. Our Heads of Environmental Education, of English Language Learning, of Education Research, and of Social Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Creativity, appointed last year, will be able to share their exciting programs with students face-to-face. We also look forward to introducing another key position this year when we appoint a Head of Outdoors and Adventure Learning. There could never be a better moment than now to push for greater use of nature, the ‘biggest classroom,’ with Covid-19 health concerns pushing us to spend more time outdoors, and also as we try to find responses to this year of exceptional floods and fires.
We have as a school significantly developed our commitment to sustainable education over the last 24 months, and we are set to deepen and embed that work this year. No doubt you have seen the latest wonderful edition of RCQ, with its focus on environmental issues. Also, by December we hope to have completed our first school-wide sustainability plan. Alongside these steps within our community, we are also making a commitment to engage with the wider ecological challenges facing the nation. This year’s terrible fires must be addressed, and we are determined that RC will lead the way in finding meaningful responses to support communities and eco-systems that have been devastated. This is of course our duty – and at the same time we believe that it will offer incredibly powerful learning opportunities for our students. Please do contact us if you would like to be part of our plans in this respect.
All of us face a year full of issues to confront and commensurate opportunities to grasp. We look forward to sharing this journey with all our friends within the RC family.
With best wishes for the coming academic year,
Adam Oliver
Head of School
