The Harrow Ethos

Spirit of Harrow 

Above all, the spirit of Harrow is to inspire students to develop their talents and reach for excellence in everything they do. This is epitomized by one of its most famous sons, former British Prime Minister, Winston Churchill. It is this determination to make a difference that each school seeks to emulate and nurture in it students.

Academic Excellence

Academic achievement, and excellence in teaching and learning, is foremost amongst Harrow’s goals. Each of the Harrow schools seeks to achieve the best academic standards, appropriate to each student’s potential. The goal is to provide all students with the best opportunities to gain access to tertiary education based on teaching to the English Curriculum and the summative assessment pathways provided by GCSEs (and IGCSEs), A-levels and value-added tests such as those provided by the University of Durham. The schools believe that A-levels provide more flexibility and choice, and study of selected subjects to a greater depth, than other curricula available at this level. Teachers are highly qualified and experienced and are committed to holistic schooling.

Broad-based Leaning Experience

All schools offer extensive after-school and weekend co-curricular programmes that aim to provide opportunities for participation and excellence in a wide range of pursuits from games, music, drama, and art to outdoor education, community service and hobbies. These activities are highly dependent on the commitment of teaching staff to run them. The objectives of these are to provide students with access to a wide range of pursuits that could become lifetime passions; expose students to the benefits of both fair play and team loyalty and build confidence; are on the edge of students’ comfort zones whereby they develop resilience and loyalty to peers; and provide opportunities to interact with their teachers outside the classroom. Through these pursuits, students are given a range of opportunities to develop leadership skills such as School Monitors/Prefects, House Captains/Heads of House, and team captains.

Teacher/Pupil Relationships

The foundation of what each school provides is the commitment, dedication and expertise of the teaching staff. There is a range of contexts in which these relationships are nurtured, for example, in Houses, extra-curricular activities, the classroom and the tutor-tutee relationship. The goal is to provide support, direction and role-modeling in all aspects of a pupil's development. 

Traditional Framework

The schools aim to bring the best of Harrow traditions together with the best of current practice. Various customs, symbols and protocols are carried forward from the past, from the Harrow hat, to historical reference points such as famous Old Harrovians. Students are expected to interact with teachers and peers with courtesy, tolerance, understanding and respect. Within this traditional framework, the schools are dynamic and constantly looking at ways to improve the quality of their educational offering and its relevance.

Intercultural Relations

Harrow School is renowned for its famous non-British Old Harrovians (for example, Jawaharlal ‘Pundit’ Nehru and King Hussein of Jordan) as well as its British icons. 23 princes of the royal household of Thailand have attended since late in the 19th century. Today there is a wide range of nationalities, cultures and religious traditions represented within and across the student bodies of all four schools.

Values

Grounded in its Church of England origins, Harrow School has demonstrated a willingness to lead the way in terms of bridging gaps with other religious traditions, such as the introduction of a Roman Catholic chaplaincy. The other schools have entered the ecumenical spirit of this approach, with each, in its unique and context-appropriate way, attempting to create understanding and cooperation between them. Consistent with the recognition of the spiritual dimension in human development, all schools seek to promote independence of thought, respect for others, creativity and responsibility and, to nurture a sense of virtue and morality, in their students. This is perhaps best summed up in the Golden Rule: treat others as you wish to be treated yourself.

Community Service

The very origins of Harrow School, as personified by John Lyon’s Charter, have their roots in service towards those who, for some reason, are constrained in their opportunity to access educational opportunities. The founding of The John Lyon School demonstrates this. Seeking opportunities to serve local and distant communities lies at the heart of the charter and it is contingent upon each school, for each generation, to be guardians of this time-honoured legacy.

Facilities

All schools seek to provide the best quality of facilities and educational resources available, needed to support their extensive curricula and extra-curricular programmes.

Governance

All four schools seek to manage with financial responsibility for the purpose of a sustaining a high quality of education. Heads are accountable to their own Governors and several Harrow Governors have representation on the other three schools’ governing bodies, at least two attending each meeting, in order to maintain consistency and accountability. The financial management of all four schools is subject to full disclosure to the Harrow Governors and auditing by internationally -recognised auditing firms. The schools are expected to produce sufficient financial return to ensure financial viability and sustainability.