School Director

Welcome Letter (Academic Year 2026-27)

Dear Parents,

Every year, just before school reopens, I take a walk through the campus when it is still quiet. The classrooms are still being set, and occasionally, there is a particular kind of stillness that will not last long and should not. By Tuesday morning, the 14th of July, it will be replaced by something far better: the sound of the community coming back to life.

This year, we return with a clear sense of what we are here to do. The world our children are growing into is changing faster than any of us predicted, in technology, in how we work, in what skills will matter. It would be easy to let that pace of change become the loudest voice in the room. We have chosen not to let it. Our commitment this year is straightforward: “Centred on People, Prepared for Change". That is the kind of school that we want to be.

Centred on people means that wellbeing is not a side programme, it is the foundation on which everything else is built. A student who feels seen, supported and safe learns differently from one who does not. This year, we are deepening our advisory systems, strengthening socio-emotional learning across all year groups, and ensuring our teachers and staff are looked after with the same care we give our students. When our people thrive, our school does.

Prepared for change means we take seriously what is coming, including artificial intelligence, without losing sight of what cannot be automated: curiosity, empathy, judgment, and the ability to think clearly under pressure. We will teach our students to engage with new tools wisely and critically, as users who understand the power and limitations of these tools. The goal is not to keep up with change. It is the kind of person to navigate it well.

None of this happens without you. The partnership between home and school is not a formality. It is one of the most important factors in your child's success here. We will keep communications honest and timely, and we ask the same of you. When things are going well, tell us. When they are not, tell us sooner.

A few things to note before you arrive:

School reopens on Tuesday, 14th July, for all students

To those of you joining Pathways, you have chosen well, and we will do our best to deserve that choice. To those returning, thank you for being here again. There is something worth protecting in a community that keeps showing up for each other, and this one does.

I am looking forward to the year ahead. See you on the 14th!

Kind regards,
Aaron Jacob
School Director

Learn. Work. Play. Think. LIVE

 

From the Director’s Desk

Education has a natural flow that continually brings the excitement of ‘the new’ to all involved. It could be a parent sending their five-year-old off for Day One, a Grade 6 student about to make the journey to the Senior School, or a teacher walking into the first class of a new academic year. Nothing stands still!

What is that makes our school different, because different they most certainly are? It is the people: students and staff; it is the blend of convention and innovation. It is how we feed the fire without dying in its flames; it is where we emphasise the curriculum and the expectations we pass on to the students. More than anything else, the essence is in the quality of the relationships between all members of our community.

Teaching is a relational craft, and schools are a relational place. If we get it right, we enable young minds to gain flexibility, curiosity, and diversity in their interactions. We create intimacy and trust that enables them to question, initiate and lead. We show them values and allow them to grow in self-awareness as they start to unravel their beliefs and values.

The focus on the micro and macro relationship has interested me for many years—the effect of small changes on the big picture. While many thoughts pass through a mind almost concealed, others trigger specific vibrations that grow to resonate throughout a lifetime. All are interconnected and subtle changes of what might seem a minor variable can, as with the Butterfly Effect, bring about the vastly different outcomes on the broad canvas. In education, we need to work with detail to bring out the best in each of our students. This need to blend long-term goals and the details with individual needs is at the heart of my belief in education as the critical building blocks of our societies.

Former School Directors