Rob Ford explores how global school traditions—from proms to first-day celebrations—can inspire UK schools to foster a greater sense of belonging. Drawing on his leadership experience in both British and international education, he makes the case for celebrating school life more meaningfully.
"We don’t want UK schools to be seen as only exam factories, and we want to build community and belonging."
“The school prom isn’t even British and yet we are all expected to have one at the end of the year”, moaned a colleague to me recently when we spoke about marking the end of another academic year.
I pondered this a lot driving home because I understood the sentiment was more about the time and effort needed to organise and supervise such large-scale events. This is often at the end of the busy academic year, after getting students prepared and through the exam period, and in the UK, unlike Europe, the school year continues well into July with a shorter summer break.
When I reflect on the time I have spent in different international education systems, different school cultures, traditions and events, there are so many things we could learn from in the UK to build into the academic year and balance both the rigour and demands of education, alongside making sure we celebrate and make good memories of school. We don’t want UK schools to be seen as only exam factories, and we want to build community and belonging.
The obvious one is the school prom. It isn’t just an “American idea”, and many countries have such an event for winter ball or at the end of the school year prom for the senior students and those that are leaving. The prom has now become an important part of school life in many UK schools. I know how much the brilliant prom my daughter’s school organised by students, parents and staff, at the end of June, to mark the end of GCSEs and Year 11, meant to her and her friends after exams.
It wasn’t sold as “bait to behave and do well” but students in her cohort recognised the time and effort taken by the school staff to plan this rite of passage of event off site, and the photos of young people in the summer sunshine, happy, together, looking forward, having fun, dancing, is in stark contrast when this cohort lost their Year 6 to covid and played catch up ever since. Some positivity in the 2020s and hope for the future for students isn’t a bad thing in itself.
I have always been in awe of the proms and dances organised by parents and students in Moldova at my former school, Heritage International School, especially important in that society and the challenges this part of the World continues to face. Even more so in Ukraine and the poignancy of watching young people there, dressed up, dancing in the bombed ruins of their schools and in some cases, dancing with the military tunic of their deceased fathers or mothers, who have lost their lives in that cruel and terrible war.
One of the best traditions from Eastern Europe I have always loved is the celebration of the new academic year on the 1st of September. In the UK, this probably goes down as one of the toughest days for staff and students, returning to school after the summer. In Eastern Europe this day is an incredible day of celebration, the power of school and education, as well young people and hope for the future. Parents turn up with flowers, the occasion is marked more formally and a celebratory welcome and the ringing of the symbolic bell, to start the new year. The same happens on the last day of the year as well. It is both beautiful and fun.
The same could be said of the formal graduation for the cohorts moving from primary to secondary, GSCEs to Post 16 and Post 16 to college, university and careers. My children’s old primary school in Bristol always celebrates the leaving of Year 6 with a clapping out ceremony, special assembly and this is true of lots of UK schools. In secondary, it often is slightly more chaotic, less formal and shirt signing is the one event that most schools have in common.
When I became Head of Wyedean, we not only wanted to build better connections to the local community of Chepstow and the Forest of Dean but also celebrate more formally the end of school with a graduation, prizes and to celebrate our students moving on in education. We chose the beautiful and ancient abbey church of St. Mary’s in Chepstow, had inspiring speakers like Baroness Royall, principal of Somerville College, Oxford, and made a memorable, celebratory moment to mark the end of school for our students. This continues and is an important part of the school calendar.
"Fredrick Douglas famously said it was easier to build strong children than repair broken men."
In the USA and especially in Moldova, we made sure the graduation was an integral part of the academic year, and it allowed parents, carers and families to be part of and belong to the school community more. My colleagues at the British International School Ukraine, celebrated the end of another year of education in the shadow of war with their graduation and it was my honour to speak at this very important event for their communities and belonging.
What was different in the schools I led and saw in the UK and internationally, is a mindset that saw these key moments as integral to the school cycle as much as mocks, open days, parent conferences and exams. This generation of young people really have suffered and struggled with the challenges of the 2020s. Fredrick Douglas famously said it was easier to build strong children than repair broken men.
I believe it is imperative on all schools to make sure we really do make school days the best days of a young person’s life to prepare them for the future with hope and happiness. One of the key words of the 2020s is “belonging”. This is how schools can contribute to this crucial idea.
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