IDEAS & IDEALS

Round Square was started in 1966 by a group of five like-minded schools as a means of sharing good ideas, through conferences, exchanges, service projects and other worthwhile collaborations. Today, the organisation has changed beyond all recognition: with around 100 global members and many more additional regional members, the organisation is approaching the moment when it will need to reinvent its structure and purpose if it is to continue to provide quality and equality of opportunities for its members. For the adult delegates, most of Tuesday was spent pushing around ideas about how Round Square can modernise itself.

There is a growing recognition now that the Round Square needs to be about a lot more than just conferences (which are now unmanageably large and prohibitively expensive), exchanges (which can only ever be the exception not the norm) and service projects (where again restrictions on numbers and high costs make them inaccessible to all but a very few lucky students).

An increasing number of Round Square schools are now recognising that if Round Square is to be truly meaningful, it needs to be inclusive of all students, rather than an exclusive club for the lucky few. For that to occur, it has to be all about the ethos of the IDEALS - Internationalism, Democracy, Environmentalism, Adventure, Leadership & Service - permeating the whole school culture, rather than about specifically branded 'Round Square activities' that can only ever be accessed by the minority.

The Round Square Board and member schools have been scratching their heads for some time as to how exactly the inclusion of all students in Round Square can be achieved. This is where you heard it first, so whisper it softly ... but it seems that the Felsted Diploma or something like it may just turn out to be a very important part of this process! As part of Tuesday's programme, TJV was asked to give an 8 minute presentation to the conference on how the Diploma has been developed at Felsted. The response to this presentation has been overwhelmingly positive: when one hears phrases like 'solution to all our problems', 'it's now clear what we have to do' and 'I learnt so much' floating around, one cannot fail to be proud of what one has created.

Those of you who were here five years ago when MJW first arrived may remember his extravagant statement that he wished Felsted to be viewed not only as an outstanding centre of excellence and innovation in the UK, but also internationally. Expect, now, an increase to the already existing stream of adult visitors to Felsted from other Round Square schools, wanting to see what we are doing. Expect, now, a further upsurge in interest in Felsted from students in other schools. Another mad and impossible plan that turned out to be not so mad after all ... Be proud, Felsted! What you do is very special.

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