There are many things to consider when choosing an independent school for your child. Here, one local school explains five reasons why your son or daughter should join…
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Albyn School in Aberdeen has been teaching, developing and inspiring young people since 1867. Parents and pupils are drawn to the school for many reasons, here are just five of them, below:
1. Mission, ethos and values
Albyn School is educating for life. With a philosophy that is centred on being stronger together, the school’s mission is to build academic excellence, engender community spirit and help develop pupils’ social conscience. It wants its pupils to be self-aware, ambitious and outward-looking and is seeking to develop six key qualities in pupils: curiosity; resilience; confidence; endeavour; empathy and teamwork.
2. Safe environment
The emotional and physical wellbeing of pupils is top priority at Albyn and it is vital that pupils see the school as a safe space. The school’s aim is for pupils to be happy and successful in that order and for them to become the best versions of themselves.
From the head of pastoral care, through its heads of clan and school counsellor to its senior prefects and pupil clan leaders, pastoral care is a shared responsibility throughout the school community. All children are part of key pastoral groupings which allows any concerns to be identified and enables support to be targeted where needed sometimes even without pupils needing to come forward.
Being a smaller school, Albyn offers small class sizes meaning that every child and young person receives the individual attention they need. Pupils also connect more closely with their teachers and peers, leading to long-lasting friendships throughout their time at school and beyond.
3. Academic enrichment
Albyn provides the perfect environment for curious minds to benefit from its broad academic curriculum. Albyn loves to nurture young minds, develop their knowledge and skills, and develop their character to enable them to succeed and face the challenges of the world in which we live.
Albyn’s pupils have the opportunity to choose from a wide selection of subjects – sciences, arts, humanities and languages – that they may not have the opportunity to study in the state sector. They are encouraged to select subjects that they enjoy and gain fulfilment from, which in turn breeds a positive attitude towards learning. This was shown in 2022, with over half of all S5 pupils gaining five A grades at Higher. These great exam results are the by-product of an Albyn education, rather than the only objective of it.
4. Beyond the classroom
At Albyn School, pupils are encouraged to explore the many different co-curricular activities on offer and unlock their hidden talents. Not only do co-curricular activities help with social skills and confidence, but they also provide a fantastic springboard into life-long interests, and provide useful life skills.
There are activities for everyone, from flying high in the sky with the RAF section of the Combined Cadet Force, to climbing in the Scottish Highlands with the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award Scheme, to building and racing a car at Silverstone with Formula24! New activities are frequently added to the wonderfully long list of options for our pupils to choose from and are available to pupils of different ages and abilities.
Albyn’s co-curricular activities are organised by passionate staff – both teachers and support staff – who have their own expertise and interests in these activities, but, more often than not, it is the pupils that run the show!
5. “Together we are Albyn”
At its core, Albyn is a strong, collaborative and inclusive community where everyone is treated with respect and kindness. Everyone is known and supported to grow as an individual and it celebrates the wide diversity of ethnicities, languages and backgrounds that are to be found among its truly international pupil, staff, parent and former pupil community.
As a through school, with Nursery to S6 all on one site, there is a great bond between older and younger pupils. They support and encourage one another with older pupils often helping younger children with paired reading and other activities. This makes for a really lovely experience for all ages and opens pupils’ eyes to the importance of helping others.
This happy and inclusive environment would not be possible without the support and engagement of all the different groups connected to Albyn including pupils, parents, former pupils and friends of the school.
Albyn looks forward to seeing its community flourish and grow further in the years to come! Find out more about Albyn, its nursery, lower, upper or French schools, and admissions.
