CEO Monthly August 2017

12 CEO MONTHLY / AUGUST 2017 , Baccalaureate Diploma and facilitating our graduates’ entry to top universities, are important to us. Both students and parents’ academic expectations remain high. However, the accompanying life-skills, aptitudes and attitudes to allow the students to flourish are every bit as important. As a leader, to achieve the above, my strategy is to work with a sense of humility that demonstrates my respect for the skills and capabilities of colleagues. I am an optimistic, positive person with lots of energy and an undying passion for schools as well as what they can do for everyone in them. Being seen, sharing my ideas, listening to and working with colleagues is important to me. I love the vibrancy of enthusiastic staff and students, who are keen to be the best they can be whilst enjoying the process. I try to demonstrate my expectations, not through demands and rules, but through example and by being there as far as possible to understand both the challenges and TanglinTrust School Limited (TTS) is a large international schoolwitha communityof 3,500 staff and students, established in 1925 to serve the expatriate populationof Singapore. They recentlywon twoprestigious awards:Most Inspirational EducationBusiness Leader 2017&Best International School 2017 – Singapore. Tomark these splendid achievements, we invited the school’s CEO, PeterDerby-Crook to tell usmore about his rewarding career in the education sector. A Positive and Dynamic Learning Community Tanglin Trust School Limited (TTS) is a large international school with a community of 3,500 staff and students, established in 1925 to serve the expatriate population of Singapore. It has a worldwide reputation for high standards and producing ‘good people’. Being in education and working with talented staff and students carries with it many rewards. However, to receive this recognition from CEO Monthly does means a lot to me. I accept it in all humility, knowing that anything I have achieved has been on the back of many dedicated, exceptional staff, in both the academic and administrative sectors. Certainly, the quality of the people I have worked with has allowed me the privilege to be associated with outstanding success. My aim at TTS has been for everyone to look forward to coming to school and for us to be both a positive and dynamic learning community. Our vision statement says it all: ‘We aspire to be the best school in the world, with a dynamic learning community which nurtures and inspires everyone to be the best they can be’. At TTS, everyone is important, no matter what their position or role is. I hope that everyone feels valued, respected and a part of the ongoing success we enjoy. Tanglin Trust School has earned the accolade presented by CEO Monthly and as such, I am delighted that our achievements of a period of many years, have been recognised. The arrival of several new schools recently in Singapore, has forced us to focus more sharply on what we are, what TTS does and how we do it. Our recently revised Core Values of Respect, Responsibility and Purpose has provided useful reference points in this respect. Our overall response to the arrival of new schools has been to ensure both relevance and quality. To date, this appears to be working with most classes full and lots of interest in joining the school. A major investment in space resources has begun and will transform the school infrastructure by 2021. Phase one of this development has been completed, providing a stunning and iconic frontage to the school in the seven storeys, ultra-modern Nixon Building. Phase two of this exciting development will begin in 2019. This is an incredibly exciting time to be working in schools. We are living in a time when a major world-wide revolution in education and learning, with the roles of teacher and learner being totally redefined. Emerging technology has certainly been a factor in this, but more importantly, schools are now rethinking their purpose. At TTS, we like the word ‘flourish’. We want to nurture our community, so that it flourishes now and in the future. Consequently, the wellbeing of both staff and students has been placed at the heart of our strategic plan. We can’t deny that achieving outstanding academic results in I/GCSEs, A-Levels and the International GCE17051