John Liggett, Head of School

List of 9 items.

• Nurture academic excellence

  We will nurture academic excellence in our students by giving them the academic and life skills they need for continued success. We will offer an academic programme with a focus on balance to provide students with a depth and breadth of understanding. We will aim to develop core academic skills in our students: literacy, numeracy, a sense of historical development, problem-solving, critical thinking, an appreciation of the arts, global awareness, and a life-long love of learning.
  

• Build sound and honourable character

  We will build sound and honourable character in our students through curricular and co-curricular activities. We will foster a positive culture of mutual respect that builds trust and engages students in learning. We will aim to develop in our students integrity, mutual respect, leadership skills, responsibility, self-discipline, productivity, and moral maturity.
  

• Raise social and global awareness

  We will raise the social and global awareness of our students through our curriculum, community service opportunities, charitable involvement, programme initiatives, excursions and visiting guest speakers. The core traits we will aim to develop in our students are adaptability, global understanding, respect for difference, empathy, volunteerism, and sensitivity to the human condition.
  

• Advocate fitness for life

  We will advocate and support a fitness for life philosophy throughout the school. We will maintain an environment where students are encouraged to take part in physical fitness for the love of competition or the pure pleasure of having fun and being active. Whether at recess, in gym class, at practice, or in competition, we will promote in our students good sportsmanship, teamwork, dedication, perseverance, achievement of one’s personal best, and healthy living.
  

• Employ talented people

  We will attract, employ and retain the most talented staff to maintain the quality education that we offer. We will protect our employee resources by implementing a comprehensive recruitment and retention strategy. Focal points will be employee recognition and rewards for actions which assist us in realizing our vision. We will cultivate an organizational culture that promotes a sense of community, pride in work, optimism, trusting relationships, collegiality, collaboration and open communication.
  

• Promote community involvement

  We will promote community spirit and involvement at our school through our actions, publications and special events. We will recognize the accomplishments of our students and we will celebrate our alumni. We will communicate effectively and openly with all members of our community – students, alumni, parents, past parents, faculty, staff, and friends – to maintain and enhance the positive culture at our school.
  

• Foster artistic passion and expression

  We will foster artistic passion and expression by exposing our students to the visual, dramatic and musical arts throughout their CDS journey. 

• Create a place where all are welcome

  We will create a place where all are welcome by building a community in which people from different cultural and religious backgrounds learn, live and work harmoniously, free of discrimination and with mutual respect and understanding. Our curriculum will teach respect for difference. We will also continue to build our endowment to make our school accessible to those who are currently unable to attend due to financial constraints.
  

• Develop the finest campus resources

  We will develop the finest campus resources while responsibly maintaining our present campus. We will continually assess our facilities in relationship to programme, curricular needs, student enrolment and community demographics. We will anticipate future needs by developing and implementing a dynamic master campus plan. We will encourage a philanthropic culture at our school to establish the finest campus resources for our community, now and in future.