At St Dunstan’s Education Group, 'Excellence. Differently.' is not just a motto.

It is not a tokenistic remark or a brand slogan, nor is it a means to showcase the latest educational buzz words. It is a commitment, a mindset and a lens through which we inform our strategic decision-making, our leadership of that strategy, and the shaping of our organisational culture, at every level and in every setting. In this way it encapsulates our organisation’s purpose, our mission, and the guiding philosophy behind everything we do across our schools and communities. It crafts our strategy. It defines what we do.  

Excellence in education takes many forms, and we pursue it in all domains: the sector-leading progress made by the children in our schools, A Level results that place us amongst the top schools in the country, national recognition and competitive success in sport, music and drama.

We are proud to have been recognised time and again for the excellence and distinction of our schools, with multiple national awards celebrating our excellence and specifically recognising our approaches to wellbeing, inclusion and curriculum reform. And we aim for excellence in our professional services too – in the way we support families, serve our communities, and offer outstanding opportunities for our staff as they go on their professional journey with us as educators and leaders.  

But St Dunstan’s has always been different. Our founders believed the first school should be ‘ahead of its time’, and that spirit of progressive thinking and reform remains central to our Group identity today. From the outset, we challenged convention, asked questions of the orthodoxy, and led the way in curriculum and pedagogical innovation. Today, we continue to build on that foundation.

From the very earliest years through to Sixth Form and beyond, we challenge ourselves to ask what our changing future means for curriculum provision at each stage of growth and development. Holistic development is often cited as a cornerstone to modern, progressive education, but we live it fully: outdoor learning and child-led exploration, values-based early care and foundational independence, the way we integrate pupil voice into our strategic decision-making, the emphasis we place on character and relational development, future-thinking and skills-based curriculum additions. All of this is done so that we can help develop the young minds our future world needs and deserves: driven and able young people equipped to shape the world with kindness and compassion, who understand the importance of social impact and who act with integrity as they come to learn and understand that the purpose of school runs deeper than just examination results and university entrance – it is about forging a sustainable global future. 

In pursuit of this, we consider ourselves so fortunate to benefit from our south London setting, fuelling as it does such a diversity of backgrounds and thinking which enables us to create communities of particular creativity and progressive practice.  

Excellence. Differently. means redefining independent education. Excellence. Differently. is the future.