CAMPUS LIFE: 2025/26
After my first full year as Deputy Head - Campus Life, and after many years as a Houseparent and teacher, I am more convinced than ever that much of the real work of a Brentwood education happens in ordinary moments.
It happens at a house dinner, on the walk back from an activity, during a quiet check-in with a Houseparent, and in the steady, repeated routines of each day—from Prep to Dining Hall sign-in, to assembly and classes. These moments are not incidental to the School experience; they are where young adults learn how to live with others, how to make good choices when no one is scripting the answer for them, and how individual freedom is connected to a structural duty to the community.
It naturally starts with a responsibility to a roommate, then extends to the dorm, the School, and eventually the wider world. Our dorms remain central to that work. They are places of profound belonging, but also places of continuous practice. Here, students learn to share space, include others, repair mistakes, lead peers, and contribute to something larger than themselves.
This year’s Campus Life and Interhouse calendar was exceptionally full, featuring the Fun & Games Night, Air Band, a mini Olympic event, Winterlude, the Art Battle, the 54th Brentwood International Regatta, and everything from prefect events and in-house breakfasts to the many smaller traditions that give each dorm its own distinct character. Some events were loud and public; others were simply a group of students eating pancakes together on a Saturday morning. Both are vital; they help students feel known, connected, and deeply responsible to one another.
Students get steadier when they stop trying to shoulder the burden of what was never theirs to carry. Our students took real, active ownership of school life this year. Our student leaders did not simply attend events; they planned, adjusted, communicated, encouraged participation, and learned from the inevitable logistical problems that arose. The work of our student leadership groups—including the SAC, OMNI, BIPOC, BEAT, B-Well, the Grad Council, House Captains, and Interhouse Captains—showed what can happen when young people are fully trusted with responsibility.
Their combined efforts supported school spirit, environmental action, the Interhouse Competition, inclusion, wellness, and cultural awareness, proving beautifully that Brentwood is not just a place students pass through—it is a community they are actively helping to shape.
Boarding life also asks students to connect rules to principles. A healthy community needs joy, freedom, and trust; it also needs honesty, kindness, and accountability. The goal is not simply that students follow directions while adults are watching. The ultimate goal is that they gradually understand why expectations exist, how their choices affect other people, and what it means to be trusted with agency. That learning is built through spontaneous conversation in the classroom, on the field, and in the dorm. It is built through repetition, through patient correction when needed, and through encouragement after a victory, a disappointment, or a fall.
Students understand their rights, as they should. One of the primary tasks of dorm life is to teach the other half of that identity: that rights carry duties, and that a community holds together only when both are taken seriously. I am incredibly proud of the energy, humour, resilience, and care our students brought to this year, and I remain deeply grateful for the pride, fellowship, and trust that sit at the absolute heart of our community.