Reflecting on our HEART habits

Our HEART habits are the way that we live out our school values every day. This academic year, we have awarded house points against our HEART criteria for the first time so that we can be sure that what we prize, and reward is linked to the core of who we are as a school.

Our HEART acronym not only contains within it the intellectual and character traits that we are seeking to develop as community, but it is also quite deliberately based on our collective Christian heritage.

Why choose a Heart?

The human heart has long been a symbol of love, viewed as the source of all human activity - intellectual and emotional. It also symbolises the centre of things, such as the heart of a relationship or the heart of a city as well as being shorthand for the character of a person, such as describing someone as having a good heart.

In 17th century Europe devotion to the heart of Jesus gained popularity and the feast of the sacred heart of Jesus was first celebrated in1670. Jesus’ heart had come to contain many meanings - all pointing to his very human condition through which divine love flows.

We are proud that our habits as a school community can encapsulate so much of who we are and what we wish for our students as they turn themselves to the task of shaping their world for the common good. It is apt that we have as our guide the very symbol of both human and divine love.

Kate Latham, Assistant Head: Enrichment and Partnerships

Return to Magnolian