“We’re a high-achieving, excellent academic school, but it’s not just the results that count, it’s the way that we get those results, and that’s with curiosity, fun and happiness”
When Dr Sarah Tullis talks about The Abbey, you can actually feel how passionate she is about the school.
When asked ‘Why The Abbey?’, there’s conviction in her eyes as she thoughtfully responds “Because it’s the most special school. The quality of people here is absolutely outstanding, students are genuinely a delight to work with, enormous fun, intelligent, curious, community-minded. Staff are experts in their subjects, again fun, community-minded and really care about their students. I think people come through the doors here and quite often they comment that there’s something special in the air”. Then Sarah’s trademark smile breaks out as she continues, “and I really do think that there is”.
Sarah’s vision for The Abbey is clear. For The Abbey to be known as “the friendliest, most tolerant, happy school where girls have genuine autonomy and more choice over aspects of their education than they’d get anywhere else, whilst achieving excellent results and going on to do whatever they want to do.”
As Head, Sarah wants “to make a difference, I’d like to help the school to build on its huge strength and move forward confidently and to be even better. Good schools know that they can never stand still, there are always things you can do to improve and it would be rewarding to lead that.”
When talking about the importance of girls-only education, her conviction that she feels it is “more important than ever” is palpable. She reflects that in some ways, since she herself attended an all-girls school, things have got worse, which appals her.
Sarah references a study that shows that Gen Z men are more likely to believe that feminism is negative than older men, “so we need girls’ schools, maybe even more than 30-50 years ago”.
So how would Sarah like to be known as a Head? “Joyful” she answers, with a knowing laugh of appreciation of how ‘on brand’ that is for The Abbey. But the authenticity is what cuts through. “When people come to this school and when they meet me, I want them to feel our values. Yes, we’re a high achieving, excellent academic school, but it’s not just the results that count, it’s the way that we get those results, and that’s with curiosity, fun and happiness and I’d like to represent that”.
Sarah already embodies the school ethos of joy. She has a joyous warmth in her manner, an infectious laugh and a smile that can’t help but make you feel at ease. When asked what fuels this so naturally within her, she responds that it’s the people she feels “so genuinely lucky” to work with, “the Abbey students and staff are just exceptional and make me think and laugh every day and I love that”. Her average of eight cups of tea a day may also help with the momentum.
To Sarah, a Head should be “the centre of a school, in terms of knowing students, staff, articulating the values of the school and what makes it special”. They should “care about every aspect of the school and the people in it, but also look outwards and represent that school to the local community and wider world”. With calm assurance she continues that “doing that with The Abbey should be easy because we are such a special school”.
So what are her top priorities? Really listening to students and preparing them to succeed in an unknown future. She would like “more student voice, more student surveying, more using their inspiration and ideas to move forward”. She also wants to “draw together all of the amazing things that we’re doing and to show people that this school is creating future-ready young people.
Lots of good schools produce good results, but they can’t all say that they’re preparing students who will be able to succeed in a future that we don’t yet know. We don’t know what the employment market is going to look like in 2030 or 2050 but we know that the people who will thrive there in a world of artificial intelligence and computer learning, will be resilient, confident, adaptable, able and epitomising human intelligence. This school can do something really special and that differentiates us from our competitors in terms of producing those kinds of individuals.”
When asked about her biggest challenge, Sarah acknowledges that we are in a challenging time for independent schools, with a lot of uncertainties. With calm assurance she continues “I think those uncertainties can be seen as opportunities if we retain our core values and if we’re truly excellent at what we do.”
So how did Sarah’s story bring her to The Abbey? Proudly Scottish, Sarah enjoyed her own school experience at all-girls school, St George’s, in Edinburgh, a school she describes as similar to The Abbey. A high-achieving but down to earth, genuinely friendly place where she felt that her voice was heard. She remembers a lot of laughing, inspirational teachers, forming lifelong friendships and where she was “always a History girl”. It also had the profound impact of instilling in Sarah the importance of thinking for yourself and the belief that, as a girl, she could do whatever she wanted. Her natural ability to lead and bring people along with her, was clearly visible even then, as she was proudly elected by other students to be Head Girl.
Before heading to Oxford University, Sarah had a gap year which she credits for helping her to better understand who she was and giving her more confidence. Of course the year still included her love of learning and she spent five months studying in an American high school before travelling to France and living in Nice and Paris. Sarah even undertook a cookery course – although she admits that her mother was perhaps a little underwhelmed with the success of her soufflés.
In education Sarah flourished at St Hugh’s College, Oxford and is still firm friends with her History tutors whom she credits for challenging her, supporting her and making her think, articulate and defend her ideas. But that was not enough to quell Sarah’s love of learning. As well as gaining her teaching qualification, Sarah gained a Masters at St Andrews and a D.Phil at Oxford in Medieval History. Before becoming the Senior Deputy Head of The Abbey, Sarah was Head of History and Politics at Wycombe Abbey.
It’s the Abbey community that now get to continue to benefit from this insatiable love of learning and joy in life which extends beyond the classroom, reflected in her range of hobbies. From a love of the outdoors, including walking, skiing and racket sports, Sarah also has a passion for reading, the theatre and opera. Once you understand that a desire to be curious and challenge herself is innate to Sarah, the fact that she is an advanced scuba diver and such a fan of Escape Rooms that she’s done hundreds all over the world, feels very fitting!
Now a new challenge begins, and her next chapter as Head of The Abbey School. So what would she like to be held to account for in five years from now? “First and foremost, values. We have to be a tolerant, happy place where students have autonomy and be as well known as a school as we deserve to be”.
Dr Sarah Tullis – Head
