RUGBY, WARWICKSHIRE, UNITED KINGDOM

The Start

In alignment with Rugby’s mantra, ‘The Whole Person is the Whole Point’, and with a desire for coaching to not simply be ‘another initiative’, Rugby dedicated its time, energy and resources towards developing, supporting and enriching the student and staff experience through coaching.

Here’s what we’ve achieved in partnership:

200+ staff completed The Anatomy, our foundational coaching course.
More than 100 staff completed The Journey, our advanced coaching course.
50+ parents have been trained in coaching skills.
10 staff completed The Art, our course designed to train coaching facilitators.
6 staff are currently Certified Start With Heart Facilitators, able to deliver our coaching courses to their staff and the wider community.

After completing these courses, 100% of staff agreed:

The tools and techniques reviewed in the course were valuable in helping them to solve their own problems.
They now ask more effective questions.
They have improved their relationships with others.

Here’s what participating staff told us:

“I now feel I have the tools to be a more effective listener and question asker. I think I can now ask better questions and hope that these questions will guide the coachee to their own solution.”

“I feel as though the advanced course has really cemented earlier learning. It has been more enjoyable and has felt more useful.”

“Excellent variety of tools to use which could be applied in lots of contexts.”

“Exciting to consider on more of a strategic level the wider impact that coaching could/can have on the culture of a school in a sustainable way.”

The Transformation

Coaching remains an integral part of a Rugby education, with courses for all staff and many students, including The BE: Wellbeing Course. Driven by the intent to facilitate individual and collective fulfilment, coaching has found its way into Rugby’s day-to-day school life.

Growing numbers of students are using coaching skills including peer listeners and school prefects. Senior leaders use coaching pervasively, while growing numbers of heads of house, tutors and teachers are using coaching meetings, professional reviews and tutoring sessions. Coaching has waxed and waned at various points during Rugby’s journey, most notably due to the pandemic.

Rugby’s current focus is on growing the accessibility and impact of coaching amongst students and creating structures to support that growth strategically. Rugby aims to restore coaching courses for parents in the new academic year as well as continue offering places on their courses to other schools.

Rugby School