Living Well, Living Wisely

I am writing to offer my heartfelt thanks for your wonderful book, Living Well, Living Wisely, given to us today from Father Rob Marshall. It is an extraordinary piece of work, and I wanted you to know just how much it meant to us.

Your words will be a true inspiration to our young people. They carry such clarity, honesty and insight and we are certain that they will make a lasting difference to those who read them. The impact of your message will extend far beyond the pages of the book, I am sure that it will help shape perspectives, encourage reflection and guide many young people as they find their own way.

I also want to acknowledge the immense courage and passion with which you have written. I understand that this may have been a difficult time for you and it makes your generosity in sharing your thoughts and reflections all the more powerful. Your dedication, compassion and influence will undoubtedly live on through the lives you touch.

This book will have a lasting impact on the future of our young people and for that we are incredibly grateful.

Please know you are very much in our thoughts. We all wish you well and thank you once again for the grace and strength you have shown, qualities that shine so clearly throughout your writing and will continue to inspire others for years to come.

Laura Hyde’s book is a rare and beautiful account of how wisdom can thread the disparate stages of a life together. She identifies wisdom as something realized through virtue. Describing virtue as a precious jewel within the heart is deeply encouraging; it implies that anyone can access it when given the right guidance and frame of reference…

As a schoolteacher, I see daily that the students in my care are crying out for a way to be free from anxious thoughts and a troubled view of the future. Laura’s book points out that virtue is not a lofty, unattainable concept, nor is it a departure from an individual's true nature. Rather, it is the refinement of the very substance that directs them - helping them understand who they are, what their place in the world is, and how to make that understanding practical.

There is nothing more important than helping young people flourish and tune their nature to the harmony of the universe. There is nothing more pressing than the need for them to step out of a world of fraught impression-management and poor self-image, allowing something beautiful to grow in the spaces that feel so hollow for so many. I highly recommend this book to any educational institution that understands that touching the hearts of students ultimately touches the future.

Traditional schooling focuses on teaching young people how to achieve academically. Laura Hyde's Living Well, Living Wisely offers something equally important: a way of understanding themselves and navigating life with greater wisdom, purpose, and humanity.

As teachers, we introduced this book to our students because we sensed that many were hungry for something deeper than the academic curriculum offered. We didn’t anticipate just how much resonance these ideas would have with the younger generation. Despite the noise, distraction and pressure of modern life, young people still seem to recognise the truth when it is offered.

It has been immensely satisfying to witness the transformative power these sessions have had at our school. We have seen students become more attentive, more grounded, more reflective and more connected to themselves and one another.

Laura's work offers practical tools, but more than that, it points young people toward something enduring within themselves - the kind of wisdom that doesn't belong to any particular age or stage, but can guide a whole life.

Ultimately, this is a landmark, timely work of clear-eyed, practical wisdom - essential reading for the adults guiding our teens today, in readiness for their tomorrows.

I have been in touch with Laura Hyde’s leadership of St James Senior Girls’ School for many years. She has developed a school which achieves a rare combination of pastoral and academic excellence; pupils are generous, discretely confident, inwardly strong, courteous, and perhaps most importantly, genuinely happy. The spirit of unity and gentle compassion which pervade the atmosphere are tangible. Her distinctive approach offers a philosophically inspired education which, without proselytising any particular belief or creed draws upon our wisdom traditions to provide intelligent guidance for emerging young adults. She has spent very many years developing a thoroughly effective approach to meditation and mindful practice which underpins the strength of the school. She has so much to offer headteachers who are seeking new ways to enrich the lives of their pupils.

Laura’s background and experience would offer tremendous support and insight to anyone seeking guidance as they navigate their way through life. She truly personifies what she talks about. In twenty years running schools, I have never encountered a calmer or more present head. Just being with her for ten minutes will help anyone become clearer about matters. She is an inspiration.

Laura Hyde was an outstanding and very unusual headteacher. I visited St James Senior Girls’ School when I was Chief Inspector of Schools and was deeply impressed by her calm authority and by the school's very special ethos. A prizegiving I attended sticks in my mind because the students were so impressive in their quiet, understated self-confidence. I have absolutely no doubt that Laura would make a massive contribution to any school which wishes to review its approach to the spiritual and moral dimensions of education. This is an area where there is too much glibness and quackery and where the wisdom and experience of somebody, like Laura, who has thought long and hard about what is really involved in developing a proper rounded education is much needed.

I have known Laura Hyde for many years as a professional friend, and have always been struck by her gifts as a thinker and listener.

Laura is an expert in spiritual education and as a head teacher, has placed this at the centre of school life. Her approach to spiritual development in schools is thus the result of many years of lived professional experience and will be of intrinsic value and relevance to head teachers now, as they help young people prepare for the challenges of the modern world.

Few people today really hear what others say to them: fewer still listen with true quiet attention and thoughtfulness. Laura has this ability, which together with her deep interest in the growth of the human spirit make her an ideal mentor, whether to others with a leadership role or simply to those seeking clarity about their next steps in life.

At the heart of Laura's wonderfully warm and inclusive philosophy is a strong belief in potential.

I worked as her school chaplain for almost two decades. It was soon apparent to me that Laura's ability to extract the very best out of staff and students by example marked her out as an outstanding individual.

This belief in the potentiality of every human person is often seen as the antithesis of a networked generation. Individual gifts can remain submerged or unexplored without the right kind of person to act as a catalyst to discovery and a greater degree of self-awareness.

This is what Laura has offered to me as a mentor and friend.