​On Tuesday evening we were delighted to have hundreds of parents and teachers from Scots and the wider community join us for a special ScotsIdeas conversation, ‘Helping Children to Deal with Stress and Uncertainty’.

Guest panelists included well-known psychologist and author Andrew Fuller, ‘Digital Nutrition’ pioneer and clinical psychologist Jocelyn Brewer, and Wellington College (UK) Deputy Head David Walker. They addressed a wide range of topics based on questions from attendees, including using technology well, engaging with frustrating behaviour, building relationships while remote, and supporting children to talk through their anxieties and aspirations.

Key take-away messages included:

• Be curious, not furious. It’s easy to respond to frustration with more frustration. Take a step back back and recognise your own emotional and physical state.
• When boys express frustration in poor behaviour, ask ‘What’s happening?’ Use the HALTS acronym to ask: Are you... Hungry? Angry? Lonely? Tired? Stressed?
• Use this unique time to talk with your children about what kind of world we want to create for the other side of the pandemic. Engage them in thinking about making a meaningful contribution to the world, and stimulate projects to support this.
• This is a pandemic, not a productivity contest. Don’t stress about students falling behind during the pandemic. Stimulate executive functioning skills like memory and self-regulation by building good daily and weekly rituals and routines as a family.
• Take an interest in your son's gaming habits, by having a go yourself!
• When wearing different hats as a parent (parent, teacher, coach), it’s important to frame this for children. ‘Now it’s time for learning’, ‘Now it’s mummy time. Shall we go for a walk?’

We are looking forward to continuing to work with Andrew Fuller through our partnership with Skodel, a unique wellbeing platform developed by Scots Old Boys Julian Fagan and Ian Fagan. In Term 4 we will be introducing the wellbeing check-in tool with our staff and Senior School students, and expanding our care coaching into 2022.

For more information about ScotsIdeas please click here.

Over the past two weeks, the College has been privileged to host eminent Christian scholar, Professor John Stackhouse Jr, Samuel J Mikolaski Professor of Religious Studies and Dean of Faculty Development at Crandall University, Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada. Professor Stackhouse began his visit by speaking to all staff with nuance and grace, about the importance of 'vocation', or 'calling' to 'make shalom' and 'make disciples' in our work as a learning community. He explored this notion of vocation in more depth in seminars with each of the Senior School faculties, helping staff make the connections between what we teach (i.e. the subject), how we teach (i.e. the discipline and the pedagogy) and why we teach (i.e. our worldview and values). He also worked with Prep staff on the nature of the A Fine Scots Boy! The Positive Behavioural Plan and its connections to our Brave Hearts Bold Minds philosophy.

In sharing his own story with students at Senior School Assembly and House Chapels, Professor Stackhouse called for a greater epistemic humility - being aware of what we don't know or might have wrong - and an attention not just to our achievements but to our character. Such themes will be followed up in a special ScotsIdeas forum on 'Being a (Good) Man', this Thursday 27 July at 6:00pm. Professor Stackhouse's visit concludes with keynote addresses on Christian leadership at this weekend's Scots Leadership Program retreat, which involves a cohort of 20 staff, who have successfully won a place in this custom-designed 18 month training program.

It is a privilege to be in a learning community which draws on exceptional thinkers like Professor Stackhouse, reflecting our commitment to being recognised globally as a leading, caring school for boys. We look forward, in Weeks 4 and 5, to welcoming our annual Clark Distinguished Professorial Fellow, Professor David Smith from Calvin College, to speak on 'The World We Think We Live In: Schooling and Christian Imagination'. For more details and to register for the Clark Lecture, please click here: http://www.clarklectures.org/.

During Term 1, The College community participated in a Character Education survey in partnership with the International Boys Schools Coalition (IBSC). The purpose of this survey was to provide the first layer of data in an attempt to orient the College community towards a greater understanding of its practice and pursuit of the Character and Care of our boys.
This week, as a continuation of this process, principal researchers Miss Rachel Yijun and Mr Hugh Ouston, from CIRCLE - The Centre for Innovation, Research, Creativity and Leadership in Education, conducted focus group interviews as a means of gaining a richer understanding from parents, staff, and boys in most aspects of College learning community, from Transition to Year 12.

Research suggests the quality of a students' relationships, the structure behind their social processes, and the philosophy that undergirds their collective agency affects how and why we learn in all spheres of life (Elias et. al, 1997). In a broad sense, character education refers to the engagement with core values and virtues and the development of personal traits or character strengths that promote well-being, purpose, and success. Character education includes what happens throughout the College, formally and informally within the: curriculum, co-curricular, character and care, leadership development, physical activity, ceremonies and events, and relationships more generally.

The Research Centre wishes to thank all members of College community who wilfully volunteered their time to contribute to this endeavour. It is highly appreciated and seen as a valued investment in the future lives of our students, contributing to their longitudinal development for the common good.

Mr Toby Castle
Research Officer, Experiential Education and Leadership Development

"Countries must learn how to capitalise on their citizens' cognitive resources if they are to prosper, both economically and socially. Early interventions will be key."

Quoting a recent publication in Nature, eminent thinker Professor Ian Hickie AM opened our recent ScotsIdeas forum, Beyond Mental Health, with this provocation. As he explored the unique developmental differences between individual young people, and the value and importance of 'kin' - networks of relationships within communities who are invested in that individual's care and flourishing - it was the nature of such interventions that characterised much of his subsequent discussion. As those in attendance will testify, the evening offered an important and timely exchange of ideas about the ways we can best care for the social and emotional wellbeing of our young men.


The video of Professor Hickie's presentation is now available online - please click here to view it in full. It was a true privilege to have such world class thinkers contributing to our knowledge and practice as a College community, particularly as we look to create the first of our five Patribus Centres, focusing on the character and care of fine young men.


Be sure to visit scotsresearch.org/scotsideas to watch videos of past forums on topics ranging from sustainability to speechmaking, sports science to the art of motivating boys. We look forward to seeing you at future ScotsIdeas events in 2017.


Dr Caitlin Munday
Research Fellow (Professional Learning)

Mission Australia, one of the nation's oldest and most respected Christian charities, has recently released its annual National Youth Survey. The Survey involved almost 19,000 Australian youth between the ages of 15 and 19. In its 14th year, it continues to be a major resource for policy formulation.

Here are some highlights, courtesy of Mission Australia's research and evaluation team: