Examining the decisions that shape belonging

In?¡®What is your?Wellbeing?Footprint?¡¯??Matthew Savage?challenges?educators to look more closely at the cumulative impact of their decisions.?From assessment design to?behaviour?expectations, communication patterns to leadership choices, schools make countless choices that quietly influence student wellbeing. While it is common to look outward for the causes of declining mental health among young people, Savage?emphasises?that the reality is multifactorial, with long-standing school practices, policies, and protocols playing a significant role in whether students feel safe, supported, and able to flourish.

Matthew urges leaders to consider what their decisions cost, not in metrics that are easily tracked, but in elements that are far more fragile: dignity, hope, belonging. Whose thriving is served, and whose is sacrificed? Who¡¯s silently shrinking themselves to fit the system?

¡°I offer this not as indictment, but as invitation: to step gently into a new kind of reckoning. One in which wellbeing is not an outcome, but a guiding principle. Not a supplement, but a structure.¡± – Matthew Savage

The message is clear: wellbeing is shaped not only by programmes or interventions, but by the ethos embedded in the everyday choices that define school life. Schools that intentionally consider their ¡°wellbeing footprint¡± foster environments where students can truly succeed.

Hiring for culture, not just skill

In?¡®µþ³Ü¾±±ô»å¾±²Ô²µ?³§³¦³ó´Ç´Ç±ô?°ä³Ü±ô³Ù³Ü°ù±ð?°Õ³ó°ù´Ç³Ü²µ³ó?³Õ²¹±ô³Ü±ð-¶Ù°ù¾±±¹±ð²Ô?¸é±ð³¦°ù³Ü¾±³Ù³¾±ð²Ô³Ù¡¯,?Steven W. Edwards shifts the focus to the people who bring a?school¡¯s?ethos to life. At Vega Schools, recruitment is treated as a strategic act of culture-building. The school¡¯s core values?¨C empathy, innovation, excellence,?collaboration?and integrity?¨C form the backbone of every hiring and retention decision, ensuring that those who join the community do so with a genuine alignment to its purpose.

¡°Whilst we know skills can be taught, it is values that define culture; and culture is what underpins staff and student wellbeing.¡± – Steven W. Edwards

Tools?such as the FIRO-B assessment, alongside scenario-based interviews and lesson delivery, offer a multidimensional picture of each candidate. Skills can be refined, but values?determine?behaviour?under pressure and shape relationships across the school.?When educators share a common ethical foundation, the culture becomes coherent and resilient, and the wellbeing of both staff and students is strengthened.

Steven¡¯s perspective underscores a vital truth: sustaining school culture begins with choosing the right people, those whose instincts and ideals already resonate with the ethos they will help to shape.

Building strength through challenge

Olivia Bugden¡¯s?article,?¡®We Can Do Hard Things: Empowering Young People to Face Challenges,¡¯?explores a common misconception in education: that protecting students from difficulty safeguards their wellbeing. Instead, she argues that true resilience grows when young people understand their responses to?challenge?and learn how to move through discomfort with confidence.

At HIF,?resilience?is integrated directly into the curriculum through a blend of the Science of Learning and the Science of Wellbeing. Students explore how their brains function, why stress feels overwhelming,?and what strategies help them regulate their responses. These ideas are then embodied through experiences such as abseiling and rock climbing, and other?activities designed to evoke discomfort in a controlled, supportive environment.

¡°The journey of teaching young people that they can do hard things involves more than just a one-hour lesson a week; it requires creating an environment where they feel safe to acknowledge their discomfort and empowered to confront it.¡± – Olivia Bugden

The power of HIF¡¯s approach lies in guided reflection. Students discuss how resilience built on the rock face translates into everyday?school?situations: exams, group work,?and?performances. This is reinforced by a whole-school commitment in which every teacher becomes a wellbeing teacher, weaving consistent language and practices into subject learning.

Prioritising wellbeing for staff and students

Together, these three contributions illuminate a powerful truth: sustaining schools is not a matter of isolated initiatives but of coherent, values-driven ecosystems. From the way young people meet?challenge, to the decisions leaders make, to the ethos that?guides?recruitment, wellbeing and culture endure when they are woven into the fabric of school life.

These insights are echoed in Â鶹´«Ã½¡¯s?latest white paper,?¡®How International Schools Are?Prioritising?Wellbeing for Staff and Students,¡¯ exploring?how schools are responding to growing wellbeing demands while navigating the unique pressures faced in international?environments.?Download for free today to learn practical approaches from international schools in?Kenya, Germany, Romania, and the UAE.

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Recruitment on a Foundation of Core Values??

Our core values were established before we shovelled the initial scoop of dirt for the foundation of our first school. We strongly believe, and still do, that all we do must emanate from a set of core values that we can demonstrate in practice every day and that will drive our purpose, mission, and decision-making from day one forward.?

The challenge is to establish a healthy culture where all stakeholders want to be and can grow and thrive. It was imperative to us that we engage with educators who first have a growth mindset and who embody the soft skills that will contribute to shaping a culture that strives to achieve success for all. We see this as an opportunity to think differently about hiring, growing, and retaining the kind of individuals that embrace and exhibit the core values that we established. We place mindset over content every time. ?We feel that we can support anyone in the development of their content skills and pedagogy, but truly changing someone¡¯s core values or beliefs is a task we cannot undertake.?

The Process?

¡°The challenge is to establish a healthy culture where all stakeholders want to be and can grow and thrive.¡±?

During hiring, we use of a set of metrics to determine a candidate¡¯s compatibility with our core values. We feel strongly that if the candidate and our core values are not aligned, then we are setting the candidate and the organisation up for failure.??

One of our key tools is the , which helps us understand how comfortable an individual is with certain behaviours. We link these results directly to our values to see how a candidate is likely to act in real situations. Alongside this, we use interviews, scenarios, and lesson delivery to observe how values are demonstrated in practice as well as how candidates apply their subject knowledge. This gives us a rounded picture of each applicant.?

Hiring, however, is just the start. To ensure our values remain at the heart of daily practice, we use a four-quadrant evaluation grid.

Source: Vega Schools

The vertical axis represents mindset our core values and growth orientation. The horizontal axis represents content the subject knowledge and pedagogy needed to excel in role. Faculty and staff evaluate themselves against both axes each quarter, while the leadership team conducts a parallel assessment. We then compare scores, and each individual meets with school leaders face-to-face, bringing evidence of how they have lived the values in their work.?

The goal is that by the end of the meeting, a consensus is achieved, and an action plan is established for continued growth or to provide coaching support to mitigate areas that need support. Ultimately, at the end of the year, this very transparent process results in determining one¡¯s salary increment or, in some cases, termination.?

Although time-consuming, this approach underscores our belief that people are our greatest resource. Investing in their growth and wellbeing ensures that every team member feels valued, supported, and part of a culture where thriving together is the norm.?

Sustainability?

The above practices have allowed us to fine-tune our hiring and retain a very high percentage of team members from year to year. We measure our success based on both qualitative and quantitative data from internal and external sources to ensure we stay true to our core values. ?To do this, we must be willing to ask ourselves hard questions that can often be uncomfortable, but we know that it will allow us to grow and stay the course we have charted.?

¡°We believe that human capital is our greatest resource, and cultivating each member of the team contributes ¡­ to the overall culture at Vega.¡±

Source: Vega Schools

Lessons Learned?

Based on our journey, we have learned countless lessons; a few of the learnings have resulted in the following recommendations:?

• Establish a set of core values that you truly believe in. Some organisations concentrate on widely used terms or concepts, not giving the depth of conversation this requires.?
• Develop metrics for hiring to ensure core values are part of the equation.?
• Create a process to track your adherence to core values.?
• Make use of a third party to assess your culture and adherence to core values.?
• Make use of surveys to engage all stakeholders in the process and be transparent with the survey results. For our surveys with younger students (non-readers), we use emojis.?
• Consciously include your core values as part of all meetings and gatherings to continue to emphasise their importance to the health and culture of the organisation.?

In Summary?

Core values define an organisation¡¯s identity and culture, which in turn guide behaviour and decision-making. By hiring and retaining educators whose personal values align with our organisational principles, Vega not only builds a strong, collaborative culture but also fosters the wellbeing of every staff member and student, creating a community where everyone can grow, thrive, and feel supported.?

Written by Steven W. Edwards, PhD

Steven W. Edwards, PhD is the Co-Founder of Vega Schools, Gurugram, India.?

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Many of us will by now be familiar with the idea of a carbon footprint ¨C a measurable mark of our environmental impact. But fewer might know its curious and somewhat cynical origin. The term was popularised not by ecologists or activists, but by advertising giant Ogilvy and Mather, , in 2003. The oil company, facing growing scrutiny for its role in climate breakdown, shifted the spotlight. ¡°±õ³Ù¡¯²õ not our fault,¡± the campaign whispered, ¡°±õ³Ù¡¯²õ yours.¡±?

And so, a story was spun: a story of personal culpability conveniently eclipsing structural responsibility. And I¡¯ve started to wonder if schools have been spinning a similar tale.?

Looking Outward, Looking Away?

For as long as we¡¯ve named and noticed , we¡¯ve looked outward for the cause. We¡¯ve seen this reflex in the moral panic around , in , and in the quiet creep of certain strands of character education or social-emotional learning. We name screens and social media, Andrew Tate and toxic masculinity, ¡°helicopter¡± parents or ¡°snowflake¡± students ¨C often in tones that suggest a failing, a flaw, a fault, in the child and their family.?

And of course, these forces matter. They muddy the waters our young people must wade through each day. It would be na?ve to pretend otherwise. But the tendrils and roots of the mental health crisis amongst children and young people are supported and fed by multiple causal factors. As always, complex problems are made worse by a reductive attempt to apply simple solutions.?

The Unseen Complicity of Systems?

I cannot help but feel a growing unease ¨C a recognition that, just as BP sought to shed its responsibility by reframing a systemic issue as a personal one, we in schools may have done something similar. We¡¯ve become experts at seeking the signs and symptoms of external harm, painstaking in our safeguarding, tireless in our pastoral vigilance, but far less willing to look at the ways the system itself may be complicit.?

And I say this not from a pedestal, but from within the architecture. I¡¯ve been an educator for nearly thirty years, a leader for most of those. My own fingerprints are on the policies, the protocols, the practices. I have tried ¨C sometimes desperately ¨C to protect children from harm, whilst upholding a paradigm that, unwittingly, has helped to cause it.?

“…wellbeing is not an outcome, but a guiding principle,”

Because here lies what I am tempted to call the ‘safeguarding paradox’. We would never deliberately harm the young people in our care, and we are better than ever before ¨C thanks, for example, to the tireless effort and proliferating expertise of such critical initiatives as the ¨C at preventing harm. Yet we have inherited, and too often sustained, a system that does precisely that. And this is where I want to propose a new lens. One I¡¯m calling the wellbeing footprint.?

Introducing the Wellbeing Footprint?

Each day, in every school, educators and leaders make hundreds of decisions: about curriculum and pedagogy, assessment and behaviour, leadership and communication. The list is endless. But how often do we pause to consider the wellbeing footprint of those decisions??

Whilst we prioritise performance, do we intentionally nourish self-worth? We punish and we reward, but do we reflect on the shame we might sow, or the dependence we might develop? We celebrate the students at the summit, but do we embrace (or even see) those in its shadow??

We speak the language of diversity, equity and inclusion, yet our leadership remains steeped in sameness and power preserved in familiar hands. We design learning for compliance and quiet, while our classrooms brim with divergence and difference. , but too often the numbers we track often drown out the truths we cannot.?

A Quiet Reckoning?

The wellbeing footprint, then, is not an accusation. It is a question. A quiet, persistent one.?

What residue does each decision leave in the hearts and minds of those it touches? Whose thriving is served, and whose is sacrificed? What does it cost, not in what¡¯s easy to measure, but in what¡¯s hardest to restore: belonging, dignity, hope??

¡°To ask these questions… is to choose curiosity over certainty, accountability over defensiveness, and compassion over compliance.¡±?

In this work, we are mapping these traces. Not in metrics, but in moments. The ‘wellbeing footprint’ matrix invites us to chart not only what we do, but what it does ¨C to whom, how, and why it matters.?

We wanted to raise standards. But what else did we raise? Anxiety? Attrition? A quiet sense of never-enough??

We track attendance, behaviour, progress. But what »å´Ç²Ô¡¯³Ù we track? Who¡¯s holding their breath? Who¡¯s shrinking to fit??

We redesigned the timetable. But did we ask who it was designed for? Or who it left behind??

Are we preserving what works for us, or noticing what »å´Ç±ð²õ²Ô¡¯³Ù work for them??

Figure 1. The ‘wellbeing footprint’ matrix (version 1.0) ? Matthew Savage 2025?

Try it. Take a practice. Any practice. A rule enforced, an instruction given, a seat assigned, and ask what it leaves behind. Plot a single policy. Follow its ripple through routines, through relationships, through rows of desks. Choose a thread ¨C a rota reworked, a policy written, a timetable drawn ¨C and follow where it frays.?

A Gentle Invitation?

To ask these questions is not to demonise us as educators and leaders, or to malign the schools in which we educate and lead. It is to dignify our profession with the honesty it deserves. It is to choose curiosity over certainty, accountability over defensiveness, and compassion over compliance.?

Of course, our epistemological toolbox must be nuanced, adaptive, and varied. Because, after all, to ask, “What is, or might be, the wellbeing footprint of this decision?” is also to ask, “How do I know?” And, in any case, it is the process that is so much more valuable than the product. The intent is not somehow to produce a neatly scored grid for every decision made or contemplated ¨C how arduous and impractical that would be! Rather, this is about mindset and shifting our own.?

We can¡¯t compost our way out of this crisis with mindfulness apps and SEL add-ons. We need to tend the soil and nourish the roots. And so, I offer this not as indictment, but as invitation: to step gently into a new kind of reckoning. One in which wellbeing is not an outcome, but a guiding principle. Not a supplement, but a structure. Not a poster on the wall, but the earth from which everything else grows.?

Because just as every product leaves a carbon trace, every decision leaves a wellbeing one. What if the measure of a good school were the gentleness of its footprint??

By Matthew Savage

Architect of ,?Matthew?Savage is an internationally respected educational consultant, speaker and former school Principal, whose work explores the nexus of wellbeing and DEIB in schools, through a range of radical new ways of knowing.?Matthew?draws on the intersectional soup of his own family, together with almost 30 years working in and with education and school leadership, to challenge the ways in which schools define, deliver, and enshrine inclusion. A board member for two international schools, and a member of the Advisory Board for Parents Alliance for Inclusion, he now works with schools around the world to help them transform their spaces, systems and cultures into environments where everyone – without condition, exception or compromise – is seen, heard, known, and belongs.

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During a recent personal visit back to the United Kingdom, I found myself involved in a minor car accident while driving a rental vehicle. Despite having driven for over three decades without incident, the experience left me momentarily stunned. Sitting in the driver¡¯s seat, I realised I didn¡¯t know what to do: Should I call the police? Should I move the car? The overwhelming sense of indecision was paralysing.?

This feeling of helplessness is not uncommon during emergencies or accidents and can serve as a stark reminder of the challenges we face during moments of crisis. Twice a year, our secondary school organises over twenty Experiential Learning Programmes (ELPs) for students in Grades 6-12, spanning both local and international destinations. These programmes encompass a diverse range of activities, including cultural tours, outdoor education, place-based learning, and service learning through community engagement. Inevitably, incidents arise ¨C ranging from travel disruptions, illnesses and injuries, and, occasionally, hospitalisations. Clear procedures for managing risk are vital, yet stress often undermines effective decision-making during emergencies. This challenge is further compounded when a single, unsupported senior staff member back at school is tasked with managing the situation.?

The Role of the Critical Incident Office?

To address these challenges, we established a Critical Incident Office (CIO), which formalises risk management procedures for ELPs. Staffed by two or more senior leaders, the CIO functions as a centralised command centre during these programmes. By ensuring that emergency situations are not left to the sole responsibility of one individual, the CIO fosters shared decision-making and centralised communications for all trips. This collaborative approach mitigates the risk of isolated actions that might inadvertently escalate difficult situations.??

Furthermore, assigning senior leaders to this role clearly reassures our community. While our parents are highly supportive of experiential learning within the curriculum, they also seek to understand the risk mitigation strategies in place. For our teachers, knowing there is a first and second line of defence for logistical, behavioural, and emergency situations enables them to concentrate on optimising student engagement in the experiential ¡®classroom¡¯.?

Encouraging Transparency in Risk Management?

A core function of the CIO is supporting team leaders in the field as issues arise. Incidents typically fall into two categories: logistical and health and safety issues, or safeguarding and behavioural concerns. By assigning multiple CIO staff members to be on duty, we ensure that the appropriate person handles each type of issue effectively. The school¡¯s designated safeguarding lead (DSL) remains an integral part of the CIO team, guaranteeing the consistent application of safeguarding and behavioural protocols which would be used back at school.?

During an ELP week, incidents are categorised by severity using a four-level colour coding system ranging from blue (near miss) to red (emergency services involved). Field staff are required to complete an online incident form for all occurrences. While level 3 and above (orange and red) necessitate a call to the CIO, staff are encouraged to report less serious incidents (blue or green) if they wish to discuss them. Similarly, regular communication between field staff and the CIO team regarding behaviour and safeguarding incidents is vital in building trust and fostering collaboration. All incident records are reviewed prior to each daily CIO meeting, aiding in the identification of trends or issues across different trips.?

Influenced by Clare Dallat¡¯s research at , the CIO¡¯s team approach intentionally avoids fostering a culture of blame when incidents occur. Instead, it recognises the inherent complexity and uniqueness of emergencies. Daily CIO team meetings cultivate openness, encouraging team members to acknowledge when they don’t have the answers and to seek support from others.?

The Power of Scenario Simulations?

Before each ELP, the CIO team engages in ¡®live¡¯ simulations of potential incidents. These will often include other members of senior leadership. These exercises replicate real-world variables, such as conflicting information or deviations from established protocols, and allow team members to simulate receiving and managing emergency calls. Scenario observers provide constructive feedback, and simulations can be paused to reflect and refine responses. This proactive practice encourages thoughtful engagement with incidents and reduces the inclination to resolve them hastily, fostering better outcomes.?

Risk Assessment: A Continuous Process?

Risk assessment is not a one-time exercise but rather an ongoing process of reflection and refinement. Feedback from trip leaders plays a pivotal role in our annual reviews of policies governing ELPs. Additionally, our school conducts annual reconnaissance trips to program destinations to thoroughly assess risks. Photographs and film taken on these can be invaluable for the CIO to picture the conditions when a call comes in. Collaborations with organisations such as ensure access to up-to-date country profiles and enable effective responses to major medical emergencies or repatriations.?

¡°Risk assessment is not a one-time exercise but rather an ongoing process of reflection and refinement.¡±

Building Confidence and Safety?

Ultimately, the CIO serves as a cornerstone of our risk management strategy, enabling our ELPs to thrive by prioritising transparency, collaboration, and preparedness. By investing in structured protocols, scenario-based training, and continuous risk assessment, we have cultivated an environment where students and staff can engage in meaningful and safe exploration, confident in the support systems in place. The CIO not only enhances immediate responses to emergencies but also lays the foundation for long-term trust and growth within our community.?

Tips for Supporting Students and Staff on Experiential Learning Programs?

• Conduct annual reconnaissance trips to programme destinations to communicate clear health, safety, and security expectations to vendors.?
• Use examples of near misses or ¡®right outcome, wrong proces²õ¡¯ as case studies for future simulations.
• Monitor adherence to communication and safety protocols among programme leaders ¨C deviations may indicate a need for additional training or procedural adjustments.?
• Highlight the CIO¡¯s role to build trust and confidence among parents, encouraging greater student participation in programmes.??

By Nicholas Forde

Nicholas Forde is the Principal of Secondary School at The ISF Academy, Hong Kong. You can connect with him via email.

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As a PE teacher, I believe that our subject area can be a central space for learning social and emotional skills, but I have some key questions:?

• How can we teach strategies that students can use in multiple contexts??
• How can we involve families in this learning??
• What skills do we want to develop in our students??

Teaching for Transfer??

A highlight of our PE program is Skateboarding. Who ·É´Ç³Ü±ô»å²Ô¡¯³Ù love watching students whiz around on skateboards and carve around obstacles? But guess what, before students can get comfortable on the board, ³Ù³ó±ð°ù±ð¡¯²õ lots of falls, bumps, bruises, and anxiety. The students really need to demonstrate perseverance in order to master new skills. Imagine if we could explicitly teach perseverance strategies and show students how these strategies could be transferred beyond the PE space ¨C what might the impact on themselves as learners be??

In his book, The Future of Teaching, Guy Claxton identifies the challenge for teachers and students in transferring their knowledge learned within the school environment beyond that immediate context. So, how might we demonstrate to students that the perseverance strategies learned during Skateboarding could be used in a Maths class, or beyond the walls of the school??

Crafting Connections Through Storytelling?

For students to recognise and apply perseverance strategies beyond a PE learning space, there would need to be intentional collaboration between home room teachers and other specialist teachers. Kendall Haven states that storytelling fosters social and emotional skills by allowing students to explore diverse perspectives and experiences. To tap into the power of storytelling and help students make connections beyond a PE space, our librarian identified age–appropriate books, and we used ChatGPT to match these to our six identified perseverance strategies.

Source: UNIS Hanoi

Homeroom teachers would introduce the perseverance strategy during morning meetings with their students and ask them to make connections to the class book. When the students arrived at PE during our ¡®opening circle¡¯ time, they would share the story and strategies used by the characters in their book and ·É±ð¡¯»å think about what this could look like within our lesson.

Skills on the Move: The Journey of a Travelling Poster?

To show the transfer of these strategies beyond a defined classroom context, our curriculum coordinator, Kay Strenio, shared the idea of a ¡®Travelling Poster¡¯, something tangible that moves with students from space to space and anchors conversations around the perseverance strategies.

Source: UNIS Hanoi

The poster uses a scale template taken from Peter Liljedahl¡¯s book, Building Thinking Classrooms. Students were given a blank scale and, as classes, defined what perseverance meant to them. We built our understanding from connections with our stories, our experiences in home room, in PE on the skateboards, and with conversations with other specialist teachers. This was a living poster that was added to as the unit progressed.??

At the end of lessons, students reflect on their use of the identified perseverance strategies to help them overcome challenges. To visualise the process, students moved magnetic popsicle sticks labelled with their name along the scale. This again provided something tangible for students and a useful data point for teachers to have whole-group, small-group, or one-to-one discussions with students.??

Courage Day?

To make the transferability of perseverance skills explicit to students, we ran an afternoon of experiential learning activities, aligned to our school values, called ¡®Courage Day¡¯.??

Using our ¡®Just right¡¯ challenge scale, students were given a broad range of activities that they would not normally do within their school day, showing how perseverance strategies can be used in multiple contexts. These included Coding, Dance, Drama, Rock Climbing and Horse Riding.??

Building Bridges: Perseverance Questions for Families?

Joyce L. Epstein and Steven B. Sheldon developed a framework, ¡®Overlapping spheres of influence¡¯, which highlights how family, school, and community environments intersect to support student learning and development. Their work emphasises the importance of strong partnerships across these domains, focusing on:?

• Consistent Support: Students receive consistent messages and support from both home and school, reinforcing the importance of persistence.?
• Resource Access: Families are better equipped with strategies and resources to help their children overcome challenges.?
• Increased Motivation: Students feel motivated knowing that both their family and school are invested in their success.?

In line with Epstein and Sheldon¡¯s findings, we began sharing weekly messages with families, featuring different questions, an explanation of how asking these questions would help their child develop an understanding of perseverance, and some tips for creating a two-way discussion between adults and students.??

¡°perseverance ¾±²õ²Ô¡¯³Ù confined to any one subject: ¾±³Ù¡¯²õ a universal skill that empowers [students] to face challenges head-on, wherever they encounter them.¡±

Landing the Learnings: Our Skateboarding Reflections?

Why is reflection crucial at the end of a unit? It consolidates learning and informs future practices by engaging students, teachers, and families in evaluating growth and understanding. As there were many people involved in this unit, we decided to try and capture the thoughts of teachers, students, and families through a google form.??

We collected data from families to better understand how the ¡®questions to support your child¡¯ were used and how they could be made better. 81.3% of respondents thought that the questions were either very effective (43.8%) or somewhat effective (37.5%) in supporting their child’s learning, while 87.6% felt like the questions had strengthened the connection between school and home.??

When asked, 85% of our students said that they had used one or more of our perseverance strategies outside of PE. Below are some more reflections from the students about how the unit has impacted them as learners.

Source: UNIS Hanoi

Integrating social and emotional skills into the curriculum, as highlighted in the OECD Future of Education 2030 report, is vital for preparing students for an unpredictable future. The Skateboarding unit, with its inherent challenges and triumphs, offered a great foundation to explore perseverance strategies. By weaving storytelling into our lessons, we created rich, memorable connections that resonated with students. The collaboration between homeroom and specialist teachers enhanced the learning experience, while family involvement extended these lessons into the home.?

Through innovative strategies like the ¡®Travelling Poster¡¯ and experiential learning through ¡®Courage Day,¡¯ we show students that perseverance ¾±²õ²Ô¡¯³Ù confined to any one subject: ¾±³Ù¡¯²õ a universal skill that empowers them to face challenges head-on, wherever they encounter them.??

By Matt Magowan

With special thanks to:?

Kay Strenio, whose ideas, support, and encouragement have been invaluable throughout the development of this unit.??

Andy Vasily, whose work around ¡®Just right¡¯ challenge has impacted this unit and a range of others within our programme.??

Matt Magowan is an Elementary School PE teacher and team lead at UNIS Hanoi (Vietnam), dedicated to empowering students to find joy in a diverse range of activities. You can connect with Matt on .?

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During parent-teacher meetings at our school, several questions and concerns repeatedly surface:??

• ¡°How can I help my child study effectively at home?¡±?
• ¡°Why isn’t my child improving despite spending hours revising?¡±??
• ¡°Please continue to help and support my child.¡±?

These questions revealed common misconceptions about study habits, workload, and the balance between independence and support. Instead of addressing these queries in isolation, we took a strategic approach, using parent FAQs and wellbeing data to develop a structured and proactive model for parent engagement.??

Understanding Parent Concerns: What the Data Revealed??

To develop meaningful parent engagement, we need to analyse the concerns from parents and students alike and identify areas of misalignment. In addition to the recurring questions listed above, this includes examining student wellbeing and academic data to track patterns of stress and disengagement, and utilising student voice surveys to understand how students perceive parental support at home.??

From this analysis, three key misconceptions emerged:??

1. Study time equates to effective learning: Many parents associated long hours of revision with strong academic outcomes, without realising that passive study habits were ineffective.??
2. More teacher support leads to better results: Some parents viewed increased intervention as a direct path to improvement, overlooking the importance of student independence.??
3. Last-minute cramming as a successful study method: Both parents and students frequently underestimated the benefits of spaced and repeated retrieval practice.??

Recognising these recurring concerns and misconceptions allowed us to reframe conversations between parents and the school, aligning parental support with research-backed learning strategies.?

Source: British International School Hanoi

Building a Proactive Parent Engagement Model??

Rather than offering generalised advice, we designed parent engagement initiatives that were structured, data-informed, and in some cases, student-led.??

Student-Led Parent Workshops?

A student-led learning committee collaborated with the deputy headteacher, Stephanie Miller, to develop a parent workshop focused on fostering meaningful academic discussions at home. Instead of school leaders delivering the information, the students themselves conducted sessions covering:??

• How to recognise and praise effective effort rather than focusing solely on outcomes.??
• How to use the academic report as a tool for reflection and growth instead of merely a performance measure.??
• How to ask supportive, open-ended questions that encourage student reflection instead of direct correction.?

This student-led format helped parents understand different ways to recognise and motivate their child while reinforcing the school¡¯s emphasis on effort-based learning.??

¡°Parental engagement is often treated as secondary to school operations, but when approached strategically, it can become a powerful multiplier¡ªnot only for academic performance but also for student confidence, resilience, and independence.¡±

Using Wellbeing and Academic Data?

Instead of hosting standalone parent events, we aligned workshops with key academic transitions to provide timely support.?For instance, in preparation for Year 11¡¯s transition into the IB Diploma Programme, parents were introduced to the increased workload and academic expectations, helping them shift from tutoring-heavy support to fostering their child¡¯s independent study habits.??

Additionally, we ran pre-exam parent-student session to help families understand important study and lifestyle habits during this period, such as:??

• Structuring study sessions to maximise retention rather than relying on last-minute revision.?
• Recognising the impact of sleep on memory and cognitive performance.??
• Learning to distinguish between productive stress and performance anxiety.??

Introducing parents to evidence-based study strategies at critical moments helped them move from reactive concern to proactive support.??

Creating a Shared Language Between School and Home

One of the main challenges we identified was the misalignment of language; parents and schools often used different terms to describe the same concepts, which led to misunderstandings. To bridge this gap, we have developed different methods of support:?

• Parent-friendly phrasing frameworks to ensure school and home discussions reinforced the same learning principles.??
• Guidance for using metacognitive, open-ended questions to encourage students to think critically about their learning.??
• Student-led guidance for parents, ensuring that conversations about learning were centred around student needs rather than solely on school messaging.??

By embedding a shared language, we created a more cohesive approach to learning where students received more consistent messaging from both school and home about study habits, stress management, and academic expectations.??

Source: British International School Hanoi

Parent-Student Study Planning Sessions?

As part of our ongoing efforts to strengthen school-home alignment, we are trialling a new approach to exam preparation: parent-student study planning sessions. These are structured sessions where parents and students work together to create personalised study plans. The goal is to shift discussions at home from ¡°Why aren¡¯t you studying more?¡± to ¡°What¡¯s your plan for reviewing this topic?¡±??

By providing a clear framework for these discussions, we anticipate that this initiative will help with the following:??

• Reducing tension at home, helping parents and students to engage in productive conversations about study habits instead of pressure-driven ones.??
• Empowering students to take ownership of their revision strategies while receiving constructive support and effort-based praise from their parents.
• Aligning home and school messaging, ensuring that the study strategies scaffolded at school are reinforced at home.?

We will continue to assess its impact and consider ways to refine and integrate this approach into our broader parent engagement strategy.?

Rethinking Parent-School Partnerships as a Strategic Lever??

Parental engagement is often treated as secondary to school operations, but when approached strategically, it can become a powerful multiplier¡ªnot only for academic performance but also for student confidence, resilience, and independence.??

By shifting from reactive communication to structured, data-informed collaboration, schools can transform the parent-school relationship from a transactional process to a dynamic, ongoing partnership. Parent-school alignment is not about changing parental expectations; instead, it focuses on equipping parents with the right tools, language, and strategies to engage meaningfully and effectively with their child’s learning.??

Ensuring that parents and students share a common understanding of learning requires intentional school leadership, structured communication, and ongoing collaboration. By taking a proactive approach, schools can move beyond simple information-sharing to create a culture of aligned support, where parents are empowered to reinforce the learning strategies that drive student success.??

Key Takeaways for International School Leaders??

For schools looking to refine their parent engagement strategy, these five approaches can help improve school-home alignment:??

1. Regularly track parent²õ¡¯ frequently asked questions to identify recurring misconceptions and areas for targeted intervention.??
2. Schedule parent engagement at key crunch points for your students to provide timely and relevant support.??
3. Involve students in shaping parent learning, ensuring their voice is central to the conversation.??
4. Promote a shared language between school and home to ensure consistency in messaging about learning and study habits.??
5. Shift parent engagement towards practical, evidence-based strategies that promote student independence rather than reliance on teachers or tutors.??

By Gemma Archer

Gemma Archer is the Assistant Head of Secondary (IB) at . She holds an MSc in Systems Thinking in Practice and applies cognitive science and evidence-based study strategies to foster student²õ¡¯ independent learning habits. You can connect with Gemma on .?

The post Designing School-Home Alignment: What We Learned from Parent FAQs? appeared first on Â鶹´«Ã½.

Most school leaders will fondly remember the experience of running out of the house first thing in the morning to hang out with friends for the entire day. You will recall a sense of ¡®play¡¯ that relied purely on imagination, interspersed with trips back to the house for lunch and treats to keep you fueled for activities, before saying goodbye to each other for the day when the streetlights came on.??

Not only were experiences like these huge sources of fun, but they also nurtured creativity, imagination, and resilience. ¡®Playing¡¯ taught us about developing relationships and overcoming challenges, enabling us to understand and explore our relational sense of self.??

Rainy days felt like life sentences, confined in a house that suddenly felt like a jail cell. As children, we longed to be outdoors, primarily because we wanted to share new experiences with our friends in the absence of our parents. We craved that sense of beingness.???

Source: Hochalpines Institut Ftan AG

The shift to a technology-driven childhood?

At some point in the intervening years, culture began to frown upon this freedom and started to see it as dangerous, something we needed protection from. At the same time, the growth of technology ¨C phones, tablets, game consoles, and social media ¨C made keeping children ¡®safely¡¯ indoors much easier. ?

This new, technological lifestyle has become so normalised that many forget to question it, and most children »å´Ç²Ô¡¯³Ù remember a time before it. We have connected children to the world whilst simultaneously removing them from it; we have expanded their possibilities whilst augmenting their feelings of isolation.??

The role of experiential learning in a changing world?

Digital technologies and artificial intelligence, in addition to globalisation and conflict, are rapidly disrupting economic and social structures. The outcomes, though, are not determined by these factors in their own right: it is the nature of our collective responses that determines the outcomes.?

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development is clear in that we need a comprehensive and multidimensional approach to growing a ¡®global¡¯ competence in our young people¡ªone where schools, teachers, parents, and the environment all have an important role to play. One of the most interesting findings from their work is that certain activities, such as the nature of how we learn at school, contact with people from other cultures, learning other languages, and a connection to the environment, are positively associated with a variety of skills. These include the ability to examine local and global issues, empathic understanding, intercultural communication, and, ultimately, the ability to take action for the betterment of the societies we live in.?

Schools as catalysts for global competence?

Schools and school leaders have a duty to help students think for themselves and join others, with empathy, in work and citizenship. We need to do more than enable our students through knowledge acquisition: we need to support their development of a strong sense of right and wrong, foster sensitivity to the claims that others make about us and the world, and empower them to challenge the limits of individual and collective action. If we want our students to actively contribute to productive, sustainable, and civic society, we must help them develop a deep understanding of how they and others live, to experience different traditions, and to think differently.?

Igniting a passion for the outdoors?

Joining the Education in Motion (EiM) team as Head of Campus at Hochalpines Institut Ftan AG (HIF) in the Engadine region of the Swiss Alps offered an ideal setting to implement this future-ready learning approach.?

Source: Hochalpines Institut Ftan AG

Our outdoor education programme, aptly named ¡®±õ²µ²Ô¾±³Ù±ð¡¯, includes skiing, hiking, sailing, climbing, white water rafting, and mountain biking, and functions as a key element in the experiential learning process. Additionally, in the three years the programme has been running, we have seen over 250 students pass through our doors to engage in real–life learning opportunities with organisations such as UNICEF, CERN, and WEF. Students strongly benefit from the rich cultural heritage of the central European region, with opportunities to visit places such as Munich, Zurich, Strasburg, Vienna, and Venice.???

Creating the next generation of global citizens?

Our focus on nature-immersion, cultural visits, and relationship-building, alongside a range of micro credentials such as water safety, forestry management, bee keeping, and first aid, are part of a complex curriculum that fosters student²õ¡¯ global knowledge and development of modern skills required for the highly competitive further education arena.??

Ignite has been so successful in maintaining the educational rigour of traditional qualifications whilst recognising the future skills gap, we are designing an opportunity in the pre-tertiary qualifications market for a personalised, specialist pathway diploma that will differentiate HIF from schools offering more traditional academic routes. Our four-year qualification combines scholastically robust pre-tertiary qualifications with a range of accredited experiential opportunities, enabling our students to accumulate specialised knowledge and future-orientated skills, experiences, and dispositional traits.?

With a strong academic foundation in disciplinary knowledge being offered through a range of specialist A-Levels, our offering of the Extended Project Qualification will act as a bridge between formal study and the real-life application of the knowledge gained. Importantly, the Future Skills Credit Profile, developed through partnerships with research institutions, industry, the not-for-profit environmental sector, and sports organisations, will integrate with competency credits to provide valuable external validation for the experiential component of the Diploma.?

Top tips for school leaders?

• Concentrate on opportunities for ¡®Skills Development¡¯: Your curriculum should highlight the importance of equipping students with essential skills, including critical thinking, problem-solving, creativity, collaboration, and digital literacy, all deemed vital for adapting to changing job markets and societal challenges.?
• Engage multiple stakeholders to develop a network of ¡®Collaboration and Partnership²õ¡¯: Promote collaboration between educational institutions, industry, and communities to create more relevant and practical learning experiences.???
• Flexibility: Ensure your curriculum is flexible, and your leaders are agile, advocating for learning ecosystems that support ongoing skill development.?

By Jared Nolan

Jared Nolan is the Director at and has previously led schools in the Middle East and China. You can connect with him on LinkedIn .

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The Covid-19 pandemic triggered a , including climbing rates of social anxiety and agoraphobia. While returning to in-person lessons helped many students cope with and overcome these challenges, schools faced a significant difficulty: even with excellent pastoral care in place, sometimes the very act of coming to school is the problem.

That being said, there is an effective solution to getting students¡¯ mental health and academic journeys back on track simultaneously, and ¾±³Ù¡¯²õ surprisingly simple to implement: hybrid learning.??

Bringing remote learning options to your school with an experienced online teaching provider like °­¾±²Ô²µ¡¯²õ InterHigh offers numerous benefits, including pathways to supporting students with mental health needs. ±õ³Ù¡¯²õ not just a way to maintain academic progress: ¾±³Ù¡¯²õ a way to give students the space they need to rebuild their wellbeing and forge a seamless bridge back to campus life.?

¡°No matter how outstanding your in-school support is, the reality is that some students will only be able to get better by spending time away from the school environment and accessing dedicated, specialist help.¡±

Hidden costs and support gaps?

When a student has trouble with their mental health, the ripple effect can extend from their individual wellbeing all the way through to your school community and administration. Students with anxiety, depression, and school-related phobias often struggle to stay focused and engage with lessons, leading to quick declines in academic performance. In severe cases, when students find it increasingly difficult just to walk through the school gates, attendance can also suffer.?

This creates a difficult cycle: the more a student falls behind, the more anxious ³Ù³ó±ð²â¡¯°ù±ð likely to feel, and the more ³Ù³ó±ð²â¡¯°ù±ð likely to withdraw from friends and school life. In turn, individual student struggles can soon lead to schoolwide drops in academic performance and community morale, along with concerns and frustrations from parents.??

Worse still, even the most robust pastoral system ¾±²õ²Ô¡¯³Ù necessarily a match for acute mental health needs. No matter how outstanding your in-school support is, the reality is that some students will only be able to get better by spending time away from the school environment and accessing dedicated, specialist help.??

However, that »å´Ç±ð²õ²Ô¡¯³Ù mean you need to say goodbye to students or watch them suffer in silence. Remote learning can provide a flexible pathway for students to feel healthy and happy again, working their way back to in-person classes as quickly and seamlessly as possible.?

Source: King’s InterHigh?

Online learning: A bridge to recovery?

Like many of today¡¯s forward-thinking schools, you may have already considered implementing an online arm for your students. Schools around the world have long been partnering with °­¾±²Ô²µ¡¯²õ InterHigh for a wide range of services; the British International School in Ukraine, for example, partnered with us to broaden their A Level offerings. Once implemented, remote learning is a versatile tool your school can use in a whole host of situations, including as a mental health pathway.??

In the past, dedicating time to mental health recovery (through psychiatric appointments or therapeutic programmes, for example) would require several days off school. Not only does this put students at risk of learning loss, but it also fails to give them the consistent space they need to reset and work on the positive strategies and routines needed to progress.??

On the flip side, with hybrid learning, students who need respite can take their lessons online. °­¾±²Ô²µ¡¯²õ ±õ²Ô³Ù±ð°ù±á¾±²µ³ó¡¯²õ bespoke solutions integrate with your school¡¯s curriculum and timetable, allowing students to keep up with their learning from home and stay connected to your community, all while enjoying the breathing space they need for successful recovery.?

With qualified, expert online teachers, you can rest assured that students are getting the same calibre of academics you offer ¡ª just in a way that suits them best. °­¾±²Ô²µ¡¯²õ InterHigh classes are delivered live and interactively, but learners can also catch up with lesson recordings at any time (for example, when they have an appointment). Young people with social anxiety often find it easier to participate in lessons and renew their confidence with virtual classroom tools like chat boxes too.?

Then, as their mental health starts to improve, students can transition back to face-to-face learning. The goal ¾±²õ²Ô¡¯³Ù to keep students remote indefinitely, but to build a supportive bridge back to regular school life. Whether they want to jump right back into full-time lessons, start with just a day or two a week, or gradually transition with online classes on campus, schools are free to tailor each student¡¯s reintegration to their needs for the best chance of success.?

The power of flexible learning?

For almost 20 years, °­¾±²Ô²µ¡¯²õ InterHigh has been supporting students worldwide with mental health struggles that can arise in any international school community.??

“What’s great about virtual learning is how it maintains the structure and engagement of school, but in an environment where students feel calm and in control,¡± says °­¾±²Ô²µ¡¯²õ ±õ²Ô³Ù±ð°ù±á¾±²µ³ó¡¯²õ Head of SEN, Ray Boxall. “Time and time again, we’ve found that this is the perfect balance for young people struggling with their mental health, and a successful stepping stone to thriving at school in–person again.“?

Take Tabatha, for example, one of the numerous students for whom online learning with °­¾±²Ô²µ¡¯²õ InterHigh was the perfect respite from wellbeing struggles. With academic continuity, the comfort to rebuild her confidence, and the space to explore relaxation techniques, Tabatha went on to achieve top IGCSE grades and study for her A Levels with enthusiasm on school campus. Recently, she won the Women’s Handball Premier League with her college team.?

It’s stories like these that highlight just how powerful online learning can be in creating a stepping stone, combining your school¡¯s structure and standards with a pressure-free, state-of-the-art learning environment that facilitates student recovery.?

Source: King’s InterHigh?

Online learning that works for your school?

For international schools, the biggest key to success today is flexibility. The ability to adapt to the needs of your students, staff, and administration will set your school apart and prepare you to weather any difficulties that come your way.?

Instead of creating costly, high-risk, and time-consuming hybrid learning systems from scratch, partnering with an expert provider gives you all the same benefits with seamless and bespoke implementation. Whether you‘re looking for a structured pathway for students who require time away from campus, or a safety net ³Ù³ó²¹³Ù¡¯²õ there when you need it, °­¾±²Ô²µ¡¯²õ InterHigh can help you set up remote learning that works for both your school and your students.?

This is an advertorial from .?

By America Valentine

America Valentine is the Marketing Content Specialist at .

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The question then becomes: How do we keep staff happy and engaged whilst constantly focused on continued learning? We achieve this by creating conditions of trust that empower teachers and make them want to grow professionally.

Two schools I have worked in have successfully implemented Trust-Based Observations (TBO) to promote a culture of trust and wellbeing. This model solves the tension between fostering growth and teacher²õ¡¯ resistance to being observed. It allows for a focus on improved teaching and learning within the school whilst creating an environment where teachers look forward to observations and embrace taking risks to improve their teaching. This article explores my TBO journey as a leader and offers practical tips for other schools looking to build a sustainable culture of wellbeing and trust.

The Challenges: High Turnover and Professional Differences

At one school, the desire was, like most, to create a culture of wellbeing. However, high staff turnover was a persistent issue, leading to a lack of continuity in both teaching and leadership, and this resulted in the leadership team turning their attention to hiring as opposed to continued learning. This instability made it difficult to plan, let alone implement, long-term learning initiatives.

Professional differences within the school community also posed a challenge. With our staff, there was great diversity in teacher training backgrounds. How could we create a common language and belief system among all school leaders and teachers when talking about teaching and learning practices? Furthermore, how could this common language survive through changes in leadership in the school? This school needed to find a way to establish a framework for having conversations around teaching and learning that all teachers embraced, that built psychological safety and trust, and that led to a workplace satisfaction that would endure.

The Solution: A Trust-Based Approach to Wellbeing

To tackle these challenges, the school adopted Trust-Based Observations (TBO). Unlike traditional observation methods, which often feel punitive to teachers, TBO emphasizes building relational trust and fostering open communication between teachers and observers. This system creates a supportive environment where teachers feel empowered to share their challenges and successes without fear of judgment.

Implementation began with a five-day training course led by Craig Randall, the creator and author of Trust-Based Observations. The training builds mastery of the TBO process through a repeated four-part process of observing teachers for 20 minutes, reflecting on the observations, leading trust-building conversations, and reflecting on these conversations. Throughout the TBO training course, leaders build expertise in research-based pedagogical strategies, as well as in the specific trust-building strategies used in the reflective conversations.

Leaders develop a common understanding of what to look for during observations, and the reflective conversations empower teachers to take charge of their own professional development by asking and answering questions to do with how they thought their lesson went. The result was that teachers felt seen, understood, and were already thinking about how they could better themselves. Observations became something to look forward to, rather than something to be feared.

¡°For international schools, building trusting relationships with teaching staff, and shifting towards a collaborative, growth-oriented approach to observations with a focus on professional development, will create an environment wherein teachers feel supported and empowered to innovate.¡±

Building a Culture of Trust

During my first TBO training, I was inspired by the excitement teachers had during the reflective conversations. You could see their eyes light up at the thought of being able to go back into the classroom, energised and eager to improve their practice based on solutions found in their own self-reflection. Word spread around the school, and suddenly there was a huge buzz surrounding Trust-Based Observations. Indeed, on the last day of training, three unobserved teachers approached us separately and commented, almost verbatim, ¡°I was hoping you would get a chance to come to my classroom; I wanted to be observed. Why didn¡¯t you come to my classroom?¡± Though we visited many classrooms during the course, it was not possible to observe every teacher, and the tone and style of Trust-Based Observations resulted in teachers wanting, I repeat, wanting to be observed.

At another school, I observed a specialist teacher as part of the TBO model. During the reflective conversation, the teacher opened up and explained that, as a specialist, he was not often observed. Though he was relieved in some ways to avoid the process, he expressed his disappointment in being denied the chance to grow based on the feedback he could have been regularly receiving. The teacher was so happy to know that specialists were included in the TBO model, with their strengths duly recognised throughout the process. He felt valued; he knew that he would have the chance to learn and grow with the help of his colleagues.

These stories highlight how TBO builds a strong culture of trust and positive wellbeing, leading to long-term schoolwide growth, to such an extent that Professor John Hattie describes TBO as ¡°collective teacher efficacy in action.¡± For international schools, building trusting relationships with teaching staff, and shifting towards a collaborative, growth-oriented approach to observations with a focus on professional development, will create an environment wherein teachers feel supported and empowered to innovate. Ultimately, this will lead to improved teaching and learning outcomes.

Practical Tips for Creating a Sustainable Culture of Trust

1. Commit to frequent, informal classroom observations and reflective discussions.
2. Recognise the vulnerability inherent in the observation process; openly acknowledge the often-stressful nature of the experience.
3. Shift the focus from evaluating pedagogy to understanding the teacher’s mindset. Research makes it clear that the rating of pedagogy inhibits trust and causes teachers to stop taking risks to grow their practice.

Kate O¡¯Connell is an Educational Leadership Coach and Workshop Facilitator, and a previous Head of School.?

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Addressing Nature Deficit Disorder: Implementing The Journey across our network of schools.

The Problem: Nature Deficit Disorder

In today’s digital age, children are spending less time outdoors, leading to a term first coined by Richard Louv as “Nature Deficit Disorder. This ¡°Vitamin N Deficiency¡± and disconnection from nature has been linked to various negative outcomes, including reduced physical activity, increased stress levels, and impaired cognitive development. It became evident that a structured approach to outdoor learning was necessary to combat these effects for our students.

The Solution: The Journey

To address Nature Deficit Disorder, ¡°The Journey¡± was developed, an innovative outdoor learning programme implemented across our Globeducate network of schools. ¡°The Journey¡± is designed to foster students’ academic and personal growth through direct interaction with nature, enhancing vital future-proof competencies of character development, collaboration, critical thinking, communication and creativity.

Having worked and lived in diverse countries like Australia, Thailand, the UK and Finland, I witnessed first-hand the positive impact outdoor learning provision has on students’ academic and personal achievements. It was from this direct experience that the ¡°The Journey¡± was developed for our schools.

¡°The Journey¡± is a journey of discovery, whereby students learn about themselves, about each other, about our environment for them to become self-reliant, to solve problems and to challenge and push themselves outside of their comfort zones.

It is about how students have opportunities to learn with nature, through nature and from nature to support their development of key future competencies including collaboration, critical thinking, communication and creativity. ¡°The Journey¡± is more than just taking learning outside. It is about experiential learning and understanding how to make informed choices on how to limit risks to ensure the safety of ourselves, of others and of our environment.

The Implementation of The Journey

1. Development of the Framework?

¡°The Journey¡± is grounded in experiential learning principles, emphasizing self-reliance, problem-solving, and risk management. The programme spans from Early Years through Key Stage 5, structured around five core skills: shelter building, using knots, cooking outdoors including using fire, navigation and using tools. Additionally, students culminate their learning and participate in the Duke of Edinburgh and International Bronze, Silver and Gold award.

Our schools in Spain, Portugal, France and United Kingdom are committed to using this framework. These include:

• Boundary Oak School,
• Cambridge House British International School,
• O Castro British International School,
• Coru?a British International School,
• IPS Cascais British International School,
• Mougins British International School,
• Nobel Algarve Almancil British International School,
• Nobel Algarve Lagoa British International School,
• St George?s British International School,
• and Stonar School.

It has been a joy to see how leaders and their teams have interpreted the framework to create their own bespoke programme tailored to the needs and contexts of their schools and students.

Photo: Coru?a British International School

2. The Four Pillars

The approach is built on four pillars: Identity, Adventure, Nature, and Community:

• Identity: Through outdoor challenges, students explore and develop their identities, gaining insights into their strengths, limitations, and values.
• Adventure: Engaging in physically and mentally challenging activities promotes thinking and interacting ¡°outside the box¡± to improve personal growth and resilience.
• Nature: Developing a deep and personalised connection with the environment, to understand ecological systems and the interconnectedness of all living things.
• Community: Collaborative activities foster communication, trust, and mutual support, enhancing social responsibility and a sense of belonging.

3. Leave No Trace Principles

A fundamental component of ¡°The Journey¡± is instilling environmental stewardship through Leave No Trace principles. Students learn sustainable practices to protect and preserve natural ecosystems, fostering a lifelong commitment to environmental conservation.

Photo: Stonar School

Impact and Outcomes

Outdoor learning offers a rich environment for fostering the 5 Cs: Communication, Collaboration, Critical Thinking, Creativity, and Character Development.

• Communication: Outdoors, students engage in real-world communication scenarios. Whether it’s explaining a concept to a peer, discussing observations, or presenting findings from an outdoor problem-solving tasks, they learn to articulate their thoughts effectively.
• Collaboration: Working together in outdoor settings requires cooperation and teamwork. From navigating a trail to conducting field research, students must collaborate to achieve common goals, fostering essential social skills and empathy.
• Critical Thinking: The outdoors present endless opportunities for problem-solving and decision-making. Students must analyse situations, evaluate risks, and make informed choices. Whether it’s identifying animal tracks or designing a shelter, critical thinking skills are constantly challenged and developed.
• Creativity: Outdoor environments stimulate creativity by inspiring curiosity and imagination. Whether it’s using natural materials for art projects, inventing games, or designing outdoor structures, students are encouraged to think outside the box and explore their creativity in novel ways.
• Character Development: Outdoor learning fosters resilience, responsibility, and a sense of stewardship for the environment. Facing challenges such as adverse weather conditions or overcoming obstacles during outdoor activities helps build character and instil values like perseverance and environmental consciousness.

By integrating outdoor learning experiences that promote the 5 Cs, we can provide students with holistic and immersive learning opportunities that extend beyond the classroom walls, preparing them for success in both academic and real-world contexts.

In addition to the impact of character development, communication, collaboration, creative and critical thinking skills, we also noticed the following:

• Improved Academic Performance: Learning in natural environments stimulates curiosity and critical thinking and we noticed the increased engagement and motivation positively affected academic performance.
• Enhanced Physical Health: Outdoor activities promote exercise and movement, counteracting sedentary behaviours associated with indoor learning environments.
• Emotional Well-being: Nature has a calming effect, reducing stress and anxiety, especially with those students who displayed lack of attention in traditional classrooms. Exposure to green spaces improves mood and emotional regulation, providing a respite from classroom pressures.
• Increased Environmental Awareness: Direct interaction with nature fosters a deeper understanding of ecological systems and a sense of responsibility toward conservation. We noticed improved and increased engagement with sustainability projects with WWF and Eco School initiatives across our schools.

Photo: O Castro British International School

Practical Tips for School Leaders

1. Start Small: Begin with simple outdoor activities and gradually introduce more complex challenges.
2. Foster Inclusivity: Design activities that accommodate all students, regardless of physical ability, to ensure everyone can participate.
3. Evaluate and Adapt: Regularly assess the program¡¯s effectiveness and be open to making necessary adjustments based on feedback and observations from students, teachers and parents.
4. Prioritize Safety: Ensure all activities are conducted safely, with proper risk assessments and safety protocols in place.
5. Community Engagement: Involving the broader school community, including parents and local organisations, can enhance the programme’s impact and sustainability.
6. Professional Development: Providing training for educators on outdoor learning principles and safety ensures effective implementation and maximizes student benefits.

Photo: Coru?a British International School

By integrating ¡°The Journey¡± into the curriculum, our schools have created a holistic learning environment that nurtures academic success, personal growth, and a profound connection with the natural world. This approach not only combats Nature Deficit Disorder but also equips students with essential skills and attitudes for a sustainable future.

Oanh Crouch is a Director of Education at and leads on teaching and learning projects, in-service training, curriculum development, global events and virtual learning communities across the group. You can connect with her on .

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