FLIPPING BOOK CHRONICLE 2024

INTERNATIONAL STEER SCHOOL OF THE YEAR For the past four years Michaelhouse has been using STEER Tracking to identify hidden social-emotional risks that might otherwise go undetected in our boys, equipping our teachers and tutors to proactively target their support, and measure impact. This pastoral assessment and tracking tool involves an online assessment, completed by the boys twice in each academic year. The data produced enables us to identify boys whose mental health is at risk and allows us to proactively intervene appropriately. Housemasters, Assistant Housemasters and some of the wider staff have been trained in how to use the data to support boys of concern. We have also made use of STEER’s framework for writing action plans to nudge boys towards helpful, healthy behaviour as they go on their Michaelhouse journey. Counselling and pastoral care is an ongoing activity through the year at Michaelhouse. With 640 or so boys it is a demanding role, and I am incredibly grateful to be assisted by Dr Rob Pluke in this work. Rob has been visiting the school as our consulting psychologist every Wednesday morning now for the last three years. He has really added value with his oversight and input. In the second half of the year, we lost one of our E Block boys, Garth Finnemore, in a car accident. Many boys were impacted by Garth’s death and that of his parents (Olivia and Gareth). Large numbers of boys needed counselling, and we are incredibly grateful to Rob Pluke and the psychologist and chaplain from St Anne’s. Without the support of our sister school we would have battled to provide timely support to our boys. My gratitude goes to Denbigh Maurer, Masimbulele Tshongweni and Susan van Niekerk for stepping in. More than 100 boys were given either one-on-one or group counselling, many on more than one occasion. We continue to be grateful to Mr Bryce Dekker, who saw close to 60 senior boys for career guidance over the course of 2024. Thanks as well to Mrs Jenni Clinton-Parker, who has provided key support to some of our younger boys in her role as part time counsellor. COUNSELLING

which children hang from 15 feet up, compared to rubberised, dwarf equipment installed in parks through the 2000s. The stat is that, astonishingly, 35% of UK 7-year-olds now possess a smartphone. These rapid shifts in technology and safety culture far outpace the ability of the human brain to adapt. Haidt’s argument is that we have created the conditions for a “great rewiring” in the minds of our children. We know that puberty opens up a second period of neural plasticity, which means these influences in the formation of the brains of today’s teenagers will define them for tomorrow. The clarity of the threat in some ways makes the response for educators all the clearer, too. Haidt straightforwardly proposes two achievable things. First, a ban on smartphones in schools. A growing number of schools are now choosing to go phone-free, and I suspect this will become a surge. The old arguments of teaching children HOW to use their phones dissolve when you take into account that they spend more than six hours on the devices each day beyond school. Children need to experience themselves entirely differently in the classroom; their precious hours at school become vital to look, think, read, learn and interact in ways beyond their devices. Second, an extension of the time and opportunities for free play during the school day. Haidt suggests it is in the context of free play that children learn and develop vital healthy social-emotional skills of self-regulation. For schools already providing an extended school day – through breakfast clubs, activities, sports and, of course, traditional boarding – this could be Haidt’s most significant proposal. And I have some evidence to support this. In 2015 Anthony Seldon invited 25 state, independent and boarding schools to take part in groundbreaking STEER research. Using STEER’s pioneering tools, we were able to empirically measure and compare the difference in the development of social-emotional skills. To our surprise, there was no difference in agility between state day-school and private day-school pupils. However, pupils in a boarding environment showed better abilities to join groups and adapt to novel situations by self-regulating their social-emotional responses. Furthermore, we were able to tie down the cause of this to the experience of being part of a boarding house. Our data suggests Haidt is right; unstructured time kicking around and having to get along with other peers appears to develop important social-emotional skills. THE BOARDING SCHOOL FACTOR THE RESPONSE

TUTOR GROUPS

Each tutor received weekly emails providing ideas, material and resources around relevant topics for them to work through with the boys in their tutor groups during the school year. 2024 saw several topics covered, including current issues of relevance to teenage boys.

ADD-ONS OR FUNDAMENTALS?

STUDENT PROGRAMMES

Independent headteachers may have previously marketed these unstructured opportunities as premium add-ons. But for today’s anxious generation, their value may be far more fundamental to a parent’s choice.

Throughout the year there are different programmes and interventions to assist boys in their development and relationships. Two important ones were: 58