Grammar’s Approach Yielding Results

THIS week Scone and Murrurundi communities will be able to hear first hand how the Scone Grammar School’s wellbeing program is yielding results at an information night.

See details of sessions below.

Paul Smart, principal of the Scone Grammar School said the approach to wellbeing has been shown to produce 11 percent better academic results.

“We know that improved wellbeing heightens learning,” said Mr Smart. 

“The collective research of Durak, Weissberg & Pachan (2010) combining 213 studies, involving 270,034 students, identified that students who were explicitly taught the skills of wellbeing and who were in learning environments which held up wellbeing as a priority, achieved 11% higher academic performance,” he said.

“We have developed our school community of wellbeing from our Christian foundation, providing structure through four key growth pillars; these pillars support well-rounded, resilient students who are the best learners they can be,” said Paul Smart. 

While the academic performance is measurable, parents have also reported tangible examples of how the program is helping their children develop.

Sarah Bishop attended the Merriwa session last week and said she sees her children directly benefiting from the school’s approach to learning and wellbeing.

“It should have been incorporated in education a million years ago, but it wasn’t,” said Ms Bishop.

“Our experience has been absolutely golden and what I love particularly about it is, regardless of who the child is that if they extend themselves and show interest in something they are encouraged to pursue it and it doesn’t matter if it’s the maths teacher or the ag teacher from the high school there is no divide, if they can,” she said.

“My daughter has come up with an idea to raise money for the sports equipment and she is sending an email to a teacher about that and I just think she has the confidence, she’s not inhibited and that is what the school has done, she wouldn’t do that if she wasn’t confident in herself and confident that someone will return her email and put her suggestion forward,” she said.

“The conscious wellbeing enables the children to voice their own opinion and ideas and feel they can apply themselves,” she said.

“I see how it enables them to have a go at things they might not have,” Sarah Bishop said.

Scone Information Session:

• When: 6pm, Wednesday, September 18.
• Where: Scone Grammar School, 60 Kingdon Street, Scone.
• More details: Community Calendar

Murrurundi Information Session:

• When: 6pm, Thursday, September 19.
• Where: Church Hall, Anglican Church of Murrurundi, 33 Mount Street, Murrurundi.
• More details: Community Calendar.

We know that improved wellbeing heightens learning. The collective research of Durak, Weissberg & Pachan (2010) combining 213 studies, involving 270,034 students, identified that students who were explicitly taught the skills of wellbeing and who were in learning environments which held up wellbeing as a priority, achieved 11% higher academic performance.

We have developed our school community of Wellbeing from our Christian foundation, providing structure through four key growth pillars. These pillars support well-rounded, resilient students who are the best learners they can be.”

To better explain our approach to improving wellbeing and how this heightens learning, we will be holding a series of community talks throughout the Upper Hunter during September.