New Year Newsletter for the Northern Hemisphere!

This is to thank you all for everything you have done this year to improve the lives of children across the world. It is a joy to work with many of you in this endeavour. I meet the best of people all the time! May we stay steadfast on this journey in the coming year.

This includes the many authors for the Handbook of Wellbeing in Education: Research Transforming Practice, co-edited by myself and Professor Ansie Kitching, to be published by Edward Elgar in 2026. The thirty or so chapters are from authors in every continent except South America and address the many ways we can ensure that children and young people – and their teachers – feel safe, included and respected and build a positive future for themselves and others.

Love of Learning Project

Dom and I are grateful to those primary schools in England who have engaged with us on the Love of Learning Project – and all the help we had from readers of this newsletter in identifying these beacons of good practice.

What we have seen so far has been exceptional – mind-blowing even – and shows how much school culture depends on the vision of leadership, their belief in the best of pupils and their care for staff. Inclusion, creativity and learning outside the classroom have been significant features. You can read a short vignette about the schools we have so far visited on this website and there will be more next year. Dom Boddington and I plan to publish a book with a chapter on each – and would of course love any opportunity to speak about the project.

ASPIRE

The ASPIRE framework continues to have traction in education across the world. Simple in conception these six principles nevertheless address many of the unspoken and challenging issues that make a difference in people’s lives – having Agency and a say in what concerns you, feeling Safe, celebrating the Positive with strengths, solutions, kindness and playfulness, feeling Included and that you belong and matter, experiencing Respect and knowing that you will be treated fairly with Equity. Although the books are school-based these principles apply much more widely to organisations, communities, families and relationships in general.

This is why we have developed the ASPIRE culture cards, giving six statements for each of the six principles, offering 36 conversation openers. Following several pilots with Michele Deeks and Martin Galpin these are now available at At My Best with a 20% discount with code EdInstitution20, making them very affordable! Check them out, if you haven’t already.

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Thanks also to all those educators who have learnt about Circle Solutions and the accredited trainers across the world delivering this safe, solution-focused pedagogy for social-emotional learning.

Other people and organisations I have worked with this year also merit my thanks: Aaryan Salman of the Global Citizenship Foundation, Leslee Udwin of Think Equal, Jess Bondy of Words Matter, Ben Greenfield at Children’s Services, Durham, Therese Hoyle of Positive Playtimes, those at the National Association of Pastoral Care in Education (NAPCE) the Education Policy Alliance , University College London, Parenta, Innovating Teachers Academy, OECD New Perspectives on Childhood, the Danish International Schools Network, Twinkl and Routledge.