18 July 2025

Kia ora e te whānau,

I trust you all had a gorgeous break, and that the children have come back firing on all cylinders, ready for a big third term ahead!

When I returned to New Zealand after many years away, I had the privilege of teaching a couple of children whose parents were part of the Dunedin Study. I was fascinated, as I’d never heard of it before — and even more intrigued to learn that the children of those original participants were being interviewed. Ever since, I’ve dipped in and out of the research, and The Study has come up countless times at events and in professional learning I’ve been part of. Recently, it came back into my orbit following the passing of the study’s founder, Dr Phil Silva.

For those of you who may not have heard about it, the Dunedin Study has been tracking the lives of more than 1,000 people born in the early 1970s. It’s one of the most significant longitudinal studies in the world and has taught us so much about the factors that influence life outcomes.

Here are a few key insights that guide the way we work here at school:

• Self-control and perseverance matter – children who learn to manage their emotions and stay focused tend to do better later in life, both in school and beyond.

• Social and emotional skills are just as important as reading, writing, and maths – friendships, conflict resolution, and emotional regulation are essential parts of school life and future success.

• Valuing the whole child – the study showed that early teacher observations of traits like empathy, focus, kindness, and effort are strong indicators of long-term success.

If you're interested in learning more about the Dunedin Study (hailed globally as the gold standard of its kind), here's a great piece to start with: The Dunedin study at 50: landmark experiment tracked 1,000 people from birth – The Guardian

As we head into the second half of the year, we’re focused on ensuring we’re on track to meet our annual targets — in Writing, Reading, Maths, Te Ao Māori, Positive Education, and Diversity and Inclusion. So yes, the academics are very important to us, and we look forward to sharing our progress not only in the basics but across the wider curriculum too. It really is an and world!

I truly believe the more we understand about how the brain works, the science behind learning, and the longitudinal research into children’s outcomes, the more informed and impactful our teaching can be — now and into the future.

Here's to a term full of self-control and perseverance!