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Not for ourselves alone

Mount Barker High School

Message from the Principal

Positive education for a positive future
Warren Symonds, Principal, Mount Barker High School

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I’m excited by the possibilities that our links with Dr Martin Seligman and positive psychology can offer Mount Barker High School. We’ve started investigating how we can use positive psychology to develop resilient and optimistic young people who are able to flourish in an increasingly complex world. Mount Barker wants to offer our young people a positive education for a positive future.

Dr Seligman’s PERMA framework gives us a solid platform to work from. This is the core of positive psychology. Backed up by strong scientific research, Dr Seligman knows that we can teach children and young people the skills they need to flourish.  That is, the skills they can use to increase their:

Positive emotion
Engagement
Relationships
Meaning in life; and
Accomplishment

This blog will give you some snapshots of what we are doing to weave a PERMA focus throughout our school. The beginning of 2012 saw us discover what Dr Seligman and positive psychology have to offer. In 2013 and beyond, we will begin to put his ideas into action so that PERMA pervades the fabric of our school – our policies, processes, and above all, what and how our students learn.

We look forward to you joining us as we learn and move forward. You will be able to keep up with how we are going about this important task by reading stories from Mount Barker High School leaders, staff, students and parents about developing resilience, optimism and wellbeing.