Future Proofing Our Students: Resilience

It’s a fact that many of the jobs our students will be doing in twenty years’ time do not yet exist. So, to prepare our children for an unpredictable new world, the teachers at IPS will continue to help them become strong learners and critical thinkers; but in addition, we’re teaching them human skills to equip them properly for the future.

In order to ‘future-proof’ the students we teach here at IPS, one of the skills we need to help our children develop is resilience. We organise lots of events to promote this and a great example is our annual Cross Country race, a magnificent event, not only for celebrating the students (and adults!) who love to run, but also for acknowledging the huge efforts put in by those children who found the event a real challenge. Many students showed signs of struggle but refused to give up and ended up beating their own personal goals through sheer endurance. 

Events such as these, where children are out of their ‘comfort zones’, are unforgettable occasions where they gain so much more than medals. In their future, new skills are going to have to be learned and giving up shouldn’t be an easy option. Instead, facing difficult tasks, celebrating personal achievements and the fact that they have really tried their best should be the goal.

Resilience is a difficult thing to teach. But with our support, our children can learn that the path to success is to try something, do their best and, even if they stumble along the way or make a mistake, to never give up.

written by Charlotte Nash

Deputy head - Pastoral & Wellbeing