Mental Toughness Fortnight – Parental Talk, Centenary Hall MTGS – Thursday 12th October 7-8pm
Steve Oakes is the Director of Education at AQR International, where he leads the work on mental toughness in education. Steve has 17 years teaching experience, prior to which, he spent six years in the Armed Forces. He successfully completed the Royal Marines Commando and the Parachute Regiment selection courses. He received the GSM and US Certificate of Appreciation for outstanding work in Northern Iraq.
Steve worked with the Independent Schools Council for their recent research project, relating to the development of soft skills and mental toughness. The research (in which Merchant Taylors’ participated) found that “Pupils in independent schools are controlled, committed, confident and like a challenge”. The quantitative research shows pupils at ISC independent schools have good attainment, wellbeing and behaviour and are more resilient, better at dealing with setbacks and more open to learning as a result.
Using a mental toughness model called MTQ48, the study – An Analysis of Mental Toughness at UK Independent Schools – included 9,000 pupils of all ages from 58 schools in England and Scotland.
The test defines mental toughness as the ‘mindset that every person adopts in everything they do’.
In this fortnight of Mental Toughness across MTGS and MTPS, we are delighted to welcome Steve to our school. He will be delivering a training session to staff, as the school moves to embedding the “7 C’s” of Care, Courtesy, Consideration, Commitment, Challenge, Control and Confidence, with all our students.
Parents are invited to join us to hear Steve talk about how (as parents) you can help your children to develop the grit and determination necessary to enable them to make great progress.
