This quarter’s ISL Magazine theme explores a question every school, regardless of context or curriculum, must eventually face: how can support for staff, students, and communities be sustained over time? Three contributors – Matthew Savage from The Mona Lisa Effect, Steven W. Edwards from Vega Schools, and Olivia Bugden from Hochalpines Institut Ftan (HIF) – approach this question from different angles, yet their insights reveal a shared imperative. For schools to truly flourish, they must treat wellbeing, values, and culture not as parallel initiatives but as interconnected forces shaping international education.
Examining the decisions that shape belonging
In ‘What is your Wellbeing Footprint?’ Matthew Savage challenges educators to look more closely at the cumulative impact of their decisions. From assessment design to behaviour expectations, communication patterns to leadership choices, schools make countless choices that quietly influence student wellbeing. While it is common to look outward for the causes of declining mental health among young people, Savage emphasises that the reality is multifactorial, with long-standing school practices, policies, and protocols playing a significant role in whether students feel safe, supported, and able to flourish.
Matthew urges leaders to consider what their decisions cost, not in metrics that are easily tracked, but in elements that are far more fragile: dignity, hope, belonging. Whose thriving is served, and whose is sacrificed? Who’s silently shrinking themselves to fit the system?
“I offer this not as indictment, but as invitation: to step gently into a new kind of reckoning. One in which wellbeing is not an outcome, but a guiding principle. Not a supplement, but a structure.” – Matthew Savage
The message is clear: wellbeing is shaped not only by programmes or interventions, but by the ethos embedded in the everyday choices that define school life. Schools that intentionally consider their “wellbeing footprint” foster environments where students can truly succeed.
Hiring for culture, not just skill
In ‘Building School Culture Through Value-Driven Recruitment’, Steven W. Edwards shifts the focus to the people who bring a school’s ethos to life. At Vega Schools, recruitment is treated as a strategic act of culture-building. The school’s core values – empathy, innovation, excellence, collaboration and integrity – form the backbone of every hiring and retention decision, ensuring that those who join the community do so with a genuine alignment to its purpose.
“Whilst we know skills can be taught, it is values that define culture; and culture is what underpins staff and student wellbeing.” – Steven W. Edwards
Tools such as the FIRO-B assessment, alongside scenario-based interviews and lesson delivery, offer a multidimensional picture of each candidate. Skills can be refined, but values determine behaviour under pressure and shape relationships across the school. When educators share a common ethical foundation, the culture becomes coherent and resilient, and the wellbeing of both staff and students is strengthened.
Steven’s perspective underscores a vital truth: sustaining school culture begins with choosing the right people, those whose instincts and ideals already resonate with the ethos they will help to shape.
Building strength through challenge
Olivia Bugden’s article, ‘We Can Do Hard Things: Empowering Young People to Face Challenges,’ explores a common misconception in education: that protecting students from difficulty safeguards their wellbeing. Instead, she argues that true resilience grows when young people understand their responses to challenge and learn how to move through discomfort with confidence.
At HIF, resilience is integrated directly into the curriculum through a blend of the Science of Learning and the Science of Wellbeing. Students explore how their brains function, why stress feels overwhelming, and what strategies help them regulate their responses. These ideas are then embodied through experiences such as abseiling and rock climbing, and other activities designed to evoke discomfort in a controlled, supportive environment.
“The journey of teaching young people that they can do hard things involves more than just a one-hour lesson a week; it requires creating an environment where they feel safe to acknowledge their discomfort and empowered to confront it.” – Olivia Bugden
The power of HIF’s approach lies in guided reflection. Students discuss how resilience built on the rock face translates into everyday school situations: exams, group work, and performances. This is reinforced by a whole-school commitment in which every teacher becomes a wellbeing teacher, weaving consistent language and practices into subject learning.
Prioritising wellbeing for staff and students
Together, these three contributions illuminate a powerful truth: sustaining schools is not a matter of isolated initiatives but of coherent, values-driven ecosystems. From the way young people meet challenge, to the decisions leaders make, to the ethos that guides recruitment, wellbeing and culture endure when they are woven into the fabric of school life.
These insights are echoed in ISC Research’s latest white paper, ‘How International Schools Are Prioritising Wellbeing for Staff and Students,’ exploring how schools are responding to growing wellbeing demands while navigating the unique pressures faced in international environments. Download for free today to learn practical approaches from international schools in Kenya, Germany, Romania, and the UAE.
