In August, the Junior School launched the Decider Skills programme, engaging all pupils from Nursery to Primary 7 in a six-week initiative as part of our Resilience Programme. The programme introduced the twelve Decider Skills, designed to help children manage their emotions, make thoughtful decisions, and build resilience in everyday situations both at school and at home.

Developed by Cognitive Behavioural Psychotherapists Michelle Ayres and Carol Vivyan, the Decider Skills programme uses a creative, hands-on approach that makes learning engaging, memorable and fun.

Over six weeks, pupils explored two skills each week through interactive activities and year group discussions. They produced short videos which were released intermittently to help reinforce learning at home, offering clear explanations of each skill and prompting meaningful conversations between children and their families.

When asked if they enjoyed the Decider Skills, pupils commented: “It helps us calm down and understand that being angry is not the solution,” “It is helpful for decision making when playing sports, I have helped others and myself on the rugby pitch,” “Good that we are all learning as a group,” and “I have used the STOPP when my brother has made me fizzy.”

“It will pass,” “Right now,” "Opposite Action” were among the most commonly mentioned skills used.

A working party of Junior School staff from a variety of roles are working collaboratively to help embed within the curriculum and wider school life. They play a key role in supporting its consistency and impact across year groups.

Miss Jamieson, Junior School Principal Teacher, commented: “The Decider Skills programme is becoming an integral part of our curriculum and wider school life. By involving staff, in the form of the working party, has ensured a shared ownership of how the Decider Skills will be successfully embedded. We are achieving this by ensuring in our forward planning that the Decider Skill’s language and strategies will be consistently reinforced across classrooms, pastoral support and everyday interactions, which we hope will provide a coherent and sustainable approach to supporting our pupils’ emotional wellbeing.”

Widely used across the United Kingdom and internationally, the Decider Skills Programme has a strong track record of supporting wellbeing for children and adults alike.

Mrs Tulloch highlighted: “When children and adults learn these skills together, they develop a shared language that builds communication, confidence and wellbeing. Pupils have embraced the programme with enthusiasm, applying the skills at school and at home, with families’ support playing an important role in its success. The challenge now that we have done the initial delivery, is to ensure that the whole community continues to be onboard, the skills are embedded, and pupils develop habitual responses and strategies for resilience and overall mental wellbeing.”

“Our Junior Pupil Council met with Mr Hutchison to explore how we can achieve this. They are considering ways to integrate the skills into lessons, specialist subjects and displays, and how to help parents and the wider community learn more about this important initiative. This collaborative approach will ensure the learning continues to have a lasting and meaningful impact across our community.”