Parents will, I hope, be very familiar with the Thomas Burton Award, our co-curricular framework that seeks to ensure that all boys gain the benefits of a rounded education. When I was at school, I didn’t appreciate the importance of the co-curricular. Although I was fully involved in both music and sport, I saw them as ‘fun’ and an optional extra. I worry that this is how some still see them, because such an attitude undervalues the skills that boys develop through these activities. Research is in its infancy in this area. However, I would like to share the findings of research that we have carried out under the leadership of Dr Waters, Assistant Head (Co-Curricular), which points at the benefits of our scheme for boys’ wellbeing.

In April 2019, I was pleased to read research into the value of school sport, published by Peter Clough, Professor of Psychology at the University of Huddersfield.

Prof Clough’s findings included the discovery that physical activity increases mental toughness and helps students cope with the pressures of examinations: something that teachers have always suspected. Independently, we have been wondering if we could find any correlation between the boys’ rates of participation and their wellbeing. We have all heard boys explain why they must stop playing cricket, or drop music lessons to ‘focus on exams’, but we have noted again and again that such pupils were those whose wellbeing was most under strain while the busiest pupils seemed highly successful in balancing their commitments.

At LGS, we have been undertaking a termly wellbeing survey for a few years, using the Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale (WEMWBS). This is a very simple survey of 14 questions. Although the survey is anonymous, we give boys the option of putting their name if they need our help. From this, we have been able to track the wellbeing of classes and year groups, and to think of how to intervene if scores decline. On the back of this termly survey, we added a series of questions to learn more about boys’ recreational commitments both inside and outside of school, hoping to discover that there really was a correlation between extra-curricular participation and happiness. Our questions cover the following areas:

• Sporting activity
• Involvement in school clubs
• Helping others
• Trying new experiences
• Reading for pleasure
• Interacting face-to-face (rather than electronically!)
• Engaging with the natural world

I won’t bore you with the detailed statistics (although I am happy to share if anyone is really interested!), but we have found a remarkable correlation between strong personal wellbeing (as measured by the Warwick-Edinburgh Scale) and commitment to the co-curricular. In particular, from the seven categories above, the greatest correlation was seen with questions 4, 6 and 7.

It was not surprising to us that a willingness to try new experiences was a characteristics of boys with the highest levels of wellbeing. Research across the Western World has shown consistently that learning a new skill contributes significantly to strong mental health. We were also pleased to note that social interactions with one another, and time spent outdoors seemed to be factors in wellbeing, as these both correspond to many of the co-curricular activities that boys are offered at the Grammar School.

We are conscious that our home-made recreational survey has its limitations: the correlation between these two data sets does not prove that there is a causal relationship between the co-curricular and personal happiness. However, we are confident enough to use these observations in order to give advice to boys about whose wellbeing we have concerns. We are suggesting how they can ‘self-medicate’ by engaging in physical activity or by trying something new. In addition, we are increasing our commitment to volunteering, understanding that wellbeing benefits from social interaction and helping others. During our Enrichment Week at the end of Summer Term, boys achieved over 1000 hours of voluntary service with local community groups and special schools in a range of projects. We look to build on this fine start during Summer 2020.

One often hears in the national debate reflections on how our health services are too stretched to deal adequately with the poor mental health among the young. Let’s not forget that prevention is better than cure. The research into what helps young people to deal with the inevitable stresses and reversals of fortune that come their way consistently points to the benefits of the activities that LGS offers on a daily basis. We must not underplay their importance.