If you’ve ever truly learned something — not just memorised it but really internalised it — you’ll know it rarely arrives wrapped in ease and perfection. More often, learning is a stretch, a stumble, a rethink, and a try again. It asks something of us. Sometimes, it asks a lot.
As I prepare to join the Kings’ community in September 2025, I bring with me a deep belief: learning isn’t something that belongs only in a classroom, or to a particular phase of life. It’s a way of being in the world. Learning travels with us — into our relationships, our families, our work, our seasons of uncertainty and change. And how we learn matters just as much as what we learn.
Learning, at its best, is more than the transfer of knowledge. It’s a process of transformation — not just of intellect, but of character, confidence and capacity.
It’s tempting to believe that if something feels hard, it means we’re not “good at it” or “not called to it”. But more often than not, the opposite is true. Struggle isn’t a sign of failure — it’s a sign that we are growing, that new neural pathways are forming in our brains. It’s a sign that learning is happening. The truth is real learning and discomfort often come together.
Of course, this isn’t always easy to embrace. Learning can feel uncertain and messy. It can stir up anxiety and self-doubt. Anxiety is simply the brain doing what it’s designed to do: trying to protect us. It’s a natural response to anything that feels risky or unknown. What’s important is that we don’t let the fear take over. Anxiety and bravery can co-exist. We can feel scared and be brave. We can feel overwhelmed and move forward, one step at a time.
Learning to sit with that discomfort — to see it as part of the growth and learning process — is one of the most valuable lessons we can pass on to our children. They need to know that they can struggle and stretch and still thrive. That they can learn, unlearn, and relearn.
A key part of my approach to learning and development is building students’ cognitive confidence — helping them not only understand what they are learning, but how they are
learning. Cognitive confidence grows when students are gently challenged, encouraged to persevere, and given opportunities to reflect on their thinking. It’s not about getting it right the first time; it’s about developing the mental habits that support deep, flexible learning.
My work is particularly inspired by the thinking of Professor Reuven Feuerstein and Dr. Kathie Greenberg. Their approaches share a belief in the modifiability of intelligence and the idea that people (students and adults alike!) can be explicitly taught how to think — not just what to think.
From this perspective, students are equipped with tools to:
This is the heart of cognitive education: making thinking visible, intentional, and teachable. Students learn to pause and engage metacognitively — to notice their process, revise when necessary, and then act with greater clarity. Over time, they begin to see themselves not just as learners of content, but as capable thinkers. They become constructors of meaning — learners who can grow in any context, because they understand how to learn.
But even with strong thinking tools in hand, learning doesn’t always feel easy. Sometimes students hit a wall. They know how to think strategically — but anxiety, low motivation, procrastination or past experiences of failure get in the way.
This is where mindset matters deeply. And it’s where a solution-focused, strengths-based lens becomes powerful. Rather than focusing on what’s going wrong, we as the adults can gently shift the conversation toward what’s possible:
This shift echoes the biblical encouragement found in Philippians 4:8, which calls us to focus our minds on whatever is true, noble, right, pure, lovely, and admirable. By directing attention toward these things, we nurture hope and resilience in ourselves and our students.
I’ve seen how this reframes a student’s story from “I’m bad at maths” to “Last week I did one question. This week I did three. I’m building something.” This approach fuels hope — and hope creates momentum. In doing so, we model a faith-infused resilience: one that sees challenge not as the end of the story, but the soil in which transformation takes root.
This solution-focused perspective reminds us that learning is never just an individual journey — it is deeply relational. At its heart, learning doesn’t happen in isolation; it flourishes in connection.
As parents and educators, our role is not to clear every obstacle out of the way, but to help students build the courage to face them. As an Educational Psychologist, one question I often consider when working with people, inspired by psychologist Karen Young, is this: Will my response build their courage, or shrink it?
Our children need to know they are truly seen — not just for what they achieve, but for who they are becoming. They need to know we won’t panic when they struggle but will sit with them in the uncertainty and remind them they are not alone. That struggle is normal and necessary. That classrooms are spaces of discovery, not judgement. And that grace lives here too.
When we offer a learning (or family) experience grounded in grace and relationship, we nurture students who become resilient, reflective, and unshaken by challenge — students who understand that learning is lifelong, no matter how much they have achieved.
Learning isn’t about having all the answers, but about embracing growth, asking thoughtful questions, and seeking solutions together. It’s about facing challenges, knowing transformation happens gradually as we open ourselves to new possibilities. As I join you at Kings in Term 3, I am excited to walk alongside staff, students, and families on this shared learning journey. Kings already has a rich foundation of curiosity, connection, and courage at its heart, and I look forward to bringing my own passion and perspective as we continue to nurture these values in learning.
I promise to show up as I am — with my strengths and weaknesses — eager to listen, learn, and grow alongside this remarkable community. My hope and prayer is that our learning spaces remain places where students are both stretched and supported, challenged and encouraged; where grace is abundant and courage flourishes; and where we all (adults and children alike) continue to learn, ask, and grow together.
As Romans 12:2 (The Message) reminds us, when we focus on what truly matters, “we’ll be changed from the inside out,” shaping not only what we know but who we are becoming. Learning, in this way, becomes a daily invitation to be shaped more deeply into who we’re called to be.
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