In discussion with south-eastern Queensland Independent Schools’ Principals recently, the topic of anxious parents seems to be a recurrent theme. I also enjoyed our Head of Senior School’s, Mrs Stuart’s, article in the Newsletter last week examining children’s needs for resilience and independence in their learning. CCPS certainly encourages this and as an example, our recent Year 8 Outdoor Education Camp gave the children an opportunity to learn together away from the usual social structures and patterns that develop around young adolescents’ lives. It may be as simple as not having access to online communications, and media that allows the children more direct and immediate social interactions and learning. Included in this is where people’s faces and body language clues become highly important features that are lost in texting and point in time photographs. My own PhD study also showed the significant importance of physical activity in academic learning outcomes for students, and the Camp’s challenging team activities were fun but obviously stress relieving ‘fun’. Fun and joy help people relax and deeply learn!