What factors help to determine well-being in young children? How do children develop levels of psychological resilience that allow them to overcome stress and adversity? To what extent are well-being and resilience critical to student achievement and future success? These key questions were addressed by the Pinkie Resilience Project, which brought together international experts in education, psychology, the arts, social work, policing, sport, government, nutrition, architecture, paediatrics, education policy, epidemiology and history to 1) discuss how well-being and resilience have been nurtured in different historical and geographical contexts; 2) determine how schools best support well-being and nurture development; and 3) select interventions to test in a pilot project based at Pinkie St Peter’s Primary School in Musselburgh, East Lothian.

This project sought to find ways to apply research findings in the areas of child mental health, education and child development to a very specific setting: a primary school. A gap often exists between academic research on child well-being (broadly defined) and what schools can actually do in practice. By bringing academics from a wide range of backgrounds together with school staff, we were able to troubleshoot potential interventions and determine which had the most potential. 

The major objectives of the project were:

1. An international, interdisciplinary symposium where a wide range of historical and contemporary interventions aimed at boosting well-being and resilience in young children will be discussed.
2. A workshop involving most of the participants to develop and troubleshoot the interventions.
3. The development of a pilot project (s) to test the effectiveness of resilience strategies.
4. An ultimate, long-term objective would be to reduce Pinkie St Peter’s Primary School referrals to Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service.