The framework
Heart. Character. Mind.
Three ideas run through everything we do. In the order we teach them.
The Three Pillars.
Pillar 1
Skills of the Heart
Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) programmes.
Pillar 2
Skills of Character
PBIS and the S.T.A.R. behavioural expectations.
Pillar 3
Skills of the Mind
Effective Learning and metacognitive strategies.
The order matters. We teach Heart before Character, and Character before Mind — because wellbeing comes before behaviour, and behaviour comes before learning. You cannot coach habits with a child who doesn’t feel safe. You cannot stretch a child’s thinking if they haven’t learned how to belong.
Each Pillar has its own tools, routines, and evidence base. Heart runs on CASEL’s SEL competencies, Character on PBIS and S.T.A.R., and Mind on metacognitive research from Hattie, Dunlosky, and the EEF.
The three Pillars mirror the three Voices — the Skills are the input (what we teach), the Voices are the output (what children tell us back).