Tag: mental-health

Head’s Corner: What Belonging Looks Like at Saklan

On a regular basis, we ask students in grades 3-8 to complete an anonymous survey about their experience of belonging and inclusion at Saklan. At its core, the survey asks a simple question: Are we keeping our promise that Saklan is a place where students feel seen, heard, and valued? Do they experience Saklan as a safe learning environment—one where relationships are central to learning?

The survey serves as an important check for us. It helps us understand what is working well and where we may need to pause, reflect, and make adjustments based on what students are telling us.

We are currently analyzing the first semester’s results from students in grades 3–8, and we are proud of both the work we do and the community we share. The data points to a strong sense of belonging at Saklan, while also highlighting a few areas where we can continue to grow.

One of the most illuminating parts of the survey is the open-ended question that invites students to elaborate on what helps them feel they belong at Saklan. Their responses, shared below, tell a powerful and authentic story.

Belonging through relationships

  • “When people hang out and talk with me, support me, and accept my options.”
  • “When people invite me to play with them.”
  • “When I’m sad, my friends make me feel better, and my friends just make me laugh.”
  • “Even when I don’t want to play the same game as my friends, there is always someone to play with.”

Belonging through acceptance and inclusion

  • “Having friends, and being accepted for who I am.”
  • “Being respected a lot, for who I am.”
  • “I like how everyone hangs out with whoever they want, rather than being separated by gender or how you act.”
  • “I feel like I belong at Saklan.”

Belonging through adult care and attention

  • “I always know I can go to a teacher when I am sad or need help with my homework.”
  • “My teacher always helps me and tries to make me understand the answer.”
  • “Teachers pay a lot of attention to me.”
  • “When teachers explain why they can’t get to me yet, I still feel heard.”

Belonging through safety and voice

  • “I feel safe to share my thoughts and ideas.”
  • “Saklan is such a small community, so everyone knows each other.”
  • “If I feel left out, there is always a teacher who will help work it out.”

Belonging through structure, leadership, and shared experiences

  • “Something that helps me feel like I belong is advisory.”
  • “Family groups, the ability to be creative, and the fun interactive experiences.”
  • “When I am teaching a younger student, I feel a sense of joy and it makes my day.”
  • “When I come back from being sick or a trip, my classmates welcome me back with smiles and hugs.”

We believe transparency and listening are essential to building a strong school community. For those interested in exploring the data more deeply, the full student survey results are linked here. We’re grateful to our students for their honesty and thoughtfulness, and we remain committed to using their feedback to strengthen belonging, relationships, and learning at Saklan.

With Gratitude,

David  

Self-Disciplined Family Groups

On Wednesday, Saklan Kindergarten through 8th-grade students engaged in a thoughtful and interactive Family Group lesson focused on developing self-discipline, an essential skill that supports learning, emotional regulation, and personal growth.

The lesson began by inviting students to reflect on what self-discipline means to them. Through discussion, students identified self-discipline as recognizing when support is needed to achieve a goal and having the ability to bring themselves back on track. Together, they created a web of ideas on the board, placing “Self-Discipline” at the center and surrounding it with their own thoughts and experiences.

From there, students explored the many moments at school when self-discipline is needed. They shared examples such as staying focused, managing fidgety feelings, handling stress or big emotions, listening actively, raising a hand instead of calling out, and navigating moments of silliness or frustration. This conversation helped normalize the challenges students face and reinforced that self-discipline is a skill everyone practices and strengthens over time.

To introduce practical strategies, students watched a short, engaging video featuring Cookie Monster learning tools to resist his love of cookies. Together, the group reviewed the strategies Cookie Monster used (counting, singing, and imagining something calming) and discussed why these tools might work for him, as well as why different strategies may be more helpful in a school setting.

Students then applied their thinking to real-life scenarios. Through role-play and group discussion, they explored situations such as being cut in line, feeling nervous before a test, forgetting lunch, struggling to stop giggling, or feeling upset when a classmate takes something without asking. For each scenario, students worked collaboratively to identify healthy, self-disciplined responses and the tools that could help them regain control and focus.

To bring the learning together, students created a visual poster highlighting different situations and the tools that support self-discipline.

This lesson emphasized that self-discipline isn’t about being perfect; it’s about noticing when something feels hard and having strategies to help oneself move forward. Through discussion, creativity, and collaboration, students strengthened their understanding of self-discipline as a skill they can practice every day, building confidence and resilience along the way.

#SaklanSEL

Why I Give: Investing in a Community That Invests in Children

I chose Saklan because it offers a different kind of education. One that helps students understand subjects deeply and reach their own conclusions. In a world where this generation has information and misinformation at their fingertips, it’s crucial they learn how to think, not what to think—and to show up with the courage to do the right thing.

Saklan is also where my son is seen, not as a test score or a kid to mold, but as himself. Here he’s encouraged to think independently, follow his own developmental timeline, and nurture his genuine love of learning. I don’t take that for granted. I know it isn’t true everywhere.

I give to Saklan my most limited resource: my time. To me, community isn’t an extra; it’s formative. I want my son to see that showing up matters, that relationships shape the places we care about, and that being part of something means taking responsibility for it. You don’t just show up—you help build the places you belong. That looks like reading to a class, organizing a potluck, cheering at CLAS, lending a skill to a project, or helping a new family find their footing. It’s introducing yourself at drop-off, showing up when someone needs a hand, and caring about others’ well-being.

I also give financially to Saklan because I want it to endure. Like many independent schools, Saklan operates with a gap between what tuition covers and what it actually costs to sustain small classes, rich programming, and support the teachers who pour so much into all the kids. Each year, I make a contribution that’s meaningful for our family. I see it as investing in the future of a community that invests in our children.

Join Ani and her family in supporting Saklan’s Annual Giving Fund.

#SaklanGiving #SaklanCommunity

Head’s Corner: Loving the Teen You Have by Joining the Resistance 

Last week, Saklan co-hosted a conversation with Dr. Ann-Louise Lockhart, author of Love the Teen You Have, in partnership with ParentMap—a consortium of schools that brings thoughtful authors and researchers to school communities like ours.

Dr. Lockhart’s message to parents was simple but radical: join the resistance. Resist the urge to fix, control, or over-teach your teens. Resist the pressure to be perfect. Resist the voice that says if you just say it one more time, they’ll finally listen. This conversation was full of gems—here are some of my takeaways.

Meet Them Where They Are and Join the Resistance

When your child resists, don’t fight it—join it. If your teen doesn’t want to talk, don’t push. Maybe text. Maybe just sit quietly beside them. Be attuned to what they need in the moment, not what you need. Joining the resistance isn’t about giving in; it’s about shifting from confrontation to connection. It’s realizing that presence—not persuasion—is what keeps the door open.

Do Less, Be Present

When our kids were little, we tried to make every moment a teachable one—narrating, correcting, guiding. But the older they get, the less that works. Teens don’t need a constant teacher; they need a calm, steady presence. Sometimes love means doing less—being available, not instructional. It can be surprising how zen it can feel just to “be” with them.

Nagging Is Kryptonite

Few things shut a teenager down faster than repetition. Nagging doesn’t motivate; it hardens resistance. Instead of asking the same question again, try curiosity: “I’ve noticed that assignment’s been hard to start—what do you think’s getting in the way?” That one shift invites conversation instead of combat.

Connection Over Correction

Everything comes back to relationships. When we focus less on managing behavior and more on understanding emotion, we help teens develop self-regulation and trust. They don’t need perfect parents—they need present ones.

At Saklan, this message resonates deeply. Our teachers know that learning—academic, social, or emotional—happens in the space between curiosity and connection. And our partnership with parents is strongest when we, too, resist the urge to over-manage and instead choose to be attuned, curious, and grounded.

So this weekend, take a breath, step back, and love the teen you have—right where they are.

You can view the recording of the conversation with Dr. Ann-Louise Lockhart here, using the access password: edTalks*2526.

Warmly,
David

#HeadsCorner

Head’s Corner: Foundations Built With Care

I recently reread Kim Brooks’ New York Times piece, “We Have Ruined Childhood.” While the piece pointed out all the things in society that make childhood seem like an internship for adulthood, it left me optimistic. Optimistic, because it reminded me why what we do at Saklan matters so much. In a world that’s forgotten what kids really need—connection, curiosity, play—we get to build something different every day. We get to show what childhood should look like.

What stood out most to me in Brooks’ article was her point that kids today have fewer chances to practice the social-emotional skills that make us human—to start friendships, navigate conflict, solve problems, or just be with others without adults steering the moment. Working with Denise Pope from Challenge Success (an organization Saklan has partnered with), Brooks highlights a simple but powerful truth: kids need family time, strong relationships, independence, and agency.

This is where Saklan matters.

We’ve made a conscious choice to prioritize what research tells us children actually need. How to communicate. How to handle disappointment. How to work through disagreement. How to persist when things get hard. We deliberately create time and space for students to develop those vital human skills. These aren’t add-ons to our curriculum. They’re at the heart of what we do.

And here’s what’s remarkable: this approach doesn’t just create happier, healthier kids (though it absolutely does that). It also leads to stronger academics. Counterintuitive? Maybe. But the research bears it out. Time and again, studies show that when children have space to play, to create, to connect with others, and to develop social-emotional skills, their academic performance improves. They become more engaged learners. They develop genuine curiosity. They build resilience.

This doesn’t mean we’re perfect or that we’ve solved every challenge facing modern childhood. But it does mean we’re intentional. We understand that school should be a place where children learn to be fully human—intellectually curious, emotionally resilient, socially connected, and creative. Childhood isn’t a race to adulthood. It’s a foundation to be built with care.

Warmly, 

David

Catching Up with Coach Rob

Rob Hood, or Coach as the students call him, is Saklan’s Head of Sports and Wellness. He can often be seen sharing high-fives with students and staff as he walks through campus towards the sports court. Reflecting on the first few weeks of school, Rob shared his approach to fitness, health and wellness.

At the start of our first unit, Fitness & Health, the 6th–8th graders took charge of creating a vision board that explored what Physical Education means, as well as the key components of fitness, health, and wellness. Together, we brainstormed ideas, with students identifying how different aspects of well-being connect to each component. This collaborative effort allowed us to design a holistic vision of wellness. I later shared this learning with the lower school students.

Following our vision board activity, we approached some of the P.E. components with a week of fitness testing. Students had the option to participate in a few exercises to test strength, muscular and cardiovascular endurance, and flexibility, assess their current fitness state, and set goals for the future. In addition to longer-term goals, I ask students to assess themselves daily to encourage more mindfulness and reflection related to their overall health and well-being. 

In my physical education classes, students are encouraged to be safe and respectful, demonstrate good sportsmanship, and resolve conflicts constructively, as shown in the community agreements below.

In our first few weeks, we’ve started exploring Physical Education as more than just playing games. It’s an approach to improving our health—physically, mentally, emotionally, and socially—while also helping students build essential life skills for healthy and happy lifestyles.