Our Story
Positive Schools Founders
Dr Helen Street
Positive Schools Founder
Neil Porter
Positive Schools Founder
Positive Schools Ambassadors
Sir Anthony Seldon
Founder, Action for Happiness. Educator and advocate for positive education and wellbeing in schools
Professor Richard Ryan
World-leading social psychologist and co-founder of Self-Determination Theory, supporting motivation and wellbeing
Professor Donna Cross
Head of health promotion and education research at the Telethon Kids Institute
Professor Toni Noble
Internationally acclaimed authority on resilience and founder of 'BounceBack' resiliency program for schools
Dr Michael Carr - Gregg
Child and adolescent psychologist, author and advocate for improving the mental health of young people
Pasi Sahlberg
Renowned Finnish Educator, Professor of Education Policy and Deputy Director of the Gonski Institute, University of New South Wales
Dr Sue Roffey
Psychologist, educator and author.
Director of Growing Great
Schools Worldwide
Dr. Arne Rubinstein
Globally recognised expert on Rites of Passage
Susan Mclean
Australia's foremost expert in the area of cyber safety and young people.
The Positive Schools Initiative
The Positive Schools Initiative (PSI) was established in 2008 to support the ongoing development and maintenance of thriving school communities around the world. We define thriving school communities as school communities which support the academic, social and emotional learning of ALL members in an equitable, meaningful and sustainable way. We work to achieve this aim from a firm foundation of three core values: kindness, equity and courage.
Conferences & Consultancy
The PSI has operated on a global scale through the delivery of workshops, presentations and ongoing consultancy with schools and colleges since it’s conception. Dr Helen Street has worked with school communities in eleven countries, in addition to hosting open events and writing books and articles in support of both staff and student wellbeing.
The Positive Schools conferences were launched in Western Australia in 2009 to close the gap between academic and clinical expertise and education. The immediate popularity and positive reception of the first two events resulted in their expansion to Queensland in 2011, Victoria in 2012 and New South Wales in 2014. The events have also taken place in both Singapore, from 2015, and Hong Kong, from 2017. Over the past twelve years the conferences have grown in stature and in reputation, and have become widely known as highly respected, highly valuable and greatly loved events.
Writing and Creating
The Positive Times online magazine began in 2012 as a means of offering freely available articles and news items from across the Positive Schools community. The magazine has become a popular adjunct to the conferences and associated work of the PSI with several hundred thousand visitors every year.
Helen launched her framework of Contextual Wellbeing in 2016. The model highlights the need for us all to reimagine school-based education in more equitable terms, with a greater emphasis on supporting autonomy and agency, cohesion and ongoing learning in all young people. The ideas presented in the Contextual Wellbeing framework reflect many of the messages of the conferences today; and have been embraced widely by individual educators and whole school communities around the world.
Positive Schools Online
Positive Schools Online launched in the midst of the 2020 pandemic. This flexible and innovative platform offers a worldwide opportunity to access engaging and inspiring; grounded and realistic, evidence-based presentations from over 100 leading experts in school based wellbeing and motivation. Positive Schools Online is continually updated with new ideas, up-to-date research and inspiring stories; all grounded within the values and aims of the Positive Schools Initiative.
We offer challenge, consideration and community for all those involved in supporting young people. Together, we can create an equitable future filled with positive school communities. Communities which guide every child to become the best they can be, and to leave school with a passion for learning, compassion and care for others, a sense of purpose, and a love of life.
