MCM hosts Wellbeing in Schools Conference 2023
Marlborough College Malaysia is proud to have hosted a Wellbeing in School Conference in partnership with Komodo and COBIS. The conference, hosted on our leafy 90 acre site, featured over 100 delegates and speakers from 40 schools in 11 countries from 4 continents. In addition to our own team, experts in pastoral care from leading schools and organisations from throughout Asia and beyond presented on key topics centred around the core theme of Wellbeing.
Wellbeing continues to be at the heart of education at MCM, and we are proud to facilitate better professional development around this topic for other schools. As one of only five COBIS Beacon Schools in the region and winners of a Boarding Schools Association Innovation Award for our Wellbeing practices, Marlborough College Malaysia is a beacon of Wellbeing strategy and development, eager to share its experience and collaborate with others.
The conference began with a welcome speech from the Master, before diving straight into discussions on psychological safety, flourishing and connection development. Speakers from MCM, Kolej Tuanku Ja’afar, Tanglin Trust Singapore, Kellett School Hong Kong and Komodo took to the stage on the first day, hosting panel discussions, round tables and giving informative seminars on several aspects of wellbeing.
On this first day, we also welcomed Professor Mushtak Al-Atabi, CEO and Provost of Heriot-Watt University, Malaysia. Presenting a lecture on ‘Flourishing in the age of AI’, Professor Mushtak featured as keynote speaker for the conference, and the ninth speaker in our 10th Anniversary Lecture Series. As the lecture concluded, delegates, speakers and guests made their way to the Master’s Lodge for an evening of conversation, reflection and networking under the setting Malaysian sun.
Day two brought fresh excitement from attendees as the morning began with a short tour of our award winning Barton Farm and water sports lake, facilities we have on-site that help with aspects of pupil and staff Wellbeing. After viewing these wonderful areas of our campus, the conference began with a talk from our sister school in Wiltshire, Marlborough College UK, followed by Jerudong International School, Rugby School in Thailand and, to finish the conference, an excellent final talk by our own pastoral team.
This conference has brought together pastoral and educational communities from across the globe to further develop international ideas on Wellbeing from a range of perspectives. We would like to thank all the speakers for their thought-provoking presentations, our keynote speaker, Professor Mushtak Al-Atabi, for his fantastic lecture and our partners, COBIS and Komodo, for helping to coordinate such a brilliant conference.
