2026 IBSC Annual Conference

Helping the COVID/iPhone Generation Reach Their Full Potential
Following the COVID-19 pandemic, children are using more technology in their daily lives than ever before and teachers around the world are describing changed student behavior and developmental delays. Delve into how this increased technology use has changed student development and behavior and how we can support our students by bringing movement into the classroom.
Presenters: Joanna House and Jarryd Kuiper, St. John's College (South Africa)
Appeal: Middle School (Ages 12-15), Upper/Senior School (Ages 15-19)
Knowledge Level: New to the topic
Room: Life Sciences 1

Rising Together: Multicultural Alumni Partnerships Walking Boys' Schools Forward
Discover how Belmont Hill School’s Multicultural Alumni Partnership (MAP) enriches belonging for current students and strengthens community through alumni engagement, mentoring, and impact-driven programming. Glimpse highlights of MAP’s history, evolution, and key initiatives and get practical frameworks and tools to adapt for your school.
Presenters: Lawrence Lopez-Menzies and Chris Zellner, Belmont Hill School (United States)
Appeal: All Ages
Knowledge Level: New to the topic
Room: Life Sciences 2

Understanding Boys’ Wellness: Insights From Two Sports Seasons
Discover how daily wellness tracking can transform pastoral care and performance in boys’ schools. Draw on 16,000+ data points from two sports seasons to reveal how monitoring sleep, mood, and stress helps boys build self-awareness, agency, and resilience while guiding staff decisions that support balanced development.
Presenter: Gareth Morgan, St. Alban's College (South Africa)
Appeal: Upper/Senior School (Ages 15-19)
Knowledge Level: Intermediate
Room: Life Sciences 3

Building Brotherhood Through Belonging: BBC’s Tartan+ Well-Being Model
Explore how Brisbane Boys’ College strengthens belonging and character through a unified prep–12 house and year-level system, supported by our Tartan+ Well-Being Model. Learn practical strategies for fostering connection, purpose, and brotherhood in boys through structured rituals, positive relationships, and intentional character development.
Presenters: Summa Todd, Amelia Apogremiotis, and Scott Murphy, Brisbane Boys' College (Australia)
Appeal: All Ages
Knowledge Level: New to the topic
Room: Environmental Centre 5

Building Character in Boys: PAC's Data-Driven, Whole-School Well-Being Strategy
Programs. Initiatives. Activities. Busy well-being doesn't mean effective well-being. Prince Alfred College used The Well-Being Compass (Adelaide University and The Wellbeing Distillery) to hear from 750+ students, staff, and parents—replacing scattered well-being efforts with a data-driven strategy that turns school values into observable behaviors in boys.
Presenters: David Roberts, Georgina West, and Jon Gelsthorpe, Prince Alfred College (Australia); David Bott, The Wellbeing Distillery
Appeal: All Ages
Knowledge Level: Intermediate
Room: Environmental Centre 4

A Centenary of Faith: What Does Faith Have to Do With School and Character?
Schools founded in faith traditions can become disconnected from their original aims. Serving communities with diverse worldviews, they still hold values of their founding narratives. The Stories of Faith centenary project included Stage 3 students in eliciting past narratives of faith, wisdom, and hope. This enabled connection to school character virtues and belonging to a wider community.
Presenters: Rosalie Clarke MacLarty and Julie Wiseman, Knox Grammar School (Australia)
Appeal: Lower/Primary School (Ages 5-12)
Knowledge Level: Intermediate
Room: Life Sciences 4

From Competition to Collaboration: A Shared Journey Toward Healthy Masculinity
Hear how two competing boys’ schools built a 6-week program that helped Grade 6 boys move from competition to connection. Through shared experiences, guided dialogue, and reflective practices, boys developed emotional skills, leadership confidence, and healthier understandings of masculinity. Dive into insights and outcomes from two years of collaboration.
Presenters: Desmond Van Wyk, St. Stithians Boys' Preparatory School (South Africa); Duduzile Mashele, St. John's College (South Africa)
Appeal: Middle School (Ages 12-15)
Knowledge Level: Intermediate
Room: Boys’ Preparatory 51

Outdoor Education as a Pathway to Character Development in Boys’ Schools
Outdoor education gives adolescent boys meaningful challenges that support their growth into young men. Delve into how intentional outdoor experiences build resilience, leadership, empathy, and belonging. Learn practical strategies and adaptable frameworks that strengthen character, connection, and mission-aligned learning.
Presenters: Cameron Hillier and Bradd Lodge, St. Mark's School of Texas (United States)
Appeal: Middle School (Ages 12-15)
Knowledge Level: New to the topic
Room: Boys’ Preparatory 47

Building a Research-Invested Culture in a Secondary School Context
Trace the development of Wellington College’s Armour Institute. Learn about building a sustainable research-invested culture, one where teachers engage with research while conducting their own, including how to translate research into professional learning and how to embed strategies that enhance teaching, learning, and leadership in your school and beyond.
Presenter: Aaron Columbus, John McGlashan College (New Zealand)
Appeal: Middle School (Ages 12-15), Upper/Senior School (Ages 15-19)
Knowledge Level: New to the topic
Room: Boys’ Preparatory 48

He Brought What to School? Proactive and Reactive Strategies for Schools
Independent boys' schools sometimes face the rare but high-impact moment when a younger child brings a real, toy, or improvised weapon to school. Join this roundtable to explore prevention strategies and developmentally informed responses for boys and their families, helping schools rise up to meet challenging moments and walk forward with clarity, consistency, and care.
Presenters: Adele Black and Gregory Schnitzlein, The Boys' Latin School of Maryland (United States)
Appeal: Lower/Primary School (Ages 5-12), Middle School (Ages 12-15)
Knowledge Level: Intermediate
Room: Life Sciences 5

Leadershift: Agility for Successful Education Leadership
Leaders, it is time to sharpen the axe and review your current practices! It is time to be utterly ruthless and get to know your authentic self and your why? What is your purpose? Understanding the why behind your actions and decisions is crucial for inspirational leadership. Most people know what they do. Some even know how they do it. But truly great leaders? They start with why.
Presenters: Christopher Luman, Headmasters HelpDesk; Anthony Sparrow, Maritzburg College (South Africa)
Appeal: Upper/Senior School (Ages 15-19)
Knowledge Level: Advanced
Room: Boys’ Preparatory 62

Leading for Engagement: A Framework for Boys’ Learning in Lower School
Discover how leadership can shape the conditions in which younger boys thrive. Share a research-based framework that equips educators and leaders to strengthen engagement through differentiated early learning, relational practices, social-emotional development, and purposeful movement and play.
Presenter: Faith Hunter, The Buckley School (United States)
Appeal: Lower/Primary School (Ages 5-12)
Knowledge Level: Intermediate
Room: Environmental Centre 2

Relational Teaching Continuum: A Framework for Deepening School-Wide Practice
Learn about the Relational Teaching Continuum developed by the IBSC Relational Teaching Special Interest Group (SIG). It charts a school’s progression from isolated efforts to an embedded relational culture. Drawing on examples from member schools, assess your stage, identify leverage points, and consider opportunities for ongoing engagement with the SIG.
Presenters: Jamie MacNeille, St. David's School (United States); Sandy Boyes, Crescent School (Canada)
Appeal: All Ages
Knowledge Level: Intermediate
Room: Environmental Centre 3

What We Know, What We Offer, and How It Can Be Better for Boys
What is the contract we offer boys? Where does it serve and where does it fail? And how can we make it better?
Presenter: Tom Batty, IBSC
Appeal: All Ages
Knowledge Level: New to the topic
Room: Henning Block Lecture Theatre

Our Success at Making Boys Excel in Literacy
Ipswich Grammar entered a quest to improve academic outcomes for boys. Share the journey of the school, the teachers, and the boys, covering the rapid rise of our academic expedition. Discuss the pedagogical approach of explicit teaching and how a sustained, focused approach has led to improved literacy and numeracy results for boys.
Presenter: Tony Dosen, Ipswich Grammar School (Australia)
Appeal: All Ages
Knowledge Level: New to the topic
Room: Boys’ Preparatory 58

A Pedagogy of Struggle for an AI-infused World
How do we preserve the effort required in meaningful learning? Explore practical and research-informed strategies to create conditions for boys to engage in productive struggle while using AI responsibly. Get a conceptual framework along with tools and task-design approaches to motivate, support capacity, and provide opportunities for learning-focused AI use.
Presenters: Lincoln Smith, Colleen Ferguson, and Damion Walker, Upper Canada College (Canada)
Appeal: All Ages
Knowledge Level: Intermediate
Room: Boys’ Preparatory 57

Rise Up and Walk Like Sprites: Creative Shakespeare in the Classroom
Attend this pedagogy-focused workshop to discover proven Creative Shakespeare practices for classroom teachers developed by Fiona Banks for Shakespeare’s Globe. Experience embodied exercises, examine text excerpts from Macbeth, and discuss best practices to help boys engage Shakespeare with body, mind, and spirit.
Presenter: Joseph Bromfield, Montgomery Bell Academy (United States)
Appeal: Middle School (Ages 12-15), Upper/Senior School (Ages 15-19)
Knowledge Level: Intermediate
Room: Boys’ Preparatory 56