#235 Wellbeing II
Over the last few months, wellbeing has been uppermost in my mind.
This is, in part, due to:
My job (Primary School Vice Principal of Student Wellbeing) and the day to day reality of working with students and families and especially so in a highly transient school and post-Covid world
My current focus (along with my counterparts in the middle and high school) and per the strategic plan to look at and refine our school wide definition of wellbeing
My readings (I highly recommended Hargreaves and Shirley’s Well-Being in Schools: Three Forces That Will Uplift Your Students in a Volatile World)
As shared in last year’s wellbeing post (February 3, 2022), I am - when thinking about wellbeing* and all its constituent components - reminded of this quote by Sir Ken Robinson, “The gardener does not make a plant grow. The job of a gardener is to create optimal conditions.”
It should be noted that when I wrote last year’s post, I was interviewing and yet to accept my current post. My thoughts drew on my experience from other schools as well as projecting as to how I envisioned my rôle this academic year.
Since being in post, my understanding of wellbeing has evolved.
I continue to believe that wellbeing is central to all within our diverse learning communities and embraces both general and bespoke practices to best serve individual needs as well as student cohorts (be that at the grade level, division or school wide level), faculty, support staff and parents. When looking at and reflecting upon how best to serve individuals, it seems very apparent to me that trust and relationships are key foundational elements. Over the last few months it has - as part of our school wide strategic plan to look at and refine our school wide definition of wellbeing - been fascinating to hear the various perspectives, understandings and expectations relating to wellbeing. For some individuals, the focus is very much on the physical and emotional (what one may consider a more traditional interpretation of wellbeing); for others the focus embraces various elements such as cultural identity and the realities of transient lives for so many of our TCK students and educators. For me,
best practices (such as those listed below) are embedded across the school day and beyond and are collaborative in nature.
best practice evolves in response to circumstances, be them typical, every day ones or more specific circumstances (such as the Covid-19 pandemic) and to the individuals whom we serve.
best practices - whereby we draw on experiences, research, etc., so as to best support and serve those in our care - allows us (to paraphrase Ken Robinson’s quote) be the gardener creating optimal conditions.
* Including, but not limited to,
practices supporting the transition of new families (students and parents alike), hosting coffee mornings for new families, supporting new faculty as they join the school community, providing safe spaces for all members of the school community;
goal setting, expressing gratitude, journaling;
providing health checks (ie. vision, hearing) regularly and other health checks (ie. lice, Hand Foot and Mouth, Chicken Pox) in response to local outbreaks, hosting flu shot in the health office;
sharing about the importance of eating well, sleeping well, regular exercise, unplugging/digital detoxes and quiet time/meditative practices; structuring learning to best support students be it through accommodations, modifications, EAL, Learning Support, working with external agencies and specialists;
supporting 1:1 counselling, small group Peace Tables, guidance classes, Counselling Corner meetings for parents and carers, supporting the transition from elementary to middle school, middle to high school and preparing for the transition to post school options;
organizing school ambassadors and buddies;
hosting wellbeing initiatives be it yoga sessions, organizing school wide involvement in events such as The Terry Fox Run as well as celebrations marking graduation, the transition from one division to another, the end of the school year and - with regard to the leaving of students, families and faculty - keeping in mind the notion of building a R.A.F.T (additional information thereof can be found at the International School of Düsseldorf’s page, Transitions and Third Culture Kids).
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