#214

When thinking about wellbeing* and all its constituent components, I am 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.”

I 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.

In thinking about supporting and caring for our communities at large, I am reminded of penguins. As evident in this extract from Nature on PBS, Emperor Penguins Huddle for Warmth, the system in place benefits all: With the smallest of steps, those penguins on the inside (where it is the warmest) move towards the outside and those on the outside move towards the centre. By ensuring no penguin is permanently left in the cold, their immediate wellbeing needs are prioritized for the benefit of the individual penguin and the group at large.

Going beyond the usual descriptors and metrics of curriculum, exam results, and university courses, wellbeing is an umbrella under which social-emotional as well as physical and cognitive health etc.,. thrive. Best practices (such as those listed below) are embedded across the school day and beyond and are collaborative in nature. The notion of best practice evolves in response to specific circumstances. This has been most evident over the last two years as the Covid-19 pandemic impacted so many people in multiple ways and as a result the importance of wellbeing was highlighted.

I appreciate that each month Action For Happiness shares a wellbeing themed calendar (this month’s is Friendly February and previous months include Do Good December, New Ways November, Optimistic October, Self-care September and Altruistic August). Each month’s calendar has great ideas for ways to be optimistic and Happier, Kinder and Together (and can be easily incorporated into a school community) and is available in more than thirty languages including Arabic, Euskera, Kyrgyz, Mongolian, and Ukrainian.

Simon Sinek's quote, "Leadership is not about being in charge. Leadership is about taking care of those in your charge", has been one of my favourite quotes for many months. It succinctly reminds us that leadership is so much more than being at the top of a hierarchy and being served, but rather our rôle in serving those within (and beyond) our immediate community.

Drawing on Sir Ken’s quote at the beginning, this leads me to ask how will you not simply make the plants grow, but create the optimal conditions so that the plants may - despite or in spite of the circumstances - thrive?

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* 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).