Wellbeing

Mr Ashton, Deputy Head (Pastoral) & Designated Safeguarding Lead, and Mr Todres, Head of Creative Arts Faculty & Mental Health Lead, discuss the importance of Wellbeing within the School community.

Consider the experience of being a child in the 21st century: tentatively exploring ‘who I am’ through the glaring lens of relentless social media feeds, with the emotional burdens of ‘always on' connectivity, commentary and unprecedented self-comparison. Add to this the worries of climate change, perpetual political upheaval and the arrival of a game-changing global pandemic. It appears that young people have perhaps never experienced such internal and external pressures and existential worries about the future. Such psychological pressures are compounded by the rapid pace of technological change, whereby more than half of children entering primary school today will ultimately end up working in completely new jobs that don’t yet exist. How can our young people be better prepared to cope in such a world?

Here at Wells, we believe that wellbeing, mental health and safeguarding are the absolute foundations of pupil experience and the bedrock necessary to thrive in all other aspects of their school lives and beyond. In light of the pandemic and other factors, we have recently reviewed our policies, programmes and provison. We have developed a comprehensive approach that considers the five main themes of wellbeing critical within excellent pastoral care: physical, emotional, social, spiritual, and intellectual.

We have always taken great pride in the quality of our pastoral provision because it is fundamental to everything that we do at Wells. Our focus on wellbeing in the academic year 2022/2023 will give us the platform to focus on specific areas of pupil experience to further equip our young people with the tools they need to manage their school years. We want them to go on to be versatile, confident and outward looking people so that they will affect positive change in whatever walk of life they choose to join. Most importantly, we wish to foster, model and explicitly teach what the late educationalist Ken Robinson considered the most urgent capacities in education: empathy. Originating from the German philosophical term Einfühlung ('feeling into') and the Greek root pathos, which translates as emotion, suffering and pity; it is now understood to mean the ability to move beyond ourselves in order to meaningfully understand the feelings and experiences of others. This facility to empathise holds profound value in developing a citizen of the 21st century and arguably enables the skills of collaboration, people management and negotiation necessary to be a success in modern life.

Ethos and Environment

We place increasing emphasis on our School tutoring system. Pupils meet with their Tutors or Form Teachers every weekday morning and follow a programme which is designed to support pupil wellbeing through discussion and coverage of key themes including relationships, healthy living and gratitude, to name a few. The Junior School has introduced ‘reflection time’ at the end of each school day and within the Senior School there has been a specific ‘Wellbeing Wednesday’ focus point this academic year which aims to reinforce pupil wellbeing through wider self-awareness. The start and end of every Term is devoted to a ‘Wellbeing Tracker’ so that pupils can reflect on their learning, behaviours and happiness levels. We are also in the process of applying for a Wellbeing Award with Optimus Education (in partnership with the National Children’s Bureau). This award focuses on changing attitudes and developing positive cultures, ensuring that mental health and wellbeing sit at the heart of school life.

Pupil Voice

We are aware of our responsibility as a School to encourage pupils to speak to us and to each other, to share experiences and find ways to raise concerns. This academic year we introduced a Senior School Pupil Council with representatives across every year group. The Council meets on a termly basis to discuss whole School matters and make suggestions about how areas can be improved. This is all coordinated by Upper Sixth Prefects and specific Wellbeing Captains. The Junior School Council continues to play a key role in decisions concerning matters as broad as charitable events, after school clubs and an improved diversity in the representation of our House system. On the subject of our pupil leaders, the Upper Sixth Welfare Captains join our termly Wellbeing Forums and help us arrive at initiatives to move us forward as a School. It was a group of pupils who initiated the concept of a ‘Haven’: a project that represents a safe space in which our children can retreat to in moments of stress and anxiety. It will be a meaningful, safe and kind option for pupils throughout the School to use in order to help them prioritise their mental health and wellbeing.

Taking a step back to look holistically at how to support wellbeing in the School, we invested in a ‘Wellbeing Hub’ this year. This is a wide-based resource provided by ‘Teen Tips’ for all pupils, staff and parents to access support, advice and guidance. For our younger pupils, Dr Maryhan Baker will be visiting the School to work with our children, staff and parents on how to reduce anxiety and build confidence and resilience. Our ongoing Parental Engagement Programme features external speakers such as Alicia Drummond and Dr Suzanne Davies who cover areas including the teenage brain and healthy use of mobile devices. Good education is key and we are grateful for the support of the outside agency, ‘It Happens’, for leading discussion and information sessions with our pupils directly on subjects including sex and relationships and substance abuse. We also hold ‘Big Conversation’ sessions each year, a popular event allowing our pupils to increase their understanding and awareness around areas of equality, prejudice and discrimination.

We know from statistics that numbers of young people experiencing mental health issues have risen and not least as a result of the Covid pandemic. The quality of our pastoral care lies at the heart of revealing this and we do all we can to ensure that pupils have a range of trusted adults they can turn to as reflected in our ‘Where Do I Turn To?’ and ‘Safeguarding Team’ posters. These posters are well-signposted in pupil-friendly language around the School campus and in our day

and boarding Houses. Pupils suffering from a range of mental issues have a highly trained and supportive team of professionals to support them. We have two counsellors available to meet with pupils and a Mental Health Practitioner to manage more serious cases. Our commitment to supporting our pupils is also reflected in the training of staff as ‘Mental Health Champions’ via the MHFA, YouthMHFA, work with local mental health charity Headspace and also the newly appointed position of Mental Health Lead for the School from 2022.

We have adopted a zero tolerance approach to any behaviour that can hurt, upset or offend and we actively promote the importance of kindness. An electronic and confidential reporting system has been set up this year as another option for pupils to report any concerns they have. A range of pupil friendly posters have recently been distributed around the site to reinforce our message of mutual respect and the importance we place on healthy relationships and kind treatment of each other.

Finally, we want to ensure that we are listening and aware. Good quality qualitative pupil and parent questionnaires, circulated this year, will help us to determine other ways to promote positive mental health and continue to build our Wellbeing Programme. We believe that happy pupils are successful pupils and this is why our emphasis is on valued, supported, balanced and healthy children and young people. We are never complacent and we strive to put wellbeing at the heart of everything we do. This is one of the reasons why we have made wellbeing our central fundraising focus this year, and for which we are seeking support in our Annual Fund request.

Due to the ever-evolving educational, social and cultural landscape, the job of developing outstanding pastoral provision to meet the complex needs of our pupils will never be completed. And nor should it. We, like the pupils themselves, must remain agile and responsive. We must shift our understanding that wellbeing at Wells is not just one part of pupil experience but rather, the holistic experience of ‘being’ at Wells. With this intention, we hope that the above gives an indication of our ambitions to meaningfully equip our pupils with the necessary foundations to thrive. Our young people deserve nothing less.