Student Wellbeing

Embracing the New School Year: Finding Stillness in the Busyness

Hello and welcome to the school year! 

As we embrace a fresh beginning there may be many changes. There is adjusting to a different year level or maybe starting school for the first time, perhaps your child has a new teacher, and we are all re-embracing the structure of school routine. Be gentle on yourself. Be gentle on your family!

After many weeks of, hopefully, a more relaxed pace, we are back into earlier starts to the day, school lunches to pack and uniforms to wash. School books clutter the table, and where is that library bag? It may take us a while to readjust back into routine, and that includes both adults and students!

As the year gains momentum and the diary rapidly fills up with appointments, showing assignment due dates, camps, afterschool sports, family gatherings, work commitments and the like, I encourage you to take a moment to stop and breathe. The tasks will still be there in a moment, but in the right here and right now, how can you be present? 

The psalmist teaches us to ‘be still and know that I am God’ (Psalm 46:10 NIV).

Our family is blessed to have Gigi, the school wellbeing dog who lives with us. I can tell you that she will not rush if she doesn’t want to! Taking the time to sniff and explore, chew on sticks and pieces of bark, stare intently at butterflies or roll in the grass – Gigi is teaching me not to rush, but to be still, to be present in the moment.

May you know the blessings of God upon you at the start of this new school year, both now and throughout, and may you find space for that activity, that moment that allows you to be present in the right now, and with our loving God.

Grace & Peace.

Adam Wood

Director of Faith Formation & Wellbeing