Deputy Principal - Student Development and Wellbeing
2020 - A Year to Remember
The role of Deputy Principal for Student Development and Wellbeing involves providing opportunities for our young people to develop wellbeing within the psychological, physical, mental, spiritual, social, and cognitive domains. The role is an invitation to ensure that our young people can gradually increase the deposits into their wellbeing accounts.
At the commencement of 2020, goals were established and aspirations were high. As the year progressed, however, it became clear that even a well chartered course was going to require some critical adjustments to stay true to the course.
For a Year 7 cohort so eagerly awaiting their first year in secondary school, first term began with the transitional activities designed to encourage new friendships and relationships within the community. A well proven resilience program that included outdoor education, reflection days, and an afternoon with their Year 11 mentors, set the scene for helping our younger students begin their culturation within the Mount Alvernia College way of being. Year 12 students were able to enjoy their Senior Formal, settle down in anticipation of achieving a Queensland Certificate of Education, and prepare for another first by experiencing External Examinations, if choosing this pathway to pursue tertiary education.
When the first week of term produced parental concerns regarding people known to them returning from COVID-19 hot spots, there was a heightened level of anxiety. By the end of February, it became clear that the ship was being steered by more than one set of parameters and became reliant on outside factors beyond the control of the College. Sailing unchartered waters meant digging into the depths of both resilience and experience to steer the ship with its many passengers to a safe harbour.
On the journey, many opportunities for regular wellbeing development were sent overboard. Sporting opportunities, the college musical, cross campus experiences, service learning, school dances, and many more found their positions in the depths of the ocean. Face-to-face classroom and Home Room connections were given a jolt, and the norms of necessary relationship building to help drive academic success took a dive. While our young people were able to utilise the technology lifeline, it became a major challenge ensuring a continuation of what is considered the norm of the Mount Alvernia College culture – strong connections to both people and place.
We have lived in uncertain times and continue to do so. The manner in which our young people have worked through these uncertainties has been phenomenal, but it has not been without its losses. Replacing these losses has taken careful planning and consideration. For the most part it has been the students who have risen to the challenge and provided different opportunities to steer the ship on its desired course. While they may feel that they have missed out on something this year, they are of a generation which has developed a resilience that its members are yet to truly discover.
While we may wish our young people (and ourselves) to have a journey that sets sail on a steady course to its many destinations, this is an unreal expectation. Our young people become who they are through their experiences. The good, the bad, and the in-between are all opportunities to learn something, and help us to negotiate and deal with life’s journey. Your children have sailed the 2020 course and will inevitably take something from it that will not only be a story for the future but a life-boat on which to sail into the unknown.
Annette Butterworth
