Senior Years and Wellbeing 

Wellbeing

Well done to all the students who continue to learning remotely, but more importantly, a huge amount of credit needs to go to our amazing families assisting students from home. To have such large changes to our everyday lives resulting from COVID-19, and to then be helping our young people learn from home is a massive feat. There have been some challenging and very testing moments in my home with my children, trying to ‘add to subtract’, grappling with multiple apps and the challenging aspect of teaching and counselling my College students from home with my own small children in the background. There have been many entertaining moments for my classes I am sure!   

With dates being announced regarding a return to school, this will bring great relief and comfort to some students and parents, whilst for others there will be understandable anxiety and trepidation. Some students have loved being at home and have found remote learning has been a fantastic experience, they are concerned about returning to face to face learning. Some students have enjoyed the closeness to parents and family, and are feeling worried about being apart from this parental security.  Our College wellbeing team is currently considering effective re-engagement strategies that could be implemented upon the return to the classroom. This is to ensure re-engagement for students is carried out in a smooth and sensitive manner.  If you believe your child or teenager may find the return to school problematic or may require some additional support, please feel free to contact Heads of House, Kristen Waldron, Julia Winter-Cooke or myself by email or phone and we can discuss any concerns.  As we are dealing with an unprecedented event in history, we all need to be flexible and realise a ‘one size fits all’ approach will not work for many students. Please communicate concerns with us and we can work in partnership with families to navigate the way forward.      

Finally, an area of discussion with a number of parents from both campuses, has been around gaming. There has been increased access to gaming while students are at home more, and how to best manage this in the family home has left many parents feeling frustrated and quite helpless.  Gaming can have social and cognitive benefits for students, though with 92% of young people playing video games of some sort, finding the right balance can be tricky for parents.  The event below is a free, one hour, virtual event and will give participants strategies to keep gaming balanced and safe in the home. Registrations are preferred,  and I would highly recommend attendance if gaming is problematic for your child or teenager. 

Kate Couchman

School Counsellor