WELLBEING
To understand where there might be room for potential
development, I sought to audit current activity and
discover how individual departments addressed notions
of student wellbeing. I attended department meetings
to ask:
• T
o what extent do teaching and learning practices
adopted by the department attend to notions of
student wellbeing?
• W
hich department activities are focused on student
participation and enjoyment?
Key findings
These interesting department discussions allowed
staff to deliberate the merits of different practices and
their different ideas on teaching styles. At Sevenoaks,
departments are allowed a large measure of autonomy
and so strategies varied across departments. Below
are some of the strategies used in more than one
curriculum area (see Figure1).
Regarding what departments offered outside of
timetabled lessons, e.g. activities that extended the
curriculum, encouraged subject interest and enjoyment,
but that were not revision classes or designed to raise
attainment, findings are shown overleaf (see Figure 2).
These type of activities, often combining both the
intellectual faculties with practical activity, but without
the stress of assessment, have been widely extolled as
beneficial to wellbeing.
It was really encouraging to see that every department
provides a range of stimulating and enriching activities
that support and extend the curriculum and allow
students to develop a real affinity with the subject –
even if they do not actually study that subject. There
are also activities that are not directly linked to any
particular department but that cater for the emotional
and spiritual needs of our students – Prayers and Praise
and Daily Meditation to name only two.
The feedback from staff was overwhelmingly positive.
They respond to the needs and desires of our students
who are (for the most part) interested in learning and
experiencing for its own intrinsic value. Staff did not
mind if they were asked to help ring birds in Knole Park
at dawn or to organise Skype calls to the Zoological
Society as they were facilitating activities that bring
satisfaction and therefore a feeling of wellbeing to our
students. What was also interesting was the beneficial
effect of these activities for staff wellbeing. If staff are
able to offer an activity that personally interests them or
corresponds with their particular skills set, then running
and participating in that activity can have a beneficial
effect on their own wellbeing.
The need for a cohesive approach to wellbeing and to
the timetabling of wellbeing enhancing activities was
highlighted by this feedback. We can place students
in awkward positions where they are forced to choose
between activities that they feel compelled to attend
Depts build self esteem
through differentiated
work and setting
No class averages
No rank orders
Figure 1.
Work returned with
constructive feedback
but no grades
Collaborative
work
Create good
classroom
environment
Topic
feedback
sheets
Warn pupils about
sensitive topics
coming up
Peer
mentoring
Balanced approach to
learning – the essential
and the fun
Some depts
would prefer
no setting
Discussion
based work
Wellbeing
Good
Classroom
Practice
Warn students
about tests
Know the
Individual
Education
Plans
Focus on
teamwork and
communication
No hands up!
Big support
network
Focus on
the process
Reduce test anxiety
by stressing tests are
accessing what they
know, not highlighting
what they do not
Differentiation by
task and outcome
Student
self-diagnostic
sheets
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