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Everyone at VIS prioritises student well-being at all times. Teachers strive to challenge their students intellectually, but also keep an eye out for each student’s mental, social and emotional state, and bring these to the attention of the pastoral team if there are concerns. We have a strong pastoral team whose focus is on attending to such concerns. Our Student Support Services team, headed by our Inclusion Coordinator Corinne Borg, works to understand student needs and attend to them. One of the most important relationships for each student should be their homeroom teacher, who takes on a form of parental responsibility for students. And in High School, we also have our Programme Coordinators, Ms Parker-Jackson and Mr Diaz, who keep an eye on student performance and when there are concerns, seek to understand what is leading to under-performance and how the team can support each student in meeting their needs to get them back on track.
I know we are doing these things well because of the feedback I hear from students and parents, particularly those who have recently joined the school. When I hear that the dynamic at home has changed and where once there was a reluctant student we now have a motivated young man or woman who is keen to get into school every day, or when I hear school described as ‘homely’ and ‘warm’, I know we are on the right track. When I ask new students whether they are making friends and their responses are full of positive emotions, I can tell that their psychological needs are being met. When I chat to a group and they talk about their projects and the work they are doing for CAS or community service activities, I can hear that their self-esteem is being boosted in a real and meaningful manner. And when I watch students engaging in their academic activities, or I listen to them argue or debate a concept or idea, I can see that their most basic needs are clearly being met, leaving them ready to engage with the challenges we offer which will help them achieve their full potential.
In the high pressure environment of High School, there is always the risk that we become overly focused on grades and examination results. These are important; they are a measure of the success of our students. They are often the metric by which parents and others judge the quality of the school, and strong academic results open doors to greater opportunity at university and beyond. But if we focus our attention too much on these measures of success, we can lose sight of the other multitude of factors which lead to success and the range of needs that must be met.
Our IGCSE and DP results this past summer were the highest we have achieved in many years, if not ever, and I believe this is a reflection of our emphasis on student well-being and how this is essential for student success. I believe we are indeed creating “a unique environment where each student can grow and discover their true potential”.
(‘Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs | Simply Psychology’, n.d.)