the wellington college year book 2010/2011
48
the wellington college year book 2010/2011
49
Pilgrimage to Sinai:
the Chaplain and his ?ock
spiritual & moral
W
hen you read the word ‘wellbeing’, a number of things
may come to mind. The
aisle in Sainsbury’s with the
herbal tea and the organic
stock cubes; the promise of gym membership
and bottled water in the workplace, perhaps
yoga and pilates. Well-being has become a
buzzw ord, but one that often goes unchecked.
We have been teaching lessons in wellbeing at Wellington since 2006 and before
you imagine classrooms full of massage tables
it’s important to clarify what we mean. The
Government Office for Science defines
well-being as: ‘a dynamic state, in which the
individual is able to develop their potential,
work productively and creatively, build
strong and positive relationships with others,
and contribute to their community.’ The
overriding sense, where the term well-being
is used properly, is of flourishing, of thriving
and of capitalising on our human resources.
This is a significant departure from the
traditional approach to ‘pshe’, which tends
to address all of the disasters that might
befall teenagers (smoking, depression, drug
addiction, risky sexual behaviour) but which
statistically affect a minority and which misses
a golden opportunity to teach young people
how to bring about their own flourishing. The
exciting academic development underpinning
this whole movement, is the burgeoning
research into the science of human flourishing.
For the last ten to fifteen years, a growing
number of researchers have been studying
the ingredients of human flourishing from the
effects of gratitude to techniques for bouncing
back from adversity. This is not self help, but
real scientific research which is yielding real
results. It can also be turned into a set of
skills that can be taught and this is exactly
what we are trying to achieve at Wellington.
So, does it work ? We have surveyed
our students and the answer seems to be a
resounding ‘yes’. 88% of students highly enjoy
well-being lessons, 85% think the lessons have
meaningful content and are worthwhile and,
the most pleasing statistic, 66% find that the
lessons help them to change their behaviour
for the better. It is not enough just to inform
the students of interesting ideas; those ideas
need to translate into changes in behaviour.
The well-being course has now been
extended from two year groups to all five,
and is taught, in some way, shape or form,
by the majority of Common Room. We run
well-being taster lessons for parents and
well-being days for colleagues. Wellington
is invited to provide training in well-being to
schools in the uk and abroad and speakers
from Wellington are often invited to share
our experiences at conferences around the
world. What is most exciting about this, is
the feeling that Wellington is at the heart
of a re-shifting in the core values that drive
education from measurable outcomes and
exam results to a real sense of leading young
people out into adult life.
Of course well-being lessons are all
very well, but they need to be supported
by a whole-school ethos of well-being. In
September 2010, we launched a process
called ‘positive school ’, which aims to put wellbeing right at the heart of everything the
College does. Look again at the definition of
well-being above. As a mission statement for
any organisation, would you need to add or
remove much ? In that sense, the promotion
of well-being, of flourishing, of capitalising on
our human resources lies right at the very