Michele Marquet, Acting Head of School
Dear Cranbrook families,
Despite the wet weather we have experienced over the last few weeks, the students from P-Y12 have been wholeheartedly engaging in their learning and co-curricular activities. As I have walked around our School in the last week or so, whether at St Mark’s Pre-school today, the Junior School or on the Senior School campus, it has been a delight to see the students focusing on their learning both in classroom, or outside in various co-curricular activites, so positively. What a delight it was to celebrate at all campuses this year the significant role mothers play in the lives of their children. We wish all mothers a very happy Mother’s Day this Sunday.
Over the last year, we have been undertaking a survey of our culture. This is an important ongoing project for our School. We started in Term 4 last year with asking our students in Year 5 – Year 11 to share their experiences of our school culture and their sense of belonging. Most students reported they find the culture at our School positive. Some of the most common terms used by students to describe the culture include kind, inclusive, supportive, community, respectful, friendly and caring. This was encouraging news! But we also wanted to drill down into why some of our students might not always have that experience and asked questions around what the circumstances were when they did not feel such a strong sense of belonging or when others may have been unkind and why. As we look to place continued focus on ensuring results in the area of cultural experience are consistently high, we will be using that information to help us strengthen our Student Wellbeing Programmes across the entire school and also improve the way we, as a school, respond to issues, particularly those between students. Using this data to inform our next steps is an important component in our approach to strengthen our wellbeing offering at Cranbrook.
To that end, under the leadership of Angelique Sanders, Director of Student Wellbeing, strongly supported by a focus steering group with staff from across the school, we have undertaken a yearlong student wellbeing project with the AIS (Association of Independent Schools) with all staff K-Y12. Research strongly indicates that emotional regulation skills, social skills and self-motivational capacity were stronger predictors of academic achievement than cognitive skills.
Grounded firmly in research, the AIS Wellbeing Project works collaboratively with a variety of independent schools through professional learning and consultancy support to select evidence-based strategies and implement a whole school vision and approach to wellbeing. Key outcomes for our school include:
• Establish new, or strengthen existing, whole-school processes and practices for monitoring and developing student mental health and wellbeing unique to our community;
• Prioritise professional learning focused on developing staff knowledge, understanding and capacity to support student mental health and wellbeing;
• Increase understanding of evidence-based, age-appropriate approaches, interventions and practices;
• Establish networks and supportive relationships with wellbeing specialists beyond our school.
Whilst the initiative focuses on supporting student wellbeing, it is recognised that this is closely interconnected with positive relationships across the school staff, so this element will also be a key focus for us as we complete the project.
We have already undertaken the whole staff survey about wellbeing, attended some professional learning with our AIS Consultant, Laura Brennan, and started to review our policies, practices and programmes thoroughly. We are excited by the opportunities that this project presents to us to firmly embed programmes and practices that will best support our students and staff in the area of wellbeing.
As the year continues, we look forward to updating you on initiatives that flow from this project and the many other avenues we are currently pursuing as we seek to better understand our culture and how to strengthen it for the benefit of all our community.
Kind wishes
Michele Marquet
Acting Head of School