Michele Marquet, Acting Head of School
Dear Parents and Carers
At Cranbrook, a thriving and connected community is one of the cornerstones of our School.
This desire to support and connect has been evident across our School throughout the year, amongst both our students and our families. Last Friday evening, several hundred Junior School parents gathered together for the CSPA’s Drinks on the Driveway. It was a wonderful opportunity for parents to connect with one another and build those important relationships as their children move through their early years of schooling. This year, we have had record numbers of families attend a plethora of events across all campuses, including the CETOP Family Fun Day in Term 1, CSPA Mother’s and Father’s Day events across all campuses, the opening events for our sport seasons, attendance for our school Musical, as well as gatherings on the sidelines for sport fixtures each Saturday. We see our families volunteer to help at the second-hand uniform shop; assist with events such as Grandparents’ Day and the Junior School Christmas Lunch, to name a few. Our students attend in large numbers, events where their peers are performing in a play or concert, playing sport, debating or public speaking.
We know that connection is a vital aspect of Cranbrook’s approach that we need to continue to foster and strengthen. Hugh Mackay, an Australian social psychologist of note, comments in his recent book, ‘The Way We Are’,
Because we are born to co-operate, we are also born with the equipment we need to achieve social harmony — the capacity for kindness, compassion, tolerance and empathy. That cluster of traits, when nurtured, brings out the very best in us and, we now know, has actually contributed to the survival of the species….it is our deepest vulnerabilities —being dependent on others, feeling compassion and experiencing empathy — that could have given us the edge.
Mackay notes that humans are in danger of losing that ‘winning’ factor with our erosion of the foundations of that connectedness, seen by many in the breakdown of community. Less of us are members of churches, sporting clubs and community and volunteer groups than in previous generations. In an era where connectiveness and access to information have been the selling point for social media, the reverse is true. One of the current consequences of such societal disconnection is rising anxiety and loneliness. Mackay’s hope is that humans will turn to one another and actively rebuild community, because it is one of the keys to our happiness, satisfaction and purpose in life.
We know from research too that genuine connection is one of the best preventative tools, fostering robust mental wellbeing, while we grow up and then when we are adults. The more our students are involved in a wide range of the co-curricular on offer, the more connected they become, often meeting students with similar interests from different year levels and building a genuine sense of belonging. Working to help every student to engage more and connect is one of the foundations of our wellbeing programme.
Developing the skills to initiate and sustain meaningful relationships has become more challenging in the post-Covid world where young people may mistake social media interaction as real, deep friendship. Knowing how to resolve conflict within friendships has never been easy, but it takes on a more challenging edge when students can send an unkind message and not have to watch the impact of their words on how the recipient feels when it is delivered. Already a major focus of our Wellbeing Programmes for our P – Year 6 class teachers and our Senior School Heads of House, we are looking for further avenues to strengthen the inter-connection of our students across all year levels and to consider new ways to develop their skillset in how to resolve conflict with peers.
Your support in these endeavours is, as ever, greatly appreciated.
Student Mobile Phone Usage Survey for Parents
As mentioned last week, our School is reviewing the current implementation of the mobile phone policy for students in Senior School. We are seeking feedback from staff, students and families. To assist us to better understand parental perspectives, if you have not done so already, please click on this link to complete a survey for parents of students currently in Year 6 – Year 11. Thank you so much for your feedback.
Best wishes for the week ahead
Michele Marquet
Acting Head of School
