In this article for Study Travel Magazine we review the ways boarding schools are securing the wellbeing of pupils and staff during the Covid-19 crisis.
We see that the schools that are really going ‘above and beyond’ are those that already have pastoral care at the very heart of their organisations.
We also show that those schools that recognise supporting staff and parents is the only way to really ensure pupil wellbeing are really shining at this very difficult time…
The link to the full article is here:
https://studytravel.network/magazine/news/2/27898
Further snippet:
A recent report highlighted that Chinese teenagers have shown increased levels of anxiety and depression during the Covid-19 crisis.
Certainly the UK Boarding school sector has stepped up to highlight best practice and the Boarding Schools’ Association (BSA) has run several online sessions on mental health issues this term, with the next being on January 28th entitled Mental health and resilience self-assessment.
So, we asked boarding school leaders how they have specifically addressed this issue during the pandemic.
From the responses received, it is clear that having pastoral care already at the very heart of school life has been critical to enable services to be scaled up rather than created, at a time when schools are already operating under immense pressure.
Felsted School’s Headmaster, Chris Townsend, particularly highlights the crucial, expanded role of the school’s Wellbeing Centre, which has continued running onsite and virtually to the whole community, including students, staff and parents, during the pandemic.
Meanwhile, Slindon College’s headmaster highlights the value of having a mental health ‘lead’ at the school. Having this role already established has meant the school has been able to ‘step up’ existing, varied provision to meet the needs of its pupils rather than trying to introduce new initiatives at a very stressful time.
More recent published articles on Mental Health and Pastoral care by UK Education Guide, Director Pat Moores can be found here-