Wellness and Achievement: What is it?

For decades in school environments, the ideas of ‘being well’ and ‘doing well’ have been treated as mutually exclusive. Typically, schools have focussed sharply on academic achievement while the idea of student wellness was often a diminished secondary focus (The Third Path, 2018). Schools found it difficult to to help students ‘do well’ and aid in them ‘feeling well’, at the same time.

 

I’ve previously written that when wellness underpins total school programming, all measures of success and sustainability are elevated. KBS has the existing infrastructure that, when reimagined and seen through an appropriate lens, allows attention to be paid to all aspects of wellness.

 

Great teachers do pass on information, but what great teachers also do is mentor, stimulate, provoke, and engage (Sir Ken Robinson). At KBS, we have great teachers. Our educators recognize the link between wellness and achievement, and throughout the school we have created opportunities for wellness to be tested and exhibited, be it in the classroom or the hallways or even during a game of Four Square during recess.

 

What we can now see is that in a thoughtful educational environment, there is little conflict between wellness and achievement. In Part II of this series, we will outline the work done at KBS that allows for focus on this harmony and we will be able to see the compatibility between the two.

 

Until next time, stay well.

 

 

Head of School

Kempenfelt Bay School