If you have not yet had the opportunity to do so, I would highly recommend reading Carol Dweck’s Mindset: The New Psychology of Success, first published in 2006. I like its subtitle even more: How We Can Learn to Fulfill Our Potential. Reading it transformed my life - personally, professionally and as a parent.
The term ‘growth mindset’ was one coined by Dweck to describe an outlook on learning, one where ‘failure’ is acceptable, even encouraged, as part of the learning process. If we are not making mistakes, then we are not testing and discovering our limits. And so, rather than viewing a ‘failure’ as a sign that we cannot do something and consequently giving up, the idea is to reframe the setback as ‘not yet’ and as a challenge to be solved through effort and engagement. My belief is that education is all about supporting students in realising their unique, unknown and unknowable potential and that it is our job to build the ecosystem that will allow this to happen. The question then becomes - how do we as a school provide an environment where students feel safe to fail, to challenge themselves to be better and to stretch their limits - to become the best people they can be - equipped to thrive amidst complexity and serve the planet which we share?
There is no doubt support systems need to be in place. While it is unlikely that you taught your children to walk, you were there to encourage, to hold their hands, to pick them up when they fell down and to reassure them when the learning was painful (literally). We are all intrinsically motivated to learn (in the right environment) and it is this environment that we aspire to create at the school.
With that in mind, I would like to update you on a number of exciting developments on the student support front. First off, a big thank you to Sakina Steele and Melisa Judd - our co-heads of Student Support - for their infectious enthusiasm, expertise and leadership as we work to affirm a culture of support and to normalise asking for help. We are fortunate as a school to have an exceptional learning and socio-emotional specialist team to help guide us.
So what is changing?
In order to establish closer contact between students and the student support team, I have asked Melisa and Sakina as co-heads of student support to move into the office next to the student work area in the new building. We would like to encourage greater use of this student work area, currently open only to DP, and allow for a quiet working area for all secondary students, especially those who would like to access the support available through Sakina and Melisa and their teams. We have ordered an accordion wall similar to the ones on the lower floors of the IB building so that this newly imagined secondary student work area can be partitioned off from the DP lounge which will remain as 60% of the space. The small break-out rooms will be available for one-on-one tutoring as the need arises and as quiet workspaces. The lounge space will remain exclusive for the DP students, as will the break out rooms and work area during recess, lunch and DP timetabled study periods.
An additional student support tool coming soon is the MyConcern software. MyConcern is an award winning digital platform which enables staff and other designated individuals (e.g. external tutors) to register any well-being and safeguarding concerns quickly and easily. We introduced this software at UWC Atlantic in early 2019 and it was transformational in our support of students. Often a small observation in a classroom or corridor can be critical in catching a well-being issue at an early stage versus when it has become critical. Melisa and Sakina have been trained as our facilitators and will be introducing the software to staff soon.
Finally, we are very honoured and excited to have been invited to participate as a pilot school with Mightifier, a Finnish educational start-up which specialises in social and emotional learning, and building awareness and resilience, amongst students of all ages. We will be dedicating our first professional development day of 2022, on 4 January, to introductory training with the Mightifier team. They have already been working with Sakina and Melisa to understand the school and our needs and are thrilled to be partnering with us.
Please feel free to drop me an email should you have any questions or concerns on these or other matters. Best wishes for the weekend.
Peter
p.s. Another book I am a fan of is Simon Senik's 'Start with the Why'. In my first 3 months at the school, I have been asking a lot of 'why' questions. One of these is with respect to the school uniform in its various forms. In the near future, I will be sending a short Google survey to parents, students and staff to gather your feedback around this policy. I would like to invite your input to help in my understanding of the school uniform culture at Somersfield and the desires of the various stakeholder groups for the path forward.
