Debbiejo Miranda
Head of Wellbeing

implementation and review of wellbeing initiatives. Leadership roles and responsibilities include mentoring, coaching, leading interest groups, and representing the school in the local community. Most importantly, every student is viewed as inherently capable; students’ views, ideas and decisions are sought and valued.

When asked what wellbeing is, the usual response is “staying positive, eating, exercising and sleeping well, being connected with others..” One can google the word ‘wellbeing’ to get numerous search results with the definition of wellbeing. But how often do we wonder about the source of wellbeing? How often do we ask ourselves… how accountable am I for my own wellbeing?? Most of the time we expect people around us to be kind to us, be respectful to us, offer us healthy eating options, encourage us to engage in sports…. but the truth is that not unless we are willing to take the first step towards building and sustaining our own wellbeing, can anyone help us to do so. Happiness and wellbeing starts from within. This core belief is the inspiration behind our motto- Relate, Engage, Shine.

Relate
Positive relationships are conduits to identity in terms of values, ethic and beliefs; a sense of identity that is developed through cognitive and emotional sense, thus maximizing the likelihood for success in a complex social environment. When students identify and understand the foundations of healthy relationships, such as trust, respect and personal space, they are able to build lasting relationships. So yes. It is crucial to create bonds with peers, staff, and everyone you meet on a daily basis. And when relationships get difficult, we manage it with effective communication, which brings us to my next point.

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Engage
The ability to communicate with people from different walks of life, and to work beyond comfort zones is fundamental for students to engage wholly, because where there is engagement, there is challenge; and where there is challenge, there is learning. Being engaged enables you to focus on how to move forward, and build on physical and mental wellbeing. Thereby, we strive to develop a heightened level of confidence and positive risk-taking, building resilience and understanding the place of failure in the learning process. Every failure is a step closer to success.

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And finally… where there is success, there should be celebration. So…

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Shine
We recognise the importance for celebration as a means to recapture joy in learning, promote significant values and experiences, acknowledge effort and achievement, and show gratitude. It’s not just the excellent grades, or the victory in sports, or the competitions that should be celebrated, but it is the progress that you make from one step to another, your inner strength, your small moments of joy, the positivity around you.
So let’s start from within…Be kind… the smallest gestures bring the biggest smiles; Smile…the smallest smiles bring the biggest happiness; Be happy…the smallest of happiness brings the biggest sense of gratitude; be grateful… the smallest of gratitude brings the biggest change; Embrace change…the smallest of change brings the biggest success.