THE ARIS PERSONAL WELLBEING MODEL
Our wellbeing curriculum is designed around this model, which seeks to incorporate the ATL skills of thinking, communication, Self Management, research, and Social/ collaboration. At the end of their time at ARIS, students would have picked up the IB learner profiles of being reflective, caring, knowledgeable, Open- minded, balanced, and a risk taker through the wellbeing program.
As part of this academic year’s theme to embrace “The Eagle Within,” the wellbeing department has been actively engaging students, staff, and parents in classroom discussions, workshops, and online training. October has been an eventful month and here are summaries of what we have been up to.
Wellbeing Classes in Secondary
Wellbeing classes for the month of October and November took a slightly different turn. To provide support for the growing concerns, students in MYP 1-3 commenced the Friendships and Relationship module where they focused on topics concerning identifying and developing positive characteristics of a good friend, the concept of bullying and how it affects young people and friends, navigating blended families and how to connect with family members, the concept of crushes and finally, how to live in harmony with the opposite sex. From MYP 4 to DP2, we moved up a module to focus on Health, Mind and Body. This module focuses on physical, sexual and mental health, body image, substance misuse, food addiction and first aid. The conversations from these topics helped our students develop credible concepts on real-world issues and provided them with the opportunity to express their thoughts, as well as tools to protect them from harm and support themselves.
Wellbeing Wednesday and Staff Appreciation Day
As part of our monthly Wellbeing Wednesday early release and snacks, we collaborated with the Human Resources Department to treat our staff and surprised everyone with customised tote and duffle bags to say thank you for the amazing work they do. Every year in October, World Teacher’s Day is celebrated to appreciate educators around the world and at ARIS, we always go a step further. Here are some pictures of staff picking up their snacks and showing off their customised gifts.
Wellbeing Calendar Activities
As part of our Wellbeing Calendar, we have had some pretty exciting moments in October. We marked a month-long Mental Health Awareness program which involved conversations on common mental health issues during wellbeing classes such as dyslexia awareness, anxiety, stress, confidence-boosting and so on. We also provided daily sessions on mindfulness and relaxation in the wellbeing office during break times and after school for students who needed to take a break and refresh their minds. Finally, we worked with students to create posters, and quotes on self-confidence and share ribbons to create awareness of mental health issues throughout the month. It was really inspiring to see students so passionate about creating change and spreading awareness.
Mental Health and Wellbeing SA Projects
The Wellbeing Department has had a record-number of mental health related Service Action projects this year. From creating anonymous boxes with questions and answers on mental health, to speaking to junior classes on bullying and anxiety,all the way to selling customised notebooks and donating the proceeds to mental health charities. Our students have been phenomenal in showing how they can influence the world through service, and it is very inspiring to see students taking a stand to fix real world problems.
Exam Cafe
Over the years, we have recognised that the end of the MYP and CP/DP programs turn out to be quite challenging for our students. From achieving personal expectations to the rigorous nature of the assessments, we noticed that most students forget to focus on a very important aspect of succeeding – self care. Therefore we introduced the ARIS Exam Cafe as an intervention that focuses on reducing stress through providing strategies for time management, relaxation and
health goal-setting. We successfully started this project with students from the 2021/2022 academic year and this is our second year running.
This year’s Exam Cafe started off with an art therapy session where students were grouped to create beautiful Mandala art pieces representing relaxation. This 30-minute exercise was done with lo-fi music, which has been scientifically proven to boost brain activity, reduce stress and enhance focus.
Next, we had guest speakers, Miss Priyanka Bagaria and Mr. Dinesh Choudhary from The Art of Living Ghana, who curated and delivered a very interactive workshop on the science of stress and led the group through techniques on breath work to promote relaxation and increase in energy.
The highlight of this event was the feedback we received from Year 13 students who participated in the workshop. They had never felt this relaxed in a long time and that was exactly what we aimed for.
Movember
Movember is an annual event of the Men’s Health Movement which involves the growing of moustaches during the month of November to raise awareness of men’s health issues, with a particular focus on depression and men’s suicide.
The ARIS Wellbeing Department used Wellbeing classes to discuss topics aimed at creating a safe space for our male students and staff to celebrate and support their wellbeing. We met with the Head Boy, Sports Director and SRC and we’re planning a Movember Spirit Friday where students will wear fake moustaches to school as well as a football/volleyball game between students and staff at the end of the month.
Stress Awareness Month
International Stress Awareness Week 2022 takes place this year in November and for schools across the world, this marks an opportunity to focus on the importance of good mental health and wellbeing.
The theme for this year’s International Stress Awareness Week is Resilience: the power to succeed. This is a wonderful opportunity for us to stress on the ATL skill RESILIENCE. A resilient learner is mindful, persevering, self-motivated and emotionally stable, so we would like to call the 14th to 18th of November the RESILIENCE WEEK at ARIS.
We will be sharing newsletters to staff and students during the week and also providing self-help resources to boost the resilience of our community.
Recommended Sleep Requirements for Students
Students continue to report irregular sleep patterns, and for some, it has had an impact on their stress levels, learning, and emotional health. To ensure the healthy growth and development of our students at ARIS, the amount of sleep they get each day is important, as it also contributes to their health and wellbeing. Following relevant research, the ARIS Counselling and Wellbeing Department would like to recommend the following sleep schedules to parents;
| Pre-teens | 6–12 years | 9 hours each day |
| Teenagers | 13–18 years | 8 hours each day |
Until the next time take good care of yourselves and we look forward to sharing more exciting things with you in the coming months.