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Canberra In Focus: Radford College - building stronger connections
By: Rajni Ghai Malhotra
The pandemic hit us over a year ago bringing with it changes to almost every sphere of our lives. One such sector is Education. In a matter of days, schools were shut down and teachers had moved to providing online lessons to students. Adapting to learning remotely and staying connected despite the lockdown were only a part of the many challenges that schools were faced with.
Recently, I had the opportunity to have a conversation with Karen Mahar, Deputy Head of Junior School at Radford College, about the impact of COVID-19 on students and their learning during the past year. It was an interesting conversation that led to discussion on the pivotal role of schools in general, and Radford College in particular, on how they promote strong connections and a safe environment for students to feel a strong sense of identity within the community, helping them grow with a greater awareness of the world they live in. What follows are snippets from the conversation and a close look at some of the key events in the Radford Calendar that make the school the happy healthy community that students take pride to be part of.
What have been the key take aways (learning points) from the past year of COVID induced changes?
With the first anniversary of the restrictions associated with the outbreak of COVID – 19, it seems timely to reflect on lessons learnt as members of Radford and as part of larger communities, including local national and international.
It was Charles Darwin who was first quoted as saying “In the long history of humankind (and animal kind too) those who learned to collaborate and improvise most effectively have prevailed.”
Communities throughout the world have been affected in different ways. Thankfully, for our community, it would seem things have been as good as they could have been.
What has been apparent over the past 14 months is the significance of human connection, kindness and empathy towards one another, both for mental and physical health. While we promote the importance of self belief, self esteem and self interest, a bigger picture on life reveals the greater value of collaboration with others in achieving common goals and objectives and the value of participation in building self worth as a consequence.
In Australia our remote location, being isolated from other countries; our predominantly well educated population; relatively low population densities and strongly connected communities all proved enormous advantages in successfully combating any COVID outbreaks.
If we are to genuinely believe the anecdote, ‘humans will show their true colours during
adversity’, it seems appropriate to expect that the circumstances encountered also provided an opportunity for our minds to be awakened to the idea of the rewards of also being kinder to each other. In the instance of combating COVID, we were all proven to be kinder to one other as we banded together to help one another fight the threat of virus, in addition to our society, in general, also proving to be kinder and more considerate/less destructive of our environment.
COVID – 19 has the potential to be remembered as a time of great discovery for each of us. This time of isolation has allowed us time to pause and reflect, with the opportunity to derive a greater understanding of ourselves, a renewed respect for the favourable influence of others and a newfound appreciation of our considerable and predominantly unfavourable impact on our environment.
If we have learned these lessons, it will be more apparent that we can overcome and achieve so much more, collectively and collaboratively, than we can as individuals. This is a powerful lesson on the importance of community in fostering our sense of well-being, in addition to offering the potential to create a society where we demonstrate truth, compassion and wisdom.
Would you share an insight into Harmony Day at Radford College and how it plays a role in bringing students together/celebrating our differences?
Ms Karen Mahar, Deputy Head Junior School
Karen Mahar is Assistant Principal, Deputy Head of Junior School at Radford College Canberra. In more than a decade that she has been at Radford, Karen has helped shape young minds by inspiring excellence. She is passionate about well-being of students and strives to create an environment that promotes positive education. Karen is relationship focused and believes in forging connections based on collaboration, communication and integrity.
Each year, including earlier this year, our community acknowledged Harmony week, including the celebration of Harmony Day on 21 March. This event provides our community an opportunity to celebrate Australian multiculturalism; the richness of experience that fostering diversity can bring to our culture; and the harmonious relationships it nurtures and cultivates within our community. The central message of Harmony week is that through demonstrating kindness and achieving harmony, we can each instil a sense among ourselves and others that we can all belong.
There are many advantages to members in our community feeling connected through achieving a sense of belonging. Fulfilling this objective, in addition to obtaining an ongoing feeling of hope and personal value, can directly influence how we feel about ourselves, others and our environment. Research reveals that having a sense of belonging to a school environment is an established protective factor for a child and a positive influence on their adolescent health, education, and social wellbeing.
What is the significance of Foundation Day?
Each year the last day of Term 1, we celebrate a significant day in our community, Foundation Day. On this day, our community acknowledges ‘who we are’ and celebrates our College values: Living in Truth, Rising in Compassion and Walking in Wisdom.
The whole day is shaped around reflecting on and rejoicing in who we are as a community. To begin the day, the entire community (in excess of 2000 students and 250 staff) gather in the College Gym, to experience ‘the Telling’. There is music, dancing and storytelling.
Radford has been gifted a story, which we refer to as ‘The Telling’, the Story of Yungbali. Yungbali is a myth that draws on the imagination of the Jewish-Christian narrative as well the context of Ngunnawal land. Ngunnawal words like yungbali (song), wingarraminga (breath) and dirrum dirrum (‘the sound of red’ a symbol of the land) are used to invite us into a story of creation, destruction and re-creation. While these themes are particular to the Jewish-Christian narrative, they are also universal concepts that are lived out in particular settings.
Like all stories, meaning is not limited to one interpretation. After the service all students participate in house group activities and compete for points to win “The Bishop’s Cup”. Our Secondary students travel all over Canberra enjoying sporting games, creative pursuits and leisure activities.
On Foundation Day, it has become a tradition for our Junior School students to plant bulbs. The promise that a bulb offers a flower in the Springtime is a rich illustration of how from little things big things can grow.
During 2020 we embraced the rainbow symbol that popped up all over the world. It was an effort to spread hope and positivity during the COVID-19 isolation period. The vibrant and beautiful colours of a rainbow remind us all that there is always sunshine after any rain.
A STOREHOUSE OF TALENT
I must confess that I have been keenly following Sagarika’s journey as a young Bharatanatyam prodigy and she every time has always ‘danced’ surpassed all expectations. In June, just before the lockdown came into effect, we Sydney siders got to see another display of her talent through “Bhakthi”, a solo pursuit.
By: Poornima Menon
While the audience were awe-struck and mesmerised with every rendition, there was one question on every lip, “How could someone so young perform with such depth of maturity?” So, I decided it was time to get to know Sagarika a little more and also how she had matured as a dancer since I spoke with her two years ago.
Sagarika started learning Bharatanatyam from the tender age of four. At the time it seemed the natural thing to do as her mother, Manjula Vishwanath is a renowned dancer and teacher. It wouldn’t come as surprise if the first sounds that Sagarika learnt to recognise were the sounds of the ankle bells that Bharatanatyam dancers wear. Little did she realise the impact this dance form would have on her life. “It seemed that when everything else was continuously changing in my life, dance was my constant,” says Sagarika. She further continues, “Bharatanatyam has taught me so much about our culture, our beliefs, our values. I would be incomplete if dance did not exist in my life”.
Watching Sagarika dance is a beautiful sight. Like most children, she started on this learning journey very casually; at the beginning it was about meeting the other students and having fun. But soon her teacher realised that she had a flair and was a
natural dancer. The time had come for her to invest more into learning the dance form and getting better at it. Things began to change and by the time she was eight, she started devoting more time to learning and practising what she had learnt.
She had her first solo performance when she was nine, but when she watched her performance later, she realised that she could have done better. “So, watching my own self perform is the best way I have learnt to correct myself,” she says. She believes she has gained more poise, grace, and balance with regular practise. She also has learnt to comprehend the Indian mythology better which helps her bring out her bhavas or emotions better. Regular and committed practice has helped build her stamina and the fact that she could dance non-stop for one and half hours during the “Bhakthi” performance is a testament to that.
Sagarika takes her dance very seriously and is considering it as one of her careers in the future. Though the love for Bharatanatyam has consumed her life, she balances it well with academics. When asked about her daily routine, she says, “To be honest I don’t do any other extra curriculars due to lack of time. My focus is only on my academics and dance. I train about 20-30 hours a week in dance. After my school, I train about three weekdays and on weekends. My life is all about dance and studying.” She has watched her mother multitask and feels she is able to do it too. She has a well-structured routine that gives her ample time to focus on her schoolwork and practice dance. She understands that a dancer needs to have patience and commitment in abundance to be able to excel.
Sagarika knows what her strengths are as a dancer, and this is a great quality to have. When asked to elaborate, she says with a smile, “My expressions. I can bring any character to life as I feel the character. I also feel grace is also my biggest strength and of course, along with my smile”. She is of the strong belief that, “Lots of style and grace in dancing is definitely required for a dancer”. For someone as young as her, Sagarika takes the accolades she receives with a maturity way beyond her years. She is delighted that people who come to watch her perform, enjoy her performance, and feel a connection. “If your audience can’t relate to you, I guess they would be bored. So definitely there must be something right that I am doing”, she remarks.
Sagarika practised for her solo production, “Bhakthi” along with her preparation for the year 6 Selective Schools exam. When questioned about the choice of the concept, she said, “As I said earlier my strength lies in my expressions and I wanted to bring out my devotion in dance, my mom and I decided that ‘Bhakthi’ is one of the hardest bhavams to work on for a 11-year-old like me and would be a good challenge to take on”. She acknowledges that she is extremely fortunate to have her mother as her guru, who explained the characters and their emotions in detail. This helped her understand and grasp them better. The 2-month long training was intense. Of all the different stories of Bhakthi presented, my absolute favourite was the one depicting Lord Hanuman. Sagarika brought out the mischievous nature of the monkey-God very well. Incidentally, that is her favourite piece too.
Finally, Sagarika’s message to all aspiring, young dancers is never to give up and to be consistent, patient and extremely committed. “Bharatanatyam is not something that one can learn overnight, it does take a lot of time and effort to learn this art form, sometimes it can be tiring physically, but the outcome is just brilliant”. When asked where she sees herself in the next two years, she said, “I love the space I am in at the moment. I want to learn more, train more, perform more which will help make me a better dancer. I want to travel the world performing. And we have plans on that”.
Wish you the very best, Sagarika! Looking forward to more amazing performances by you.
