Health and Wellness

Health and WellBeing Update

For over a decade, a focus on mental health and well-being has been an integral component of what we do at KCS. The importance of ensuring that we are taking care of ourselves and each other has been reinforced. Thanks to the Health and Wellness Fund, and the generous donors who keep this fund growing, we have been able to continue to grow and support the health and well-being of our KCS community. A special thank you goes to the Class of 2022 who made their Grad gift donation to the school to support this important fund.

LIBRARY RESOURCES

• We continue to grow the library resources we have available for students and families to help them better understand, learn about, and support the various challenges that they may currently be experiencing or are curious about.

- Some topics or themes that were the focus of purchases in 2021-2022 include: 1. Challenging life events such as divorce, loss of a loved one, struggles with friendships 2. Building positive relationships 3. Belonging, diversity and inclusivity - LGBTQ2SI+, anti-racism, religious understanding, and books that allow students to see themselves in the main characters and themes

EMPOWERMENT PROJECT

• Due to COVID restrictions, we had been unable to have the Empowerment Project in to speak with our Grade 5 students in 2020-2021, but we were able to bring them back to lead workshops with both our Grade 5 and Grade 6 students this past year. - The program was run over four days and the workshop included seminar presentations, interactive activities, and yoga

- Scientific research and practical application of tools and techniques aimed at giving the children an opportunity to take control and manage themselves in a more mindful manner

KINESTHETIC CLASSROOM TOOLS

• We were still limited in our ability to move freely about the school, so we continued to enhance what was available to the students in their classrooms to allow for movement to support their learning and focus

- Purchased additional steppers and peddlers

- Flexible seating such as panto chairs, wobble cushions, wobble stools

- Incorporated flexible seating options for our Senior School students as well

RELATIONSHIPS AND BELONGING

• Continued to build upon our learnings from

The Third Path with respect to focusing on relationship building as the foundation upon which learning takes place

• Additional learning for our staff built upon this with workshops from the Get Real Movement about anti-racism and High Resolves discussing identity and belonging

MENTAL HEALTH AWARENESS

• Learning and understanding about mental health, mental health literacy, healthy living, and well-being is woven into the curriculum

• We also participated in designated days of recognition about mental health:

- World Mental Health Day (Oct. 10, 2021)

- Bell Let’s Talk Day (Jan 27, 2022)

- Children’s Mental Health Week (May 2- 8, 2022)

MENTAL HEALTH FIRST AID

• Via both virtual learning throughout the academic year and a hybrid platform in

June, we were able to certify more of our faculty and staff in this Mental Health

Commission of Canada 16-hour course.

DAILY BE ACTIVE TIME

• Our students had the opportunity to get outside three times per day for a Be

Active activity