8 minute read
The power of kindness
The best way to show the impact of our approach is through the girls’ voices and feedback collected in Term 1, 2021:
“Kindness makes you feel happy. It helps your mental and your physical health as it stops you feeling anger or frustration”.
“Kindness is our key to changing our world”.
“Being kind is easy, it can be as small as a smile, or a compliment, just little stuff ... but it has a big impact”.
“Being kind for no reward and when no one is watching is true kindness”.
“When I am kind to someone, I know I am making them happy but it also makes me happy and I then feel good inside”.
Our approach is to teach our girls to act from their heart in all their thoughts and actions; namely to act with kindness. Central to this teaching is the belief that we choose our actions. By articulating this clearly to the girls we hope to build their sense of agency. We are teaching the girls that each day we have the power to make choices as to how we want to be in our social interactions. Kindness requires both choice and action.
Peer modelling is a critical factor in fostering a culture within a school, so we introduced Kindness Captains in 2020. Each class elects a representative for a term who meet weekly (both face-toface and online) with Mrs Brown, Head of Junior School; Mrs Davey Acting Deputy Head of Junior School – Wellbeing; Mrs Genia Wright, Head of Learning Support and Miss Rachael Gibson. The teachers provide agency and voice to the girls as they think of ways to promote and lead a culture of kindness within our Junior School and beyond.
We also introduced a Junior School kindness ambassador; Heidi the Hedgehog, who now regularly visits girls in their classrooms and is a valued symbol of our kindness mission. Allowing children to engage with a character provides a gentle way of assisting them to connect with and articulate feelings. It is easier for young children to learn how to express their own feelings by following the example set by a character with whom they engage. Heidi the Hedgehog provides a starting point for conversations on the importance of kindness. Having Heidi the Hedgehog as a symbol of kindness encourages the girls to think about ways to demonstrate and appreciate kindness.
KINDNESS TO OTHERS
Year 6 2020 built their entrepreneurial skills choosing charities to support. They honed their persuasive skills as they approached companies for donations to these charities. Through sustained effort over a prolonged period the girls overcame hurdles and disappointment and learned much about themselves while acting in kindness. Without directly seeing the impact of their benevolence, the girls could feel the power of their actions and were able to articulate the joy they felt by helping others. There is a Russian proverb which likens a kind word to a spring day, suggesting a sense of renewal, growth and positive energy stemming from kindness. Collectively, the Junior School girls rose to the challenge of ‘Walking for a Kinder World’ set by the Fly High Billie charity for World Kindness Day. In the four weeks leading up to that day, the girls circumnavigated the globe virtually by recording their kilometres of physical activity each week and mapping how far around the world we therefore travelled. This was a simple and collaborative way of helping to spread the message of kindness as far as we could. Danny Mason-Kinder, founder of the Fly High Billie charity, was astounded by the lengths our girls went to in support of their kindness mission. Simple acts of kindness, and the gift of your time, can have significant positive impacts on the lives of others; a key message we want our girls to understand.
The way Junior School girls have moved from working enthusiastically on initiatives which were teacher led, to setting up their own business initiatives to complete acts of kindness within their communities has been most impressive. We had girls who made and sold bracelets to raise money for the koalas, another girl worked with her mother to sew masks for children in Victoria and a family was inspired by their daughter over the Christmas period to work together to cook meals for the homeless in Sydney.
KINDNESS TO OUR ENVIRONMENT
In terms of kindness to the environment, our inquiry learning enables the girls to apply kindness concepts in a global context, learning to pose solutions to real world problems. Year 4 held an Expo showcasing their prototypes to solve
global environmental problems they individually identified. The Pymble Junior School approach is to teach self and others kindness skills, so that students can approach global issues with a kind mindset.
KINDNESS TO OURSELVES
Never was the need for self-care more important than in 2020 when families were separated by COVID-19 restrictions, girls were isolated in their learning for a portion of the year and social interactions were limited. Learning to create and value the space and time to be kind to oneself is a critical skill for a healthy balance in life. Our girls immersed themselves in unstructured outdoor play, connecting with nature and simultaneously developing their communication skills, their problem-solving, perseverance, creativity and resilience.
WHERE TO FROM NOW?
Children in Denmark are taught ‘Klassens tid’ which are empathy classes (Alexander and Sandhal, 2016) and we are hoping to continue explicitly teaching our girls ways to be kind to build the sense of social connection that we as humans need. According to some psychologists and philosophers, compassion and kindness are among the most important things we can teach children and are necessary for our societies to thrive. As the Dalai Lama said, “Be kind whenever possible. It is always possible” and in the words of one of our Junior School Kindness Captains, “everyone can be kind. You just need to choose to be it”.
References
Ballatt, J., & Campling, P. (2011).Intelligent kindness: Reforming the culture of healthcare. London: RCPsych Publications. Canter, D. & Youngs, D., & Yaneva, M. (2017). Towards a measure of kindness: An exploration of a neglected interpersonal trait. Personality and Individual Differences, Vol.106, 15-20. Caselman, T. (2007). Teaching children empathy: The social emotion. Chapin, SC: Southlight Inc. Dulin, P., Hill, R. D., Anderson, J. & Rasmussen, D. (2001). Altriusm as a predictor of life satisfaction in a sample of low-income older adult service providers. Journal of Mental Health and Aging, Vol. 7, 349–359. New South Wales Education Standards Authority. (2019). The NSW Curriculum Review Interim Report, Nurturing Wonder, Inspiring Passions. Sydney, NSW: NESA. Alexander, J.J., & Sandahl, I. D. (2016). The Danish way of parenting: What the happiest people in the world know about raising confident, capable kids. (Ed 1.) London, England: Piatkus.
China – Fabric of Success, 2020 by Year 12 Visual Art 12 student, Anny Chen
The art on Pymble’s walls
A fresh perspective
BY NIKKI EASTERBROOK
ART AND OUR WELLBEING
When you enter a gallery, what do you feel? I often find that galleries and other cultural institutions are places that can expand your understanding of the world around you. They are unique spaces that are carefully designed to provide a safe and stimulating environment in which to explore new concepts and challenge the status quo. I have always marveled at the power of art and how one work can not only change the aesthetic of a space, but also alter the way you think and feel about the world.
At Pymble, we are lucky to be surrounded by artwork that inspires and challenges our staff and students towards best possibilities. But what is the significance of Pymble’s art collection, and how can it continue to broaden our minds,
encourage creativity and improve the wellbeing of the College’s students and staff?
As Pymble’s recently appointed College Art Collection Curator and the Art Technician in the Visual Arts team, knowing what purpose art serves in the College and how art can impact our students and staff is essential when curating pieces from our significant collection or identifying signal areas for development.
TOGETHER WITH ART – PYMBLE’S ONLINE GALLERY
A key aspect of my role is working with students and teachers to curate artwork created as part of the Visual Arts coursework. It is always an enjoyable experience to see how students express themselves through creativity and how their parents, peers and the broader school community respond to the art they have made. The coronavirus pandemic proved challenging in 2020, but one way that the College was able to maintain meaningful connections and recognise the hard work of Visual Arts students was through the establishment of an online art gallery. “Together With Art” was originally designed to introduce the annual Year 12 Visual Arts Body of Work exhibition virtually should the physical exhibition be cancelled. The virtual exhibition platform has since gone on to showcase other artworks from Year 7 to 12, as well as work from the Ex-Students’ Union 2019 and 2020 Artist in Residence grant (see David Del Favero’s article in this edition, page 58). “Together With Art” is more than just a virtual gallery. It is an online platform that provides information about Pymble’s art collection, news on upcoming exhibitions, and serves not only as an educational resource easily accessed online but also proudly displays the accomplishments of our Visual Arts students for all to see. As galleries all around the world adjust to this new COVID reality of online exhibitions, so too has our school, and it is exciting to imagine what more “Together With Art” can be used to achieve.
Principal Dr Kate Hadwen opens the 2020 Visual Arts Body of Work Exhibition with Year 12 Visual Arts students. Due to Covid-19 restrictions, the physical opening could not proceed so was streamed via www.Togetherwithart.org
