CARE AND CONNECTION

CARE AND CONNECTION DURING COVID-19

Care and connection have been the guiding concepts at the very heart of the way Ruyton has sought to support our community during the COVID-19 pandemic. These concepts underpin the philosophy behind Ruyton’s Wellbeing Framework. According to Trish Hatzis, Director of Wellbeing, this philosophy recognises that an individual’s opportunity to achieve their personal best occurs when the emotional, physical, social and intellectual aspects of their life are in balance. In 2020, the global health emergency required Australians to make a sudden transition to a very different way of living. As noted by Trish, ‘we had to keep our rich learning environment going, teaching the same engaging and challenging curriculum that was offered in the pre-pandemic world, we just had to deliver it in new and different ways.’ While Ruyton’s technological capacity and well-supported teaching staff quickly met this test, it has been our focus on a holistic, ‘whole person, whole-of-Ruyton’ approach to wellbeing that has particularly shaped the School’s broader response to the pandemic. ‘For young people, social connection is so important’, Trish explains, ‘without it they can risk becoming disengaged or face rising levels of anxiety’. The Wellbeing Framework has ensured that Ruyton has maintained fullyrounded support for students, balancing the intellectual realm with actions that will help their physical, social and emotional safety too. There have been many creative and effective ways Ruyton has achieved this, ranging from virtual assemblies and online sports training programmes, to choir practice by video conferencing and a new click and drop resource service. The girls have learnt a great deal about themselves as learners. The student data collected has revealed that the vast majority of girls felt they had strengthened their organisational skills, developed greater independence as learners, and realised their resilience. Our parent data supports this, showing that parents witnessed this independence and resilience firsthand. The holistic approach to wellbeing is also applied to the broader School community. For parents and guardians, Ruyton has transitioned the ‘Powerful Parenting’ series onto an online format. Trish notes that ‘we learnt a lot about connecting with parents and carers, and that the connection didn’t always have to be face to face.’ For staff it’s been vital that the strong technological support they normally receive has been sustained and extended into the delivery of distance learning. It’s also been important that they’ve continued to experience the professional and social benefits of interaction with colleagues, and mechanisms like daily virtual staff rooms help achieve this. Maintaining connections on a collegial and personal level is also critical, and ‘checking in’ has been a great way to support one another. Now that we are back to distance learning, it is more important than ever to maintain ways to connect with our students and the wider community. We have had the benefit of knowing what proved to be beneficial during the first distance learning, so we can build upon this in future. Interview with Trish Hatzis, Director ofWellbeing by Cathy Dodson, Community Relations