Bursar’s Review Spring 2021

Spring 2021 www.theisba.org.uk 6 News Study sheds new light on staff wellbeing in schools The inaugural Tes Staff Wellbeing Report reveals how the fraught past year in education has affected school staff wellbeing. It shows that school staff continue to face an increased risk of experiencing poor mental health and wellbeing compared to people in less stressful jobs, and that their wellbeing is now, more than ever, an unmistakable issue. The report is based on more than 61,000 responses from school staff in the UK and across the world, who responded anonymously to questions within the Staff Pulse wellbeing tool, created by Tes to help school leaders gain an understanding of how their teams are feeling. It reveals a quarter of (24 percent) of respondents don’t feel they have enough time to do their job effectively and fewer than half (44 percent) said their work- life balance was sustainable. Worryingly, a fifth of respondents stated that their workload wasn’t actually practical or achievable. Unsurprisingly, with the added pressures of COVID-19, less than half (49 percent) found their jobs ‘fun’ anymore. With school closures and shifts to online learning, the weight of responsibility for pupil wellbeing in and out of school has increased dramatically for teachers, but only 39 percent of respondents felt they were fully equipped to manage the mental health concerns of pupils. While the report identifies a range of issues affecting staff wellbeing, there were positive results around the profession as a whole. The study shows that the majority of respondents feel they have a close, compassionate relationship with their colleagues, with 68 percent of respondents saying they felt their co-workers cared about them. 73 percent of staff said they were happy to reach out for help with colleagues. Download the report at www.tes.com/for-schools/blog/article/staff- wellbeing-report Zoom around the world Jenny Blaiklock, development director of Lady Eleanor Holles School, says that despite the terrible privations of COVID and lockdowns, they have encouraged creativity. “We have had to postpone all our face-to-face meetings since March. But, to our surprise, the virtual replacements have been more successful, allowing alumnae from all around the world to join in”. For example, when the school’s annual alumnae lunch was cancelled, they replicated the important networking part of the event online so ex-pupils could chat with long lost friends. Jenny said: “We set up 12 Zoom chat rooms across the age groups and even some from the class of 1945 joined in. We re-united 10 people over the age of 85, who happily chatted away for more than two hours! We doubled the number of attendees overall, and were delighted to welcome alumnae from all around the world. We received lovely emails saying how thrilled they had been to meet up again with old friends. With so many people in that age group having to self-isolate, we may have really helped them to stave off loneliness – at least for an afternoon”. Memorial for former pupil Old Cranleighan (OC) artist, Kimi Zoet, was commissioned to produce the memorial Nabil Nahar artwork for the school. Two years ago, former pupil, Nabil Nahar, died aged just 45. At school his interests lay in the arts and as a businessman he ran his own art gallery in Kuala Lumpur. His OC friends came up with the idea of commissioning an artwork for the school as a way of remembering him. Art and design undergraduates and recent graduates of the arts were invited to propose a site- specific permanent visual artwork to be placed somewhere within the school. There was no theme or particular form the artwork should take, but it was important for it to honour the values of Nabil and his family and be aligned to Islamic traditions. The judging committee chose Kimi Zoet’s proposal to be a worthy memorial to Nabil. Kimi said: “Illustrated by flowers resting in Islamic vases, my piece celebrates the communities Nabil was a part of. I chose each flower to symbolise a specific community Nabil devoted his life to: Alstroemeria to symbolise friendship; hibiscuses to symbolise Malaysia; red roses to symbolise England; tulips to symbolise Islamic faith and bluebells to symbolise family. The largest bouquet really represents Nabil as it contains all these flowers as well as his own favourites: tuberoses. "Illustrated by flowers resting in Islamic vases, my piece celebrates the communities Nabil was a part of."