Head's Up - Your Monthly Update From The Headmaster

It’s hard to believe that we are officially done 20% of this school year!  A sincere thank you to all members of our community. Your efforts have created one of the best starts to the school year that any of us can remember. In this chapter of ‘the narrative,’ we will be exploring wellness with a particular eye to agency and awareness. I hope these publications give insight into the fabric that is Rundle. Together, Jason B. Rogers   Table of Contents: I.    The Narrative – Part II – Awareness + Agency = “Be Well” II.   Strategic Plan Highlight – The Fabric - A Meeting with the Minister of Education III. The Rundle Experience – Post Secondary Planning IV.  Athletic Therapy Pilot Project V.   On The Shelf   I.  The Narrative - Part II - Awareness + Agency = "Be Well"  Awareness: “The knowledge and understanding that something is happening or exists.” Agency: “The capacity, condition, or state of acting or of exerting power.” Be Well: “The aspirational value of Rundle whereby all students, staff, parents and community members find harmony in the areas physical, spiritual and psychological wellness. Over the course of the past 18 months, Rundle has been strategically addressing emotional wellbeing in our community.  The commitment to the value of “Be Well” has included much outreach, consultation and action. In the course of our explorations, there have been two underpinning tenants that have come forward.   The first tenant is that of awareness.  We continue to work with our entire community to consider what it means to be aware of our own condition and have empathy for the condition of others.  We see this manifest in programs such as Dare to Care, Peer Support, and Community Helpers, and in our our Emotional Quotient teacher and student workshops.  Furthermore, we are starting to see more and more parent engagement opportunities, whether it is small focus groups or larger parent Speaker Series events. The second tenant of emotional wellbeing is agency.  If we are to improve, we need to understand that we are each responsible for actions that promote, or detract from, our own wellbeing.  To have the power to make personal change is the true essence of agency.  To support the combination of awareness and agency, we have recently announced the ‘Be Innovative Wellness Grant.’  It is not too late to apply for one of these $1000 grants to support wellness initiatives in our community.  The grant is open to all parents, students and faculty at Rundle College. At the bottom of this e-mail, you will see the text, video and application that was originally sent describing the grant and the application process. Thank you again for joining us on this journey to a continually improving environment where wellness is not just a value but something we live. II. Strategic Plan – Pillar 1 – The Fabric - Protecting School Choice in Alberta On Wednesday of this week, AISCA (Alberta Independent Schools and Colleges Association) was invited to meet with the Minister of Education, the Honourable David Eggen, and I served as the representative from Rundle at this meeting.  During our time with Minister Eggen, there was a wide range of topics discussed. Most importantly for the Rundle community, we discussed the importance of choice in education and predictable funding for independent schools. T Minister Eggen went out of his way to assure us that he values independent schools and he is committed to both parent choice in education and a predictable funding model that supports our schools.  This was excellent news and we appreciate his steadfast support in spite of ongoing attacks on our schools by special interest groups. I would encourage our community to continue to write their MLA and Minister Eggen and share their own personal stories of success at Rundle.  Minister Eggen was quick to refer to these advocacy letters in our meeting and I am certain they have had a positive impact on this government's overall perception of our schools.   A great place to find information about the independent school advantage is on the AISCA website.  They have created some excellent advocacy advertisements that you may find interesting and useful.  Each of the unique advertisements is accompanied by a fact sheet. Lastly, another great resource is this video that was produced to help inform the general public of the value of independent schools. Thank you to everybody who continues to advocate and inform on Rundle’s behalf. III. The Rundle Experience – Post Secondary Planning & Preparation It is hard to believe, but our Grade 11 and 12 students are already starting to make their post secondary plans.  As we see it, this is one of the top advantages of our program. Each of our Academy and College students are receiving one-on-one counselling to help them determine what will be the ‘best fit’ university, college or alternative option for their future. On Thursday of this week, Rundle hosted an ‘Out-of-Province Post Secondary Fair.’  At this event, we saw dozens of the top universities from across Canada gather at the Rundle College campus to meet with our high school students.   Whenever Rundle staff are in contact with these institutions, we receive valuable feedback about our program. We are happy to be told repeatedly  that Rundle students are coveted in the admission process due to the strong reputation of fine character and academic preparation among its graduates.       IV. Athletic Therapy Pilot Project  To support the wellness of our student athletes, Rundle College Senior High initiated the Athletic Therapy Pilot Project last year in partnership with Prairie Therapy. The goal was to  ensure all athletes were prepared to play and had access to immediate care if any injuries occurred. Moving into the 2018-2019 school year, we are excited to announce that the College Senior High is expanding its partnership with Prairie Therapy for all staff and grades 9-12 student athletes. Therapy will be available during all practices, games, and home tournaments to ensure not only the safety of our athletes, but of our visiting teams as well. Given we have therapists on campus daily, we are extending their therapy services to staff as well.  Click here for more information about Prairie Therapy and this exciting service offered to our staff and student athletes at the R.C. Conklin school.  With the success of the program at the College Senior High, Rundle Academy has also initiated an Athletic Therapy Pilot Project. We are pleased to offer therapy services to their staff and student athletes as well.   V. On The Shelf Dare to Lead: Brave Work. Tough Conversations. Whole Hearts. by Brene Brown Measure What Matters: OKRs: The Simple Idea that Drives 10x Growth by John Doerr Highlighted Podcast: Head’s Up with Jason Rogers - Episode 50 & 51 - Conversations from the National CAIS Chairs and Heads Conference Be Innovative Grant Information from the Head's Up September Edition Dear Rundle Community: In honour of World Mental Health Day, it is with profound excitement that I announce the Rundle 'Be Innovative' wellness grants. With appreciation for a generous gift from one of our community members towards the Headmaster's Fund, we will be offering five 'Be Innovative' wellness grants of up to $1,000 each.   All funds given towards the Headmaster's Fund this year are going towards emotional wellness initiatives. As a direct result of these donations, we have been able to provide professional development for our staff, add some additional human resources and now are launching the 'Be Innovative' wellness grants.  A huge thank you to all who have given. If you are curious about how to support this important cause, feel free to reach out! Here's the 5W's of the 'Be Innovative' grants: Why: The aim of the grant is to help our community continue to learn and live a healthy life. Furthermore, we believe that many of our best ideas come from the awareness and agency of our community. We hope to see some grassroots initiatives that take root and continue to strengthen Rundle College Society. Who: Anybody (parents, students and staff) in the Rundle College Society community is encouraged to apply. Applications may be submitted by individuals or groups. What: The grants are up to $1,000 each and there will be five of them offered this year. We don't know what people will suggest, but we are hoping they are creative opportunities to continue to develop a culture of well-being. You can let your mind go a little wild on the offerings, but here are a few suggestions that may get the ball rolling: inviting a speaker in to do a parent speaker series an awareness activity for the Rundle community contracting external expertise to assist with a dimension of well-being therapy puppies for the week before final exams to help students unwind and have some fun! Where: We are hoping that the proposals focus on increasing well-being in our community.  The proposals may focus on a subsection of our community (parents, students, staff). How: CLICK HERE to access the grant application. We encourage you to download it, fill it in and then e-mail it back to headofschool@rundle.ab.ca. Once all applications are received, the 'Be Innovative' Grant Committee will convene to make the difficult decision on who will receive the innovation grant. The projects will then be implemented between January and May, 2019. In May, we will be hosting a celebration to share the successes of our innovation and wellness! When: Grant applications are due November 5, 2018 and we will be announcing the recipients before December 1, 2018. I can hardly wait to see where these wonderful initiatives will take us. Thank you to all who continue to support our school and the students who attend Rundle!  My best, Jason B. Rogers