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Student Mental Health and Connectedness

The past year has been exceedingly difficult for everyone, the education system included.  At Hugh Boyd, one of our greatest concerns has been the mental health of our students and their connectedness to one another and to the school.  We will continue to monitor our student well-being next year as we hope to return to something "closer to normal".

Two of our main foci (and the questions we will ask in our Student Focus groups) are:

    • Student Mental Health
      • How are our students coping with what has been a difficult year and a half during COVID and what supports do they need as we try to return to a more connected life?
    • School connectedness and engagement levels
      • How connected do our students feel to this school and what can we do to help them feel even more part of this community?
      • How engaged are our students in their classes and is the engagement leading to greater academic success and social-emotional happiness?

 

COVID-19 has caused so many of the important elements of school life to be drastically changed or, in some cases. removed.  Students have not had the same extra-curricular opportunities with friends, their connections with classmates and teachers (especially in the senior classes) has been reduced, and there is a sense of loss and sadness that is in addition to the changes that may have been part of home life due to financial pressures, job and food insecurity, or inability to interact with extended family.  All of these factors will be weighing heavily on our students as we return in the Fall, and while we hope we can return to many of these very important activities, we will need to monitor our students well-being and the pressures that will undoubtedly re-emerge.

Our staff and students have been incredibly resilient and resourceful thus far, but thee pressures have not gone away and we will need to continue to be mindful of keeping our students communicating with us about how they are feeling as we return to something more familiar.  One of the actions we have planned for October of the 2022-23 school year is bringing in a motivational speaking group to help rebuild connections for our students.  The program is called Breaking Down the Walls, and to learn more about this program, please see the link here.

Updated: Thursday, December 2, 2021