Wellbeing

Wellbeing at CSIA

As a school, we seek to foster a collegiate environment, in which staff are listened to, feel supported and support each other in their continued professional development. We all aim to display a genuine interest and concern in the health and wellbeing of our colleagues, give ourselves time to listen and think, and do our utmost to create a positive working environment and consider that the demands we place upon our staff are reasonable, equitable and impactful. 

• We have a genuine commitment to supporting  staff wellbeing, health and happiness through a  culture of belonging to, and participation in, the wide range of experiences the school has to offer such as our International and Co-curricular programmes which give staff members the opportunity to forge strong relationships with each other, new colleagues and students.
• We endeavour to support staff with their emotional and physical health by providing staff with services such as the use of the fitness suite, organised staff fitness activities (currently bootcamp, football and yoga), free flu jabs and access to mental health and wellbeing support. 
• There are no prizes for looking busy or staying late. We advise  staff members to work in a way which suits them and ensures they make time for themselves and their family (support is always available if this is becoming impossible). 
• We advise that no emails (with the exception of submitting a safeguarding MyConcern) should be sent after 6pm on a weekday or at all during weekends and holidays. We  recommend the scheduling of emails to pre-empt and support staff workload.
• We have devised an assessment calendar which builds in significant time for standardisation, moderation and collaborative dialogue with deadlines which are deliverable within an agreed and reasonable time frame. 
• As a school, we are developing approaches to assessment that do  not require excessive or unnecessary collections of summative data and meaningfully incorporate a range of less formal  formative assessment opportunities and DIRT through responsive  teaching strategies. 
• Staff members are able to choose their own duty areas and days to manage their own workload more effectively and the amount of time staff are  asked to be on duty directly correlates with their contract time. 
• We are a compassionate school and we regularly  go above and beyond when supporting staff  through extreme circumstances.  
• In addition to staff social events, each half-term,  we have a wellbeing week where there are no  after school commitments such as meetings, intervention or co-curricular and we provide staff with opportunities  to forge relationships across the school and try new things and have some fun. 
• Culture of respect: one of our character values is  respect and this applies to all interactions  between all members of our school (be it students  or staff). We aim towards a calm purposeful  environment in order to reduce stress and anxiety.  In addition to this, we do not tolerate disruption in  the classroom and our strong centralised systems and support make this completely possible, if teachers follow the procedures closely.  
• We have outlined a clear ‘care structure’ within school where each staff member knows who to speak to regarding emotional and physical health. Every staff member is appointed a dedicated and specially trained Wellbeing Mentor and there are clear support mechanisms in place for supporting staff members who may require external support. 
• We value our staff members’ opinions and will invite staff to complete a yearly anonymous survey where they can share their views regarding workload and wellbeing so that we constantly reflect and improve our support mechanisms. 

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