Our Students' Well-Being is on the Rise

There’s a lovely little hum at Lakefield this fall, lots of smiling faces, lots of gratitude and joy.  We have had fun this term, enjoying the outdoors and each other. It’s not uncommon to hear new students say, “The people at this school are so nice, and kind.”  There are even moments, for example during really great Chapel talks, when the whole school seems to be in flow—in sync with each other and with the universe. In short, we appear to be thriving—and now we have the data to support that claim.

Two years ago, as part of the school’s THRIVE well-being initiative, Lakefield decided to implement the Assessment of Well-Being in Education (AWE) survey as a means of assessing the impact of the initiative on our school community. The results from the October 2018 survey of students and staff are now available and in comparison to other schools taking the AWE survey, Lakefield scores continue to be higher than average. Particularly in the areas of resilience and health and lifestyle, our students are doing very well.

The real cause for celebration, though, lies in our students' well-being scores. In almost all categories of well-being, our student scores have either stayed level or improved.  Compared to the students who were surveyed in October 2017, this year’s cohort feel even more like they belong at Lakefield. In general, they are healthier and happier with their relationships with other students than were last year’s group. They report less bullying as well. Overall, our students are showing improved resilience, more satisfaction with their health, and higher levels of global well-being. We’re also pleased to see that our students report high satisfaction with the school for supporting and enabling their well-being!

Even more interesting is the change in well-being scores of our students by grade cohort.  In 2017/18, nearly all scores followed a pattern of students scoring progressively lower at each grade, so that Grade 9s had the highest well-being scores in the fall and Grade 12s the lowest.

That pattern has changed.  In a number of key areas—feeling good about appearance, feeling like they fit in, feeling happy, speed of recovery from a stressful event—Grade 10s now have the highest scores. Last year, Lakefield built a positive psychology advising curriculum for Grade 9, and Grade 9 core teachers wove positive psychology and physical well-being principles into their courses and interdisciplinary adventures. It is far too early to say that there is a direct correlation, but we are inspired to see the scores for this group of students moving in the desired direction. 

There is also good news about our current Grade 12s. They are reporting higher levels of satisfaction in several areas, including overall health, sleep, happiness, and purpose.  And Grade 9s, 10s, and 12s all report higher levels of satisfaction with their diet (Grade 11 score for diet remained the same). Aramark has made many changes to dining hall offerings in response to feedback last year from the grades reps, and the THRIVE and Food Services committees, so we are delighted to see this particular score improve.

The AWE survey also helps to identify areas where the school needs to focus, and we will continue, in all the work we do with students, to find ways of improving the experience for our students and their physical and mental well-being.