“It is fantastic that ISPP provided the online wellness. This is a clear sign of the school’s commitment to our well-being.”
During the pandemic, and specifically during the online school months, the wellness committee met and shared ideas to better support staff, students, and the broader community at ISPP.
We had lots of projects and, as happens quite often, time limitations prevented us from everything we set out to. We say that there is not such a thing as a bad idea and that one idea can help us build on another, better, and perhaps brighter idea. That’s why collaboration is key and as we all know, two heads are better than one.
Online school wasn’t easy and the fact that we had a few weeks of lockdown made it harder for many of us. That’s when the Wellness Committee started putting in place one of the ideas that came from those meetings, the online wellness activities.
As we all know, after having a whole day teaching online, offering online lessons, one of the last things we want is to add more screen time to our eyes, brain, and body in general. These activities came at the right time, though, when we couldn’t leave our houses to exercise or even go for a walk, swim, or do other physical activities.
We started offering yoga classes for staff and their families, three days per week, having an early session to lift the spirits before a day of online teaching and another one at 4pm to get energized by being active. These sessions were quite popular so we decided to offer other activities that included African dance and fitness classes once a week after school.
All these activities were sponsored by ISPP and families, students, and parents were also invited to take part.
We feel that those sessions were beneficial during the lockdown, and as always, we use them in our best interests, to experience joy, motivation, and happiness.
Although there is no clear research that shows that physical health improves mental health, there are studies that show the interrelation between the two. Loneliness has also impacted many during this pandemic and the fact that belonging to a group, joining a team, even being online might have had a positive effect on our staff and the broader community.
The goal of these activities was to offer an alternative to sitting in front of a screen, to learn something new, and develop a range of skills that help us build our confidence, feel better with ourselves and find some time to unwind while being active.
We hope you were able to join at certain times and enjoy the activities. Thanks for your participation and appreciation. We are together on this journey.
What participants had to say:
“Knowing that I have yoga every second morning, made a huge difference to my day. Before I started teaching, I had already exercised, stretched my body and felt good as I knew I’d be sitting all day. My concentration improved and I felt more productive.”
“Online yoga was a great way to start a busy day! I really felt energised after completing sessions, even though the level was high for my abilities and his soothing voice helped me to enjoy the moments of calm.”
“I have never done yoga before, but went to all the lessons and really felt a difference with my body. Being online also helped because there was no embarrassment in not being able to do some of the moves. I thoroughly enjoyed Rahul’s classes and as a result, will be looking for more online lessons now when his classes stop.”
“I participated in the majority of yoga lessons and that helped me tremendously in keeping a schedule, a work-balanced life and forced me to spend the time on my wellness, something that probably I wouldn’t do.
Teaching online was challenging and having these spaces helped me to try to keep strong until the end of the year. The teacher was fantastic and I can feel a difference mentally as well as physically after constant practice.”
“It is fantastic that ISPP provided the online wellness. This is a clear sign of the school’s commitment to our well-being.”
“The introduction of the wellness activities towards the end of this semester significantly boosted my energy levels, improved my well-being, and I am sure positively impacted my teaching. It was wonderful having the varied activities spread over the course of the week, with the choice of having them early morning or afternoon. I had not really tried yoga before, I had done some keep fit (but very little!), and I had certainly not done any African dancing! The activities were engaging and seeing other staff members in the virtual activities was really wonderful – they were something to look forward to both physically and social- emotionally.”
The Wellness Committee
Leticia Carino | IB PYP Physical Education Teacher, Wellness Committee Leader
