Introducing Visible Wellbeing™

Marsden is the best educational option for your daughter at any year level, because she will learn in an environment where she can function at her peak mentally, physically and socially. 

 

We have always been renowned for the outstanding care and support of our students, but we wanted to proactively and intentionally ensure our students are not just ‘OK’ or ‘good’ but are given every opportunity to ‘thrive’. 

 

In 2019 we became New Zealand’s first Visible Wellbeing™ School in partnership with leading positive psychology expert, author and researcher  Professor Lea Waters PhD.

 

Visible Wellbeing is a holistic, comprehensive, science-based and highly successful wellbeing education approach. Visible Wellbeing practices that enhance wellbeing are integrated in teaching at all year levels, across all subjects and as part of all co-curricular activities. Visible Wellbeing is not an add-on programme or sessions as happens in many other schools. Scientifically proven practices are intentionally woven through lessons and activities at Marsden. This means that on any day your daughter will have multiple exposures to practices that enhance her wellbeing.

• The Visible Wellbeing SEARCH framework
• Visible Wellbeing in practice
  
• More about Wellbeing
• Why Visible Wellbeing?

 

The evidence

Visible Wellbeing™ has been well tested, across primary, secondary and Year 1-13 co-ed and single sex schools in government and independent systems in North America, Asia, Australia and the Middle East. 

 

According to two decades of research, a student who has high levels of wellbeing is also likely to have better physical health, better social relationships, more optimism for the future and higher academic performance. It also has a positive impact on a student’s life well into adult life, with longitudinal research showing that wellbeing in the teen years impacts employment, earning capacity, relationship satisfaction and the likelihood of volunteering in one’s 30s and 40s.

Visible Wellbeing is an approach based on strength-based science and positive psychology and is also Marsden’s ground-breaking and definitive response to the alarming prevalence of mental and emotional health disorders among school-age New Zealanders; to address this head on and promote wellness.

The Visible Wellbeing SEARCH framework

Having completed the second year of our Visible Wellbeing partnership, Marsden’s staff have full knowledge and training in the SEARCH framework which underpins the approach, and every staff member knows how they can weave wellbeing practices into each lesson and activity. The framework ...

Visible Wellbeing in Practice

Just some examples of Visible Wellbeing practices at Marsden include: before starting, and during lessons, lifting energy or calming it through mindfulness exercises, music, sharing gratitude, a game, something good about the day. 

Teachers address concerns around tasks and current work or social interactions. They may discuss things using a catastrophe scale or have students write things down, and groups practise active listening and reframing thinking and speech. 

To retain focus and direct attention teachers use a variety of brain breaks. Journaling is used as a wellbeing tool, exercise is key to wellbeing. Seeing, hearing and feeling what is going on in ourselves and others is one of the first tools we introduce to students, together with working out personal strengths. 

In the Preschool and Primary school wellbeing activities include strength trees, emotions art, random acts of kindness, strength spotting, feelings wheels, moments of silence, and more.

 

Upon its introduction in 2019 Visible Wellbeing was embraced by staff and students alike. In the video below Head Girl 2019 Tegan Martin summarises our first year as an introduction to training in the second year (2020).

Our senior students take an active role in promoting wellbeing at Marsden. They inspire the younger students with Visible Wellbeing activities during tutor time (Wellbeing Wednesday), House activities and assemblies. They design and display wellbeing walls and make entertaining videos to showcase and inspire students, staff and visitors alike. They have created a wellbeing space and benefit from the practices that increase their capacity to cope now and beyond their school lives.