Debbiejo Miranda
Head of Well-Being
Dear Parents and Students,
At the Winchester School Jebel Ali, ‘Well-being’ is an integral part of the curriculum in a bid to increase not only student resilience and self-esteem but also overall academic success. Our primary focus is to ensure the students have a sense of fulfilment and that they can contribute to student life.
With 25 years of international teaching experience and 9 years of leadership, I now take on my new role as Head of Well-being. My purpose is to empower students to discover and develop their unique potential, overcome challenges, perform fruitfully, build meaningful relationships, and contribute to the wider community.
Students are provided with opportunities to develop confidence as leaders, learners and valued members of the school community. They actively contribute to the planning, implementation and review of wellbeing initiatives. Leadership roles and responsibilities include mentoring, coaching, leading interest groups, and representing the school in the local community. Students are viewed as inherently capable; their views, ideas and decisions are sought and valued.
Parents are given the opportunity to learn more about mental health and wellbeing through webinars, newsletters and discussion forums.We also explore a range of innovative ways to successfully engage with parents in an effort to establish positive relationships between staff, students and parents
While our staff juggle a multitude of different tasks and demands, we ensure that with caring ethos and a positive environment, everyone is given the right emotional and practical support so that they can, in turn, stand firm as pillars for students.
Adopting a holistic approach to well-being, ours is a school that talks about values and the importance of compassion and integrity, and now, more than ever these values need to be demonstrated.
We Engage: The ability to work beyond comfort zones is fundamental for students to engage wholly. Thereby, we strive to develop a heightened level of confidence and positive risk-taking, building resilience and understanding the place of failure in the learning process.
We Relate: Positive relationships are conduits to identity in terms of values, ethic and beliefs; a sense of identity that is developed through cognitive and emotional sense, thus maximizing the likelihood for success in a complex social environment.
We Shine:We recognise the importance for celebration as a means to recapture joy in learning, promote significant values and experiences, acknowledge effort and achievement, and show gratitude.
Looking forward to yet another year of new horizons, positivity and success.
Debbiejo Miranda
Head of Well-Being
