The Importance of Well-Being at Kent Place Schools
In our complex and rapidly changing society, it is increasingly important for schools to provide more than just academic support. In order for students to succeed, they need tools to support their emotional and mental well-being. The staff at the all-girls site, Kent Place School in Summit, New Jersey recognizes the importance of supporting their students’ overall health and well-being to ensure their students’ success in school as well as in society. This kind of value is heavily promoted on their website: We know that wellness is a condition necessary for successful learning and leadership — and we seek to cultivate and model it at KPS. This approach has led them to incorporate HeartMath® into their curriculum and extracurricular activities.
Kent Place School was established in 1894, and its mission is to empower girls to be confident, intellectual, and ethical leaders who advance the world. They serve kindergarten through high school students. Each day, the staff brings their mission to life on an inspiring campus in a diverse community that allows students to grow into brave and brilliant girls.
Michelle Stevenson, the Health and Wellness Director and Department Chair of Physical Education at Kent Place, is the pioneer who saw the value in supporting her students with HeartMath®. (Watch Video)
By March of 2020, all the faculty, staff, and over 600 students plus parents were trained to use the HeartMath techniques. This school-wide initiative promotes making HeartMath a part of their school culture and provides foundational tools that all staff members can utilize with their students.
"It is not an exaggeration to state that all students at Kent Place know some kind of HeartMath technique by heart. Whether in the classroom or outside on the athletic fields, students are finding ways to incorporate the HeartMath techniques into their day."
All the hard work and dedication that has gone into supporting students’ well-being is yielding significant results. For the past few years, students have been taking a health and well-being survey and have been producing results that have exceeded expectations. Ninety-five percent of Kent Place students scored well or very well on this survey. This is proof that the time and care they put into social emotional learning is paying off.
The specialized care and support for the students at Kent Place is evident in five core foundational principles that distinguishes them from most other schools. They are rooted in relationships, which helps form an empowering community. They celebrate their students’ whole self by helping them to cultivate all aspects of who they are. They promote ethics and leadership and foster a love of learning which encourages embracing positive challenges. Lastly, they serve their students by encouraging their strengths and helping them to envision what is possible for the future.
As part of their Health and Wellness curriculum, Kent Place offers a program called Our Learn. Live. Program, which is embedded into every grade level. This program gives students the skills to be self-advocates, strengthen the connection between mind and body, and appreciate the ways they are growing and changing. This progressive program is introduced at the primary level and helps students not only grow and develop, but also to lead others to live well.
To learn more about all of the extraordinary work happening at Kent Place School, go to: www.kentplace.org.