In our Wellbeing Around the World series, we speak to leaders across the globe to see how they’re nurturing positive staff wellbeing, whatever challenges they may face.

In this article, we head high into the Swiss Alps to chat with Nicola Sparrow, head of school at Aiglon College, to hear about the actions they’ve taken to boost wellbeing - including opening up access to the school for all staff’s children in order to ensure a fair and equitable environment.

Why does staff wellbeing matter to you as an international head? 

All schools are a community but an international boarding school halfway up a mountain feels more like a family village than a school.

Staff wellbeing is tied into many things but that sense of community and shared culture is central to how we try to create an ethos that promotes our educational philosophy.

At the heart of that community is always people and, therefore, their wellbeing is the most important thing to prioritise as a leader to ensure this community is achieving excellence.   

Our school is defined by strong relationships between staff and students. Everyone who has decided to work here has done so due to a belief in our guiding principles; the balanced development of mind, body and spirit.  

That focus on balance and commitment to an education that goes beyond the classroom applies to staff as much as it does to our students. We want everyone to love being here. 

Are there any wellbeing issues unique to your school? 

Aiglon is a truly international culture that invites 66 different student nationalities to co-exist under our shared values. 

This interculturalism is our greatest strength but also, in terms of wellbeing, can be one of our biggest challenges. 

We have to work hard to understand one another and ensure that all cultures are heard and appreciated. We have staff who arrive with very different cultural approaches to how to work and we always need to ensure that different perspectives are welcomed and supported. 

The Swiss management of the pandemic was efficient and impressive and, thankfully, we have managed to continue in-person learning for all but one term of the last few years. 

That said, the pandemic has changed how we work and interact and, as with many institutions, it has made work and the school even more central to the lives of everyone at Aiglon. This year we have actively had to look at ways to “return to normal”. 

For example, we have looked to stop out-of-hours email communication as, during the pandemic, this became commonplace. 

Equally, we insist all teachers block four “off periods” - ideally taken at once as half a day, but sometimes as a block of three and one perhaps -  where they cannot be used for cover or meetings and are encouraged to use the time for their own wellbeing away from school. 

With high achieving staff, sometimes good leadership is ensuring they know when to stop and, although this is not unique to us, staff in this boarding environment work so hard that we as leaders need to be proactive in encouraging rest and reflection time.

What wellbeing initiatives have you introduced in the past two or three years?

We have recently introduced a range of initiatives, from wellbeing days to chair-massage days, free staff yoga and staff fitness classes but one wellbeing initiative we have recently introduced, which may not immediately seem like a wellbeing initiative, is through our work on auditing our approach to diversity, equity and inclusion. 

We have now ensured that all staff at Aiglon, whether they are a teacher, a cleaner or a groundsman, have the opportunity to send their children to our school for free. 

The equal approach to all members of staff goes one step further to ensure our community wellbeing is defined by fairness. 

Previously only teachers were allowed to send their children to Aiglon but now your access to the school for your children is defined by your commitment to the school, rather than your role. 

More from the series:

• Wellbeing Around the World: Community spirit in New York
• Wellbeing Around the World: Creating a ‘youniversity’ in Italy
• Wellbeing Around the World: Acting with PAWsitivity in Malaysia
• Wellbeing Around the World: Reducing lesson length in Hong Kong

How did this idea come about? 

The pandemic made us reflect on ourselves as a community. The performance of all of our staff in coming together to ensure the school thrived and students were able to access their learning went beyond just the teachers.

It was an example of how passionate all our staff are about working here and it was inspiring to see. 

We felt we needed to honestly reflect upon the differences within our community if we wanted to ensure it got stronger as a culture when the pandemic ends. 

How involved were staff in this work? 

Staff involvement in developments and new initiatives is very important to us and we worked hard to look at both formal and informal channels of staff feedback and comments. 

In particular, Aiglon staff are consulted on all changes by using a fortnightly survey, via a longer annual survey that allows us to outline longitudinal data and outline trends, and with a staff committee that functions as an opportunity for staff to anonymously approach a group of staff members from all parts of the community who represent them in conversations with the senior leadership team. 

How was this initiative rolled out on a practical level?

Practically it can involve an increase in student numbers. It was based upon careful planning regarding the spread of students throughout the school to ensure there were only positives from this initiative. 

At Aiglon we do not allow any one nationality to exceed a certain percentage and we carefully manage the demographic of our students. 

Equally, over 10 per cent of our students are scholars who receive financial aid. Similarly, we work hard to ensure our staff-students improve the culture of our school, rather than overwhelming it. 

Did you have to allocate any budget to meet this? 

It involved an entire review of all of the school’s finances, which is always carried out on a regular cycle, and assigning significant provisions to ensure all students continue to get an outstanding education regardless of where they are from. 

What advice would you suggest to others based on this approach? 

Be bold in thinking about your divisions. If you know something exists, an elephant in the room that should be tackled, start making steps towards at least starting the discussion. 

Begin by asking what you are trying to achieve, what is important to you as a school and as a leader and then start thinking about how you can get there. 

For myself, kindness, community and equity are core values I want to see in the school I lead. 

How do you look after your own wellbeing? 

Watching property shows on television with my family. And wine. 

Tes are the official wellbeing parter for Bett 2022. For more information and to register click on the link below: