Health & Wellness
Boys have important resources–both in people and program–in addition to their faculty advisors. The school offers all-school programs, the purpose of which is to keep both students and faculty current on some of the fundamental issues facing adolescents today, such as alcohol and drug abuse, stress and depression, and forging healthy relationships. Boys in Class VI, V, and IV participate in weekly health and wellness classes.
The full-year Class VI Health & Wellness course helps boys build the practical skills for a healthy life. Students explore their own values and character strengths, develop digital well-being habits, and build a foundational, emotional toolkit by learning to identify their emotions, manage stress, and navigate difficult feelings. The course addresses kindness and empathy, healthy relationships, personal boundaries and consent, and effective communication strategies alongside body literacy, puberty, sleep, and nutrition. A substance use prevention unit helps the boys to make informed decisions about caffeine, nicotine, and peer pressure. Throughout this course, students practice these skills through discussion, scenario-based learning, and hands-on activities.
The full-year Class V Health & Wellness course builds on the foundation from Class VI by deepening students’ skills for navigating adolescence. Students extend their emotional toolkit with more complex and real-world applications and explore relationships, communication, and conflict management. The course examines healthy versus unhealthy relationship dynamics and builds assertive communication skills for socially complex situations. Units on body literacy, sleep and nutrition, and substance use prevention equip the boys with accurate information and decision-making tools. Throughout the course, the boys are challenged to apply what they’ve learned to real-life situations.
The one-semester Class IV Health and Wellness course equips the boys with a toolkit for making decisions, a skillset that is foundational to long-term wellbeing. The students learn to recognize and resist common cognitive biases, think carefully about risk and uncertainty, and apply a structured process for working through complex decisions. The students apply these skills directly to situations they will likely face, such as self-advocacy and help-seeking for others, substance use, social conflict and peer pressure, risk-taking, and academic courses. The course utilizes realistic scenarios for hands-on practice throughout the semester.
A boy may turn to any adult not just his advisor, for advice or counsel. The Head of School, Assistant Head of School for Program, Dean of Students, and Director of Counseling are especially well positioned to help him. Boys in need of special academic help have the opportunity to meet regularly on campus with the school’s learning specialist. Both faculty members and older students (through our in-house tutoring program) are available to help students with their academic work during free periods, as well.
