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HAVERGAL COLLEGE
Sarah Bruce,
Head of Upper School
Understanding
the Whole Girl?
By Sarah Bruce
I believe I can...
engage.
accomplish.
contribute.
I can be effective
anywhere,
anytime
and with
anyone.
I
optimistically embraced the school’s Strategic
Plan, “A Culture of Capability 2009-2014,” and,
in particular, the Whole Girl strategy. To me, the
recognition of the Whole Girl means that as a school
we purposefully monitor the progress and well-being
of each girl’s body, mind and spirit. To fulfill this, we
place a strong emphasis on providing a wide variety
of opportunities for each girl to explore and discover
what it is that brings her personal fulfillment. As
well, we provide many opportunities for each girl
to reach her full potential in her chosen pursuit. My
perception of the term well-rounded also means that
we help each student to balance the importance of
all components of her well-being without sacrificing
one of the other areas. In other words, the term
Whole Girl entails helping each girl to feel whole.
As the Strategic Plan came to life, I learned that
this understanding of Whole Girl is not shared by
all of members of our community. Some students
interpret Whole Girl to mean that they must be good
at everything. We learned from other girls that the
Whole Girl strategy placed additional pressure on
them to be perfect; to reach one’s potential and be
well-rounded implied for them that they had to be
the best at everything.
With this in mind, this academic year we will be
exploring with our students what Whole Girl and
well-rounded means to them and what makes them
feel whole.
To help bring our mission of “preparing
young women to make a difference” to life,
the Strategic Plan articulates the school’s
desire to develop each girl’s global capability
and self-efficacy. These terms also took
some exploring before the girls could see
what matters—that it is their approach
to life that is most important, as well as
their belief in their own abilities and
capabilities—and that there is neither a
checklist for becoming globally capable
and self-efficacious nor is there one way
of doing something.
As these terms were not clearly understood by
students, the Academic Leadership Team produced
two new posters, which can be found around the
school, that summarize global capability as “I can be
effective anywhere, anytime and with anyone” and
self-efficacy as “I believe I can engage, accomplish,
contribute.”
As we near the end of our current Strategic Plan, we
continue to reflect upon our work, to evolve our
learning and to celebrate our achievements. I hope
parents will share in their daughters’ journey as they
build their sense and understanding of wholeness,
self-efficacy and global capability.
FACULTY