Dear Rundle Community,
As a community of learners, it is our ongoing obligation to live learning. As you are aware, our ongoing strategic themes include innovation, pluralism, and wellness. In today’s Head’s Up, I invite you to join me on a journey of learning about one element of wellness — gratitude.
This past Tuesday, I had the great honour of attending a Zoom retirement gathering for five, long-serving Heads of School, who are a part of our Canadian Accredited Independent School (CAIS) network. During the final presentation of the afternoon, one of Canada’s leading Heads, Peter Stirrup, from Pickering College, said something that will frame this month’s message. Peter shared a quote from David Steindl-Rast,
“It is not joy that makes us grateful; it is gratitude that makes us joyful.”
Along with being witness to this retirement celebration, I have had a month that has had an abundance of human connection. Over the course of this month, I have had dozens of conversations about wellness, mental health, resilience, grit, and antifragility with a diverse range of members from our community including parents of alumni and current students, health care professionals, teachers, custodians, and fellow heads of school.
What strikes me about these conversations is the eerily familiar arc to each interaction. They often start with a pleasantry, move to contemplations on COVID, turn to the care of our children and conclude with an expression of gratitude. It is this very arc of connection that makes our Rundle community such an incredibly stabilizing, caring, and kind community; a community whose sole focus is to support our children as they navigate these complex and confusing moments.
As I reflect on the retirement speeches and the interactions I have been enjoying, I remain inspired by the sentiment of the quote I shared above. In the spirit of gratitude and joy, I would like to take this opportunity to give my gratitude to our community.
To Our Students
Thank you for coming back to our schools with such vigour, optimism, and vitality. Each day, you remind us why being together at school is such a sustaining force for us all.
To Our Parents
Thank you for your continued support, insights, conversations, and understanding. In my conversations with other school leaders, I am continually reminded of how special our Rundle parent community is. Although we may not always agree on what is right or what is best, we choose to live our values of kindness, curiosity, and wellness and these principles bind us, together.
To Our Faculty & Staff
Thank you for your continued dedication to the student experience, learning, and engagement. You have truly been on the front lines of education during COVID and your strength, courage, and compassion have allowed our schools to survive and thrive during this time of unprecedented uncertainty.
With this, let me close with a challenge to members of our community to continue our collective learning. Take a moment and share your gratitude with someone in our Rundle community; after all, who knows, maybe it will bring you joy.
Stay well,
Jason Rogers
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