Student Support & Wellness
We are dedicated to cultivating physical health, mental well-being, and social-emotional learning among students of every age.
Students are offered opportunities to grow emotionally, socially, and spiritually. We help them develop leadership skills, agency, empathy, and kindness, as well as practice habits that promote personal and communal wellness. Through our curriculum and our daily interactions, we want all students to feel a sense of belonging.
What does health & wellness look like by age group?
Early Childhood Program (Age 2 – Junior Kindergarten)
Our social-emotional focus in the ECP works to build community, strengthen the qualities of each individual, and support the development of group cohesion.
Every day includes:
- community-building games
- activities and literature that help foster self-confidence, positive assertion, cooperation, communication, responsibility, empathy, and kindness towards others.
We recognize that academic success stems from social and emotional strength. When students feel supported and valued for their differences, they are better able to forge ahead academically, initiate agency, and practice resiliency.
Our Parent-Partnership Meetings, the first of which is prior to the start of school, enable faculty and family-caregivers to form an important connection between home and School life for these youngest learners at St. Anne’s-Belfield.
Lower School (Kindergarten – Grade 4)
In the Lower School, we continue scaffolding the wellness foundation of the mind, body, heart, and soul.
All students are guided to achieve health and physical literacy and become self-directed critical thinkers who make decisions to live a healthy, active lifestyle.
We model and instill compassion for ourselves and others and a commitment to a kind and inclusive community.
Every day in the Lower School:
- Students build their skills by engaging in cooperative learning
- gain an understanding of emotions
- develop the language and skills that allow them to advocate for themselves and others
- create a mindful, age-appropriate social-emotional toolkit.
Middle School (Grades 5 – 8)
In Middle School, we work with students as they navigate the specific highlights and challenges of adolescence. We offer students programming that provides opportunities to check in with a caring adult who knows them well.
5 – 8 Health curriculums
- Students engage in conversation around social-emotional topics relevant to their developmental stage
- practice good decision-making skills
- healthy communication in their relationships.
As competent, confident, and responsible leaders, middle school students are empowered to effectively collaborate, problem-solve, and communicate when making choices and taking action for both personal and community health and wellness.
In the Middle School
We offer students programs that provide opportunities to:
- check-in with a caring adult who knows them well
- get advice from peers
- discuss social-emotional topics
- play games, and have fun.
We aim to support students as they learn to identify, voice and be proud of who they are.
Upper School (Grades 9 – 12)
Upper School students learn essential health and wellness skills so they can be, in the words of founding headmistress Mary Hyde DuVal, “strong in body, broad of mind, tender of heart, and responsive in soul.”
Upper School Advisory is an intentional program designed to foster community and belonging in small, mixed-grade-level groups of students and an adult who will get to know them well and guide them through their years in the upper school.
Life Skills curriculum for all Freshmen and new Sophomores:
- active listening skills
- bystander intervention
- specific coping strategies; discussing and applying the importance of boundaries and affirmative consent as part of healthy friendships and relationships
- differences between substance use, abuse, and addiction
- consequences of social media
- how to a self-care plan for optimal mental, physical, and sexual health
In addition to access to robust athletics programs, all Upper School students are given opportunities to practice self-care with physical activity electives such as yoga, fitness, and ensemble work in the winter musical.
Weekly Chapel and Community Forums provide time for inspiration and reflection from peers and outside speakers.
Affinity groups provide a place for connection and impact around common interests.
HealthFest, an annual tradition in the upper school, offers students a choice of sessions focused on current best practices in adolescent health from community health experts.
Meet the Teams
Mental Health & Counseling
Our School counselors provide a listening ear and offer support for students’ personal concerns and problems. This may include issues revolving around academic and school-related pressures, relationships, family, substance use and abuse, eating disorders, self image, transition, grief, and any issue that interferes with students’ daily functioning. In addition to in-school support, our counselors provide appropriate outside referrals to families when needed.
Learning Support
Academic and Learning Specialists at St. Anne’s-Belfield School support all students in gaining an understanding of who they are as learners, and encouraging them to reach their full potential. By analyzing strengths and challenges our goal is for students to engage in metacognitive thinking so they may then establish goals and advocate for what they need.
Academic and Learning Support Specialists are available to consult with any student who needs support with study skills, time management, and organization. They collaborate with grade level deans, classroom teachers, and advisors to encourage students’ growth.
Physical Health
Sports Medicine Program
Our Sports Medicine team provides the highest standard of healthcare for all students in the School community, and visiting athletic teams.
Our care focuses on the prevention, recognition, evaluation, treatment, rehabilitation, and appropriate referral of injuries. We emphasize the importance of our athletes maintaining excellent emotional and physical health. Additionally, we strive to aid in the emotional and spiritual growth of our students by fostering a respectful, structured, and positive working environment.
Athletic Development Program
Designed to develop and improve athleticism in every student regardless of level and/or involvement in organized sport, the Athletic Development program’s goal is to help participants be healthy and safe. Students gain better body awareness, resulting in injury reduction through increased speed, strength, balance, and flexibility.
Nurse
At St. Anne’s-Belfield, student health and wellness is a top priority, and we offer a number of services to assist in the daily care and wellness of our community. In addition to our health center facilities on each campus and our nurses, we partner with Pediatric Associates of Charlottesville to offer additional care and healthcare counsel.