Family Handbook 2023-24

STUDENT HEALTH AND WELLBEING

Chaplain Havergal’s Anglican affiliation provides a foundation for our spiritual life as a community. We are fortunate to have a Chaplain on staff whose role is to provide pastoral care to community members as well as being an academic resource for the school community. Counselling and conversations with the school Chaplain are an additional wellbeing and support resource available for students, staff and families.While our school traditions have an Anglican focus, Havergal has a multi-faith community and is committed to fostering respect for, and understanding and celebration of, other religious faiths within our student community and the traditions and teachings that are meaningful to them.

Consulting Physician

Havergal’s consulting physician works closely with the Health Centre, managing the wellbeing needs of the Boarding School students.

Reporting the Disclosure of Personal Information by Upper School Students It is not uncommon for an Upper School student to have a conversation with a guidance counsellor, school nurse, a school social worker, a coach or another trusted faculty or staff in which the student discloses sensitive personal information about herself and/or her family. In so doing, the student might specifically request that the information she discloses not be shared with her parents. While we encourage Upper School students to share important disclosures they might make to faculty and staff about their physical and/or mental health and wellbeing with their parents, it is key that Upper School parents appreciate that capable students have legal rights to their privacy and the confidentiality of their personal information, including personal health and identity information, under applicable laws. When a capable Upper School student discloses personal information to faculty and staff and specifically requests that the conversation and its details remain confidential, it is important for parents to understand that—with the exception of an imminent risk and/or health or safety-related circumstances—the student’s request will be honoured. When a student discloses information to a faculty or staff member about her personal health, identity or safety-related circumstances and the school believes there is an imminent risk to the student or to others, the student’s right to confidentiality will not prevail and Havergal will comply with its legal duty to report. This would, in most cases, involve immediately contacting the student’s parents. Havergal has outlined steps to manage the kinds of personal disclosures that students can, and do, make to faculty and staff. School administrators and student support members work together, as

39