During tonight’s assembly, we launched our third Wellbeing Pillar. Over the next three weeks, we will learn how to build a strong and positive relationship with ourselves.

Throughout the session, we talked about Self-Acceptance and we shared some tips to accept each other as we are.

Ultimately, each girl shared something positive about themselves or something they were proud of achieving in the last couple of weeks. From being proud of coming back from the holidays on time to being proud of finishing a 3 summative day successfully, the girls shared their thoughts.

As a boarding community, and as House Parents, we want to make sure that our boarders accept and love each other as they are. Teenagers are very impressionable and it is important that they understand that they should never change for anyone and that the only opinion that matters about themselves is the one they have.

The Lunar New Year is one of the most important holidays in many Asian cultures and it marks the start of the lunar calendar year. This celebration symbolizes fresh beginnings and hopes for prosperity, happiness, and good fortune. Usually, before the holiday begins, families clean their homes to sweep away bad luck. They decorate with red lanterns, couplets, and paper cuttings.

One of the children’s favorite traditions is receiving red envelopes filled with money, wishing them good fortune. Fireworks and lion or dragon dances are common, believed to ward off evil spirits and bring prosperity. As it occurs in many cultures, food is the center of the celebration and each dish carries symbolic meaning. Dumplings represent wealth, fish symbolize abundance, and rice cakes signify progress.

Every year we celebrate this important day with our Asian students; a way to bring them a piece of home far from home.

Happy Lunar New Year!