What our schools are doing to support Children's Mental Health Week

To Give:

• Call relatives who may be living alone.
• Help at home by tidying up.
• Offer to help younger siblings with their learning or play a game with them

To Connect:

• Sit down to eat the evening meal as a family and talk about the day.
• We have built-in time during the week for Y5 to chat to each other on Zoom and share what they are doing.

To Keep Learning:

• Learn a new skill - Year 5 have started to share some of these during our Screen-Free afternoon

To Take Notice:

• Try to look around more and be grateful for the little thing

To Be Active:

• Go for a walk with our family.
• Go outside in the garden and play.

Above is a list of specific things that Y5 at St Mary's have chosen to do to try to improve their wellbeing.

As part of our growing commitment to mental health, for Children’s Mental Health week (1-7 Feb) we have been a part of the Now and Beyond Mental Health Festival. Over 300 pupils from year 7 and 8 participated in a live webinar from the Peer Education Project, where they explored various issues around mental health. 130 of our year 11 students participated in a session based around practical coping strategies with Every Kick Counts. Over 160 of our year 10 pupils participated in a webinar hosted by the Drive Project and Building Generation R; they heard inspirational testimonials from real people who had endured unthinkable tragedies, only to endure and overcome by demonstrating true resilience.
A group of staff have put together a video where they offered personal insights and advice around managing mental health. We have asked all pupils to participate in the Express Yourself competition, in conjunction with Place2be. Staff and students have also been invited to wear an item of clothing 'inside out' today, to celebrate individual differences.
The feedback so far from parents, students and staff has been overwhelmingly positive!