Children’s Mental Health Week
8th February 23
This week we’ve been focusing on wellbeing and connections as part of Place2Be’s Children’s Mental Health Week.
The campaign is run by children’s mental health charity Place2Be to raise awareness of the importance of supporting children and young people’s mental health.
In honour of this year’s theme, ‘Let’s Connect’, the Lower School has been focusing on how we can create meaningful connections to support wellbeing in their classrooms and in Callover.
On Friday, Lower School students will ‘shine a light’ on children’s mental health by dressing up in their brightest clothing, accessorising with lights, and bringing in an optional donation for Place2Be.
In the Upper School, the School Six has been delivering Callovers on strategies to support mental health to each year group.
On Wednesday, the Upper School’s form hour was dedicated to connecting with activities which support good mental health. Years 7, 8, and 9 tried out wellbeing activities including spoon whittling, sushi making, and Lego building.
We asked our students why they decided to take part in their chosen activity and what they liked about it.
Toby and Ruben told us they chose to play board games because “it’s calm and it’s nice to do things with your friends.”
There was a full range of designs on display in the nail painting session and even Deputy Head, Al got his digits decorated.
Yasmin said she chose to take nail painting because, “it’s a nice time to relax and do something nice with friends.”
In the Science Labs colourful tie-dye t-shirts were being created. Cara told us “I really like tie-dying. I’ve only done it once and I’ve always wanted to do it again and I’m in a group with people I don’t normally spend time with so that’s nice too.”
The Fitness Studio was the location for some amazing dance moves as students fired up Just Dance on the big screen and danced to favourite tunes. One of the dancers told us: “I like that it gives you energy and releases adrenaline for the rest of the day.”
In another lab there were more science-led activities as students got to grips with bath bomb making. While mixing up their sweet-smelling creation another student told us “I’ve always liked making things and it’s nice to do something I normally don’t do.”
Further up the school, in Year 11, Form Tutors shared the ways they look after their own wellbeing with their students which saw some people heading off for a lovely walk in nature and others taking part in self-care pop-up spa.
In the Sixth form’s Form Hour, documentary producer and writer Jeremy Thomas spoke about practical and effective strategies for protecting mental health. As someone who has been affected by mental health issues gave a humorous talk which, between the laughs, included a toolbox of ways to deal with anxiety, depression, resilience, and self-esteem.
To fully support our students’ wellbeing, we believe it’s also important to support their parents so we also hosted two online parent talks on digital safety and supporting children with exam stress.
Take a look at our gallery below to see some more photos of the Year 7, 8 & 9 form hour activites!
