EDUCAT ION
At Hills Road Sixth Form College, each student is allocated a specialist tutor who is available for individual meetings about progress and any other needs or issues. This relationship is at the heart of support and guidance, according to the college. Elsewhere around Cambridgeshire, you’ll find many other well-thought- through, imaginative activities aimed at pupils at different ages and stages, all designed with well-being in mind. For younger pupils, there may be fun activities like yoga, therapeutic art and team building, designed to encourage a sense of discovery, get children to try new things and look after themselves, mentally and physically, in a range of different situations. Culford School encourages pupils to learn what well-being means and start to develop a growth mindset. “It’s the sense that I have the power and influence to change tomorrow. Whatever happened to me today isn’t fixed in stone,” explains Dave Watkin. St Faith’s places a big emphasis on giving pupils a voice. The School Council, Eco Committee or the opportunity to become a prefect create a sense of empowerment, says Nigel Helliwell. “Treating each pupil as an individual is key; honing in on their strengths and providing a broad curriculum and extensive range of extracurricular activities so all the various individual talents can be developed.” At St Christopher, optional well- being-related activities for senior school pupils range from a Zen-focused garden to knitting, origami and tea tasting.
For younger pupils, there’s the GRIT (guts, resilience, initiative and tenacity) programme, which helps children challenge themselves and start to see how a GRIT approach can help them. Boys and girls also have separate weekly sessions designed to develop strategies in everything from dealing with friendships to conflict resolution. Schools are also encouraging open debate about mental health, so it has equal status with physical health. The Leys is running a three-year project that does just this, with staff making videos and meditations for a mindfulness well- being app that’s available on all school iPads. Pupils in one year group there have also built a self-care kit that could be rolled out to the whole school. Promoting well-being to older students in schools means getting a more complex message across – balancing the encouragement to aim high with the message that growing up is unpredictable and setbacks and failures along the way are inevitable. Families, with schools’ support, are being encouraged to show their children they are loved for what they are, not what they achieve. At Hills Road Sixth Form College, well-being coordinators are an important part of student support, able to devote enough time to talk through any worries or concerns students might have. Students can be referred on to counselling services, while the college
the whole school community – and that includes staff. Motivated, happy and positive teachers who feel valued, encouraged and who get a helping hand in difficult times themselves make for positive role models – something that’s good for the entire school community, points out Nigel Helliwell. “The well-being of staff has never been so important, given the pace of life and demands on their time,” he says. St Faith’s brought in email protocols five years ago. “No emails (except in an u
also coordinates a programme of well-being related workshops and events throughout the year. Well-being needs to encompass
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