MENTAL HEALTH
reminding children (and their families) of the importance of movement, social connection, healthy eating, good sleep and personal reflection. Initiatives during Mental Health Awareness Week are designed to tick all these boxes and more. Abbey College Cambridge’s plans range from getting pupils to cycle their way to healthy smoothies using a pedal-powered blender, to small acts of kindness where students gift thoughtful items to others as a way of saying thank you or simply brightening up their day. At Framlingham College, students (and staff) will be given green ribbons during Mental Health Awareness Week and enjoy events like yoga sessions or ‘wear-a-onesie day’. The library will turn into a mindfulness sanctuary featuring titles linked to wellbeing, kindness and psychology. In the prep school, the week will be marked by a mental health-themed assembly, dressing up on ‘wear-something- green day’ to raise funds for mental health and activities such as forest school and pond dipping. All year round Outside Mental Health Awareness Week, local schools also stress the importance
COMMUNITY SPIRIT Abbey College Cambridge (top left), St Faith’s (above) and Framlingham College (below) all strive to foster positive emotional connections through various activities
Families, meanwhile, are encouraged to adopt techniques like mindful breathing and simple regulation so that there is consistency between home and school. For older prep pupils at St Faith’s, the emphasis on pastoral care “is a huge strength of the school and proactive in structure,” says Liz Kennerley, head of outreach. The school’s offering is vast. Mental health-themed assemblies help normalise the language of wellbeing and reduce stigma, and teaching involves showing children how to recognise the causes of stress – and develop positive coping strategies. With 20 members of staff trained as youth mental health first aiders and other specialists, including a counsellor, there’s no shortage of help. In other schools, too, you’ll find a similarly thorough and considered approach to wellbeing and mental health, from younger pupils at Sancton Wood School selecting a sticker each morning that reflects how they are feeling – happy, sad or worried, for example – to what Framlingham College describes as its ‘comprehensive support system, which includes mental-health, first-aid-trained staff, an on-site medical centre, an in-house clinical psychologist, wellbeing periods and buddy systems’. Comberton Village College, meanwhile, prides itself on creating a safe and calm environment through quiet spaces such as ‘the Den’ where pupils can go during
of building an environment and culture where positive mental health has the ideal conditions to thrive every day of the year. A nurturing and inclusive approach permeates every aspect of school life at St Faith’s. In the pre prep, a rethink of Blue Monday in January transforms it into Bright Monday, complete with gentle routines, storytelling and reconnection with friends, adding a positive emotional dimension to the new term. Other highlights during the year include gardening and sensory walks, while the classroom environment is carefully designed to be uncluttered and calm with cosy areas and safe spaces.
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