Wellbeing superheroes: Our work with an adventurous Liverpool infant school

WELLBEING SUPERHEROES

Our work with an adventurous Liverpool infant school

Turning the ‘Five ways to wellbeing’ into a team of superheroes is such a good idea, we wish we’d thought of it ourselves! Credit must go, however, to a Liverpool infant school which has been working with Charlie Waller trainer, Zoe Woodworth.

Claire Gilroy is the Assistant Head at Forefield Infant School in Liverpool. Amongst many other things, she is responsible for personal development, behaviour and welfare in the school. Claire initially contacted the Charlie Waller Trust because she was looking for support with staff training around mental health. We introduced her to one of our mental health trainers, Zoe Woodworth, who discussed with her what approach she would like to take to the staff training.

In the event, Zoe delivered much more than Claire originally envisaged: as well as a staff training session, she provided a session for parents and governors, an assembly for the whole school and a one-day youth mental health first aid course for governors and staff. Claire says: “Mental health and wellbeing have always been a key part of our school culture but since Zoe’s visits, they’re now firmly embedded within our school community.”

I used emojis and graphics rather than words to represent thoughts and feelings

Forefield Five superheroes

It was Claire who came up with the idea of the ‘Forefield Five’ superheroes, who represent the five ways to look after your mental health as recommended by the NHS: connect - Captain Connect; be active - Active Man; keep learning - Lightning Learner; give to others - Go Go Give; and take notice - Mindful Mystique. Claire even knitted the characters so that they took a physical form in the classroom. Now the children are learning to become superheroes themselves.

The children are aged four to seven, so Zoe had to tailor her training to a particularly young audience. She explains: “There needed to be lots of participation and I used emojis and graphics rather than words to represent thoughts and feelings. I asked them lots of questions about what they thought the faces were showing and we agreed it can be hard sometimes to read emotions.”

Zoe used the Forefield Five to discuss the five ways to wellbeing and how the children could implement them every day. Now the children are learning to be superheroes, the teachers can ask them, for example, “How have you been Active Man today?”

Lockdown challenge

Zoe delivered the training before lockdown but, as Claire explains, the school was able to respond to lockdown with a focus on mental health. “We launched a Forefield Five lockdown challenge, which was a selection of challenges linked to each of our superheroes with a focus on boosting wellbeing. The children and parents responded well to this and sent us emails showing the challenges they had completed.”

Zoe also ran mental health awareness sessions for both teachers and parents and introduced them to the concept of the superheroes, which went down really well. She spent a day delivering mental health first aid training to the school’s governors and wellbeing team, which includes teachers, teaching assistants and lunchtime supervisors; in her words, a “brilliant way to link up all the school’s services”.

The day focussed on equipping them with more skills to support a child or young person in distress, as well as materials the teachers could add to their lesson plans, which incorporated ways to back up the superheroes concept. Zoe also made a point of emphasising the importance of their own self-care, so that they are better able to support others.

Everyone involved with the school is now much better equipped to support the children

Claire believes that everyone involved with the school is now much better equipped to support the children, particularly during and after the long summer lockdown: "Parents who attended Zoe’s training were very positive and said they felt it was one of the most important parent workshops they had completed, giving them a better understanding of how to support their children. For children returning to school after lockdown, we delivered lessons to support wellbeing and this was supported by excellent teacher knowledge. We also delivered transition workshops to parents around how to deal with anxieties about returning to school and reminded them how to use the Forefield Five to support this.”

Zoe is delighted that the school has taken such a positive and proactive approach. She says: “Everything they do breathes what the Charlie Waller Trust is about and the amount they got involved is amazing. I learnt so much from them too – it’s why I keep doing what I do.”