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Mental Health Awareness Week 2021
News from the Pastoral Team
Aristotle
Mental Health Week
At Royal High School Bath, we want every girl to have a positive experience at school and we have a strong focus on nurturing wellbeing and promoting good mental health.
Research on the mental health impacts of the Covid pandemic showed that going for walks outside was one of our top coping strategies. Recognising this, the Mental Health Foundation aptly decided that this year's Mental Health Awareness Week theme would be Nature.
At Royal High School Bath, we are always trying to take things outside and inspire our girls to connect with nature in new ways. During Mental Health Awareness Week a range of additional activities took place outdoors, from yoga and dance, social tennis, crochet, drama workshops and a scavenger hunt. We had Boomwhacker sessions, singing, chess club, French Yoga, a wellbeing walk, a wellbeing run and much more. We encouraged girls to get outside and benefit from being active in the fresh air to show that our interactions with nature and each other are crucial to positive mental health and this is something we continue to do.
The week was a success, but it doesn’t just stop there. We will continue to encourage our whole school community to spend time outdoors and spend time being active every day and we are committed to making our mental health a priority every day of the year. Mrs Hughes, Assistant Head (Co-curricular and student wellbeing)
Senior school girls enjoy yoga in the sun
Mental Health Week at the Prep School
At the Prep school, the girls enjoyed learning each day about different activities that can support our mental health and wellbeing. The week started with ‘Mindful Monday’, where the girls carried out mindfulness and meditation activities. On Tuesday, it was all about music; involving dancing and karaoke and learning about the benefits of singing to lift the mood. The middle of the week was ‘Workout Wednesday’. All the girls participated in physical activity from a Joe Wicks workout to choreographing a dance and discussed the importance of keeping active to improve mental wellbeing. On Thursday, the day was focused on the theme of talking, sharing emotions and not keeping problems to yourself. And at end the week, the girls enjoyed ‘Foody Friday’ which revolved around the benefits of healthy eating. There was an assembly about the importance of having a balanced diet and the girls enjoyed healthy crudités and dips at lunch.
Prep school girls enjoy healthy snacks
Boomwhackers at the ready!
Year 7 girls show off their planners
Positive Planners
We have been trialling a new initiative with some of our students to support their wellbeing and promote positivity. The Positive Planner is a Bath-based company that create journals which seek to promote positivity, calmness and gratitude. The feedback has been overwhelmingly positive about the sense of purpose and reflection the planners give to each day, with many students commenting that they have seen an improvement in their productivity, happiness levels and the quality of their sleep.
If parents wish to purchase a Positive Planner for their daughter, please buy one from the website here: www.thepositiveplanners.com
Mrs Cunningham, Deputy Head of Pastoral
Peer Education Project
This year in partnership with the Mental Health Foundation and with thanks to the Friends of the school, we launched the Peer Education Project at the Royal High School.
The Peer Education Project is a secondary school based educational programme that aims to give young people the skills and knowledge they need to safeguard their mental health and that of their peers.
The project is based on the idea that the best people to teach about youth mental health are young people themselves. Students in Year 12 have been recruited and trained as educators. They now have the task of delivering five mental health lessons to peer learners. Our Year 12 peer educators are role models and will build and develop social relationships that can keep the conversation going beyond the end of the project.
Year 7 were chosen as the peer learners as a recent study found that 50% of mental health problems are established before the age of 14. It is also a time of major transition for young people so it’s vital that they understand the importance of good mental health. The aim of the project and the school as a whole is to continue to build a supportive culture around mental health.
Mel Vance, Chair of Friends of RHS, said “The Friends were delighted to support the 2021 Peer Mentoring project. Being able to offer the Year 12 girls involved the chance to train and help Year 7 was a fantastic opportunity that we were more than happy to fund. As we all know, the past 18 months or so have been hard and for the younger years, having the knowledge and kindness of older girls to go to for advice will be of great support.”
Anabel, Year 12, explains why she got involved, “It is important for teenagers’ opinions to be heard on the topic of mental health and I also thought that it would be a great opportunity to get involved with. I enjoyed the experience working on planning lessons about sleep and it was really interesting hearing different opinions on the topic.” Eliza, Year 12, commented, “For me, I really valued the time spent focusing on mindfulness at the beginning of each session. This helped me to take a break from the school day and to re-focus, enabling me to contribute more ideas to the session.” Mrs Hannah Morton, Head of PSHEE
Year 12 girls teach a lesson on improving sleep
