SPECIAL EVENTS Mental Health Awareness week
In October the College community came together to raise money and awareness for Young Minds, a charity committed to improving children’s wellbeing and mental health through celebrating #HelloYellow day. The theme for this year was hope and both pupils and staff wore yellow to show young people that they are not alone. The College community continued its work to show compassion and support for young people so that they may feel comfortable to talk to someone if they are struggling. The message of hope is particularly important in light of the pandemic and each tutor group raised enough money to ensure a Young Minds helpline volunteer is on the end of the phone to provide information and support. In support of #HelloYellow day and World Mental Health Day, the theme for the week was mental health. A variety of assemblies, form time activities and skills for life lessons took place to help students understand how to promote positive mental health and how to access support if they are worried about themselves or someone else. In the Senior School we decorated the lobby yellow, posted messages of positivity and signposted support on our video wall. In the Junior School, pupils made bunting out of positive messages and top tips for positive mental health, our younger pupils met an alien and told them all
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about feelings. Mrs Carmichael-Line was pleased to be able to inform pupils in the Junior School that they would now find a member of staff who is Youth Mental Health First Aid trained on duty during break each day and available for students to talk to. Senior School students were invited to design posters on the themes of promoting positive mental health and who can I talk to? and were invited to take part in the #HelloYellow five step challenge each day. Students in the Senior School also looked at how to #AskTwice if a friend says they are fine, when they are concerned about them. Whilst all the activities that took place during the week continued to develop our culture of positive mental health support, we are always keen to ensure that the message does not fade. Support for mental health is in place each and every week of the year and we continually reinforce the messaging about positive mental health and wellbeing through our pastoral programme. Mrs G Davies
