This week is Children’s Mental Health Week. This year’s theme, ‘Know Yourself, Grow Yourself’, encourages children and young people across the UK to embrace self-awareness and explore what it means to them. Throughout the week, we have been focusing on activities that promote self-reflection and emotional wellbeing.

Care for our mental health and wellbeing starts as early as Nursery, where the children have been talking about their feelings and their emotional response. Cedar class decorated cookies with the colour of Inside Out’s emotions, and practised their best facial expressions to match each mood. Sycamore reflected on their feelings, painting a giant Colour Monster, with each colour representing a different emotion. Our Pre-School class enjoyed a spa day, and a sensory play activity to help them learn to describe their experiences and the emotions they incite. Their art lesson resulted in the creation of Proud Clouds, putting all the things they love about themselves into words.

In the Prep, our Years 3-6 Anti-Bullying Ambassadors, trained by The Diana Award Anti-Bullying Programme, led a fantastic assembly. They shared their roles and responsibilities in education on bullying behaviour and celebrating differences, discussing the importance of embracing our uniqueness, and ensuring that we treat each other with kindness and respect.

Year 13 had the privilege of attending ‘Take Control: Overcome Procrastination and Unlock Your Potential’, a masterclass led by Alicia Peña Bizama, a Chartered Counselling Psychologist and Head of Student Wellbeing at the University of Reading. Alicia explained how our brains work and why procrastination is a natural response to uncertainty about the future. She reassured students that feeling overwhelmed is common but can be managed by shifting their focus from the end result to daily learning, highlighting the impact of mobile phones on concentration. Emphasising the importance of attention as a key cognitive skill, she encouraged them to train their brains to study effectively and handle academic pressures by identifying daily priorities.

Alicia empowered Year 13 students to take control of their efforts, enabling them to stay focused and track their progress over the coming months. The session left students feeling motivated and equipped with excellent techniques to combat procrastination during this crucial period.

Meanwhile, in the Sixth Form Centre, our resident Chaplaincy Team has encouraged students to take a moment each day and relax through mindful colouring, and a Positive Mindset jar with inspiring quotations and chocolate treats.

The Girls’ & Boys’ Divisions have spent assembly and tutor time honing their skills of identifying their emotions and learning new ways to process and express them. Inspired by staff sharing their own personal strategies, students were reminded of the importance of prioritising wellbeing and challenging prejudice surrounding mental health.