This week is Children’s Mental Health Week and each class has been doing activities relating to it. We have had ‘Worry Workouts’, extra yoga, Resilience Shield making, stories that teach us how to develop a positive mindset, listening time and a special Tea and Toast for Year 6.
Lower School
The smaller children have been having daily worry workouts where they share their worries with Walter the worry monster.
The friendship bench has been used for quiet reading and friendship chats when children need a moment of calm or comfort.
In PSHE, all children in Year 1 have made their own resilience shields. They thought of their favourite colours, words that might help them stay positive and pictures that made them happy and strong. They are using them in lessons to help their own resilience.
Years 3 & 4
Year 3 and Year 4 joined together for PSHE, they read “The Red Tree” by Shaun Tan and discussed the emotive metaphors he uses to depict the sadness we all feel sometimes.
After, the children flexed our emotional muscles in a Worry Workout where children (and adults!) had the opportunity to share and talk about anything that was worrying them. They then discussed the other options available for more private strategies such as talking to a trusted adult, posting to the Worry Box or visiting the Wellness Wall. Finally, there was a passing around of our own ‘Red Tree’ and shared our happiest memories. Because the best way to fight sad thoughts is with happy ones!
Tea and Toast
It can be a difficult time for Year 6 children at the moment with exams and interviews. Our Year 6 children have the weekly opportunity to sit down with our Headmistress for an informal chat over tea and toast. They discuss how they are feeling about their exams and sharing how they like to relax during this time. It’s always important to take a break and reflect, and did you know the smell of toast releases endorphins?!
Year 6 and Mrs. Wyatt also spent some time that was dedicated to sharing good sleeping tips. Together Year 6 came up with the following ideas such as, going to bed at the same time each night, not looking at screens an hour before bedtime, and to do some relaxing things like listening to classical music, having bubble baths, enjoying hot milk, thinking happy thoughts, counting breaths, reading fun books and having soft lighting and the right pillow.
They talked about how important a good nights’ sleep is for mental and physical wellbeing, especially during the stressful exam period and they concluded by deciding that there is no need to be stressed about the exams as the school they will get into will be the right one for them.
At The Lyceum School, emotional wellbeing is at the forefront and we have recently introduced several new initiatives to teach children to understand how they are feeling, to know why they are feeling that way and to recognise when they need to share their feelings with someone they trust. These initiatives are not just for Children’s Mental Health Week, but for every single day!
Read more about the new initiatives here.
