This week has been Children’s Mental Health week, and we started the week with an interactive assembly from Mr Cholerton. Mr Cholerton spoke to the Senior school about knowing yourself and recognising your emotions in order that you can grow and flourish. Several pupils took on the guises of the emotions from Inside Out to help Mr Cholerton demonstrate the role of our emotions and how they all deserve to be listened to and acknowledged.
As you may have picked up from previous newsletters, I believe good mental health and wellbeing to be a strong foundation on which to flourish, and something that should be a constant in the minds of school leaders and parents. Good mental health comes from keeping the mind in good condition, the same as the body, we can’t prevent every injury or low point, but we shouldn’t wait until things are drastic before seeking help. What can keep us flourishing? Finding tasks and hobbies we enjoy is a good starting point, as is learning and keeping our minds engaged; we’ve had a few good examples taking place this week:
We had two successful musical assemblies this week for Years 4 to 8. Our hugely talented peripatetic drums and guitar teachers showcased their instruments and invited students to perform alongside them. Playing an instrument is a great way to develop creativity but also to explore emotions, it can be a great way to relieve anxiety and at Hollygirt, there’s the social element too as pupils work together to produce performances. If your child is interested in having instrumental tuition, please email Miss Seaton.
For the left-brained (if you subscribe to that theory), we’ve had the results of a very successful Intermediate Maths Challenge. Of ten pupils entered, three have been recognised with certificates; with two Bronze certificates and a Silver which will be awarded to pupils next week. While putting oneself forward for a challenge may seem a little intimidating, the wellbeing benefits of giving yourself a target to work towards can be hugely beneficial as it offers structure, purpose and a sense of accomplishment.
For me, my mental health moment was taking ten minutes to read ‘Room on the Broom’ to our EYFS pupils; often just a few minutes is all that is needed to give our brains a rest from a constant stream of thoughts and reading is a great way to otherwise occupy the brain. I think the pupils enjoyed it too, especially as a couple of the Prefect team joined in.
Which brings me to my final thought about thoughts: Shakespeare’s Hamlet said, “There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so”, meaning it is how we view our experiences that frames the way we feel about them, if we can frame things positively we can find things a little easier to manage. It’s not always easy and takes a bit of practice, so I’ll leave you with this excellent example from a pupil who had taken part in a football match this week. When I asked if they had won, they replied, “No, we came second”. How’s that for a more positive take?!
Ever onwards and Upwards
Ms Purdy
Head