Wellbeing Day Autumn 2019
WellBeing and Citizenship Day
The importance of good mental health and well-being is at the forefront of education and health services at the moment. We spent part of our Autumn Well-being Day focusing on mental health and well-being and ensuring that our children know strategies to use to support themselves and others and to keep themselves feeling mentally well. The children had come into school dressed in blue to signify their commitment to Anti-bullying. In the afternoon, each class took part in lessons that emphasised the importance of being a good citizen both in school and in the wider world.
Find out what each class got up to below:
Reception
In Reception, we spoke about how talking to each other about how we are feeling is really, really important! We started to understand that we are a team and we are all there to help and support each other. To remember this, we all worked together to make a cake that contained some very special ingredients. Pots of 'kindness', 'happiness', 'love', 'friendship', 'helpfulness' and 'laughter' were added to the mixture to make a cake that represented the people that we wanted to be in Reception class.
Year 1
In Year 1, we discussed how certain words and actions can make others feel happy/more content and also how certain actions/words can make others feel sad/low. We linked this to a number line counting in tens from 0 - 100. 0 = really sad/low and 100 = happy/positive. We discussed how most people start the day on 50 and then it was up to us in the class to help our classmates go up the scale (and not down)! We then role played different scenarios and how that would affect our mental health. We put our own names on the scale and used it throughout the week, discussing why we moved up or down the scale at different points in the day. We used this scale alongside our emotional barometer to help us verbalise different emotions.
Year 2
In Year 2 we explored how our attitudes to learning can help us. We talked about having a 'growth mindset' and how to use I can statements to help us. We also thought about how when we find ourselves in the 'learning pit' - when we think we can't do something it is best to think about how we can't do something yet. We had a really positive day thinking about how we can work together as a class to support each other and keep a positive mindset for the challenges in the year to come.
In the afternoon we thought about bullying and how the different things we could do to if we had problems with bullying. We talked about what we could do and drew around our hands to making a 'helping hand' of 5 different people we could go to if we felt we needed help. We also explored the different things which make a good friend.
Year 3
In Year 3, we learnt about the importance of keep our mind healthy as well as the rest of our body. We learnt about ways to keep our mind healthy including exercise, sleep and talking! We practiced some mindful yoga and learnt breathing techniques which help to prevent as well as deal with worrying.
In the afternoon we revised what is bullying; the different types of bullying; how to deal with bullying.
Year 4
In Year 4, we focused on the importance of talking about our mental health. The children learnt how to categorise feelings into small, everyday feelings that can be easily managed and big feelings that are harder to cope with. They then did activities to help them to know how to manage big feelings, highlighting the importance of talking to others to share problems and worries. This was followed by an activity to encourage good listening skills.
In the afternoon, Year 4 explored different types of bullying and discussed strategies to use if they thought they were being bullied.