Focus Week on Mental Health and Wellbeing

World Mental Health Day was on Tuesday 10 October 2023. This is an annual event which is recognised globally to help raise awareness of mental health issues, talk about mental health, and show everyone that mental health matters. The focus of the day for 2023 was for people and communities to unite behind the theme ‘Mental health is a universal human right” to improve knowledge, raise awareness and drive actions that promote and protect everyone’s mental health as a universal human right. At BSG we always aim to focus on our students’ wellbeing and mental health as a priority. World Mental Health Day this year allowed us to spend a week in which we concentrated on wellbeing and mental health matters: Reminding our learners that that it is ok to ask for help, to prioritise themselves and their mental health, and to hopefully take the time to look after each other. To mark the day, we held a ‘World Mental Health Awareness and Wellbeing Week’.

During the week the students participated in fun activities aimed at boosting wellbeing, plus learned more about mental health. In PSHE sessions students researched key facts about adolescents’ mental health, discussed key messages and priorities when considering managing mental health wellbeing, they were given a variety of links, tools and support kits such as ‘Doing What Matters in Times of Stress: An Illustrated Guide’ by the World Health Organisation, the ‘Wellbeing Action Plan: A simple, ever-evolving resource to help you keep yourself well and take appropriate action if things start to go less well’ provided by the Charlie Waller Memorial Trust, plus information about living with a black dog and much more.

Outside of lessons secondary teachers demonstrated their willingness as always to go above and beyond by providing a variety of activities during their well-deserved lunchbreaks for students. The activities were planned with the aim to help boost the wellbeing of our learners by allowing them to have some giggles and perhaps even let loose a little! Stimulating and fun activities included: ‘Mindful Colouring’, ‘Crossbar Challenge’, ‘Escape Room’, ‘Shuttlecock Kicking’, ‘Bean Bag Buffoonery’, ‘Puzzle Playground’, ‘Basketball Block’, and even ‘Dance like no-one’s watching’ in which the drama studio was transformed into mini-dance club vibes with a smoke machine and disco lighting! The week was rounded off on Friday with a whole school ‘Wake and Shake’ at the start of the day when everyone came out onto the field and enjoyed a dance to get their energy going, and then a secondary ‘Wellbeing Walkathon’ house competition at lunch. The turnout for the competition was incredibly high, and both staff and students can give themselves a pat on the back for representing their houses during this fun event.

Overall, a fun and educational week for the students and, although we always aim to make our learners’ mental health and wellbeing a priority, this week was another chance for us to reinforce the message that it is ok to not be ok, to ask for help, and that protecting mental health and wellbeing is a universal right.