At Greenshaw High School, ensuring that all of our students are happy, and feel safe, is our most important objective. A part of this responsibility involves the mental health and wellbeing of our students.

In an assembly on mental health last term, students learnt that there are five actions that they can all take that have been shown to improve wellbeing. These are:

• Get active
• Keep learning
• Give to others
• Be mindful
• Connect (with others)

Each of these will make them feel better in the moment, and will also help them build good mental health for the future.

This week during tutor time, we will be focusing on two things which we believe will have a positive impact on the emotional wellbeing of our students. The first part of the week will be focusing on ‘Connect’– learning more about each other and taking responsibility for each other and to each other. In the second half of the week, we will be focusing on mindfulness.

Feeling connected to people supports and enriches us. Knowing that we are valued by other people is a fundamental human need. It is important for each of us to function well in the world. Social relationships have been proven to play a part in people’s wellbeing. They also act as a protection against mental ill health for people of all ages. In tutor time, students are going to take the time to get to know each other. They are going to show each other an object, possession or photograph that means something to them and the rest of the class will listen so that they can learn something new about each other.

Mindfulness is a way of paying attention to the present moment. It helps us become more aware of our thoughts and feelings. Sometimes we can feel anxious about things that have happened in the past, or we can worry about something that might happen in the future. Being mindful can help us manage our thoughts and feelings.  It also helps us enjoy more, and notice things that we may not have even realised were going on. Students are going to practise the key parts of being mindful during tutor time and will be encouraged to make mindfulness part of every day.

There is also an area on Frog dedicated to mental health and wellbeing which has many useful resources: https://frog.greenshaw.co.uk/app/os#!mentalhealth/home