Mental Health and Wellbeing at St Wilfrid's

“Mental health is a state of well-being in which every individual realises his or her own potential, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and fruitfully, and is able to make a contribution to her or his community.”

(World Health Organization)

At St Wilfrid’s RC Primary School, we are committed to supporting the emotional health and wellbeing of our whole community (children, staff, parents and carers).

We have a supportive and caring ethos and our approach is respectful and kind, where each individual and contribution is valued.

Our school is a Catholic Christian environment inspired by, and rooted in, the values of the Gospel, where everyone is encouraged to grow in faith and moral responsibility. Our school strives to be a place where everyone, through hard work and service to others, can reach their full potential and be formed for their eternal destiny.

At our school we know that everyone experiences life challenges that can make us vulnerable and at times, anyone may need additional emotional support.

We take the view that positive mental health is everybody’s business and that we all have a role to play.

We have looked at the 'Five Ways to Wellbeing' approach in school. Evidence suggests trying to do something linked to these five things each day will help our mental health and wellbeing.

Some ideas for children to use the 5 ways to wellbeing:

Connect

Give

Take Notice

Keep Learning

Be Active

Connect with a family member at meal time this week.

You may be able to help plan and cook a meal or think of different questions you can ask during meal time.

For example:

Would you rather live under water or in space?

If you could only eat one type of food forever, what would you choose?

Share a story

Have you read a good book lately? Share or retell it to someone and get them to tell you theirs.

What is the same and what is different about them?

Make someone laugh

Can you come up with some jokes you can tell your family?

You might want to create a funny story or play and act it out for your family.

Ask an adult and if you are allowed, ring a friend or family member to tell them something that will make them laugh or smile this week.

Make someone smile

We all like to get cards on our birthday but why wait until then?

Let someone special know you are thinking of them by surprising them with an ‘un-birthday’ card. Make a picture on the front and add words to personalise it. For example, ‘Happy Un-Birthday’ or ‘Thank You For….’

Write a personal message inside.

Alphabet Walk

Head out for a walk.

On the way, try to spot something beginning with the letter ‘A’, then the letter ‘B’ and so on until you get to ‘Z’.

Play I spy

I spy is a great way to ‘take notice’ of your surrounding using your different senses.

At home or on your daily walk, play I spy with a family member but try changing it up.

‘I spy with my little eye’…what do you see.

‘I spy with my little ears’…what do you hear.

‘I spy with my little nose’…what do you smell.

Learn five facts about your favourite animal or your favourite place.

Teach someone in your family these new facts.

Craft Ideas to try

Why not keep enjoying learning new craft ideas and skills this week?

Click here to try some fun drawing lessons. There are lots of different pictures to choose from. Which is your favourite?

Click here to try origami. Origami is the art of paper folding. It is sometimes quite tricky. Give it a try with some of these helpful videos. What shapes can you make?

Hide and Seek might be a fun way to keep active.

Choose a few objects and hide them around your house for you or your family member to take turns in finding.

Can you come up with a fitness challenge, write down different exercises and challenge yourself and a member of your family to complete it.

For example:

5 jumping jacks

5 frog jumps

5 squats

Can you think of any others? Can you make it a challenge to complete it in a certain time?