Stepping up in Mental Health Awareness Week

In Mental Health Awareness Week, our Mental Fitness Ambassadors (MFAs) are preparing to get moving for mental health – and they’re taking the whole school with them!

This year’s theme for Mental Health Awareness Week is Movement: Moving more for our Mental Health and our team of Mental Fitness Ambassadors have organised an inter-form step competition to encourage everyone to get moving. 

They said: “Everyone knows that doing exercise and moving more is good for your mental health but it’s not always easy to make time and, sometimes, if you’re feeling a bit down, it can feel like the last thing you want to do. 

“A step competition gives everyone a reason to move more and we hope that the friendly rivalry between the Houses and tutor groups will be the incentive that everyone needs.”

In addition, our team of MFAs are leading a mass walk around the school grounds on Thursday, which will see all pupils from Willow Lodge to Sixth Form, come together to move together. 

Mental Health Awareness Week also coincides with the beginning of exam season, and the MFAs have introduced a new initiative for this year: pre-exam mindfulness. Every day before the morning and afternoon exam sessions, students are invited to join the MFAs in with short mindfulness and breathing exercises, and they explained how they hope students will benefit. 

“We all remember from doing our GCSEs last year that it can be really stressful entering an exam, especially if you’re surrounded by others who are stressed and hyping up the situation. The aim is that we give students the tools to calm down, gather their thoughts and enter the exam hall with confidence.”

These short pre-exam sessions come on the back of a series of successful Working Well sessions. Also led by the MFA Team, the sessions helped students reduce negative exam stress and equipped them with the information and tools they needed to work well during the exam period.

Deputy Head of Sixth Form, Lee Parkes, oversees the MFAs in the Senior School and is proud of the work they do, not just in Mental Health Awareness Week, but all year round. 

He said: “Being a Mental Fitness Ambassador comes with big responsibilities and I am always impressed by the maturity with which our MFAs approach the role.

“They commit to professional training in order to carry out their role effectively and, as a result, they form an important part of the school’s wellbeing strategy, providing peer support to pupils, as well as running tutor time sessions to share tools and advice for younger pupils.

“This year’s team are a particularly passionate and keen group and they really want to engage pupils across the school with their work. They have already shown great initiative already by using the school’s social media channels in order to reach as many people as possible.

“I am looking forward to seeing what they achieve over the next year.”