As we speed towards the end of July, the question we’re asking anyone who’ll listen is .. “Who stole the last 11 months?” It only seems like yesterday that the new academic year began back in September, and here we are now, feeling reflective on what an amazing academic year it’s been for The Wellbeing Crew.
It’s fair to say that we’ve had far more highs than lows this year, so we thought we’d take a leisurely stroll back over the last eleven months and re-live some of those highlights with you.
The Launch of our Wellbeing Ambassadors
We couldn’t think of a better way to instil wellbeing into students than by the miracle of peer to peer learning. Armed with an arsenal of wellbeing tools, we worked with carefully selected schools in the Black Country and Staffordshire and set about training wellbeing to a handful of pupils in different schools. Watching their joy of learning made the task much easier for us as trainers – and once they were trained, they were able to pass their new-found wisdom onto their peers. The result? Kinder, calmer classrooms, and the knowledge that there’s always ‘someone there’ when you need them. You can read all about our Wellbeing Ambassadors here.
Reflections Programme
Resilience is a life skill that we develop over time. Nobody is born with resilience, and for some people it can take longer than others to become resilient. One of the projects we’ve really enjoyed delivering into schools this year has been our Reflections programme. We devised Reflections to introduce resilience to students in their teens. It helps to promote inner strengths and interpersonal skills.
Understanding emotions can be a daunting prospect for young people, but we’re fully equipped to assist schools navigate through the Social Emotional Mental Health (SEMH) rollercoaster with their students, which ultimately leads to better behaviour and self-awareness.
Reflections has also helped those students who struggle with socialisation. By working on their own self-awareness and confidence, many no longer feel isolated or overwhelmed at the prospect of integrating with their fellow peers.
Recognising that every school is different, we tailor our Reflections programme to suit the challenges faced by the schools we’re working with, giving the school reassurance that we’re there for their students as individuals, and not just a ‘tick box’ exercise.
We’re already fired up with excitement for September, as we have 30 new schools coming on board with our Reflections programme – and we can’t wait to get started!
Mentoring
Using tools such as our I Can challenge cards, and Happy Diaries, we’ve been delivering our mentoring programme in schools this year and seeing some amazing results.
We’ve been privileged to see even the most reserved students come out of their shells and discover their own strengths, which has helped them to build relationships and go about their daily routines with more confidence. The Mentoring programme is suitable for students of all ages, from primary right through to year 12 students and is tailored to become more age-appropriate depending on the group we’re working with.
Time For Us
In March we launched our first Time For Us sessions. These meetings are aimed at working parents who are guilty of putting themselves last when it comes to self-care.
We met with some amazing women who, true to form, prioritise their children and husbands over themselves, subsequently losing their own identity and sense of purpose.
By working with the women in a relaxed, trusted environment, we used techniques such as meditation and affirmations to begin their journey of rediscovery, confidence, and self-belief – and to witness the changes over the weeks of the programme was an astounding journey to be on with them.
Find out more about the Time for Us programme in this blog from earlier this year.
We’d like to thank all of the schools who have allowed us to play a part in the emotional development of their students. The same sentiment goes out to their parents, and the students themselves. We absolutely love what we do, but it wouldn’t be possible without the schools and families.
The Future
Just because school’s out for summer, we can’t take our foot off the gas altogether. We’re looking to grow The Wellbeing Crew so that come September we can hit the ground running. If you know of any self-employed trainers who would be interested in working with us in schools delivering wellbeing programmes and education to students, please point them in our direction!
Similarly, if you’d like to find out more about our wellbeing programmes for your school, we’d love to hear from you.
