Please see below our Summer term Wellbeing Newsletter. This newsletter gives you an update on what support is available to students and some ideas about how you can support your child’s wellbeing. There are many additional wellbeing resources on the school website for parents and students to refer to.
We believe in ourselves and connect:
Wellbeing week: The 16th of May is our third Well-being week in school. The National focus this year is on the impact of loneliness.
Mental Health Awareness Week is an annual event when there is an opportunity for the whole of the UK to focus on achieving good mental health. The theme of this year’s Mental Health Awareness Week is loneliness. Loneliness has had a big impact on people, especially over the past couple of years during the pandemic. Our connections with people are an excellent way to help protect our mental health and emotional wellbeing. We can all play a part in helping to reduce loneliness.
‘It’s OK to feel lonely sometimes’
Anyone can experience loneliness. However, the way you experience loneliness can be different to somebody else. Some people can be alone and not feel lonely and others can be surrounded by people and feel lonely.
- Almost 10% of young people said they were ‘often’ lonely1
- Almost 70% of young people said they have felt alone some or all of the time during the pandemic.
If you're feeling lonely it might be a good idea to keep a journal. This can help you understand your feelings better and notice any patterns.
The Mental Health foundation have put together this fantastic resource for young people about 15 tips for if they are feeling lonely.
During Wellbeing week all students will be taking part in a survey to help us understand how our young people are getting on.
The questions are based around the following areas:
- Personal
- Healthy Eating, Physical Activity & Mental Health
- Rotherham & Local Area
- Safeguarding
- Safety & Your Local Neighbourhood
- Young Carers
- Smoking, Alcohol and Drugs
- *Relationships and Sexual Health
- Child’s voice
*Sexual health questions are age appropriate, different questions are asked to Ks3 and Ks4/5 pupils
We will then be able to use the data to help us plan and offer further improved holistic care to our students from September onwards.
Safeguarding our children:
Safeguarding our children remains our key priority. If you have any concerns about the safety of a young person in our school please email _safeguarding@wickersley.net in the usual way and our team will endeavour to support you.
Parent workshops:
We would like to invite our parents to another Wellbeing workshop in school in June. This session will focus on resilience, sleep and how to support your child’s emotional health. More details to follow on the date and time of this event.
School Council news
Term 2 is over and the School Council have worked hard to find out what their peers have been suggesting and seeking to improve in and sound school. They have collected evidence from a number of ways which allows all students to ‘have their say’ in the fairest possible way. They then raised these concerns and ideas to Mr Hardcastle in a meeting just before the Easter break
We take pride in and look after our school community. The School Eco - Council
Our Eco-council have once again been very productive and have continued in their efforts in a few areas including the collaboration with ‘Hope For The Future’ who are a charitable organisation who are educating our young people on becoming activists and how campaigning for change has a positive effect on local communities. These summits are hosted by HFTF and are held at Clifton Academy School which includes Eco-councilors from each of the WPT schools.
They have also organised and held another litter pick which was once again another roaring success in terms of volunteers and all-round positive vibes. We are really proud of their efforts.
They are now starting to help design a ‘sensory garden’ for some of our students in school to use and appreciate which will eventually house raised beds, seating, insect hides and wind chimes which will be lovely for us and them to create.
Student Leadership
We have three Student Leadership teams now focussed on their projects and will work on these projects until the end of this academic year. They will stay in post until December 2022 where they can then re-apply for the next calendar year role if interested.
We have:
- The News Journalists Team
- The Community Relations Team
- The Wellbeing Team
All have started with a bang and are working extremely well with each other and taking on extra responsibilities with school events, transition and wellbeing topics.
The News Journalists Team have created an online newsletter for students called The Obscurer which is brilliant and full of facts, interviews, reviews, politics, news and quizzes.Edition #2 will be released in the summer term.
The Community Relations Team have already helped at a Transition evening and are due to help at the next as well as planning on going into feeder Primary Schools for Q and A style meetings to help prepare our new arrivals who will be with us in June.
The Wellbeing Team are preparing exam stress strategies for KS4 students and the set up and launch of a new HUB for students who feel the need to go and talk and find a safe and restful place to relax during break and social times.
Wickersley Pledges
Students at Wickersley are currently working towards completing and reviewing several Wickersley Pledges.
This term our students have worked on the 'We look after our wellbeing' and 'We take risks' Pledge which allow students to develop habits which promote the value of connection. Students have been discussing and practicing specific actions which can be taken to support their wellbeing with students completing mindfulness exercises in form time.
Students have also worked towards taking risks reflecting on their contributions towards school success (KS4 & KS5) and developing or expanding existing skills (KS3). We recognise and actively support all students to explore new interests with the knowledge that this will open doors and build new connections which promote positive wellbeing.
Excitingly, following our launch in September, we look forward to seeing many students achieving their bronze level at their key stage this half-term prior to undertaking silver and gold level Pledges tasks. As always, this recognition is to encourage all students to strive to be the best version of themselves.
PSHE Update for this term:
In Y7 students are currently working their way through their citizenship unit, exploring crime, the role of the police, and British Values.
In Y8 students are learning about positive and healthy relationships.
In Y9 students are currently completing work on wellbeing and E-Safety.
In Y10 students will be exploring issues around healthy relationships and how to look after their wellbeing.
For more information about the PSHE lessons this term, the scheme of work is on our website.
Useful resources:
The following websites are really useful for supporting young people with sleep and wellbeing:
Some great resources for young people on how to look after their wellbeing and a chance to chat online with mental health professionals about anything that is on your mind
Loneliness – Finding our connections to feel less lonely School Pack from the Mental Health Foundation
The Wellbeing Hub
We have recently developed a new resource for our students based in our B block hub. We now have a wellbeing hub with a quiet sensory room and a wellbeing hub with resources students can access on how to look after their wellbeing. During break and lunchtime our student leaders and some of our wellbeing team will be in the Wellbeing hub for students to come and get advice or have a quiet place to sit.