The #30DaysofWellbeing idea came about to give people simple hints, tips and reminders of what we can all do to support ourselves and others with our wellbeing.
With so much content being shared over social media, people can often get overwhelmed and with January seeing so many people kick-starting new habits and resolutions, the idea was to simplify things within 140 characters or less.
The tips, hints and ideas focused on little wins and considerations, whether that being a reminder to take a breather, have a drink of water or to limit the amount of social media use as well as supporting others around us. It shared how we can support other people and that, by taking the time to call or text a friend or colleague and check in with them, we can have a massive impact on both theirs and our wellbeing.
British Values are really important to us at The Forest School, we embed the teaching of this in all that we do. We want our children to be proud of who they are and of what they do but we also want them to remember that not everyone can be home for Christmas and that our Armed Forces play a really important role in keeping
everyone safe.
We want our children to grow into kind and thoughtful adults and we want them to know that Christmas is a time to think of others as well as of ourselves. To support this learning, during the Autumn Term The Forest School children have continued a tradition of writing Christmas letters to the Yorkshire Battalion, who are this year in Afghanistan.
This has become an important event in school that the children (and adults!) now look forward to and thoroughly enjoy writing.
The children’s letters have included them introducing themselves and discussing how they celebrate Christmas, asking questions to the soldiers and sending them a Christmas wish. Alongside the letters, the children brought donations for shoe boxes or filled their own shoe box. This year we sent 27 boxes to Afghanistan which were gratefully received by all the soldiers.
In return our wonderful armed forces (The Yorkshire Battalion) have taken the time to write to the pupils which encourages our children’s engagement in literacy activities. The soldiers sent lovely pictures of them opening their presents and this allowed our children to see the joy of giving and reinforces exactly what we are trying to help our amazing young people understand.
Alison Gordon – Springwell Lincoln Q Why be a Wellbeing Champion?
I believe that the wellbeing of staff should be paramount in every work setting. I have always had an open-door policy where staff could drop-in and chat so being Wellbeing Champion seemed the obvious step for me. I enjoy promoting staff wellbeing and engaging staff in different activities.
Q How do you make a difference to staff wellbeing? I make a difference because I believe in positive mental health within the workplace and I would like to think I have a good relationship with the staff and I would like to offer the similar support and guidance to the staff, that we as a school offer the pupils.
Q What’s your favourite way of keeping yourself well?
Not living life on auto pilot, taking note of the little things, that would usually go unnoticed. I have just completed a mindfulness course that I will be qualified to teach in the New Year and this will help me fulfil my role as Wellbeing Champion.
Q Describe yourself in three words…
Empathetic, Approachable, Determined
Katie Grainger – Elements Primary School Q Why be a Wellbeing Champion?
I enjoy that I can give back to my work colleagues and support them when needed, especially with the year 2020 has been.
Q How do you make a difference to staff wellbeing?
I hope in my own way that I cheer staff up when they need it, support them where I can and they all know my door is always open if they want a cuppa and a chat
Q What’s your favourite way of keeping yourself well?
Taking a little time for me, I enjoy walking our dog to clear my head and I have started reading more.
Q Describe yourself in three words…
Fun, kind and caring.
Jordan Vaughan –Springwell Learning Community Q Why be a Wellbeing Champion?
Wellbeing is more important now than ever before. Together, we can make a positive difference to enhance wellbeing across the trust. I think being a wellbeing champion allows myself to support colleagues to the best of my ability and promote the importance of self-care.
Q How do you make a difference to staff wellbeing?
I am always available to have a chat and a cuppa with my colleagues, to offer my support if they need to offload the pressures of the day. As a team, myself and Abby offer whole school wellbeing meetings and wellbeing activity days. We are looking forward to developing the wellbeing offer within our centre.
Q What’s your favourite way of keeping yourself well?
My favourite way of keeping well is to be outdoors, either walking in the hills, swimming in lakes or out for a ride on the push iron.
Q Describe yourself in three words…
Approachable, Dedicated, Trustworthy
Once again, Bramley Park Academy have risen to the challenge and we have ensured that our school community is cared for. Our staff have been out delivering food parcels to families. A total of 57 parcels to date and a further 20 by the end of the week. We have also distributed 93 devices to our children to support their online learning. Our staff are making twice weekly welfare calls to our families and our most vulnerable children are receiving daily calls or home visits from the pastoral team at school. I feel very humbled and proud to be part of Bramley Park Academy. Our staff are brilliant!
Bramley Park Academy are part of an outstanding community. Our school has an incredible partnership with Rethink Food, Pudsey. They are a ‘not for profit, CIC (Community Interest Company) and do a remarkable job for our local community. They have fed our children and young people in October half term and Christmas,
and are now delivering weekly food parcels for some of our families… amazing!
We are really proud to share that the Wellspring Academy Trust has been selected as the winner of the Best Education Establishment category.
The panel recognised “excellent examples of good practice particularly referring to the development and implementation of your trust wide health and wellbeing strategy and how you have built on staff engagement through the wellbeing champions across each site.”
This award is a great recognition of the Trust’s wellbeing journey over the past couple of years and a real testimony to the commitment and engagement of our
Wellbeing Champions, who are the driving force behind the Wellbeing Strategy.
Throughout the 12 days of Christmas, LaceyField delivered Christmas cheer across Louth.
After a year of uncertainty, we were not going to let COVID-19 stop us from celebrating, spreading kindness and creating Christmas memories.After all, it’s what our children, families and staff deserve! For each of the 12 days leading up to the Christmas break, we took part in an act of kindness for the local community. With one aim, to spread a little kindness! The 12 days added up to the most exciting and magical end of term for the LaceyField community.
Determined the pandemic was not going to stop charity efforts and festive sparkle, children, families and staff at LaceyField took part in a “12 Days of Christmas Kindness” campaign. Generosity from our LaceyField community enabled us to:
Deliver eight Christmas hampers to local care homes
Hand out more than 120 food parcels to LaceyField families
Create Christmas cards for patients across Lincolnshire hospitals
Delivered two Christmas hampers to EDAN Lincs (Women’s refuge)
Create ‘hearts for homes’ – artwork and decorations for care homes
Make ‘hearts for heroes’ – decorations for local emergency services
Formed a new partnership with Trinity Centre Food Bank
Virtual Christmas Concert shared with local care homes
Raised over £800 for St Barnabas Hospice through Rudy’s Run.
As teachers, we all know that children benefit from exploring their learning in a variety of ways. At Bramley Park Academy, we always strive to provide our children with hands-on, engaging and purposeful learning experiences.
Despite the current lockdown restrictions, we are adamant that this will not stop for our children and their families. We have been working hard to find ways to encourage children to engage with the whole curriculum – as normal – even if that is from behind a computer screen (for now).
One of the ways that we have done this so far is with the introduction of a weekly STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) challenge. These challenges have been designed so that they can easily be carried out at home with the whole family. The challenges include building the tallest free-standing tower out of everyday objects; making your own musical instrument; creating a collage from 2D and 3D shapes and creating your own mini habitat. Rather than focusing on just subject knowledge, these challenges encourage children to develop their skill set by finding out about the world around them. Inquiry learning is made more
relevant throughout the real-life links and self-led problem-solving projects.
To encourage children and parents to take part a winner from each Key Stage will be chosen and prizes will be awarded when all children return to school. We have had an excellent response to the challenges so far, both on Google Classroom and on our schools Twitter page (@bramley_park).
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Taking the curriculum outdoors can have a considerably beneficial impact on the learning and development of our pupils. The pupils have had lots of fun in outdoor learning this term enhancing their problem solving skills as well as developing their communication and resilience. Outdoor learning provides our pupils with endless opportunities for exploration, experimentation and contextual learning.
Fundraising in Year 7
At Springwell Barnsley, the pupils and teaching staff in Year 7 have been completing a daily mile to raise money for Barnsley Hospital Charity during the second lockdown period. Starting on November 9th the pupils have been walking, running and jogging a mile every day, regardless of the weather.
Barnsley Hospital Charity will use the money raised by Year 7 to buy technology, which will enable patients to video call their friends and family while visitation is suspended. The fundraising has been a great success and we are extremely proud of Year 7 for all their dedication and hard work
Kindness Week
For Kindness Week 2020, pupils at Springwell Barnsley wanted to focus on helping families who may be less fortunate provide a good Christmas for their children. All classes collected toys and they were all donated to the Westfield Resource Centre in South Elmsall, where members of Just Homes Care boxed and prepared all the toys to be distributed to families struggling this Christmas. They were very touched by our generosity. We would like to thank all members of the school community for their generosity and for making our Kindness Week another great success.
Alison Gordon – Springwell Lincoln
Jordan Vaughan –
