HeadStarters have had a very busy spring term, with their sights set on achieving their Bronze award, the children have taken being peer-mentors to the next level. From running SHACK sessions, Lunch Clubs and expanding their knowledge on all things well-being and mental health at Breakfast Club.

Spring term saw the introduction of the HeadStarter Breakfast Club, and it has really taken off! With the initial plan being to run the club for only a 5-week term, it has exceeded expectations and is still taking place every Wednesday morning – the children have said its their favourite day of the week!

The club has been an amazing opportunity for our children in helping them to become confident in their roles as well-being ambassadors.  It has allowed us time for the children to understand the important relationship between physical and emotional well-being, and to experience the direct effects of starting their day in a positive way.

Each week the children looked into a different topic in relation to mental health and well-being and engaged in a physical activity as part of the session. The children took the lead on this and were keen to set up their own games.

We discussed the benefits of physical exercise, sleep, connecting with others and self-care can help to manage emotions. We debated how these strategies differ for different people. The children learned the value of respecting each other’s different strategies enabling them to support others more effectively and with an open mind. The children created their own self-care toolboxes filled with strategies that help them cope with their emotions.

‘I take care of myself by reading’

We identified how the brain works, how it recognises emotions and responds to different situations. We explored common everyday stresses and we introduced the term ‘flipping your lid’. The children are able to recognise that life has ups and downs, and that emotions are normal and valid. The children recognise it is how we look after our emotional well-being that is important. This has given the children the knowledge of calmly problem solving and thinking about how their actions based on emotions can affect others.

‘I am grateful for going to school and being taught by great teachers’

We defined the meaning of resilience and the children had open discussions about times they have demonstrated this. We discussed the importance of a positive attitude and the impact changing our perspective can have on our life.

We focused on one of the five ways to well-being, ‘take notice’. We discussed the importance of grounding ourselves by taking notice of our environment, the people in our life, who we are and being grateful for this. The children made their own ‘gratitude jars’ and were able to recognise the value in being thankful for the simplest things in life.

 ‘I am grateful that I have what I need to survive. Food, drink and shelter’

We explored how thinking positively and having self-belief develops our confidence and a sense of worth. Tying in what had been discussed in previous weeks, we looked at how positive mindset, taking of what they have, sharing gratitude, can influence emotional well-being. We discussed the topic of loving our self and choosing to love and feel positive.

‘If you can’t love yourself, how can you love somebody else!?’

The children recognise the link between self-care and looking after themselves and how doing so can enable them to be strong well-being ambassadors and peer mentors within school and in the wider community.

The children completed an ‘all about you’ worksheet and were asked to think about what they are good at, what they love about themselves, what they are thankful for and what good choices they have made recently. The children also wrote their own affirmations – positive statements to say to themselves to help create positive emotions about themselves.

The children loved having discussions around what they love about themselves and challenged each other on why sometimes it is hard to say what we love about ourselves, drawing on previous week’s discussions about self-belief.

‘I love myself by being me ‘

Some mornings the children just danced around together and started their day off with moving their bodies to their favourite music. The children were able to see for themselves the impact some good music and a good time with friends can have on our mindset and well-being.

Everything the Children have learned during their time at Breakfast Club has given the HeadStarter’s the tools and knowledge to teach well-being and positive mindset to their peers during lunch time sessions in the SHACK.

‘I am brave ‘

They have been running Lunch Clubs on the MUGA and have really stepped into their roles and are now recognisable around school.

‘I am strong ‘

‘I am me ‘

The Y5 HeadStarters have now also taken on an SSO role in afterschool clubs to further build their confidence and to further raise their profile within the different year groups in school. This is to ensure all pupils know who their well-being ambassadors are.

The SHACK

The HeadStarters are not short of initiative when it comes to how we could grow and improve. How we could improve the SHACK was at the top of the talking points for many HeadStarter meetings – as put forwards by the children. They were keen to make it the best space it could be. From a simple clock on the wall, to completely re-arranging the space to make it more comfortable and open for the children who come in.

‘Be the reason someone smiles today ‘

The children thought it was important to have positive messages in the SHACK windows for pupils to see, as it would re-affirm positive messages every time they saw them – so we did just that!

Bronze Award

Our Amazing Y5’s finished off the spring term with the achievement of their first award! The children are so proud of this achievement and are already raring to go on working towards their Silver Award in this next term. The children have grown even more as a group and are full of ideas and initiatives that can spread positive messages around our school and the wider Linthorpe community.

‘What’s next Miss!? ‘

Gold Award

Our group of Y6 children have been amazing peer mentors for our new Y5 group. Their hard work over their last 2 years at Linthorpe has rightfully awarded them with their Gold Award qualification.

I am so proud of our Y6 Well-being Ambassadors, and I have no doubt they will continue to spread positivity and kindness to those around them in the next part of their journey.

Published: May 21