World Mental Health Day expanded to become a whole week of wellbeing for our students.

All year groups at Smithdon High School were invited to take part in daily mental health-promoting activities in the run up to the international awareness event, which takes place annually on 10 October.

Organised by the World Federation for Mental Health (WFMH) and World Health Organisation (WHO), the day is supported by a number of different charities, including Young Minds, which runs the Hello Yellow fundraising campaign.

Alysha Moat, Assistant Head at Smithdon (part of the West Norfolk Academies Trust), oversaw ‘Hello Yellow Week’.

“All week there were activities taking place every day,linked to the five mental health tips on the NHS website,” she explained. “They were open to everyone and all year groups – they could just turn up and sign in.”

Monday kicked off with ‘Talking Kurling’, where students could chat to one another while they tried an indoor version of the sport; while Tuesday was ‘Gifts of Gratitude’ and saw participants write postcards expressing their thanks to friends or members of staff.

Wednesday was ‘Emotional Mosaic Day’, which featured the creation of a giant Smithdon logo made up of yellow Post-It notes bearing positive phrases or images; Thursday got physical with a Walk-a-Mile challenge; and Friday focused on mindfulness with the Drama Room hosting meditation sessions.

Ms Moat continued:”We used to do Hello Yellow every year, but this is the first time we’ve done something every single lunchtime, and we’ve never linked to the NHS website before. This year we’ve really dug down deep into it.

“We had a massive range of peer groups taking part from Years 7 to 11. I think that was the beauty of it – they all realised they were in the same boat.”

The event also linked to our school’s Personal, Social, Health and Economic Education (PSHE) provision for the students.

Ms Moat added: “As part of the Key Stage 3 PSHE programme, they’re doing topics like resilience, mental health, and eating disorders. We’re teaching them to be resilient, which ties in with the school ethos of ‘Ambition, Respect, and Resilience’.

“We make sure they know who Young Minds are, and that they know about online resources like the NHS and Kooth. We also go through the importance of having three or four trusted adults and support beyond school, as well as talking about the support available in school.

“It’s all about working together and making kids aware that every day will have ups and downs, and it’s all right to sometimes feel anxious.

“We try and do as much as we can with the resources we’ve got – and our best resources are the staff and the kids, and the relationship they have.”