Healthy:  Inside and Out.

Children’s health – something we take very seriously at St Augustine’s Priory.  The key is integration:  our life here focuses on the mental and physical health of children, enshrined in all that we do.  From healthy eating, a stimulating and stretching academic life, exercise and, most vital, play, PSHEE lessons, our School Counsellor, our Big Sister, Little Sister programme, and the importance of friendship – all these help to keep our pupils whole and healthy.

  

This week, Children’s Mental Health Week 2019, we have been emphasising a healthy mind in a healthy body – from Nursery discussing the importance of mental health and practising their deep breathing in their quest to centre themselves to senior girls attending the ‘Let’s Talk, Mental Health Youth Conference’, the emphasis on physical and mental health has been strong throughout the week.

At the ‘Let’s Talk, Mental Health Youth Conference’ on Thursday schools had the opportunity to find out about the new children’s wellbeing practitioners who will be supporting selected high schools in the borough and to talk to a range of local mental health services involved in the day.  The conference was hosted by Ealing’s health improvement team, the Ealing music service and the Clinical Commissioning Group. The event was attended by a range of local mental health services and organisations that support children’s wellbeing and included interactive workshops to raise awareness of mental health and challenge the stigma that prevents many young people from asking for help.

  

In school, in the Prep Assembly on Friday positive strategies for keeping healthy and developing resilience were put forward.  Meanwhile, the Juniors integrated the theme of the week throughout their activities, learning about the five actions to improve personal mental well-being, such as connecting with people, being active, taking notice of everything around you, being a giving person and keeping learning!  Added to this, getting a good night’s sleep, eating a balanced diet and not having too much screen time are also important!

  

Other ideas included picking something you already do to look after yourself and trying to notice how it makes you feel, for example, eating fruit, reading at bedtime or playing.  Asking your family, friends and teachers about what they do to look after themselves is also a good idea as is deciding one new thing you can do to look after your body and mind – it doesn’t have to be a big thing, but could be eating an extra piece of fruit or doing something relaxing to make you feel better.  If it doesn’t work, try something else.

The important thing is to find something that makes you feel Healthy:  Inside and Out.  Something that we take very seriously at St Augustine’s Priory.