Stratton Upper School have run a series of events to promote the importance of student mental health during its own StratFest Wellbeing Week. The StratFest Wellbeing Week, which took place from July 5th to 9th, involved a series of workshops delivered by charities, local mental health services and creative organisations. Sessions were open to students, parents and carers with the aim to help restore a sense of local community and provide support to the area.
Principal Roz Hodges said: “We recognise the importance of mental health and understand the impact this can have on our young peoples’ education and wellbeing. We are proud to have been able to organise this Wellbeing Week for our students so they could benefit from a range of free activities, both in person and online, that can promote good mental health practice.
“At Stratton, we always strive to create a safe and dependable learning environment for our young people and hope this week of valuable workshops have helped our students readjust to back to school learning.
“Thank you to all the organisations who dedicated their time towards delivering these events to our students and the local community, they had an enjoyable and most informative week.”
Workshops delivered throughout the week included sessions delivered by Positive Psychology Practitioner, Catherine Stacey, from Chill Your Beans Wellbeing. Creative wellbeing events were also available by spoken word artist Quinton Green, who uses music mentoring, arts and poetry to explore mental health issues and Helen Shelswell from local charity Poets In, who offered a workshop for students on managing stress and anxiety.
A parent from the school said: “As a parent of a son and daughter who have experienced anxiety, I found the resilience session so valuable. It helped me to understand the needs of my teenagers and effective ways to support them. The session was delivered in an understandable way which provoked reflection and useful discussion. Really helpful, thank you.”