At St Mary’s, we pride ourselves on nurturing the whole child and their development. This support, coupled with embracing the 4Rs (Risk-Taking, Resilience, Respect and Reflection), enables them to flourish during their time with us and build valuable skills that last a lifetime.
While our outstanding Distance Learning has ensured that the children continue to thrive academically, we have prioritised the overall well-being of the children as well. We know that school is a crucial environment for supporting their emotional happiness and promoting resilience when facing new challenges.
We appreciate that at this difficult time, both children and adults have been affected by the new lockdown in a range of ways. Unlike the first lockdown when the weather was warmer, daylight hours were longer and children could take their daily exercise after the school lessons were over, this is no longer possible. We recognise that this is having an impact on the children and so we are proactively taking steps to encourage activities away from their laptops.
With this in mind, we have re-worked the timetable this term to allow the children to have three sessions a week for well-being during the middle of the day. This allows families to enjoy 90 minutes on a Monday, Wednesday and Friday to come away from their computers and take part in fun and rewarding activities.
To bring this initiative to life, we have produced the St Mary’s Well-Being Booklet. This includes six areas of focus: World Around Us; Body and Mind; Music and Drama; Awe and Wonder and Books and Imagination. We are encouraging the children to take part in a variety of independent activities and to share their accomplishments. Whether it’s learning a semaphore, spotting blue plaques in the local area, designing a book mark or taking up hula hooping, there’s something for everyone and all ages!
We will always support the children in all areas of their lives. Our hope is that they will emerge from this time strengthened and having acquired new talents. These well-being activities are intended to stimulate and inspire the children to step away from their screens and celebrate the wonderful world in which we live.
