One of the most frequently discussed obstacles to learning in recent years is stress-related mental health issues. Why is this and how can schools make sure they're fostering student wellbeing?

It is indisputable that there has been an increase in the number of students who have mental health issues. The most recent NHS study of young people's mental health found that in 2017, one in eight English children and adolescents aged 5 to 19 had a diagnosable mental health problem. In a recent countrywide poll of primary school kids, 66% of parents reported that their child routinely feels concerned about courses, schoolwork, and social elements of school. This isn't simply a problem for secondary school students, though. preschool Escondido

Students in international schools, in particular, have the added challenge of adjusting to a foreign place and culture, which can significantly affect their level of stress and coping mechanisms. But, it's obvious that there is a rising need for schools to assess the policies they have in place to safeguard the wellness of every student, regardless of whether anxiety and stress are brought on by more difficult exams or by navigating the contemporary school environment.

That puts a lot of pressure on staff members to meet safeguarding obligations and give every student the greatest possible experience on their journey to further education, though, given the limited resources and large number of students in your school's care.

How then may you contribute to ensuring student welfare?

We've looked at some of the things that schools all over the world are doing right now to enhance students' wellness so that you may choose which of these would be beneficial to you and your students.

1. Training in mindfulness

2. Wellness monitors

3. Teacher development 4. Yoga

5. Tea and talk events

1. Instruction in mindfulness

Some students are taking 10 minutes during the busy school day to reflect on their thoughts and feelings in classrooms all over the world. Some people find their center by picturing their feet on the ground, while others use the mindfulness approach to focus on their breathing.

In its most basic form, mindfulness is the practice of training your attention to focus more on what is happening right now rather than on the past, present, or potential future.

The Department of Education is funding a significant project to identify the most effective strategies for promoting positive mental health in schools, and mindfulness is one of the five approaches being tested, despite the lack of widespread evidence for its effectiveness in improving student wellbeing.

Schools continue to use it as a tactic to enhance their kids' mental health despite the absence of supporting data. Several charities and organizations have emerged to promote the development and implementation of mindfulness programs in schools as a result of the increased demand. The Mindfulness in Schools Initiative is one such nonprofit.

It involves developing your capacity for observation. Knowing this allows you to make a decision about how to react, such as controlling the amygdala, the area of the brain responsible for detecting fear and preparing a defense.

Richard Burnett is a professor and the initiative's founder.

This is being implemented in some schools by offering drop-in mindfulness classes or repurposing first aid stations as mental and physical health stations with trained mental health first aiders on duty during lunch and breaks. By doing this, they make sure that their kids have easier access to these stress-relieving activities.

Also, these might serve two purposes for your teachers and other staff members. It will introduce them to helpful strategies that they may use to assist enhance their own mental health and wellness if they also take mindfulness classes or learn how to lead them.

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2. Wellness monitors

Since that student welfare is regarded as being such an important component of any school, you must ensure that you have efficient systems and processes in place to monitor and manage it. When resources and budgets are constrained, it is critical to automate as much of this as you can.

In order to track, monitor, and handle all student problems as they manifest, many schools are turning to digital platforms that interact with their management information systems. One such tool is our Wellbeing Manager, which is tailored to your teachers and pastoral staff by giving them everything they need to provide proactive and preventative care for every kid. It was created to correspond to UK and worldwide safeguarding requirements.enhancing student wellness statistics

With the help of software like this, your school is now able to record all safeguarding concerns involving a single student or a group of students, establish recommended and pursued actions, track and update their status, and alert important staff members, parents, or legal guardians – all in one location.

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3. Teacher preparation

Your teaching team takes daily accountability for each kid in their charge and is always on the front lines. As a result, they are frequently expected to be the first to notice any safeguarding or wellness concerns. However, as with anything, they have a much higher chance of spotting them when they are aware of what to look for.

You can spend money on extensive training for every employee in your pastoral community to assist your instructors with this. Training is crucial to equipping your teachers with the knowledge they need and enabling them to better serve their pupils, whether it takes place during staff inset day or at other points during the school year to enable everyone who needs to can access a session.

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4. Yoga

Some schools, including Doull Elementary in Dover, USA, are implementing well-known stress-combating practices like yoga to reduce some of their disciplinary issues and enhance student health.

"One of the things we appreciate about yoga is that [our students] depart with some real life skills. They were unable to identify how anger makes them feel in their bodies by completing an arithmetic or handwriting worksheet.

Principal of Doull Elementary School Jo Carrigan

According to Harvard Medical School studies, frequent yoga practice is associated with improved wellness, including better sleep, better body awareness, weight loss, and more pleasure. Yoga is recognized for reducing both physical and mental challenges in individuals who practice it.

This means that by providing yoga classes as an after-school activity or even incorporating them into physical education instruction, you might enhance many aspects of kids' life and teach them an essential stress-management skill. For instance, greater sleep will offer students more vigor and concentration during the day, and better physical and mental health will motivate students to adopt better habits, such as a healthier diet and more physical activity, all of which will lead to a more positive cycle.

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5. Tea and Conversation events

One of the best methods to enhance wellbeing in schools is to raise awareness of it and create constructive discourse about it by making assistance more readily available for those who need it.

Several schools believe that holding open "tea & talk" or "cake & chat" events, where students and staff may come and talk to a certified professional or share the challenges they're facing with their peers so they can brainstorm solutions together, is an effective method to do this.

They can run concurrently with study hours without disrupting a schedule that is already jam-packed with academic obligations because they can be conducted during break times and as after-school sessions. Also, because of their format's adaptability, you can modify them to fit your pupils' interests or the safeguarding policies of your institution.