74
Wellbeing at Barrow Hills In early 2020, we were delighted to launch a series of talks aimed at sharing ideas and putting the spotlight on mental and physical wellbeing. At the first event, our guest speakers were: Dr Anne-Lise Goddings, Clinical Lecturer at the UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health and specialist in the adolescent brain discussing ‘The Mysterious Workings of the Teenage Brain’. Followed by Pippa Goedkoop BA (Hons) Dip OCR SpLD, specialist teacher and qualified assessor of learners with dyslexia/SpLDs and Head of Learning Support and Extension at Barrow Hills, ‘C’est La Vie, how to build resilience in children’. The evening was a huge success with a packed hall with a lively Q&A session following the two presentations. The second of the talks took place in March and was another fascinating evening. Dr Paola Carr-Walker BSc (Hons) MPsych (Foren) DClinPsych PgDip AFBPsS, Clinical and Forensic Psychologist, and
Founder of Mental Health Now, offering consultancy and training in mental health spoke about ‘Thoughts, Feelings and Behaviours – a Psychological Approach towards Better Mental Health’. Followed by Roz Scudamore BA (Hons), qualified yoga teacher, children’s wellbeing ambassador, co-founder of ROSA Retreats and teacher of yoga and wellbeing in schools across Surrey and Hampshire on ‘Wellbeing Practices for Children - practical techniques in yoga breathing, mindfulness and raising emotional awareness’. We really have some amazing members of our school community who are willing to share their expertise with us. Many thanks to Anne-Lise Goddings, Pippa Goedkoop, Paola Coffey and Roz Scudamore and the Barrow Hills team for their professionalism and hard work. Also in January, our children took part in Parkinson’s Awareness Week with the help of the Guildford and South Surrey Branch of Parkinson’s UK. The awareness
week was organised by Niki Oldroyd who was diagnosed with Parkinson’s at the age of 25. “My particular challenges with Parkinson’s are in initiating movement (usually walking) and freezing, where my brain is saying go but my legs are saying no. This causes lack of balance, lack of coordination and often falls. I am very aware that the children see this when I am around the school and may be confused and worried.” The week started in Monday Assembly, led by Mrs Oldroyd and Parkinson’s UK volunteer speaker Valerie Box. Throughout the week the children attended interactive sessions, designed to give them an understanding of the main symptoms of Parkinson’s - slowness, stiffness and tremor. As much as possible the symptoms were simulated, allowing the children a glimpse into the world of the 145,000 people in the UK who have the disease (1.2% of people with a diagnosis of Parkinson’s are under
