A new wellbeing space Tara Pandey, Head of Art and Design Technology at Longacre School, presents the ‘Bear Hut’, funded by the school’s PTA and is the brainchild of herself and Longacre’s Head of Forms V and VI that mental health dialogue should be open and understood rather than hidden and shameful. All the children come to the hut happily and of their own accord, sometimes in groups to sort out friendship issues and sometimes alone to discuss something one-to-one. I’m so happy to see it being used consistently and to see children who came with something bothering them, coming back to the same teacher to let them know that their chat has helped sort it out. We, as a school, wish to role model behaviour for our children so we have made mental health dialogue part of our form time and lessons and it has been so affirming to see that actually these young children do not naturally attach stigma to talking about their worries or anxieties; to them it appears more and more a natural part of their day – to share and listen in return. Longacre School has opened a new wellbeing space for pupils as part of the school’s focus on mental health and mindfulness. The ‘Bear Hut’, so called after the bear that features in the school’s logo, opened at the start of the Michaelmas term and is already proving popular with Longacre pupils. We realised the children needed a space to come and talk about their feelings so I presented this idea to the PTA who naturally also saw the enormous value for the children. We then ordered our shepherd’s hut, spent the summer painting and
30
furnishing it and now it is happily in action! We are so grateful to our PTA for their support and encouragement. Children can come to the hut at break times and lunchtimes where a different member of staff is always on duty. Sometimes they just want some quiet time, sometimes they want to talk about changes at home or school and sometimes they want to share some happy event that is going on in their lives. It was important to us that our Bear Hut sits in the centre of school; it is not hidden away. I believe strongly
PREP SCHOOL Reflecting the best in the prep & junior school world
Research by the charity YoungMinds has shown that 70% of children and young people who have experienced a mental health problem have not had appropriate interventions at a sufficiently early age and that children and young people who experience mental illness are more likely than other people to experience mental illness in adulthood. Creating the right environment for children is about creating the right physical environment as well as the right emotional environment. The Bear Hut is also used for our very popular mindfulness club, art therapy
