Encouraging Good Mental Health in Pupils

Promoting good mental health has become a top priority in society and schools, especially after the pandemic highlighted the long-lasting effects of isolation on children. The pandemic threw this subject into strong relief when it became apparent afterwards that the isolation of people, particularly children, had long-lasting repercussions. In this blog, I will explore ways that we as teachers can strengthen mental health awareness, hopefully in ways that are just as much fun as improving physical fitness.

Mental health through play

Mental Health Awareness week can be a great opportunity to launch a wider school drive for focusing on children’s mental health. As well as focusing on kindness, training pupils to cope with stress and having open dialogues about feelings, physical activity is often at the heart of this.

A focus on physical activity is always a sure winner. At my school, the school council made playtimes more fun with playground zoning, new equipment, and a fundraising drive for a play trail. Giving children the power to make play successful is a great way to promote physical activity and the free benefits that come with it – making friends, learning to win and lose, taking responsibility for equipment, playing by the rules and feeling that rush of happiness that comes with movement.

Children who have happy breaks will be more likely to be successful academically and to see breaks as rewards for their hard work. Once set up, this system can be run by children and partly sustain itself. Children can create positive messages on mental health awareness posters that can be placed in play areas and entrances, to give that all-round messaging of positivity and play.
 

Mental health in the classroom

We can help children feel that they belong here by having strong routines, such as visual timetabling, displaying positive mental health posters, having clear rules and expectations, but also by having spaces for calming down.

My classroom is cramped and full of big furniture for my Year 6 students, but I have involved the pupils in creating a quiet space at the back where the rules are slightly different, that we all have equal and fair access to when needed. It creates an invisible gateway that you cross, letting you take charge of yourself. Pupils will go into this space, talk quietly to someone, continue their work, take a minute and have a drink, but then come back, when they feel ready, to the main learning area of the classroom.

Another simple way to promote positivity is to put an emphasis on displaying children’s work. Everyone loves to have their moment of fame, be it art or written work, or a photo of them engaged in an activity. Keeping displays turned over can be a great way to give a sense of pride and belonging.

PSHE and emotional literacy

Weaving PSHE into other lessons as well as having structured time for it can reinforce positive mental wellbeing messages. This can include moments to write, say, or think positive affirmations. Turning that doubt around, facing it head on, can help children be braver and embrace new challenges.

A great activity that one of my teaching assistants does is to scale an issue. For example, you haven’t done your homework and it is causing stress. If we put it on a scale of bad things that can happen in the world, it soon travels down the scale and helps the child to see things in perspective. Still, that homework needs to be done, so how can we find a way to do that next time so that we don’t end up in this situation?

This can lead to useful class discussions about emotional literacy, scales of incidents, and prioritising work and play outside of school. For this, we need the right words, we need them visible and we need to use them. Mental health posters divided into themed shades of emotional language are a great way to promote the words that go with good emotional literacy. You might associate these with colours or animals or characters. Pupils can have a lot of fun making these posters, acting out the emotions and experiencing the pride of seeing their poster in the community.
 

Happy stones and other activities

One of my favourite and more memorable mental health activities was when we as a whole school created a trail of happy stones. Each child was given an apple-sized, round pebble and asked to decorate and weatherproof it with an affirming message or symbol. When finished, these were placed around the edges of the walls inside the school grounds for all to see. They celebrated positive words, strengths and achievements. They don’t last forever, meaning we have to keep going back and finding new happy things to be proud of.

Other activities to promote calmness and positivity can be in the design of your curriculum. If your children love Art or PE, why not do more of that, either in the school day or in clubs after school? Encourage children to check-in with colour charts or thumbs up/down before they start an activity. Ask them to tell you how they regulated their feelings before a test, during it and then afterwards. By facing these challenges using words, children quickly see that it is normal to feel a little overwhelmed before a challenging situation – we all do. It is then that we can discuss strategies for coping. This can be positive self-talk, scaling the situation down, seeing it as a momentary challenge that will soon be over, an opportunity to shine or, if it doesn’t go to plan, to reflect on what you need more experience of.

Sometimes, the simplest of things can calm us: a walk away from the situation, doodling, colouring inside the lines of a shape, hand-breathing where we trail our index finger into the peaks and troughs of our other hand, closing our eyes and visualising success, using words or colours to express, saying what we need and giving check-ins.

CGP+ has lots of activities for promoting mental health in schools. From meditation to managing monster emotions, there’s something for everyone.

One final thought from me — we as teachers have to embrace and be open with children about our own feelings. Children can see us as impervious, always on top of things, in control – all qualities that are needed at times. However, sharing moments of vulnerability can show your empathy as well as creating a sense that we’re a team, that we are all on the same emotional rollercoaster but just in different seats.

Promoting good mental health is a powerful tool for boosting pupil confidence and self-esteem, but it also helps them to be kinder and sympathetic to others when they might be having an off day – because we all have them! So where are you today on the rollercoaster? Down in the dip, looking up at the sky with a sense of ‘it will soon be half term’, or high at the top, enjoying the view of your children achieving well? We’re all behind you, buckled in for the ride, so scream if you have to, or enjoy the view in that moment of calm at the peak.
 

I have been a teacher for 28 years, deputy head for about twenty-four of those, and taught from Reception all the way up to Year 6. In this time, I did a two-year stint with my local authority as an adviser for ICT, working in a wide range of schools with teachers and children. I have always been a class teacher at heart, inspired by the wonderful minds of pupils, which makes teaching such an intense but creative and satisfying career.

Take a look at CGP+ resources by Simon.