Class 7 – Mental Health Week and National Forest Schools Day

This week is mental health awareness week and today was also national Forest Schools day! In light of this, Class 7 spent the afternoon thinking about mental health and how Forest Schools, amongst other strategies, can help us. 

We started the session by thinking about ways we would look after our physical health, before deciding it was just as important to look after our mental health. We then went outside to think about this more. First, we took part in cloud gazing, where we tried to find as many different objects/shapes/things in the sky as we could. We were  very creative, and had many ideas, including a tortoise, a speed boat and an eagle head! Then, we practised mindfulness by connecting to our five senses. We spent time focusing on each sense – what we could hear, see, smell and feel. This helped us to connect to the now, and stop our worries about the past and future. 

To finish, we shared our top tips for combatting worries and anxiety, to create a list we can have in the classroom! We had some superb suggestions, such as counting to ten and taking deep breaths, listening to calm music, baking, colouring and many others. It was wonderful to see the children so in tune with their mental health and so willing to share suggestions as to how they can help themselves, and others if they are struggling.