Crookhorn College is fully committed to promoting positive mental health and wellbeing for all - not only during Children’s Mental Health Week, but throughout the entire year. This week gave us a fantastic opportunity to spotlight the importance of belonging, connection and emotional wellbeing, guided by this year’s national theme: “This Is My Place.”

Throughout the week, students explored what belonging means to them, reflecting on the people, places and experiences that help them feel grounded, valued and truly themselves. Tutor Groups took part in a College‑wide challenge to generate the longest and most creative list of ways we can help others to feel included. The ideas were thoughtful, imaginative and full of kindness.

Well done and thank you to the winning Tutor Groups from each House: Ad1, Gd8, Pt3 and Ro8. A very special mention must go to Ad1, who were the overall winners with no fewer than 100 different ideas for helping others feel that they belong – what an incredible achievement.

As part of our wider wellbeing offer, Carly from Kooth delivered an excellent exam support workshop to GCSE students in Years 10 and 11. To extend this support to families, we also shared with all parents and carers Kooth’s Guide to Coping with Exam Stress alongside Place2Be’s Top Tips from Children and Young People on Helping Them Feel a Sense of Belonging.

Our ongoing wellbeing initiatives continue to grow beyond this week. The third Year 9 group has just completed their PSHRE yoga taster sessions, with the fourth group beginning after half-term. We are also looking forward to welcoming the Mental Health Support Team (MHST) back into College on the first Friday after half-term for the next round of parent/carer workshops on supporting young people with anxiety and low mood.

Our Year 10 Student Mental Health Ambassadors, who completed their training in the Autumn Term, are now preparing to launch their peer support programme — an exciting step in empowering students to support one another.

In addition, we have just received the findings from this year’s #BeeWell surveys, and we will be working closely with the College Steering Group to identify next steps and ensure student voice continues to shape our wellbeing strategy.

We hope that every student was able to end the week feeling connected, confident and proud to call Crookhorn their place, and we loved seeing the creativity and compassion shown across the College.