Good morning, Prep School family,
How are you all today? I hope you all had a super weekend and managed to do things that made you smile? I had a lovely weekend. I spent time with Arthur and Amelie (which always involves cake!), my dad and a friend that I haven’t seen for a long time. Mr Bennett and I also attended the wedding of some dear friends of ours. It was a magical day as they re-found each other and fell in love again later on in their lives after being teenage sweethearts. . . things didn’t work out for them back then, for whatever reason but they certainly have worked out for them now! It was a day filled with smiles, sunshine and lots and lots of laughing. It was a truly special day. My favourite part was when the groom did his speech. He read out a diary entry from when he was much, much younger and he had written that he was going to marry his now bride. How wonderful is that – I am a sucker for a great love story and for a bit of romance and in this case, a very happy ending to a perfect love story!
Anyway, enough of my soppy side!
I thought I would write this week about mental health as Sunday 10 October was World Mental Health Day. As you know mental fitness and emotional well-being is something that we place extremely highly at Highclare School. Ensuring that the children are mental fit and healthy is part of our duty of care and something we do on a daily basis in school. We actively encourage the children to talk to us about how they are feeling, we have worry monsters in each classroom for those children who find it hard to express themselves to write down their worry and have it discussed with their teacher and gobbled up by the monster. We confront feelings and emotions head on and teach the children how to deal with a range of emotions throughout their time with us. However, our duty of care doesn’t stop with the children, it extends to each and every one of you in the Highclare Prep School family and beyond.
For those of you that know me well, I find it really hard to talk about my feelings and emotions – Mr Bennett sometimes compares me to an ice queen! I am great talking to other people about their worries and concerns and I am always here to listen to anyone else’s problems or upsets but when it comes to my own feelings, I find it very hard to be able to say out loud how I am feeling on the inside. I know I cannot be the only one that feels like this, I’m sure some of you are relating to this right now. I feel emotions bubbling up inside me and that sometimes makes me react to certain situations in ways that I know that I can handle better. I wish I had had teachers when I was at school that understood and realised the importance of mental well-being and ones that helped me to process my feelings and emotions. I think this is one of the reasons why mental health is so important to me as an adult. I know that I have developed the resilience and ability to accept my emotions over the years and I feel lucky that I can, in the main, deal with these well. However, I am fully aware that there are so many people out there struggle with their own personal battles that are finding it very hard to muster the resilience that they need to help them regroup and refocus on the positive. Mental health needs talking about freely without the stigma that is sometimes attached to it and I am super proud of how we do this at Highclare. So everyone, remember – it really is ok not to be ok. It’s ok to talk about feelings and emotions and it is ok to have an off day or two. Life isn’t perfect, you don’t have to be perfect – in fact, life is more fun if we embrace the imperfections occasionally! Remember to talk and always be kind to others. Remember together things are easier.
I saw a lovely post on social media over the weekend about mental health – it was about how to raise your happiness through little daily acts. It spoke about focussing on the positive, no matter how small and being grateful for the small things in life. I thought I would share my favourite 10 tips with you!
- Run a bubble bath and relax
- Have fresh flowers in the house (a personal favourite of mine)
- Drink lots of water
- Go for a walk
- Say something nice to someone you love
- Read a book
- Stare at the stars
- Phone a friend
- Eat food that you love
- Listen to music
“Instead of talking in the hope that people will listen, try listening in the hope that people will talk.” – Mardy Grothe.
Quote of the week: “Admit it. You’re not like the others and that is not just ok. . .it’s absolutely beautiful” – anon
Well-being tasks for this week: These are all based on self-care and being optimistic. These are good for all ages.
Tuesday 12 October – Find a reason to be cheerful today
Wednesday 13 October – Ask for help to overcome an obstacle you are facing
Thursday 14 October – Do something constructive to improve an unhappy or difficult situation
Friday 15 October – Thank yourself for achieving things you often take for granted
Saturday 16 October – Ignore your to-do list for one day! Do something that makes you smile!
Sunday 17 October – Recognise that you have a choice
Monday 18 October – Plan an exciting activity to look forward too over half term
Jokes of the week:
Where do sheep go on holiday? Barrrrrrrrr-bados!
What do you call a man with no shins? Tony! (This one took me a while to get!)
Sleeps til Santa: 80 sleeps til Santa
5 things that I am grateful for or looking forward to this week:
Can you try this simple exercise in gratitude and positivity?
- I am looking forward to the half term holiday and some lie ins!
- I am looking forward to the Year 4 harvest assemblies.
- I am grateful for this gorgeous weather.
- I am looking forward to non-uniform day for us all on Friday!
- I am grateful for a wonderful half term we have had in school.
Have an amazing week and the most wonderful half term – whatever you are doing, enjoy every moment and take some time to rest and relax! Remember self-care is so important – it is not a luxury, it’s a necessity.
See you in November!
Love from
Mrs Bennett
