Academy celebrates first whole-school Health and Wellbeing Day as part of commitment to deliver an Education with Character
Students enjoy a wide variety of expert-led discussions and exciting workshops on nutrition, exercise and positive mental health
Last Wednesday, students and staff at The Totteridge Academy celebrated their very first Health and Wellbeing Day with a range of exciting and thought-provoking experiences.
The day was an opportunity for the whole school community to emphasise the importance of wellbeing and explore key issues that can impact on our health and happiness over the course of our lives.
It is just one of a number of initiatives the academy has launched as part of its commitment to providing students with an Education with Character alongside their core academic studies. Through this, staff at The Totteridge Academy seek to give students a broader range of experiences and opportunities that will give them the skills, knowledge and support they need to succeed as young adults.
As part of the Health and Wellbeing Day, students participated in discussions and workshops around key social issues impacting young people today including body image, social media, stress and mental health and positive relationships.
The Day also included visits from a number of health and wellbeing practitioners and experts in their fields who delivered exciting sessions with the students. This included chefs from the Neal’s Yard café 26grains cooking healthy wraps and porridge, a nutrition workshop with Gus Martin and representatives from Breathpod teaching different types of breathing methods and mindfulness strategies.
Students participated in physical activities such as yoga and calisthenics with DieselFlow and Felix Price from Urban Avatars and the entire Year 7 and 8 cohorts were trained in CPR using the British Heart Foundation’s ‘Call Push Rescue’ resources. These sessions were organised in partnership with GROW and were led by TV presenter George Lamb.
Chris Fairbairn, Principal at The Totteridge Academy, said:
“Our first Health and Wellbeing Day was a brilliant way for our whole school community to celebrate the importance of looking after our mental and physical health and building positive, respectful relationships. We were grateful for the support of our many partners and guests that helped make the day such a thought-provoking, worthwhile and enjoyable experience and look forward to providing more of these opportunities for our students as part of our commitment to Education with Character.”
TV Presenter George Lamb said:
“What a day! Our project, GROW, invited seven amazing practitioners up to the school to run workshops in yoga, breathwork, callisthenics, nutrition, sex education, healthy cookery and mental maintenance – all of them were blown away by the students’ enthusiasm and openness. It was wonderful to watch the kids throwing themselves into unknown territory with such courage and maturity.”