Extracurricular activities enrich students, enliven school days

As the Student Counsellor at GEMS Wellington Academy - Al Khail, I strongly advocate the wellbeing of our students. Working with students, the pressure and stresses that students feel nowadays in an ever-changing world are clear to see.

I have found that in order to help students to face these pres- sures and achieve academically, it is important to create a strong sense of community and promote positive wellbeing in schools. Incorporating different events and activities in school such as special theme days, school trips, nonuniform days, fun days, and extracurricular activities (ECA) help enrich school life, enable students to work together and express their individuality. This creates a healthier, more social, high-spirited and positive atmosphere within the school.

School trips are a great way to learn outside of the classroom but, they also have a significant effect on wellbeing and sense of community. They give students a chance to build stronger bonds with fellow classmates, by being able to spend time in small groups, observing, chatting and learning about each other. I have found students who have be-come more positive and happy about school benefit greatly from the experiences they have had on school trips. A Year 5 student said, “I loved all our school trips, I made new friends from different classes who I now play with at break-time every day.

Taking part in extra-curricular activities (ECAs), aids student’s whole development, as they help to develop a well-rounded, socially

School trips are a great way to learn outside of the classroom but, they also have a significant effect on wellbeing and sense of community.” skilled and overall healthier student. In-creasing their confidence, self-esteem, motivation, improving time-management and organisation, and importantly helping to reduce any stress or worries that students may be facing, which in turn impacts positively on their academic achievements. Students al-so experience a heightened sense of belonging within the school community, developing life-long friendships with their peers and learning important teamwork skills. The skills that students develop through participating in ECA’s benefits students throughout their lifetime. Some of our Year 7/8 students commented “I love ECA’s as they make me happy,” “I feel like I can get rid of any stress from the day by going to my ECA’s and love spending more time with my friends after school.

It is important that the achievements and hard work of students are celebrated and recognised throughout the year. This can be done by holding school fun days, where these events can help students to feel appreciated, a part of the community, improve self-confidence and creates important memories.

This year, we also held a ‘prom’ for our first Year 11 students. One Year 11 student had this to say, “I was involved in helping to organise our prom and it really helped give me something to focus on outside of the stress of exams. It was so much fun and a great way to celebrate all the hard work we have put in over the last two years and spend time with our friends; it’s a night I will remember forever.