Rewarding resilience and promoting good mental health

Here at St Philip Howard we are incredibly proud of the young people that we work with every day.

Their talents, enthusiasm for life and general brilliance are a result of the SPH community, commitment and culture.

The year 13 and year 11 leavers’ celebrations last week highlighted just how wonderful these young adults really are.

However, none of this happens without hard work, determination and responding positively to challenges.

At SPH we invest a lot of time and energy in preparing the students not only for their academic studies, but in developing their resilience and promoting good mental health and wellbeing.

A recent initiative at SPH included teaming up with Lisa Williams from Young Minds, Boingboing on an academic resilience project.

In the sessions, students explore attitudes towards learning and strategies to help cope with challenging situations, both in school and at home.

The overall aim is for students to become resilient individuals, meaning they are able to make progress (academically and socially) even when faced with personal difficulties.

Our unique Aspire programme with the yearten students has been implemented at the start of the day each week to develop skills beyond the classroom, focusing on target setting, revision techniques, stress busting and time management.

Opportunities to take part in sport and exercise every day at SPH are undoubtedly key in lowering students’ stress levels, anxiety and increasing self-esteem, resilience and confidence.

There is an abundance of clubs and extra-curricular opportunities at lunchtimes and after school to which everyone is welcome.

A positive sign of this success is that two thirds of the year nines have chosen sport as one of their GCSE or BTEC options, embedding habits that will last well into adulthood.

One of our key members of staff at SPH is Bonnie.

Bonnie is instrumental in her role around school each day as the SPH therapy dog.

Research has shown (and been proven in our case) that dogs such as Bonnie lower stress levels and contribute to a strong sense of community and belonging amongst the students.

As well as attending regular lessons during the school day, Bonnie is also able to work with students who may be on the autistic spectrum, those experiencing anger or frustration and those who have suffered a bereavement.

Interactions with Bonnie not only lower blood pressure, but she also causes oxytocin levels to double, resulting in shutting down the students’ ‘fight or flight’ system and calming their stress levels.

Working with our local primary schools, sports ambassadors from year nine and ten have been delivering their sports days and masterclasses this term.

The sense of wellbeing gained from voluntary work is immeasurable, and is central to the culture that runs throughout the school and sixth form.

The creative arts opportunities within school are also fundamental in allowing children to express themselves through different media such as art, photography, design technology and sculpture.

In the sixth form, we are incredibly lucky to have a specialist member of staff who is trained in coaching the students through essential life skills and resilience workshops, either one to one or in groups.

This is to prepare them fully for adulthood through growth mind-set techniques and strategies and is a huge support for all our sixth formers preparing for life after SPH.

Putting faith into action as a Catholic school is incredibly important to us at SPH.

Our students have been fortunate enough to visit Rwanda and work with the children in our partner school ES Kagogo, as well as creating a library for them through book donations.

The SPH ethos and culture is embedded in school life every day with a sense of community and positivity.

Particular highlights are ‘SPH Day’, where thousands of pounds are raised through a day of charity events and activities, and the ‘Race at Our Place’, where the whole school participates in the Race for Life initiative, again raising an incredible amount of money for such worthy causes.

We are already on track to beat last year’s total fundraising of £14,000.

Opportunities to build resilience and a sense of wellbeing continue outside of the school day in numerous forms from Duke of Edinburgh expeditions and residential bushcraft trips to sports tours to Italy and ski trips.

Our students are wellrounded, resilient, groundbreaking individuals who are ready to take on whatever life throws at them.

We are very proud of them all!