Western Morning News (Saturday)
Reaching out to young with Abbey festival of wellbeing
THOUSANDS of children from all over the UK have come together to take part in Buckfast Abbey’s first online wellbeing festival.
The Take 5 event was created to equip primary school children with a range of tools to help promote good mental health and wellbeing and to share a taste of the tranquil atmosphere that visitors to the Abbey enjoy.
The festival was originally planned as an actual event for May, but was changed because of the pandemic. Sharon Lord, Buckfast Abbey’s wellbeing coordinator, said: “As the year unfolded, it became clear that the need for improved wellbeing was going to be more important than ever. By going online, far more children were able to benefit from all of the exciting workshops and activities that we had planned.”
The Take 5 festival centred around five key actions for maintaining good mental health and wellbeing – Connect, Be Active, Take Notice, Learn and Create, and Give.
With the help of experts in the field, the education department created a wide range of workshops and resources to make sure that schools could address these key areas in a fun and engaging way.
Throughout the festival week children did everything from learning how to process difficult emotions and build resilience with the charity Open Minds, to creating their own Labyrinths for mindfulness. There was also the opportunity to take part in yoga workshops, and even learn about how alpacas can be used as therapy animals.
Pupils were also able to see films about the Abbey and the life of the working Benedictine community who live there and take part in a live Question and Answer session with one of the monks.
Alison Gagg, Buckfast Abbey’s education manager said that nearly five thousand pupils took part, some from as far away as Wales and Yorkshire. “The feedback from teachers has been excellent, with many saying how much the festival has boosted their ongoing programmes for wellbeing in school and helped all of their students have a better understanding of looking after their mental health.”
The Abbey’s education officer Claudia Williams added: “It’s been great having such an important and exciting project to focus on after time away from work during lockdown.
“The whole team have learned new skills and pulled together to make this event a success and we have already started planning how all of this new digital expertise can translate to giving children valuable learning experiences until they can safely resume day trips to our usual events.”
The Abbey Education Team are now looking to develop a Christmas programme of online workshops and activities for primary schools.