On Friday 5 February we took all our Year 7 – 10s off timetable for a wellbeing and House Day to give them valuable time away from screens and the opportunity to earn points for their house. After adapting so well to remote learning and live lessons once more, we wanted to give our young people a full day away from technology to connect with the world, themselves, with God and with others in their family or bubble. The day was split into six activities and students could pick five to fill their usual school timetable day. They were: Be Kind, Press Pause, Be Creative, Be Active, Be Artistic and Love Learning.

For the Be Creative baking challenge, our very own master of the lemon drizzle cake, Mrs Tidball, judged the incredible selection of cakes and other treats. She took into account presentation, creativity and how well the finished product linked to the house theme. One of the disappointments of the day was that we couldn’t taste the food, however, it was so lovely to hear how many students decided to take their treat next door to a neighbour or shared with others in some way.

Mrs Tidball chose to award bonus points in three categories – 10, 20 and 30 points. A plethora of points were awarded in each, but a particular mention goes to those who were awarded 30 bonus points for their house:

Stein – Florence B, Lily P, Katie-Grace P, Paola J-V and Luna M
Francis – Ruby S
Romero – Ciera B
Bakhita – Milly C & Isobel N

The overall winners of this challenge were Stein House who gained an extra 100pts.

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In the house challenge Be Artistic we were amazed at the creativity and expressive ways in which students linked their own personalities with the symbolism associated with their house saints. Bonus points for this category went to over 40 different students who each earned their house an additional 20pts each. However, we did pick a top three which we couldn’t choose between – they won an extra 100pts for their houses!

Stein – Paola J-V & James L
Francis – Ana S R

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Next term we will start to look at how to put together four separate art installations based on the individuality of the jigsaw designs.

The third challenge of the day which we were awarding house points for was the Be Active challenge. Our aim was to get as far up the country from Lands’ End to John O’Groats as possible with each house having a virtual race. Unfortunately, no house managed to get above Hadrian’s Wall or even into my beloved Lancashire! However, they did incredibly well and you can see from the graphic below that Romero and Bakhita were neck and neck with only 1km separating their efforts. The most important part of this challenge though, was about getting out and enjoying the outdoors. Therefore, we gave lots of bonus points for students who took pictures, pushed themselves in other ways, took puppies on training walks, another student walked to the shop for a neighbour and my personal favourite – one family went on a metal detector hunt!

Congratulations to these students for their endeavours on the day earning maximum bonus points for their house:

Bakhita – Kendrix P & Alicja S
Romero – Tommy H-S & Alex M
Francis – Tallulah W, Josh H & Ruby S
Stein – James H

The other activities on the day during the day were all about taking some time for themselves or giving to others. These things can’t be rated or judged by another person. Practising gratitude is a mindset which raises both your own spirits and those of another. We loved seeing some of the selfless giving which our young people undertook on the day, everything from making family lunch, giving away baked goods to a neighbour, taking someone else’s dog for a walk and there were plenty of brews made for hard working adults! That really is a life skill to get in the habit of making a good tea or coffee! We did add some bonus points for going above and beyond, as well as true acts of kindness – E.g. we spotted one lovely student commenting on how amazing other people’s creations were. So many students let us know that the mindfulness tasks, yoga, meditation and letter or prayer writing were genuinely helpful activities for them- pressing pause & being kind are essential parts of life to be balanced with everything else. Self-reflection is a powerful tool for controlling one’s own emotions, understanding yourself and others better and for forming a closer bond with God. Here are a couple of comments that were sent to us by students and staff which attest to the fruitfulness of wellbeing days such as this:

“Thanks for organising a great day.”

“Thank you for all the hard work and effort you and the team put into the wellbeing day. Having that day really boosted my mood. We had a really fun day and would love to do it more often.”

“Can I just add my voice to the hundreds of parents who I am sure are saying what a wonderful idea today was. The suggestions on the sheet were great. My son really needed that. As the term has worn on, I can see his enthusiasm waning so today was a fantastic tonic. Thanks to everyone for suggesting and creating this wonderful day.”

HUGE CONGRATULATIONS TO STEIN HOUSE WHO WERE THE WINNERS OF THE DAY WITH 2010 POINTS!

Francis came 2nd with 1940, Romero 3rd with 1715 and Bakhita 4th with 1695.