Mental Health Awareness Week

At Ruislip High School, we understand how important it is for us to prioritise our mental fitness, as well as our physical fitness. To ensure this message was communicated to all students across the school, the school had its annual ‘Mental Health Awareness Week’, this week.

The theme for the week this year has been 'Move it for Mental Health'. In our weekly assemblies we have been looking at how our physical health can impact our mental health. We highlighted that a vast majority of adults say that exercising helped them to manage burnout and manage stress.

Mr Shelley, Assistant Headteacher, who was leading assemblies this week, challenged students to come up with a list of things that they enjoyed but were maybe not good for their mental health (like playing video games) and things that were good for them but that they might not enjoy doing (like running). We then tried to find things that could bring the things they liked and things that were good for them together, like going paintballing (as it links running and gaming).

The main goal was to promote the idea that there is no correct way to keep physically active and that students should find ways that work for them. For more information, see: https://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/ourwork/public-engagement/mental-health-awareness-week.

Throughout PE lessons this week, the PE Department has focused on the important link between mental and physical health. As a starter to PE lessons, students have tried out a number of meditation techniques, to highlight the importance of looking after our mental well-being. Students took the activity very seriously and all had a go at mindful meditation.