Action for Happiness - Coping Calendar

Action for happiness usually release a monthly calendar to remind you about doing something positive each day.  They have put together a new coping calendar that some of you might find useful.

Our first EVER blog!

Hello and welcome to our first wellbeing blog! The Wales Wellbeing team have been engaged in lots of virtual chats via Microsoft Teams to try and find some ways we can all stay connected over the coming weeks.  The first week of no school might have felt strange as you adapt to learning at home, spending more times indoors and with your family.  It might be that some of them are even starting to get on your nerves! So, each week the team will aim to share some feel good stories, blogs from staff and students, as well as where you can access support should you feel you need to.  Although we are all ‘social distancing’ at the moment, technology means that no-one needs to be on their own and we have everything we need to stay connected.

Organisations are starting to pull together some resources to help families support their children to manage the impact of COVID-19.  As well as sharing positive stories, this blog will also signpost you to support.  Click the link below for some advice from Sheffield Children's hospital - thank you to Dr. Everson for this!

https://www.sheffieldchildrens.nhs.uk/patients-and-parents/coronavirus-resources-for-children-and-families/

Beacon House have also produced some resources which may help, which are available in the link below:

https://beaconhouse.org.uk/resources/

If you come across anything that you think others might find useful, please send them our way!

Lots of you may have been completing the Joe Wicks workout at 9am every day (link in one of our other posts).  In fact - next week we are looking forward to sharing some videos/pictures - Mr Asquith will also be making a star appearance! Stephen Smith a local yoga/mindfulness teacher has also been putting together some free yoga videos which you might find useful for a change of pace.  These are available here:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJOIwUhjm5Op_onvl2wTzYQ

To make this blog successful – we need your help!  Send your stories about isolation, positive news, interesting stories, work you have been doing or anything that you think will make us smile!  Thank you to those teachers and students who have contributed at late notice this week - it's really appreciated.  You can send any stories (maybe you have written your own that we could share!), ideas etc direct to  cco@waleshigh.com and we’ll try to ensure we post as much as we can each week.  It would be great to have some stories from students, so why not write a little blog of your own about how you are finding things.

Looking forward to staying in touch!

Miss Cooper, Miss Finney and the wellbeing team of superstars!

Keeping busy in isolation

Our Sixth Form Mental Health Ambassadors keep in touch via Whatsapp and so we asked the group how they had spent this week.  One of our first responses was from Thyra Simpson in Year 12 who said she had been enjoying the beautiful weather this week!  Being outdoors is a great way to boost feel good chemicals such as oxytoxcin and also provides us all with some much needed vitamin D.  The Wales Wellbeing team would love to know what you have been up to - get in touch with us and send us your photos!

Some teachers have been using their time to indulge in their hobbies they would not usually have time for.  This beautiful piece of artwork was created by one of our teachers at Wales who is NOT from the Art department...any guesses who might have painted this?  The answer will be in next week's blog! Stay tuned!

Miss Finney has been helping to spread some positivity by posting her favourite pictures each day on Twitter.  This has given her the opportunity to share her photography skills as she regularly enjoys taking pictures but also brings a smile to her face as she remembers these moments very fondly. 

Mrs Lockyear is busy home schooling her two boys who have been getting to grips with working at home. This week they all made chocolate drizzle flapjacks which lasted approximately 45 seconds.  Mrs Lockyear says they were less drizzled and more poured all over chocolate flapjacks!  She is hoping to make chocolate chip muffins next week so when she returns to school she can treat us all to sweet snacks!

Mrs Swain has also been baking this week and was very proud of this exquisite souffle she made.  More of her excellent cooking to come over the coming weeks - we'll see if she will send us some recipes too!! 

Our school governor Rachel Habergham has changed her curtains in the office to make people smile when they walk past on their daily exercise.  This is also helping her and Alana smile whilst they are working indoors.

Mrs Bolton has been enjoying her daily exercise with her two sons who have been spotting rainbows as they walk.  They found 17 rainbows in total!

Miss Adams, along with a few others in the English department, has signed up to volunteer to support the NHS team.  Hopefully, she is going to keep us updated over the coming weeks about what this role involves.  Before the Prime Minister introduced more strict rules this week, she and her sons had been doing some volunteer dog walking at the local dog shelter.

Miss Rowles has been taking part in the Joe Wicks workout every morning at 9am alongside some other Wales superstars! More updates to come on this and hopefully some video evidence too! If you haven't been doing this workout you can access it here everyday! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCAxW1XT0iEJo0TYlRfn6rYQ

There have also been reports of Mr Radford, Miss Underwood, Miss Hartley and Mr Day taking part in a virtual choir practice this week.  Ex-Wales High School teacher Mrs Cole also took part!  Again, updates to follow in future blogs!

Miss McCall received the BEST ever isolation treat from Mr Payton-Green who has set up his own COVID-19 library that he is sharing with others.  A fabulous example of what we can do to support others as we all stay in doors.  

How some of our Sixth Formers have spent their first week of no school

Hannah Oliver, Year 13 and one of our mental health ambassadors leaders, sent us some of her 10 top tips for managing living in isolation.  See if you agree with Hannah or try some of these out for yourself.   We would love you to put together one of your own to share via our blog too!

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Week One of Isolation

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a blog by Eleanor Chesterton

✧ Sunday ✧

It was Mother’s Day! Originally, we planned to go to the local pub for a meal in celebration but obviously the pubs had been forced to close by this point. Instead we stayed home and cooked a Sunday Lunch with apple pie and custard for dessert.
The rest of the day was spent indoors. I joined a group call with friends where we managed to play a few party games online. In the evening I got round to finishing the line art on a digital sketch I’ve been working on for a while, whilst starting a re-watch of Doctor Who.
Tip: Start a project such a drawing, painting or crafts. Work on it a little bit everyday so by the end of these three weeks you will have created something amazing!

✧ Monday ✧

I began to work on some coursework, then moved on to finish up some biology notes just to keep my mind active and learning. At lunch my family and I walked to the shops to get some fresh air and I ended up buying a peony to take care of. He has been named Jaquez by my brother.

I was extremely disheartened by the announcement of the lockdown; however, measures must be taken to keep everyone safe. I am hoping for good news in the review in three-weeks’ time.
Tip: Go for a walk if you don’t use the permitted time outside for exercises such as running or cycling. It’s springtime and the weather is warming up. Just because we’re isolated, doesn’t mean you can’t soak up some sun and breath some fresh air (especially since there are less cars about)!

✧ Tuesday ✧

Took the liberty of a lie-in and did a few chores to help out around the house as my parents are currently working from home. We took our lunchtime walk and I collected a few more books to keep me going. After doing some notes on the rest of my German History course (I am determined to finish it) I did my ironing which sounds very boring, however, I find it quite relaxing. Another group call with friends, playing more online party games. Keeping up morale. In the evening I planned an essay on Elizabeth I and religion then practised yoga for half an hour to keep healthy.
Tip: Try video calling or talk over the phone with a friend every one or two days. It’s very easy to fall into the trap of just functioning day to day. Establish a time to join a call with someone not in your household so it gives you something to look forward to.

✧ Wednesday ✧

Started with some more chores this morning and began to write the essay I had planned yesterday. This way I can transfer my learning into another form and improve my writing ability. Had my lunchtime walk, another lovely sunny day as well, then called a friend to have a chat whilst I had some lunch. Wednesday is my night to cook tea, so I cook a nice vegetarian meal for my family in order to reduce meat intake and expose them to new dishes. However, today I fell back onto my ‘comfort pasta’ recipe so next week I will make sure to challenge myself to cook something new. In the evening I tried some new yoga exercises for half an hour and began to write this ‘blog’. I recommend others try this as well; it gives you a way to organise your thoughts and a chance to reflect on what you’ve done so far and how you can improve your productivity in times like these. For instance, I haven’t been as productive as I probably should be so tomorrow, I will tidy my room, revisit some biology, and continue reading a book on human evolution (interesting, I know).

Tip: Try cooking something new! Doesn’t have to be anything complicated but it doesn’t hurt to expand your culinary knowledge (also try to cook something vegetarian if you can!)

✧ Thursday ✧

I began the day by tidying my room a reorganising my shelves in my wardrobe for a better use of space. I also continued reading my book (Sapiens, A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari) and covered an interesting chapter on the merging of science and empire in the 18^th century. We got lost on our daily walk so it was cut short, but I chatted to a friend, completed a maths paper, and revisited some biology topics in the afternoon. At the time of writing this, I am just about to do some exercises – I’m aiming to be able to do the splits in the time that we have. Goals for tomorrow; make some more history notes to complete the courses, and look at revisiting German.
Tip: To keep your mind active, try reading some non-fiction. It doesn’t have to be historical; it can be on anything you enjoy learning about!

Some top tips from Mr Brailsford and Miss Ormandy!

What’s keeping me going?

Our mental health ambassadors were asked who they might like to hear from.  Some students suggested that they would like to hear about what Mr Brailsford had been upto.  He gave us his top tips for what is helping him stay positive throughout the week.

1) Our family messenger group does a daily crossword which keeps us all together ( and keeps my ageing mum and dad at home where they should be!)

2) Our street now has a WhatsApp group so we can check on each other at least virtually.

3) The daily exercise from a socially responsible distance!

4) Sharing good mental health tips on social media.

5) Sharing pictures of our frontline heroes doing their thing.

6) Sending silly dog pictures and jokes and memes to people.

7) Sending a page of GCHQ puzzles to the maths staff ‘lonely connect’ puzzle team via WhatsApp

8) Helping our students and friends’ children with maths work.

9) Learning languages online

10) Playing piano!


Example of the GCHQ questions the Maths department are quizzing each other on via WhatsApp!

One of Mr Brailsford's favourite funny dog pictures that make him smile!

Mr Brailsford has also been laughing at some of the pictures he has found on social media to keep him laughing.  He thought others might enjoy this too.

Miss Ormandy tells us what is helping her this week too...

1. Have a daily share on WhatsApp/ FaceTime with things that are funny. Even if it’s just weird stuff we all cooking! Master the group video chat 😂

2. Drawing and painting even if it’s rubbish!

3. Appreciating the time we can go outside and weird as it sounds switch phone to silent and tune out for a bit

4. Keeping active. Take advantage of all the gym class freebies online!!! 

5. Reading, obvs 🤪