Enhancecd Healthy School Status for Westcliff High School for Girls
WHSG is delighted to have been awarded Enhanced Healthy Schools Status. Last week Ellie Mills and Jasmine Choudhry represented the school at the Healthy Schools Conference in Southend, where they addressed an audience and accepted the reward on the behalf of the school.
WHSG has always acted towards the wellbeing of its students, however, for the last couple of years there’s been a focus on preventative measures instead of reactive. For the past 5 years we’ve been around, Westcliff Girls has supported its students’ wellbeing both through exams and through everyday life. We have been lucky enough to be provided with many resources and facilities to help with each and every pupils wellbeing.
In each level of our education we have had the pastoral team, as well as our teachers, to offer us support and guidance in our times of need. The teachers themselves are trained to be able to support us and are able to help individual students in teacher mentoring sessions that can encourage the students to reach their full potential. Pastoral is also a large part of the support system for students in need - the team run an anxiety group to aid the students who have trouble coping with stressful situations and have recently added a wellbeing room which offers students a quiet environment to destress.
Prior to our GCSEs, year 11 students were given an afternoon to relax and unwind, that involved sessions focused on mindfulness and meditation, as well as a chance to be active in a group zumba session. After the afternoon, the students were provided with a booklet to help them with revision techniques and mindfulness tips and a goodie bag full of items such as stress balls and facemasks. The teachers too were given zumba and mindfulness sessions as a way for them to learn how to destress just as the students did. Additionally, parents were welcomed to an informative talk on how to support us at home during times when we were stressed such as during our GCSEs.
We are so grateful to be part of a school that has helped us maintain our wellbeing in so many ways.
November 2019