Make connections in Children’s Mental Health Week

Children’s Mental Health Week 2023 takes place from 6th to 12th February 2023, and this year’s theme is Let’s Connect.

The aim of Children’s Mental Health week is to promote good mental health and a sense of wellbeing in children and adults. The theme is all about inspiring children to connect with others in healthy, rewarding, and meaningful ways.

Free resources are available for primary age and secondary age children to help young people take part in the week. These activities are designed to encourage children (and adults) to consider how to make meaningful connections that support mental health.

Mental wellbeing advice for primary age children

Promoting good mental health is a practice that can be started at a young age and is something we focus on in our primary planner.

Our range of student planners are designed to guide students through the school year, beginning with our primary student planner. It contains advice on mental wellbeing appropriate to this age group.

A special feature within the student planner offers tips to help children think differently about worries and gives advice on how to find ways to solve issues or accept them. It acknowledges the type of worries children could face, such as anxiety about schoolwork, assessments and exams, appearance, family and friendships, getting sick or being ill, and getting into trouble or being told off.

The primary student planner also talks about resilience in a feature entitled ‘Learning to Bounce’. It explains how we can adjust to the difficult challenges we might face and how being resilient can help us deal more easily with these challenges and bounce back from them.

In addition, it describes to young students how ‘giving things a go’ can build confidence. It encourages flexibility by suggesting that if something you’ve tried hasn’t worked, you should try again with a different method.

Mental wellbeing and mindset growth advice for secondary age children

In our secondary student planner, we delve deeper into mental wellbeing and focus on recognising anxiety. Students may become aware of signs of panic and feeling under pressure, including disturbed sleep, inability to relax, worrying most of the time, overeating or reduced appetite, and irrational and continuous fear.

If a student is worried about low mood, they should monitor warning signs, including feeling sad over long periods, changes in sleep and appetite, getting very irritable, not enjoying things they used to, withdrawing from things they love, and hurting themselves in different ways.

Our secondary student planners encourage students to keep a record of negative thoughts and talk to someone who can offer an objective perspective. The secondary planner mentions particular issues, such as worries about eating and self-harm, and gives tips on how to tackle problems and seek help.

Promoting a growth mindset

As well as mental wellbeing, our secondary student planners include a feature on growth mindset.

A fixed mindset approach can lead to students becoming heavily self-critical and thinking that intelligence is static. As a result, it can prevent skill development.

A growth mindset approach means not being afraid to make mistakes and thriving on challenges. A growth mindset helps students to embrace new opportunities, increase their academic potential and develop self-esteem.

By recognising that mistakes are something to learn from, students can develop their intelligence over time.

Help support children’s mental wellbeing and a growth mindset with Boomerang Education student planners

Our student planners contain a wealth of content to support mental wellbeing and a growth mindset. We work to stimulate student interest and help to navigate them through their school year. We also assist in the meeting of Ofsted judgement criteria. Our student diary content is reviewed and refreshed each year to ensure it remains relevant and engaging for students.

If you’d like to know more about our student planners, please get in touch on 01252 368 328.

Or visit our website, where you can explore the diary content in digital format at https://boomeranged.co.uk/portfolio/secondary-design-school-planners/