We are excited to introduce our Mental Health Champions, a dedicated team focused on promoting and supporting children’s mental health throughout the school. Together, we’re exploring innovative and practical ways to create an environment where every child feels safe, valued, and empowered to talk about their feelings. From raising awareness to fostering a culture of kindness and resilience, our goal is to ensure mental well-being is at the heart of our school community.

Our Mental Health Champions 2025-2026 

Autumn 2025-2026 

During the Autumn term, our Mental Health Champions have been busy supporting wellbeing across the school and the wider community. They designed informative and creative posters to promote a toy collection for Kidsstuff, a charity that provides toys for children in need at Christmas. The champions also discussed ways to support children on the playground, we came up with the idea of creating a friendship bench where children can go to if they need a friend. In addition, they shared ideas for Children’s Mental Health Week in Spring, exploring how fitness and physical activity can play an important role in supporting positive mental health.

The Mental Health Champions have been working alongside The School Council to support friendships on the play ground. We have decided that we will create a friendship bench which will be used like a bus stop! When a child sits on the bench, it will show that they would like someone to play with and their classmates will invite them to join in with their play. 

The children thought this would be a great way to develop new friendships! 

What a fantastic Children’s Mental Health Week at St Margaret’s!

We started the week by taking our Mental Health Champions to visit a local residential home. They were outstanding and showed such care, compassion and empathy when speaking to the residents. The children took time to listen, chat and share stories, which truly brightened the residents’ day and put big smiles on their faces. They represented St Margaret’s with pride and were a real credit to our school community.

Throughout the week in school, children took part in a mental health scavenger hunt where they used clues to uncover mental health–related words. The children loved this activity, which gave them the opportunity to work together in teams, develop problem-solving skills and build positive relationships. Working collaboratively in this way helped to support their mental wellbeing by encouraging communication, cooperation and a sense of achievement.

Children also created identity maps, where they drew pictures and wrote words to represent what makes them unique and helps them feel that they belong. This linked closely to this year’s Children’s Mental Health Week theme of belonging and gave pupils a chance to reflect on the people, places and interests that support their wellbeing.

On Tuesday, we welcomed Mr Paknik Riley, who kindly delivered a session focused on wellbeing and strategies children can use when they are feeling worried or stressed. The children learned practical techniques to help manage their emotions and look after their mental health.

We finished the week with a sports carousel day, where children moved around different classrooms taking part in a variety of fun activities. These included an obstacle course, a Harry Potter–themed yoga session, Just Dance boogie, a games room and some mindful colouring. The day was a huge success and the children had an amazing time!

Children’s Mental Health Week 

Next week we are looking forward to Children’s Mental Health Week! We can’t wait to see everyone in their pyjamas on Friday, embracing comfort and self-care, and to enjoy some delicious treats at our Cake Sale on Wednesday.

All money raised will support wellbeing activities for the children with a portion donated to Mind charity. Check back later in the week to see the highlights. We look forward to a fun and meaningful week ahead!