Every year Bushey Meads Schools follows the National Mental Health Focus Week which this year started on the 9th May. The focus was ‘loneliness’ in recognition that ‘being lonely’ and ‘loneliness’ are two very different things.

Each morning Mr Malik, teacher of business studies, led an assembly exploring the issues and pointing all students in the direction of where to get help and what positive steps they could take to ensure great mental health. During Tuesday’s assembly, a representative from MIND spoke to year 9 remotely about what support they offer within the community.

Throughout the week a series of events and activities ran for both staff and students, all organised and coordinated by Mr Malik and Miss Falusi. For example, for staff there was an opportunity to recreate famous paintings, props, costume and pose; lunchtime scrabble and syn-free cookalong, alongside more traditional mental health activities like meditation and sport. For students, the activities were similarly varied and included Zumba, Maths games, baking, alongside activities like meditation, sounds of nature and EFT Tapping.