I like to think of the pastoral care at Mowden Hall as something that provides the foundations to our children’s education and overall experience of school. Solid foundations allow them to flourish in the classroom, excel on the sports pitch and make the most of their time with friends on the playground. We continually try to find ways to further develop our care such that we help and support our children to develop into robust, resilient young boys and girls. With this in mind, we have been looking to further develop the provision of support for mental health and wellbeing at Mowden Hall.

Having voiced many interesting ideas, our twelve Wellbeing Ambassadors have focussed in on one particular area that they wanted to develop and their rationale made sense. At Mowden we run busy lives - high academic expectations, significant emphasis placed on sporting and extra-curricular endeavours and on top of that there are a vast numbers of extra events, activities and responsibilities - it is fair to say that a day at Mowden is never a quiet one! This busy-ness is what helps to shape our children, allows them to build resilience and learn coping mechanisms.

That said, sometimes things just don’t go to plan. Maybe it’s a “bad day”, the pressures of growing up are getting to them, or maybe children are facing issues in their personal life making the school day difficult - they need to focus on their mental health and wellbeing. The Ambassadors felt that we needed a space in school to step away from the fast pace of normal life - and so we created The Treehouse. 

In this wellbeing hub, themed around the jungle and nature, children can meet at lunchtime to play quiet board games, complete a jigsaw, or simply to have a chat with their friends. They can arrange for 1:1 sessions with our School Nurse (who is also our Mental Health Lead) and she now even offers small group sessions, exploring issues such as diversity, friendship, and confidence to name just a few. Staff have the same opportunities too - they can meet, relax or even work in this calm, homely environment should they feel the need - their wellbeing matters too!

This new bespoke space has been created in the centre of school and demonstrates that not only do our children have a voice in their school, but that we take the topic of mental health and wellbeing seriously. It is often discussed that children today will be exposed to greater stress, demands and pressures than children used to be, and so the need for them to be prepared for this, but also have knowledge of how to deal with it is greater than ever. 

My hope is that through initiatives such as The Treehouse, we can firstly remove the stigma surrounding the discussion of such topics - I want all Mowden children to be comfortable talking about how they are feeling. Secondly, I hope to better prepare the children when it comes to recognising mental ill-health. I don’t want to normalise the language surrounding mental health, and attribute many “normal” problems to some sort of “condition” - I want them to know how to care for themselves before things get out of hand, allowing them to be robust, independent young people.

The Treehouse, and more generally our work on mental health and wellbeing, will hopefully continue to build those strong foundations as the children grow up and give them the skills needed for future life as robust, resilient young people.

Mr. P. Sturt, Assistant Head (Pastoral)