Nether Stowe staff soak up the fun for mental health fundraiser

Staff at Lichfield’s Nether Stowe School made a splash recently when they went into the stocks to be pelted with wet sponges, for a fun fundraising day.

Students at Nether Stowe, which is part of the respected Arthur Terry Learning Partnership, donned bright clothes to support the #HelloYellow campaign on World Mental Health Day last Monday, (October 10th) to raise cash for YoungMinds, a leading mental health charity for children.

And pupils happily handed over their pocket money for the chance to throw wet sponges at their teachers in the playground, raising lots of cash for the charity.

The school’s Mental Health Lead, Rachel Chilver, said:

“We are trying to encourage a real community here at Nether Stowe, where students and staff come together to support each other’s wellbeing.

“We held assemblies at the school throughout last week to get that message across in the run-up to Mental Health Day, to explain why we were getting involved in the helloyellow campaign.

“We want everyone to understand the importance of getting help as soon as they experience struggles, because if you delay reaching out for support that’s when you can really suffer.”

Nether Stowe has pioneered mental health wellbeing in education and was the first school in Lichfield to pilot a YMCA scheme where pupils were trained as ‘peer mentors’ to support their classmates.

Headteacher Glyn Langstone-Jones said:

“Mental Health and wellbeing is very important to us at Nether Stowe. As a relatively small school, we get to know our students very well and always listen to them, individually, to understand what their needs are.

“We also encourage students to understand the importance of mental wellbeing and support each other too.

“World Mental Health Day gave us an opportunity to reaffirm that message, but with fun activities that brought students and staff together.”

The school has set up a Just Giving page for YoungMinds at justgiving.com/fundraising/nether-stowe-school.

Young Minds works closely with young people and families, to campaign issues impacting young people and their mental health.

The charity runs a parents helpline, which offers free advice and support to any adult who’s worried about the behaviour or mental health of a young person.

CAPTION:

Teacher Nicola Hampton braves the stocks at Nether Stowe School for a fund-raising World Mental Health Day.