My Happy Mind competition winner!

22 Jan 2024

Exciting news…

We were a winner of the My Happy Mind Christmas campaign competition!

Children took part in a video which filmed My Happy Mind lessons and conversations amongst the children centred around Mental Health awareness. We wanted to share a little bit more information regarding how St Mary’s is striving to help support the children at our school’s well-being whilst also developing their own understanding of the impact of positive habits, understanding of self-worth, resilience and self-care.

We strongly believe that fostering positive relationships supports children’s well-being and teaching children the knowledge and skills needed to develop healthy relationships, positive habits and mental health awareness is key for all children and families.

Supporting children’s mental health and well-being is part of our ethos and embedded, not just into our curriculum, but also into daily school life by scaffolding positive interactions, leading by example, working closely with parents and families and being positive role models for children.

We feel that knowledge is power and have therefore introduced the My Happy Mind programme to ensure that children are taught about their brains and have an understanding of the importance of their own mental health and the needs of others.

My Happy Mind is a science-based programme created for schools, teachers, and families. It is based on positive psychology and neuroscience which helps nurture thriving children. There are five modules within the curriculum which introduce content and habits to support children and help to build self-esteem, confidence and build resilience.

To see My Happy Mind in action at the school, please watch the video below:

There are five key modules in My Happy Mind:

Meet your Brain

Here the children develop an understanding of how the brain works to support managing emotions. They also explore Growth Mindset and its application in their own lives.

Celebrate

This helps children to identify and understand their own character strengths. It teaches children how to celebrate what makes them unique.

Appreciate

This section highlights the importance of gratitude and how to develop an attitude of gratitude.

Relate

This module is key for children to develop an understanding of why positive relationships are important and teaches ways to foster and build positive relationships and boundaries.

Engage

This module teaches resilience and how to set meaningful goals and the importance of developing this skill.

At St Mary’s, we understand the importance of working alongside parents and therefore have given parents the opportunity to explore this curriculum for themselves.

Parents at St. Mary’s Prep can access the My Happy Mind App for parents app and follow the curriculum to see what their children are doing in school and use language, techniques, and approaches to support their mental health at home. We understand that mental health and well-being is not just something that should be taught in school, it should have a multi-centred approach. We have received positive feedback about the app and are pleased that parents are using it to continue supporting their children.

We also have an onsite school counsellor who works with children during the school day for a range of reasons. These sessions are confidential and discreet. Once again, we have had excellent feedback regarding the children feeling heard, supported and allowing them to work with other professionals within their school day.

Miss Johnson also runs lunchtime ‘Chill Clubs’ which are designed to support children’s friendship building and help some children build their confidence and self-esteem. Some groups may be more focused in order to work with children designed to support their own mental health or well-being needs. Some of the clubs offer children experience working with other year groups as well as developing resilience or making new friends. Sometimes, the club simply involves relaxing and being in a place to unwind and simply ‘be’.

We are passionate about supporting children’s well-being and understand that children need to feel secure, safe and valued. When people do not feel these things, it can make them feel devalued, negative and uninspired. That is why supporting children’s mental health and their own awareness of well-being, resilience and healthy habits is a key focus for us. It will always be a key focus because, not only do we want to support children with their academics, but our main goal is to support children’s happiness, develop their strengths, help them understand and celebrate themselves and find happiness with who they are. We aim for children to be kind, confident, empathetic, positive, and well-rounded individuals.

We are very proud of our children at St Mary’s, and how they display their kindness throughout the day. Whether it be holding a door open for another child, sharing an idea, listening to one another or offering their time to help a teacher or staff member.

If you have any other queries or questions on our mental health curriculum and the importance of a child’s well-being, please e-mail Miss Johnson at [email protected] or talk to your child’s class teacher.

My Happy Mind Parent App details

We hope our parents enjoy exploring the My Happy Minds Parent App and your children enjoy sharing their knowledge of healthy habits with you at home too.

To access these materials just go to https://myhappymind.org/parent-resources and enter your name, email, and authentication code. Your authentication code is 104 972

Please note, parents who have already accessed the app. There is a new app now in use as of the 9th February 2024, you can use the same details to log onto the new app. Please find the new application downloadable via the below links:

Apple: https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/myhappymind/id6471412523

Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.kj138126.app&hl=kr