This week at South Shore Academy, Blackpool FC Community Trust’s Early Years and Primary Team joined together with our High School Hub Mentors to deliver a collapsed curriculum day at South Shore Academy.
The day aimed to: help signpost and make students aware of the safe spaces and trusted adults in the school, support childhood wellbeing and challenges faced by Year 7 pupils as they transition from primary school, increase children’s understanding of mental health and have an awareness for their own mental health and increase knowledge of discrimination and how to combat it.
This was a free pilot event which is hoped to be rolled out to all high schools across Blackpool in the next academic year.
Session titles for the day were: mental health & emotional wellbeing, Fit2Go- Healthy Lifestyles, Bullying and Discrimination, managing risk and personal safety and a physical activity session which included teambuilding games. The students were split between these sessions and worked their way around the sessions in a carousel fashion. Each session lasted 45 minutes and were based around the national curriculum to support pupil wellbeing and high school transition. The group-based activities which were aimed at getting the students talking and working together to elicit conversations which may be harder to talk about when approached directly.
Each session included:
- The mental health and emotional wellbeing session consisted of conversations about the difference between mental health and mental illness, discussions about how people can appear ok on the surface but on the inside be struggling. We included well known celebrities and characters from the Dan Freedman novel ‘Unstoppable’. Students categorised celebrities into healthy and unhealthy from their own perception and information provided, which enabled complex discussions about perceptions of these people. The groups then discussed positive role models, where to find them and how they will benefit the students.
- The Fit2Go sessions focused on personal hygiene, self-care and understanding the importance of reducing sugar and caffeine intake. The students were challenged on the amount of sugar and caffeine they have within their diet and discussed benefits of reducing these amounts for a healthier option. These benefits included increased sleep, increased concentration, and improved behavior.
- The managing risk and personal safety session involved talking about how students can manage their personal safety online and challenging situations they encounter in everyday life. Pupils were given real life scenarios and had to decide if they were safe or unsafe. This generated complex discussion amongst pupils and improved their risk assessing skills.
- Bullying and discrimination session included conversations about why people may bully others and what discrimination looks like. The students took part in an activity to identify online trolling and bullying and how it would affect someone physical and mental health. The groups spoke about preconceptions and how we all have more similarities than differences.
- Our physical activity session was centered around teambuilding games. The students were split into smaller groups and challenged to compete mini challenges that worked their communication and teamwork skills while working under pressure.
To end the day, the students came together to celebrate their learnings. Pupils that excelled in lesson were given a raffle ticket and a prize draw took place in a special assembly.
Elise, Health and Wellbeing Officer at Blackpool FC Community Trust said,
“The students were exceptional throughout the day. Their effort, interest in the topics and behaviour were
amazing. They showed maturity during topics that could be uncomfortable to approach and respected input
from their classmates. Even with the hot weather conditions the students managed to stay on task and contribute to a fantastic day.”
Emma Hartley, Head of Year 7 at South Shore Academy said,
“Thank you and your team for a fantastic drop-down day yesterday. Year 7 had a great day and really thrived in
you and your team’s leadership. The sessions delivered were on point in terms of content, delivery, resources, and enthusiasm, with pupils of all abilities engaged and learning. Pupils thoroughly enjoyed the sessions and felt they learnt new information. The sessions were short and sharp which kept pupils focused and the well-planned delivery meant that pupils gained the most from the session. The raffle ticket awards were a real incentive to pupils, and it was great to see so many pupils receiving prizes.
Some of the students noted:
“I enjoyed the activities and the amount of participation. I liked the mental health and wellbeing one because it was fun to talk about something in common with me”
“My favourite part of today is the lesson about safe and unsafe situations. I liked this lesson because it makes people know what to do in these types of situations”
For more information about this event please contact: marc.joseph@bfcct.co.uk
