‘Five Ways to Wellbeing’ (while staying at home!)
What's the idea?
The idea behind ‘Five Ways to Wellbeing’ is that wellbeing can be achieved in different ways and these five evidence-based actions can help your child feel better. They are simple, free things to do and the aim is to prompt children to consider what they can do to improve their wellbeing, rather than focus on the things they can’t do in the current situation.
The suggestions within the Five Ways to Wellbeing are typically actions that pupils are encouraged to do/experience in school normally too.
What does the research say?
There has been a huge amount of research into the Five Ways to Wellbeing across many different countries. They were developed in 2008 based on a Government Office for Science report. They are:
- connect with other people
- be physically active
- keep learning
- give to others
- take notice/pay attention to the present moment.
How does it work in practice?
Listed below are some ideas for encouraging children to engage with the Five Ways to Wellbeing while at home.
Connect with other people. Encourage your child to take time to connect with their friends, as well as doing learning activities. Classes 3 and 4 have access to Gmail for Education where they can connect and share emails and documents within an environment that is safe than regular email and they can only connect with other pupils. If they have been using IT’s Learning then this has a message feature, again in a safer environment than social media. For our youngest, you might arrange a FaceTime or WhatsApp call with their friends. Social friendships are key for everyone’s development and wellbeing. You can also build collaboration opportunities into learning activities, of course!
Be physically active. There are lots of activities pupils can do indoors, without needing much space. For example, Joe Wicks’ ‘PE with Joe’ daily class at 9am is a live activity, and lots of other home workout activities can be found on our website, even dancing with Oti Mabusi. Parents should check links that take children to external sites prior to use in case they have been compromised
Keep learning. Learning is a key part of wellbeing – as well as any specific learning activities you may be asking them to do, you could also encourage your child to choose some learning of their own that really interests them or to learn a new skills that will help you out at home. Please reinforce that if they can do something new (physical or mental) or better than before, then it’s learning.
Give to others. We are seeing amazing examples of this in many ways at the moment, but there are simple actions we can encourage children to do too – from helping to make a meal at home, to doing jobs around the house that normally they would leave for others. They could also write a letter, story or draw a picture to send to a care home – this could be sent by email if post becomes not possible.
Take notice/pay attention to the present moment. While being sensitive to the challenges they are facing, think about how you can encourage them to focus on the present moment. This could be by asking them to note down or say three things they are grateful for before bed or at lunchtime.