Imogen Barber |
January 30, 2025
Know Yourself, Grow Yourself!
This year marks the 11th anniversary of Children’s Mental Health Week – a campaign led by mental health charity, Place2Be. This year’s theme is Know Yourself, Grow Yourself and is focused around the theme of self-awareness and building resilience.
The need to support our young people is pressing; according to an analysis from The Children’s Society, 15-year-olds in the UK report the lowest life satisfaction scores of all the countries across Europe. [1] Helping children face the pressures of modern life means working on personal resilience, as well as encouraging good listening skills.
We’ve put together a range of resources to help pupils become more self-aware and develop personal strategies to nurture their own wellbeing, or to support emotional regulation.
Charging My Mental Battery:
KS2 Primary Resource
We all have things in our lives that absorb a lot of our mental energy. Our brains need recharging sometimes – just like a battery does.
This resource looks at some of the things most likely to be impacting children in Year 5 and 6, helping them build self-awareness and develop personal recharging strategies to improve their mental wellbeing.
Includes: Worksheets, activities and a battery-charging weekly planner.
Charging My Mental Battery:
PSHE/Group Work for Teens
This resource helps teens build awareness of things that drain their emotional, social, cognitive and sensory battery.
It provides tips for managing stress as well as encouraging teens to think about different strategies to restore their mental and emotional energy. It also includes a basic energy accounting tracker which neurodiverse students might find especially helpful.
Includes: Teacher guidance notes, worksheets, battery charging weekly planner and energy accounting tracker.
Incredible-5-Point Scale
The Incredible 5-Point Scale was originally developed by Kari Dunn Buron and Mitzi Curtis to help autistic pupils with self-regulation.
It can, however, be used to support any pupil who is particularly struggling with emotional self-regulation.
Includes: Guidance notes and downloadable pdf examples, including scales for anger and social anxiety.
Active Listening For Teens
We’d all like to think we are good listeners but how often do we listen to reply rather than listening with genuine empathy?
This resource breaks down the skill of active listening and explains some of the key things that good listeners tend to do (and what they avoid!).
Includes: Active listening worksheet for teens as well as four activity ideas for PSHE lessons. Take a look at our accompanying blog.
Other Children’s Mental Health Week Resources
Teachwire are showcasing a range of great free resources on their dedicated round-up page.
Visit the Place2Be website to download free assembly guides, activities and top tips for primary and secondary schools. This year they have partnered with Disney to bring you resources using Inside Out characters!
The National Literacy Trust has some great resources for children’s mental health week based around Charlie Mackesy’s book The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse, including an assembly, lesson plan and KS1/P2-3 and KS2/P4-P7 activities
Info 7 have a great selection of free films that deal with the topic of mental health that are free to stream in your classroom. They are also offering resources including short videos and lesson plans that cover everything from anxiety and bereavement to social exclusion and mindfulness for a broad age range.
Premier League Stars are offering this Building Self-Esteem resource which helps pupils think about their identity and how it relates to self-esteem.
1) The Children’s Society Good Childhood Report 2024. https://www.childrenssociety.org.uk/sites/default/files/2024-08/Good%20Childhood%20Report-Main-Report.pdf
What do you think?