On Friday 8th March Mrs Foreman, in liaison with Harriet (Year 13) and the student Wellbeing Committee, hosted a Wellbeing Evening for the whole school. Pupils learnt how to meditate to avoid exam stress and how to produce a healthy meal using raw ingredients and a spiraliser.  The girls also had a range of activities to choose from including Yoga, Pilates, Capture the Flag and Strictly Dancing. These, and mentoring by the Sixth Form, took place in the informal surroundings of the Bochmann room, whilst pupils made friendship bands, did some Mindful colouring or had their nails painted. In addition, the Self Esteem Team delivered a talk to all the Year 7 and 8 girls on Positive Body Identity and Self Esteem.  Mrs Sue Foreman, Head of Personal Development and Wellbeing

Here, some of the girls sum up the evening:

'In addition to the activities, we also had the pleasure of several external speakers, one of note being Monty who gave an inspiring talk on how to use Meditation and Mindfulness for exam stress. Overall, the evening was a great success and thoroughly enjoyed by everyone who participated'.
Harriet, student Head of Wellbeing

Monty’s Meditation and tips to manage exam stress
'On Friday night, the Fifth Form girls were lucky enough to receive a fascinating talk from Monty Cholmeley, creator of the meditation app Minding (which can be downloaded on any device from the app store for free). The talk, centred on tackling exam stress, effectively taught the girls how to deal with anxiety and pressure using a variety of meditation and mindfulness techniques - some of which they tried for themselves in some short guided meditation sessions at the beginning and end of the workshop. Monty also shared his personal experiences and journey of how practising Mindfulness has affected his daily life, as well as the story of a girl named Teresa who he mentored through her exams so that she could become a Spanish diplomat.

Overall, the talk was very enlightening and valuable and the combination of Monty’s charisma and a new tool to deal with stress helped ease the mounting pressure of exams, which will commence shortly after Easter'.
Amena, (Year 13)

Nutrition talk and food demonstration
'This activity was all about making healthy food choices. Sam, a Nutritionist, talked about how she battled an auto immune disease which she controlled by changing her diet. She informed us about gut bacteria and how removing sugary breakfasts can reduce cravings for sugar during the day, how some fats are good for you and about how making the right food choices is important in life. She gave a demonstration of how to make chocolate protein balls, courgetti using a spiralizer and a quinoa salad. She gave out healthy recipes to try out, as well as bringing along some healthy food she had prepared for us to sample.

Capture the Flag
I really enjoyed how so many of us were able to play, whether that was in a team or as opponents.  It was a great way to de-stress in a time when we would usually be working, and it was a good way to get to know some of the Sixth Form better, as we played the game with them'.
Issy (Year 10)

'The Pilates session last Friday was not only fun, but also hard work! The teacher gave us several different levels of difficulty for each exercise so that we could decide how hard we wanted to push ourselves. Everyone tried their hardest and we all left tired but happy'.
Mya (Year 12)