World Mental Health Day 2019

Today is World Mental Health Day and it is the perfect day to update you on some of the new initiatives to have started at Aysgarth this term.

The ISI report in December 2018 identified the excellent pastoral care in place at Aysgarth. 

Following on from the very successful report, the school has committed to building on the strong pastoral care programme available to the boys. Mental Wellbeing is an essential component of this care and is vital to any educational platform. We are delighted to continue working with Naella Grew (School Counsellor) and Janey Downshire from Teenagers Translated, and to this end the pupils in Forms 3, 4 and 5 will have termly Teenager Translated sessions with Janey, where they will explore a range of mental wellbeing topics outlined below.


Teenagers Translated

Teenagers Translated sessions are designed to run support students’ emotional wellbeing and life skills by helping them to be able to regulate their emotions, cultivate a positive mindset and develop a range of coping strategies to promote resilience.     

The sessions help boys become more aware of how they are affected by what is happening around them and learn how to manage emotional pressure and anxiety (e.g. fallouts, home issues, academic struggles, sport or performance disappointment). 

Boys are encouraged to become aware of their behaviour towards others and recognise ways to build strong relationships by developing good communication skills (both face-to-face and online) in order to gain respect and fit in well with their peers.

Good adolescent mental health also depends on the ability to regulate uncomfortable feelings and avoid negative cycles of difficult behaviour and self-doubt.  The sessions help boys to gradually build their tool kit of practical strategies, emotional resilience skills and a positive mindset to combat stress.

We are delighted to offer an additional support network for mental wellbeing, working with Sister Irwin who has, this term, introduced a weekly ‘drop in’ session on Wednesday afternoons from 4:30pm. These take place in Mr Barlow’s classroom and are an ideal opportunity for boys to informally chat through any worries or concerns they have with Sister Irwin over a cup of hot chocolate. In addition to these drop-in sessions, Sister Irwin will be speaking to all the boys about more formal ‘one to one’ sessions available to them if they would like to talk about something in private. Boys will be able to book a session with her at a time convenient to themselves.

Paul Barlow, Deputy Headmaster & Head of Boarding


Winning entries
Form 1 & Junior Winner Ralph W-R
Form 2 Harry M.
Form 3 Solomon F-T and Hajime K
Form 4 Kairi U
Form 5 & Senior Winner Bertie G