Be kind to your mind in 2021 - Chislehurst & Sidcup Grammar ...
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MHA Newsletter: Feb 2021
Be kind to your mind in 2021
Dear Reader,
Welcome to Chislehurst and Sidcup Grammar Schools first Children’s mental
ever newsletter focusing on mental health. Now more than
health week
ever we need to make sure we are thinking about and looking
after our mental health. For this reason, we wanted to create From 1-7 February 2021 schools,
youth groups, organisations and
a newsletter in which we will address some different areas individuals across the UK will take
around mental health. We hope you enjoy! part in Children’s Mental Health
Week.
-Year 12 Mental Health Ambassadors
This year’s theme is Express
Yourself. Expressing yourself is
about finding ways to share
Mental health in lockdown feelings, thoughts, or ideas,
through creativity. This could be
through art, music, writing and
• More than half of adults and over two thirds of young people said that
poetry, dance and drama,
their mental health has gotten worse during the period of lockdown photography and film, and doing
restrictions, from early April to mid-May. activities that make you feel good.
It’s important to remember that
• Restrictions on seeing people, being able to go outside and worries being able to express yourself is
about the health of family and friends are the key factors driving poor not about being the best at
something or putting on a
mental health. Boredom is also a major problem for young people.
performance for others. It is about
finding a way to show who you
• Loneliness has been a key contributor to poor mental health. Feelings of are, and how you see the world,
loneliness have made nearly two thirds of people’s mental health worse that can help you feel good about
during the past month, with 18–24 year olds the most likely to see yourself.
loneliness affect their mental health.
For Children's Mental Health
Week 2021 we have decided to
• Many people do not feel entitled to seek help, and have difficulty
set up a creative challenge within
accessing it when they do. 1 in 3 adults and more than 1 in 4 young the school. Any student of any
people did not access support during lockdown because they did not year group can choose a way to
think that they deserved support. express themselves and upload
evidence of this to
• A quarter of adults and young people who tried to access support TLC@csgrammar.com by the
deadline of 1st March. Winners will
were unable to do so. Not feeling comfortable using phone/video call
be picked from each key stage.
technology has been one of the main barriers to accessing support. Good luck!
Please remember the school is here to help if you ever need it. Please see
section on where to go for help. Please do not suffer alone
Page 1 of 4
Mental health and Sleep: What’s the connection?
Did you know sleep is so essential that we spend a third of our lives
sleeping?
Sleep deprivation can have dramatic effects on a teenager’s life,
including affecting their mental wellbeing. Research suggests that a
teenager needs 8-10 hours of sleep every night, yet most teenagers only
get about 6 –7 hours. It has been estimated that people deprived of
sleep have a tenfold higher risk of developing depression. But even if you
are getting enough sleep, it is important to sleep during hours of darkness
instead of during the day. Sleeping at night helps to align the body’s
internal clock with its environment. This is vital for quality sleep, which
helps to: improve the immune system, improve academic performance
at school, and improves your ability to socially interact with others. If your
struggle to sleep, here are some examples of things you can do: Seeking help if you need it:
Create a sleep schedule. Speak to family or friends.
Refrain from napping more than 30 minutes during the day.
Reduce caffeine and sugar intake in the evenings. You can email any teacher.
Exercise (try at least 30 minutes of light walking).
You can email
Avoid using electronic devices when trying to get sleep. TLC@csgrammar.com
-B.M Yr 12
Alternatively:
• The Mix – 0808 808 4994 /
www.themix.org.uk
Motivation during lockdown
• Childline - 0800 1111
Motivation can be something that is incredibly difficult to force. It is unlike
confidence or academia in the sense that it can’t be overcome or • HopeLine – 0800 068 4141 /
0786 003 9967
rectified with incessant studying. In fact, forcing ourselves to study without
motivation can often demotivate us further. Understandably, it can all • SANE - 0300 304 7000
seem incredibly overwhelming. If you are struggling with demotivation,
why not try some of the following: • SHOUT (crisis text) - 85258
• Local GP
Timetables – these may seem like a pain but they can help prevent
procrastination and help to impose self-discipline. Useful websites:
Regular sleep schedule – (see previous article)
To do lists – These can help you prioritise work tasks giving you focus • Rethink Mental Illness –
and can be incredibly motivating when you are able to tick off the www.rethink.org
items and see just how much you have achieved.
• Mind – www.mind.org.uk
Take regular breaks – make sure you reward yourself throughout the
day with rest breaks and try to do something you enjoy at least • MindEd -
once a day. www.minded.org.uk
-J.H Yr 12 • YoungMinds –
www.youngminds.org.uk
Page 2 of 4
Mental Health in Sport
Although having positive mental health is important for our wellbeing, it is easy for us to neglect our mental
health when we are faced with life’s daily challenges. It may be difficult to open up about your mental
health, although remember that mental health issues affect even the most successful people. Here are
some examples of successful sports players who have experienced mental health problems.
1. Glenn Maxwell
Glenn Maxwell is an Australian professional cricketer currently playing for the Australian National Team and
the Melbourne Stars Big Bash League team. After his surprising dismissal in a match against the Brisbane Heat
in December 2014, Maxwell receive abuse from cricket fans and was accused of match-fixing by more
extreme supporters. According to him, this was the point that he “literally hated the game”. However, after
more supportive feedback and a conversation with former Australian cricketer Ricky Pointing, Maxwell
learned to move on from this setback. Since then, he has led the Stars to back-to back Big Bash League
finals and has scored the currently fourth highest individual score in Twenty20 Internationals.
For more information on Maxwell’s story, please see the following Youtube video: Glenn Maxwell: I literally
hated the game - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xd9oPpHCRqE
2. Michael Phelps
Michael Phelps is a former American swimmer and one of the most successful swimmers of all time. He holds
the record for the most gold medals won in Olympic individual events. Phelps’s struggles with his mental
health led to him developing a drug addiction, which, according to him, was a way of running away from
"whatever it was I wanted to run from”. After the 2012 Olympic Games, he experienced the feeling of "just
not wanting to be alive”. Phelps explained how, after he began to open up about his feelings, "life became
easy" for him and he began to question “why didn't I do this 10 years ago?”. Now, Phelps has included stress
management in the work done by his foundation and helps the “Boys & Girls Clubs of America” with their
after-school courses for young people.
For more information on Phelps’s story, please see the following article:
https://edition.cnn.com/2018/01/19/health/michael-phelps-depression/index.html
3. Serena Williams
Serena Williams is an American tennis player and one of the most successful female tennis players of all time.
She has won the second most “Grand Slams” in women’s professional tennis history. After having her first
child in September 2017, Williams later revealed that she had been suffering from postnatal depression,
which had caused her to feel that she was not being a good mother to her daughter. After talking to close
friends and her family and after having received supportive comments on social media, Williams learned
that it was okay for her to be attached to her daughter. Since then, she has been the runner up in the US
Open and Wimbledon tournament in 2019 and won her first title since her maternity leave in 2020.
For more information on Williams’ story, please see the following article:
https://www.insider.com/serena-williams-talks-about-her-postnatal-depression-on-social-media-2018-8
-T.B Year 12
Page 3 of 4Top Tips for looking after your mental health
during Lockdown:
Get yourself fresh air every day! – even just a walk around the block
is going to get you some fresh air, and get you out the house. In
lockdown it can be far too easy to go from your bed to your work
space and back to bed again!
Structure your day! – try and get up and ready every day before
you start doing your school work, otherwise you might spend the
whole of first period still trying to wake up. Have some breakfast,
wash your face and get out of your PJ’s. At least till 3pm!
Tidy work space! – make sure you have a sectioned off area
somewhere for you to do your work. Keep it tidy and don’t clutter! This is
going to make working at home feel a lot more organised than some of
us may be feeling at the moment. What teachers are doing to
look after their mental
Breakfast! – eating a good breakfast is always important, but even more health during lockdown:
so when you need as much focus as you can get! This is also going to
make your day feel structured, and make you feel ready and focused Learning new languages
for your first lesson.
Reading books (not from a
Find something you enjoy! – everyone is going to need a little escape at screen)
the moment, especially when our usual joys in life aren’t available at the
Exercising (running, HIIT,
moment. Whether it’s reading a book, working out or sewing, make sure
walking, cycling)
it’s something you enjoy and gets you away from looking at a screen.
Painting
-J.B & D.B Yr 12
Gardening
Positive school news:
Puzzles
Over lockdown, Dr Rehling has set up a weekly photography
competition for 6th formers with a different theme each week. Last Baking
week’s theme was ‘silver linings’ making us reflect on what positives may
have come out of our current situation. The winning entry was by L.L (Yr
13) accompanied by the very fitting quote: We hope you have enjoyed
your first instalment of our
“I will love the
mental health newsletter. If
light for it shows
you have any suggestions or
me the way, yet I
would like anything included
will endure the
in upcoming month’s then
darkness because
please let us know.
it shows me the
stars.” – Og Email
Mandino Rebecca.parris@csgrammar
.com
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