Enrichment and Wellbeing
"The wellbeing and life skills adventures activities provides an opportunity for students to celebrate success whilst participating in a Friday wellbeing range of community based creative and engaging activities." National Autism Society, 2019
At West Kirby School and College, emphasis is placed on providing extra curricular enrichment activities in order to extend learning, social and emotional skills, as well as mental health wellbeing.
Why Wellbeing matters… it’s not just that Friday Feeling!
Positive mental health and the emotional wellbeing of our pupils is at the forefront of everything we do in school. We recognise that children need to be emotionally resilient so they can access the demands of the curriculum and the social aspects of school. There are many things we do in school to achieve this – and Wellbeing on a Friday afternoon is a key aspect of this.
The Wellbeing activities are carefully planned to promote opportunities for pupils to further develop their social skills with peers and staff. It also supports the building of positive relationships through engagement in shared interests and providing a common theme to talk about. Not only this, it gives the opportunity to explore cultural experiences to help them progress and achieve success.
By rotating the options on offer, pupils are exposed to activities they take up as hobbies and develop further skills, which can help to widen their interests and potential social circle. Trying and succeeding boosts selfconfidence and esteem, taking risks in a safe environment helps build resilience and promote an ethos of committing to something and working hard to achieve an end goal.
For us, Friday Wellbeing afternoon is an essential part of our curriculum and has the same level of importance attached to it as all our other curriculum subjects. It is also a lovely way to finish the week and transition to the weekend.
How do we plan Friday Wellbeing?
Wellbeing activities are pupil-focused, so naturally we like to get their input when it comes to planning wellbeing choices. At the beginning of each term, our Pupil Voice team discuss and share peer suggestions. Proposals are then passed on to our Senior Leadership Team (SLT) who take a look at them and see which ones are viable. Staff expertise also plays an important role and we take advantage of the variety of skills our staff possess. Without them, there would not be the vast amount of activities on offer.
Our activity choices change each half term and new suggestions are taken into careful consideration. We can’t wait to find out what is up for grabs next term.
What do we offer?
As part of our Wellbeing offering, we provide lots of activities, both in and out of school. This term activities include, but are not limited to, the following: Boxing Jackson’s Rescue Cat Cafe, Switch club, Lego club, Warhammer Swimming, Mountain biking, Adventure Dock, Liverpool.
Pupil's Corner
Getting an insight into how our pupils feel about their Friday Wellbeing is important to us. It is their time, we want to make sure they are able to take full advantage of it.
What do you like about Wellbeing?
“I like that it gives us a chance to do something different away from the classroom. It gives me a break from lessons and lets me look forward to something at the end of the week”.
What would you change about how we do Wellbeing in school?
“I’d like even more options, you can never have enough! I like the idea of having an external gym membership as an option too, which means I could go in my own time”.
What options have you done? Do you have a favourite?
“I like to go and do boxing and football. Boxing is by far my favourite”.
What do you think the benefits of Wellbeing are?
“I think there’s a few, especially as it is something I enjoy doing. It definitely improves my fitness and I’d say it helps my mental health too”.