Healthy Schools Newsletter for Educators
From Hastings Prince Edward Public Health

April 27, 2022

Welcome to May’s HPEPH Healthy Schools Newsletter!

We invite you to encourage your colleagues to subscribe to this newsletter to receive up to date and timely information from HPEPH.


Celebrate Mental Health Week at your school!

May 2-8 is Mental Health Week. The theme for Mental Health Week 2022 is empathy. Empathy is the ability to share someone else’s feelings or experiences by imagining what it would be like to be in their situation. It’s trying to understand what others are going through and responding in a caring way. Empathy is something that can be learned and practised. Empathy helps us to connect with others and strengthens our relationships.

School staff and education resources

Access the free, ready-to-use CMHA Mental Health Week materials.

Home-school connection resources

Check out other resources about empathy to support your Mental Health Week activities.

Managing student anxiety in the classroom

There is a lot going on in the world these days and it makes sense that students are feeling increased anxiety. With the pandemic alone, numerous studies have shown that Ontario school-aged children and youth are demonstrating significantly more symptoms of anxiety. Add in other personal and world situations, and it is not surprising that many students are feeling anxious. As a caring adult in the school you are in a unique position to help students learn about and manage anxiety, as well as connect them with additional in-school or community supports if needed.

The first step to helping students manage their anxiety is to become educated about anxiety and what it may look like within the classroom. Anxiety is normal. Everyone has worries and fears now and then. This is the way our brain and body warn us when we might be in danger and helps us to get away from a perceived threat (fight, flight, freeze response). This may remind you of stress, and indeed there is an overlap between the two. They share the same response system in our bodies and the symptoms of both may be very similar, but they have different causes. Stress is generally a response to an external situation and it goes away once the situation is over. Anxiety tends to be internal, meaning individuals have a specific reaction to stress, and it persists even after the situation has passed.

Anxiety can become a problem – when feelings of anxiety become persistent and intense, seem exaggerated, don’t seem to match the situation, are causing distress, or are impacting daily functioning. Each student is unique and will show different responses to anxiety, but there are certain things you can look out for in the classroom. These include perfectionism, avoidance, worries about things like time limits or changes in routines, and physical symptoms like frequent headaches or stomach aches. Anxiety related symptoms can make it hard for students to get work done and it may affect their relationships with teachers and other students. In some cases, it can lead to missed school days or outright refusal to attend school.

During these uncertain times, anxiety can be difficult to manage both for students and adults. You can help students learn to recognize and manage anxiety. You can start by reviewing the resources below, creating a mentally healthy classroom, and linking students to additional supports in your school or in the community when needed.

Additional resources

Suggested social media and Newsletter Messages for Use with School Families

Encouraging outdoor active play this spring

Let’s get moving outside! Outdoor play often allows children to feel more freedom, as they are likely to get physically active, move their bodies in different ways and enjoy different environments. The research shows that children move more, sit less and play longer when outside. Outdoor play has also been shown to increase resilience, self-regulation and skills for dealing with stress. Spring is a great time to incorporate more outdoor play and learning into the school day!

School staff and education resources

Here are some resources to help educators incorporate more outdoor play for students into their daily routine, ideas to support a positive recess culture at your school and safe/active transportation messages.

  • Thrive Outside – A collection of resources to support children spending more time outside at home, school and in the community. Click on the ‘school character’ on the website for a list of resources for educators. These resources provide information about learning outside, list curriculum links for outdoor learning, provide numeracy and literacy activities outdoors, outline risk assessment information, and give tips on what to wear and so much more!
  • Recess is one area within the school setting that provides the opportunity for students to be more active outside. Check out the following resources!

Home-school connection resources

  • Safe Kids Week May 30-June 5, 2022 - Safe Kids Week is an annual campaign by Parachute to raise public awareness of child safety issues in Canada, encouraging community involvement as part of the solution. The theme for this year’s campaign is safe and active transportation for children. Great social media and resources are available to share with your school community. #WalkBikeAndWheel #SKW2022
  • An outdoor scavenger hunt is a great way to explore your school yard, take a class walk to explore your school neighbourhood, or share with your students to explore their own backyard or neighbourhood. Check out this Outdoor Sensory Scavenger Hunt from Active for Life.

Additional resources

  • Outdoor Play Canada – a network of advocates and organization working together to protect and promote the benefits of outdoor play.
  • Outside Play – information and resources on finding a balanced approach to the risks of outdoor play. Includes a Journey Map for Early Childhood Educators.
 

Encourage your colleagues to subscribe to receive our monthly newsletter and receive updated resources and information directly from HPEPH. HPEPH will also provide updated resources directly to school administrators for distribution to staff before the return to school.

Contact Information: 

To give us your comments about this e-newsletter: communications@hpeph.ca

For other questions about Healthy Schools: healthyschools@hpeph.ca 


Hastings Prince Edward Public Health is situated and provides services on the traditional territory of the Anishinaabe, Huron-Wendat and Haudenosaunee people.


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