On Friday 23rd June the HeadStart Team was lucky enough to arrange an event at Galley Hill Primary School at Guisborough with Anthony McGeeney, the Headteacher. Anthony kindly invited South Tees Schools to visit his school, where he will showcase their commitment to wellbeing and outdoor play.
Galley Hill Primary School started its OPAL journey in March 2021 and welcomed HeadStart in September 2021. The school has shown its commitment to improving its pupils’ wellbeing, build resilience and wanted to showcase this to other schools.
The school has achieved Platinum Award with OPAL and has an outstanding play offer. Hosting the largest school sand pit in the UK complete with speedboat, a treehouse, a large loose-parts shed, a den building, bikes, tree climbing amongst much more!
Over 30 pupils within the school have received training from HeadStart and achieved the Silver Award becoming mental health peer mentors. These young people share their knowledge and understanding of wellbeing every day and use their skills on the playground to support others.
On Friday, 19 teachers came to see what the school were offering and how they could take some of Galley Hill’s good practice and use it in their own school. It was a great event and it was good to see schools coming together to discuss how they can improve their pupils’ wellbeing through play. As we know physical activity and emotional wellbeing are linked meaning this time sharing was so valuable to all.
Thank you for those who came and the team hope we have more events like this next year.
Published: June 26